The sounds of cobalt-comprised pickaxes and drills, along with a pair of skeletal arms, go off as Twilight and Co. carve through the ice that had encased the innards of the lavender mare’s castle, or Pylon of Heroes.

With one final and conjoined strike, the group managed to break through to the outside world as the sound of conflict raging throughout Hometown graced their ears, and the chilling cold bites at their fur and skin as the Snow Biome continued to spread.

All eyes set upon the fortress hovering above the settlement. “Ok, everyone,” Twilight began at the helm. She had opted for a speech at first but found it unnecessary, given the circumstances and urgency.

“Let’s go do what we do best. Logic dictates that the best way to deal with such a fortress is to breach and destroy it from within. I understand that’s easier said than done, but try to make an opening, and when you do,” she unfurls her wings and fires up her horn, “HIT IT HARD AND WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT!”

With a flap of her wings, the alicorn takes off into the sky with Pinkie, Linn, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Mena, Zecora, and Cadence the Princess going forth into battle.

Cryogen, the floating castle, lets loose a distorted and drawn-out siren sound as residents of Hometown wage war against it, both on ground level and in the air—evidenced by the casting of magics, the firing of ranged weaponry, explosions, and the clanking of melee attacks.

The ice castle forges a series of flesh-piercing shards of frost and unleashes them upon its enemies in a relentless hail, killing some in the process while others perform defensive actions.

Reaching a certain altitude, Twilight barrels and spins to dodge the barrage before facing the icy fortress, aiming her alighted horn and roaring out as she unleashed a relentless beam of purple energy-prowess. Although the attack had left its mark, the resulting indention is immediately ‘healed’ as the ice making up Cryogen’s being closes the ‘wound.’

A rapid presence is seen zipping nearby as, during her traversal, Rainbow Dash conjures forth the Star Cannon from her inventory and fires a near-endless assault of gathered fallen stars while simultaneously dodging ice shards.

Comparatively lower in altitude than Twilight and Rainbow, Pinkie is held up in an open Skeletron palm imbued by the symbiote, Toxin’s, alien flesh as Mena stands within the other palm. On cue, the sisters nod at one another before pulling out a cannon and setting it down on the skeletal palms in one swift motion. Each cannon was decorated in a fashion that matched their owners, one fun-loving and the other edgy, as the sisterly duo fired off the cannons with an explosive, crackling boom.

As for the skull portion of Skeletron’s collective, also covered by the symbiote, it could be seen launching itself at the fortress in the short distance before pulling away and firing a pair of crimson lasers from its’ eye sockets.

Naturally, the skeletal being’s presence surprised various Hometown residents—seeing their ancient, necromancing foe fight alongside them. But a vouch from Cadence the Princess alleviated some of the tension, arguing that even Skeletron himself recognizes, and in his own words via an interview held by Discord:

‘There are beings here that could destroy me instantly should I ever ‘act up’ again… I may be undead, but I’m not a zombie operating on one brain cell.’

At ground level and trekking through the snow-covered, stone-paved ruined street, Applejack calmly approaches Cryogen with Zecora, Linn, and the Princess at her rear, the group passing by other ground forces locked in their own conflicts with the floating ice structure.

Cryogen lets out another wave of piercing shards in every direction, skewering buildings, streets, and those who could not dodge or resist the projectiles. As the barrage heads for Applejack and Co., the orange dryad/pony hybrid, earthly-made wings folded on either side, slightly cocks her head to the right, eyes glowing green.

A series of transparent leaves manifest and dance around the orange cowmare, all while she and her allies continue onward unbothered. Before the ice projectiles attempt to make contact with them, a series of vines swiftly erupts from the ground, whipping and thrashing about like the tentacles of a large cephalopod beneath the ocean’s surface.

The vines effectively slap aside every ice shard. However, the group abruptly paused and flared caution as Cryogen released another ominous siren.

Following the echoing sound that puts all of its enemies on edge, the floating fortress seemingly willed the innumerable ice shards it had manifested to return, some prying themselves free from structures and corpses.

The shards then began to merge upon returning to Cryogen, forming protective spires that circled the near-sentient structure. Satisfied with its defenses, the castle goes on the offense—many blue, magical ice orbs forming as even a blizzard builds slowly yet surly around the general vicinity.

A distorted horn sound made itself known, and the ice orbs began to burst, sending forth many blasts of ice magic. The residents of Hometown attempt to dodge the new set of projectiles but are surprised to find that these are capable of honing in on their target.

More lives are lost—others manage to escape such a fate. But there was one thing everyone throughout the vastness of Hometown agreed on collectively:

Cryogen, despite its frostbitten nature, was just warming up.

---

Within the Pylon of Heroes and outside of the Cutie Map/Throne Room, Tzana and Snowdrop are locked in combat within an icy chamber of the frost-pegasus’ design.

The two mares launched themselves off the wall from either end of the chamber and careened toward one another—Tzana wielding her Old Lord Oathsword, Snowdrop, a piercing glacier growing out and around her right forelimb.

They cry out in unison as their weaponry clash, followed by a physical struggle in the chamber’s epicenter as they push against one another while grunting.

“Nnng—you have no idea what you’re up against, child,” Snowdrop said during the struggle. “You-”

“Yeah, yeah, save me the ‘YoU cAn’T cOmPrEhEnD mY pOwEr’ speech,” Tzana interjