Bronze growled as he distorted space to make the windows basically connect directly to each other, meaning only the few windigos inside the theater were immediately affecting the interior. “There, we have some time to get rid of these pests and protect the crowd inside the theater. I’ll evacuate everypony, you all get plot-kicking!” Bronze shouted, Spirals of Chaos starting to consume his opaque blue eyes as he rapidly warped around, taking entire rows of the crowd with him to someplace that wasn’t anywhere near there.

“Pony feathers! As if his negativity attracting these windigoes wasn’t enough, he’s becoming Discorded! We better deal with this fast and smack some sense into him!” Sparkle shouted as she quickly shed her parka, flaring her wings as she summoned her full N7 armor suit onto herself.

“Negativity?”Cinder asked as her hair began to turn to real fire and the area around her got significantly warmer, her large bat wings flaring out and spreading her hot aura to lessen the potency of the freezing windigo aura.

“Windigos are creatures that feed on negative emotions between ponies. The only way that was found to banish them was to trigger the Flames of Friendship.” Nuada explained as his battle armor formed around him. “For now we can at least in theory temporary banish the ones in this room.”

“Right.” Cinder and Sparkle agreed taking flight with Nuada charging into the mass of ethereal horses.

“Children, gather over here!” Mary called out to the Crusaders, who had come with their sisters to watch them perform, and they all quickly ran to get under the small griffon’s body as Ronald and Vivian moved to box them in, before they were all suddenly warped away to safety.

“Girls! We need to get the Elements of Harmony! The only proven way to banish windigoes is a bit too vulgar for me to really consider, and if there’s anything else that could, it’d be the Elements!” Twilight called over the freezing storm winds the windigos were kicking up as they dodged their attackers while Bronze continued to rapidly appear and vanish with sections of the crowd.

“Good idea my student! They’re in the Royal Vault, do you remember the code?!” Celestia called over the howling wind and echoing neighing.

“I’m afraid not Princess! I made myself forget when I moved to Ponyville, so that if I was kidnapped, my captors couldn’t use me to get at any of the artefacts.” Twilight admitted, getting Celestia to wryly roll her eyes with a grin.

“We shall guide them there and open the vault for them sister! You incinerate these vile phantoms!” Luna shouted, using her magic to create a dome shield over herself and the mane six, who then used the moving cover to run out of the theatre and into the castle proper.

“Well, even if it will just send them back to the Winter Witch, it’s better than letting them run rampant over My Little Ponies.” Celestia commented before her magenta eyes suddenly filled with golden light, and her pink mane and tail began flickering like fire as she took to the air, her presence alone causing the windigos to whinnie in pain and recoil away, but they still resisted even as several were dissipated by Nuada’s, Cinder’s, and Sparkle’s respective heat-based attacks consisting of Nuada’s Master Key, Cinder’s fire, and Sparkle’s magic infused ammunition. “I have need of your advice once this is over Miss Sparkle.”

“What kind of advice?” Sparkle asked Celestia as she was unloading her SMG into a wendigo, the rounds bursting into flame on contact.

“Pertaining to my student’s ascension, when even before you were here, she’d already known of it coming to pass. I haven’t the foggiest how to ensure that future happens now that she knows, but the odd thing is she tells me with such humility, ‘if it happens, it happens.’ But I cannot simply let it go at that.” Celestia said as her aura flared, causing the winter phantoms to recoil and become easy targets again. “It’s almost as if she already understands, but doesn’t somehow. I resolved to ask any Twilight I came across who’d already experienced and surpassed the trial for any insight into the issue.”

“Well she knows it’s gonna happen but does she know how it’s gonna happen?” Sparkle asked reloading as she lanced a few windigos with magic. “In addition I overheard that she knows how to erase her memories. You could have her blank out how it happens, or seeing as you engineered it in the first place maybe figure out a new plan?”

“Yes, she does know how exactly everything that was apparently supposed to happen for possibly the next few years is supposed to happen. But that’s the keyword; supposed. She’s so desperate to run potential damage control for some things I’m afraid that erasing her own memory would be too difficult to isolate on that one subject concerning it is connected to so many other important matters. The code to something is one thing. An entire series of events is another.” Celestia bemoaned as she fired a magenta beam of pure fire through a windigo, banishing it with a piercing neigh as the last of the civilians vanished from the theater.

“Well roll with the punches as they say. Let things happen for a while, see if causality might just work it’s way out in some form. From what I’ve seen my ascension is a fixed point in most worlds so I’m sure it will come to pass.” Sparkle said as she watched Nuada banish the last windigo in the theater.

“I should dearly hope so. For if this very situation tells me anything however; it is that the future is truly never set in stone. The Windigoes were never to return from the Far Frozen for instance.” Celestia intoned sadly as suddenly the walls surrounding the still spatially warped windows began freezing over.

“There! Whole castle’s empty! City next!” Bronze shouted angrily as he warped into the middle of the group, that noticed even the other friends of the group, Spike included, were also gone. Bronze’s eyes were now completely dominated by thick pale blue swirls that shined out from his opaque dark blue eyes. “Windows open!” At his words, the windows stopped being a passthrough and freezing winds buffeted them as Bronze disappeared, likely to continue evacuating civilians, and it seemed guards also, to someplace safe.

“Well no rest for the weary.” Nuada stated, “Any clue how much longer till the elements get here?”

“Sister~!” Nuada shivered not from the cold, but at the voice of Luna being carried on them as she frantically flew in through a window. “The Elements! He’s taken them!”

“Who?!” Cinder asked confused.

“Our son! He just warped in as we were coming back with the Element Bearers, all fitted with their elements, and he took them along with the nearby guards!” Luna shouted with worry. “His eyes, we haven’t seen eyes like those since Discord’s acolytes!”

“Wait, Discord was actually worshiped as a god here?!” Nuada balked, only to be reminded of the situation as a whole stampede of windigoes burst into the theater, surrounding them on all sides and filling the entire place with snow, ice, and the essence of cold and despair.

“We need to stop Bronze, he’s obviously forgotten that we need the elements to stop the windigoes.” Sparkle stated prepping her gun again, “Anypony have a plan?”

Suddenly, desert.

“Uh...what?” Nuada asked as he gawked at the sudden change of scenery from freezing solid theater to still-freezing open dirt desert, the windigoes above just as clearly confused as they dispersed over the area, at a loss from being displaced so suddenly.

“Th-this is...this is the most sophisticated teleport I’ve ever-.”

Tropic island.

“Hey, where are we now? The ghost horses didn’t even come with-.”

Falling into a volcano from a great height.

“It’s Bronze! It has to be! He’s the only being in this dimension capable of something like this with Discord still sealed!” Sparkle shouted as she grabbed both Nuada and a panicking Cinder who couldn’t get her wings sorted out in her telekinesis, moments before they all crashed into a soft mountain of snow that they slid through and down the buried street of what was clearly once Canterlot, now frozen and empty, the winter spirits of hatred all galloping in the sky above, neighing in triumph.

“We don’t have time for the elements,” Nuada stated seeing the thick snow, “Celestia can you trigger the Fires of Friendship?”

Celestia suddenly exploded in flames being cast off her as her face turned bright red. “W-w-what?! B-but I hardly know you!”

“Huh?” Nuada looked confused, “Don’t we just need to sing some songs and be friendly? That was how it worked in my world.”

“Who told thou that load of horse apples? The Fires of Friendship is the complete and total reconciliation of differences through intimacy.” Luna said in bemusement.

“Starswirl and Clover the Clever.” Nuada stated, “And as I said; how it worked in my world.”

“...Our Starswirl and Clover the Clever informed us that it was cathartic hate sex that unleashed the Fires of Friendship. Through the act, the feuding parties were able to completely forget and forgive previous transgressions, even if only for the moment, but the six involved became life-long friends from the event.” Celestia informed bashfully.

“Oh.” Was all Nuada could say as the weight of what he had just asked Celestia hit him.

“Thou art a very prime specimen proud hound, but we’re afraid our old enemies will have learned from their past mistakes, even if any of us tried to commit to the act, they’d freeze us solid before we achieve climax.” Luna ruefully admitted as she looked up at the cheering spirits in worry.

Nuada turned slightly green as he heard his ‘sister’ make those comments. “Well to start we need to get rid of their food, can you get Bronze to go somewhere and relax?”

“Ah~...vut I am everyvere, and novere~.” Bronze’s voice echoed around them in a horribly bad Germane accent. “I am az far away az can be, vut also right next to you~....” Bronze whispered on the howling winds, his choking chuckles laced with madness.

“Bronze if you don’t calm down right now and bring your physical butt over here so help me, I’ll do it for you.” Nuada yelled energy coalescing around him.

“What, what? This butt?” Bronze asked, pieces of him seeming to be free-floating in the air, holding his plot towards Nuada a few feet away, his eyes now actively swirling. “Or this butt?” Bronze asked, seeming to also be holding Cinder’s plot much closer to his face, as the mare squealed, drawing attention to see that it seemed her whole rear sans lower legs was completely gone, but she was still standing, as if her body just ended at the stomach, and started at her rear knees, floating and being supported unseen as her hind hooves frantically shifted about, turning the scared mare around as if she were still whole.

“You put her back together right now.” Nuada said as he began to glow.

“Or what little puppy?” Nuada couldn’t feel his body, and he gasped at seeing his headless body waving around it’s arms, trying to feel his head on his empty shoulders. “Don’t lose your head, it’s really unbecoming!”

“That’s it!” Nuada roared in a flash of light pushing Bronze away from his head and snow away from his body. As the light receded Nuada stood whole, covered in ethereal white robes holding a white greatsword in his hand. Cinder too seemed to benefit as her plot had returned to where it was supposed to be.

“Oh boo, boo~! Someone who doesn’t like fun!” Bronze pouted as he wholly manifested, and grabbed the sides of his head, physically pulling his head in half, revealing an abyss of stars, galaxies and worlds within worlds like his mother’s mane and tail. “Let’s see what the cosmos has to say to that!” After his statement, Celestia and Luna suddenly vanished, leaving the three outworlders alone with the Discorded God of Space.

“Why don’t we?” Nuada said quickly grabbing Bronze’s tail and pulled him into the abyss as he jumped into Bronze’s head space, causing them to vanish into Bronze’s head like a snake eating itself until they were gone.

“Um what just happened?” Cinder asked shivering, since having lost her plot for a moment mortally terrified the succubus.

“I...I think Nuada just dragged Bronze into the abyss, while simultaneously going into Bronze’s personal Plane of Existence! Nuada you idiot! You’re challenging a god in a place where they’re nigh omnipotent!” Sparkle shouted angrily. “That’s like attacking Sheogorath in the Shivering Isles! You Don’t, Do It!”

“Can we help?” Cinder asked.

“No, we can’t. Starswirl might be able to get us there, but we don’t have the power to do much. We need to get focused on what we can handle, which means we need to get ponies starting some Fires of Friendship.” Sparkle said, her blush strong but hidden behind the mask.

“Wait you want us to go convince ponies to have a bunch of sex?” Cinder asked grinning, “I didn’t know you were into that Princess.”

“Oh can it, if we had an alternative I would go with that but we don’t have much of a choice do we? Can you make some lust aura or something?” She asked while holstering her gun.

“Well I’ll need to feed off somepony to get started. Think you can help me out?” Cinder said with a smirk and a wink.

“Wha.. You mean me, I couldn’t possibly… It’s not proper.” Sparkle said, getting flustered.

“Oh that reaction was great.” Cinder said laughing, “now Princess, just think of those things you want to do with Nuada for a few minutes. Sure you and I making out would be much more direct, but that will do.”

“You’re insufferable, and we’ll never talk about this. EVER!” Sparkle said the snow around her melting from her embarrassment.

“Oh that’s the stuff. Mm, yes~...more of your spiteful rage-lust in the mix if you please….” Cinder said drawing in the energy from Sparkle, biting her lip. “Nph~...you have really pent up urges Princess. You should, mmph...let them out or they’ll drive you nuts. Oh~! I can practically feel your horn in me!” Cinder panted, shaking her flanks and weakly flapping her velvety wings as she looked at a blushing scarlet Sparkle with want in her eyes.

“Just shut up and take my energy-ah!” A moment later Sparkle teleported them both away, leaving the windigos behind just seconds before a hail of dagger-like icicles would’ve skewered them, the spirits getting frantic to find the sudden source of Lust and Desire threatening a potential burst of Friendship Flames.

“Find them….”

[(X)]

Sparkle gasped as she and Cinder tumbled out of the teleport on yet another pile of snow, but Cinder’s body was getting so hot she melted it into an arctic stream, panting practical gouts of steam from her mouth. “Oh~ Sparkle~! You’re driving me crazy~!” Cinder cried out deliriously, her prehensile spaded tail moving to plunge between her flanks, but Sparkle stopped it with her magic.

“Save it for the ponies that live here.” Sparkle said trying to ignore the succubus.

“Sparkle! Fuck me! Please! Your restraint is going to kill my mind! Please!” Cinder begged, mashing her face into the snow, it rapidly turning to water as her body radiated enough heat to warm a small home. “Lust isn’t something you should hide all the time! It isn’t healthy and I’m going to cook to death if we don’t get this energy out!”

“Look, there are some ponies in that house go use your powers on them and get it out of your system.” Sparkle said mostly ignoring Cinder’s pleas.

“I can’t, they’d help but I need more ponies to give this to! We’re talking alicorn levels of restrained urges Sparkle, you’re not just an average mare.” Cinder argued as she grit her teeth and her curled ram horns shimmered with power, launching through the windows at the shivering ponies hunkered down in the snowed-in home, but she was still panting, her eyes turning red, shaking as she seemed to quickly become dizzy. “Not enough...need more vessels...gonna...die….”

“Hold on, we’re going on tour with this.” Sparkle said bringing up a life force sensor on her hud and teleported them to the next closest group of ponies.

“Not enough time.” Cinder said as she channeled more lust energy into ponies while they were rapidly blinking around Canterlot.

“If you hold out for this I’ll convince Nuada to give you a kiss.” Sparkle said sweating as she teleported them to Ponyville.

“I-if I try to I...I won’t be able to...get that...kiss….” Cinder weakly said, bonelessly falling into Sparkle’s side, the tears coming to her eyes evaporating from how hot she was getting, Sparkle could feel she’d be getting burned if not for her N7 armor and her shield.

“You hold on soldier.” Sparkle said as she grabbed Cinder in her magic, she removed her helmet, and held the mare’s worryingly still face in front of hers. “I just know I’m going to regret this.”

Cinder felt wet lips on her’s and a tongue probing for permission to enter. Cinder opened her mouth and weakly pushed back into the kiss, sending her own tongue in. Sparkle held Cinder close as they kissed deeply, rubbing against each other as Sparkle practically hugged the larger mare into her, pulling her to the snowy ground, dominating the succubus with an unleashed fervor that made the red mare whimper as she exploded in an aura of pink, cascading across a huge area now awash with the radiance of a pink flaming aura.

When they slowed down, Sparkle and Cinder pulled away, trails of saliva connecting their lips as their panting breaths steamed the freezing air, both looking astonished into each other’s eyes. “Th-that was...impressive Sparkle.” Cinder said with a tone of admiration, grinning. “I knew you had a real mare under that soldier facade.”

“That never happened and we never talk about it again.” Sparkle stammered her face beet red.

“Aw but it was so much fun, we really should do it again sometime.” Cinder said with a sly grin. “Not to mention, I’m pretty sure we just caused some Fires of Friendship to appear. So we will be talking later, whenever you get comfortable.” Cinder said with a surprisingly soft expression, making Sparkle blush faintly and look away.

“N-not happening, idiot, now let’s get moving, we have a nation to thaw out.” Sparkle said noticing Cinder was feeling better, “Can you feed off these ponies now?”

“That blast just caused some of the fuzziest, warmest feelings I’ve ever felt. I’m pretty sure the ponies around here aren’t going to need me to feed off them, not if we do that little makeout session a few times in heavily populated areas. I swear. There was enough tingly Friendship feelings in that I almost want to just, cuddle up with you and nap or something.” Cinder admitted as she stretched and got up, helping Sparkle to her hooves too.

“I’d rather you just use your normal lust aura.” Sparkle said, continuing to hold Cinder’s hoof and teleporting them out of Ponyville.

Meanwhile, inside the nearby Golden Oaks library….

“Oh~ Dashie! Your wings are so soooooft~!” Pinkie Pie gushed as if she was high, snuggling into Dash’s side as said cyan pegasus blankly stared off into space as her best friends all snuggled her out of nowhere, their Elements all shining as if about to go off.

“Girls...I know I’m Loyalty...but I’m getting the impression it’s not my endearing qualities you’re so interested in….” Dash deadpanned as Rarity cooed while brushing out Dash’s mane. “Whatever that pink thing was, I’m going to buck in the face of whoever caused it.” Then she gasped, and blushed at feeling something quite familiar between her thighs. “Hey-HEY! Only Gilda’s allowed to-whoa~! Uh...wow...keep going….”

[(X)]

Nuada and Bronze tumbled out of nothing and the diamond dog cried out as he tripped over a soapstone coffee table, and landed face-first into an obscenely comfortable brown couch cushion.

“Welcome back sir, and guest. Oh dear. It would seem sir is currently out of his mind. I’m afraid there’s not much I can do about that Master Nuada. You have my apologies.” Jeeves apologized from off to the side as Bronze cackled madly, his split head severing down his body, and completely splitting him in two, one was all cosmic void on the right, the other all cosmic void on the left.

“It's cool Jeeves I just need to smack some sense into him.” Nuada said kicking out with a paw in Right Bronze’s direction aiming to hit him across the face.

But it refused.

“...What?” Nuada asked in slight concern, seeing Jeeves’ smooth stone hand holding his leg at the knee.

“As I said, apologies.” Jeeves then suddenly socked Nuada in the chest, sending him flying out the massive multi-view bay windows, shattering one and finding himself floating in a swirling black abyss with floating land masses containing cities, forests, and mountains, among other various biomes. The entire place was lit by an impossibly close yellow star, it’s heat not really reaching anywhere it’s light touched.

“Well shit.” Nuada said as he tried to stop himself from moving.

“Do not bother.” Jeeves was suddenly standing in front of Nuada on nothing, and the dog tried to get a hit in with his huge sword, only to strike nothing. “I shall convey your method of propulsion.” Jeeves then grabbed the back of Nuada’s neck by the scruff, and flung him through the gravity-less void towards a city that seemed to have been blasted by a nuclear warhead, the iconic but ruined cityscape of Las Vegas approaching rapidly.

Nuada slammed through a few floors of the windowless and skeletal Wynn building, crashed through the burned-out Treasure Island Casino hotel, and landed in a crater on the ruined former Interstate 15, abandoned cars with still rotting human corpses being flung away from his impact as the wind escaped his lungs, but he felt no permanent damage thanks to the Light Hawk WIng armor. “Jeeves, any chance you can at least help me by telling me how to stop Bronze?” Nuada asked the air, knowing he’d be heard as he looked around in shock at all the corpses, those Bronze couldn’t save before the bombs claimed them, the sheer death and destruction far more impacting up close.

“I’m afraid Master Bronze is nigh omnipotent within this given pocket of existence.” Jeeves casually informed Nuada as he came into existence several paces away next to a flipped-over orange corvette, removing his double breasted tux jacket, and pulling off his tie, draping them over an arm. “Anything I could tell you would be meaningless here, so long as I am here to guide him, or act in his stead, even complete insanity will not avail you an advantage.”

“Just look around you!” Bronze’s voice echoed in duplicate, the area directly in front of Nuada’s face opening into a visor-sized portal rapidly displaying desiccated, dead, and destroyed locations. “This, is all MINE! This ruin of a dead world! It was things such as Greed, Selfishness, and Cowardice that created this! Created ME!”

Left Bronze, the one with the Cosmic Void for his left half, sneered furiously at Nuada from a short distance once the portal vanished. “And now the fools I saved are corrupting my new world!”

Right Bronze, the inverse, was grinning madly a distance to Left’s left, his eye eerily squinted with glee. “Christmas is just the beginning! Consumerism, the bit being worth more than the pony. A shopper trampled to death just another sad statistic, isn’t it wonderful?”

“LOOK WHAT GREED AND INDIFFERENCE HAVE DONE!” Bronze screamed in unison, one in fury, the other in joy.

“As you yourself might say. ‘No Need For Christmas.’” Jeeves snarked, before warping into Nuada’s personal space, going for a knee to his gut.

Nuada took the knee, getting sent flying down the highway, scattering wreckages like bowling pins. Oddly nothing exploded, and no oil or gasoline or other fluids went spilling as he tumbled through the husks of vehicles. Coughing slightly, Nuada winced as he felt a bruise taking hold. ‘That knee could have killed me in my normal armor….’ He thought as he moved to jump out of the pile of smashed vehicles, seeing that kick had sent him far enough north up the 15 to nearly hit the Spaghetti Bowl highway interchange.

“You forget something.” Nuada said taking up the traditional Jurain stance with his sword as Right Bronze and Jeeves appeared within sight. “If that was all that made up the humans then you wouldn’t have saved any of yours. You and I both know as bad as some humans can get, there are still some redeemable traits about them.” Nuada clenched his sword tight as he began to fly towards Jeeves. “And the most important things is Equestria is the land of harmony and friendship. Equestrian ponies will save your survivors and will corrupt what darkness is left in the hearts of humans with love and tolerance. For that to happen you need to chill the FUCK OUT!”

Nuada shot sideways instead of striking Jeeves, who blinked in surprise, and used the flat of his blade to slap Left Bronze in the side of the head launching the stallion into the sky out of the city into a random floating landmass that seemed to be sideways with a molten Eiffel Tower indicating the ruins there were once part of Paris.

“Aw, how sporting~! You used the flat of your sword. Such a gentledog.” Right Bronze cheerily beamed with his left half of a face.

“There is no need to hold back that much sir. So long as one of us stands, the Master will be alright.” Jeeves informed, before his eyes suddenly widened a bit. “Oh dear...I believe that might actually have been a weakness I divulged.”

“Well then feel free to pick up the slack Jeeves~! How about you show your full physical manifestation?” Right Bronze cheered while he pronked about as Nuada’s eyes widened in panic.

“Oh, very well sir. I do so dislike this form. It’s quite brutish.” Jeeves’ voice deepened as his body cracked, showing even more lines of light before exploding, sending shrapnel everywhere, and after having swatted the shards that would’ve hit him out of the way, Nuada was now facing down a smooth stone golem balrog, a winged balrog at that. “Master has such an affinity with satyrs and minotaurs, taurs in general really. This form’s restraints are much less, I hope you don’t mind being pulped, apologies in advance.”

“Don’t worry Jeeves I won’t die so easily.” Nuada replied, then charged towards Right Bronze with his sword dropped low for a sprinting slash.

Only for Right Bronze to surprise Nuada with a sudden VW Bug flying directly at him from Right Bronze’s position, forcing Nuada to slash the flying vehicle in half to spare being sent flying himself. “Blue Punch Buggy~!” Right Bronze hysterically cried out, and suddenly numerous specifically blue VW Bugs were launching from random points in the air at Nuada, forcing him to dodge as he approached the manic stallion. “No punch back!” Right Bronze taunted as Nuada slashed at his neck, only for the half-there alicorn’s head to detach on its own, causing Nuada to miss.

“Time to service our Volkswagon it seems.” Jeeves barbed as he appeared behind Nuada and performed a lightning-quick palm strike that the diamond dog barely managed to block with the flat of his greatsword.

“AAAAAAAAARGH!” Left Bronze screamed with primal rage as he appeared far overhead, holding a whole damn skyscraper, Paris’ former Tour Total that he telekinetically thrusted down at them, roof first, and Nuada barely had time to avoid the titanic impact zone before the hollow mass of steel and various other materials shattered the 15 and promptly crashed through the remains of the Spaghetti Bowl turnpike.

“Bronze I think you need a timeout.” Nuada said running up the length of the building heading for Left Bronze.

“Well why don’t we give you a tour of our hometown to apologize?! If you’ll look to your left!” Nuada snarled in fury as he suddenly found himself atop one of the nearby buildings instead of cutting Left Bronze to pieces. “YOU’LL SEE THE WORLD MARKET CENTER BUILDING A!” Left Bronze shouted from his spot in the air, and Nuada stumbled back as Right Bronze suddenly got in his face, his horn shining blue as darkness suddenly covered them.

“And above you’ll see Building B!” Nuada shot his head up to see the foundation of an equally enormous block-like building rushing down at them both, which Nuada roared about as he charged energy into his sword and swung, slicing clean through all 32+ floors of both Building A which he and Right Bronze stood on, and Building B which split over them.

Nuada grimly stood still as he leered at the no-longer smiling Right Bronze, who was frozen still as Building B crashed to either side of Building A, which was when both his cosmic and flesh halves split, and while the ether dissipated, Right Bronze’s dead flesh simply fell innards down, dumping blood onto the roof and down the clean cut Nuada made in it.

Nuada heaved air as energy bled off of him and he reverted to his juraian battle armor, sweat dripped from his face as he gasped for air. Maintaining the Light Hawk Wing form took a considerable amount of concentration and energy. It didn’t help this was his second time using them ever. “Aw, how cute.” Nuada froze, weakly looking up at the grim-faced Left Bronze who stood barely a few feet away next to his dead half. “You’ve left only the best parts of me insane.”

“I believe that’s quite enough sir.” Jeeves stated as he appeared next to Left Bronze and casually picked up the dead half of the stallion. “Beings you’ve lost half of your brain matter, I believe it’s for the best we put you back together now that you’re not overwhelmed with that odd manic energy.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure. Whatever.” Left Bronze said listlessly, the way the stallion seemed completely devoid of energy concerned Nuada, until the sheepdog about barfed at seeing Jeeves carelessly slap the open side of the dead half into the cosmic ether, and it knitted the two organic halves back together, restoring life to the dead half and making the living half cringe until they were back together again. “Ow~....” Bronze quietly whispered as he staggered and slowly lowered himself to the roof, forelegs over his head. “Did I hit the cider again?”

Gasping for air Nuada tried to explain. “You… *gasp* you went nuts on… *gasp* on us. Had to kick your ass.”

“Again?” Nuada quirked an eyebrow in surprise. “I haven’t gone into a blind berserking rage since the hydra attack.” Bronze grumbled, weakly opening his eyes, making Nuada’s heart race at seeing the stallion’s eyes were still opaque light blue swirls on eye-dominating dark blue irises with no pupils, but they weren’t shining, or spinning. “Why does everything have...seams?”

“Oh dear. It would seem whatever happened has increased Lord Bronze’s connection to his Aspect. It would explain why he was able to ignore limitations on the solidity of matter and move them about without negative feedback on the original objects he manipulated.” Jeeves pondered aloud, tsking as his body compacted back down into a human shape, reforming the glowing cracks as his preferred clothes returned to him. “This is a spot of bother. He isn’t ready to be able to splice apart and together different materials yet.”

“So that whole *pant* deal with the *pant* separating Cinder’s plot and my head?” Nuada asked for clarification as he lowered himself to the flat roof to sit down and catch his breath.

“Yes, such sophisticated quantum mechanics shouldn’t be available to him yet. Whatever energy infused Lord Bronze with his bout of insanity has given him an unexpected boost in his compatibility with his Aspect of Space, which is saying something.” Jeeves stated, before both exhausted males were seamlessly transitioned to be on the luxurious brown microfiber couches of Bronze’s main room, Bronze’s dogs and cats all quickly moving to comfort them in worry. But the dogs went straight for Nuada as the cats jumped on the tired and migraine suffering Bronze. “Take a rest here, whenever you wish to go back will be shortly after you’d have left.”

“Yeah...that sounds great….” Nuada rasped out as he let the dogs snuggle into him and closed his eyes.

[@]

Bronze’s front door opened in the air where he and Nuada last disappeared, the two both weakly stumbling out onto the deep snow with the door closing behind them. “Dude...whatever changes...I’m staying in my Personal Plane whenever this holiday comes around.” Bronze hissed as his head pounded, throbbing, the immediate area’s stability visibly wavering as snowflakes clumped together into snowballs and a nearby lamppost seemed to fuse with the ice covering it. “Flocking...ow….”

“Good idea, just be careful not to turn anyone into living golems or something with that freaky matter splicing power you’ve gotten.” Nuada edged away, worried he might turn into a more literal ‘snow dog’ than he already was.

“Ugh...I didn’t ask to go berserk and totally lose my shit Nuada. So sorry in advance if I end up splicing you with having a more unliving limb or something ala Fullmetal Alchemist.” Bronze grumbled, before the loud whinnies of the windigoes above reminded the two there was more dire matters than Bronze apparently becoming bullshit OP as the winter spirits all converged on them and pranced about, neighing. “What’re they doing?”

“I think they’re just surrounding us. Usually they’d just charge in and freeze us to death.” Nuada warily said as he prepared his Master Key. “You able to do anything to them?”

“What? No, not really. They’re not actually physically here. I can see there’s no seams on them, so they’re actual spirits, and spirits are beyond me. I only govern the Physical.” Bronze calmly said as he casually approached one that nickered at him. “They’re oddly docile….”

“Hm...it might be because there’s no source of obvious hatred to feed off of.” Nuada considered, reaching out with a paw and taking it back when just touching one of the spirits almost froze his paw solid. “But with the problems they’ve been causing, you’d think ponies would be filled with hate for them right now.”

“You can thank the purple alicorn and her pet succubus for that.” A wispy and ethereal mare’s voice echoed softly on the gentle breeze, getting the two to whirl on the source, both stunned into lowering their guard at the sight of the ephemeral beauty.

The regal snow-white unicorn mare had a stature comparable to the royal sisters, her icy blue mane and tail just as ethereal as theirs. She seemed to wear a sheer see-through gown of blue that draped tastefully over her body as her impassive face of otherworldly beauty examined them with her cold blue eyes. However, she was clearly just as much a ghost as the mindless horses around them, as they could faintly see through her.

“Once again, I am thwarted by the Fires of Friendship. However, that is fine. I see the world has changed so much in the time I have been gone. There is so much love in this world, but what hate there is festers so deeply, it is like a dark cancer in the hearts of the living. I thank you handsome stallion, for freeing me of my entombment in the Far Frozen.” The mare said with a faint smile on her otherwise impassive face. “Your hatred is so deep, so justified. I can find admiration for one with such all-consuming hatred.”

“Who are you?” Bronze leered, trying to ignore his pounding skull as the snow around them seemed to decrease in density, almost swallowing him and Nuada before compacting around them, leaving their heads above the snow as the mare weightlessly strode over to them, the two too weak from their previous fight to wrestle free of the sudden entrapment.

“I am Asphodel. Your kind remembers me as the Winter Witch.” She demurely chuckled as she neared the shivering Bronze who tried to use his magic, only for his horn to freeze solid in ice, causing his teeth to chatter as Nuada struggled to get free. The mare lowered her face to the trapped stallion, and smiled darkly. “Beyond that. I don’t quite remember much beyond a Hatred that has let me cling to this existence.” She then forced his chin up, and Nuada panicked when she kissed him, and visibly saw the black stallion rapidly become still.

“Leave him alone! Stop it!” Nuada hissed as he tried to draw upon his Light Hawk Wings, and managed to flash-cook the surrounding snow, and windigoes, before using the burst of energy to swing his sword at the ghost, who vanished before he could strike her, and he quickly freed his friend who was disturbingly still. “Wake up! C’mon! Don’t die on me!”

“His Hate was filling. Do be sure to keep him warm, I might want another taste sometime.” Asphodel’s voice lilted on the still air, ending on a haunting demure cackle as Nuada hugged the large stallion as best he could, the alicorn’s body having gone as cold and still as the snow around them.

“Help! Someone!” Nuada screamed before his Light Hawk Wings suddenly vanished again, leaving him completely drained, and he passed out on top of the dying alicorn.

Author's Notes:

............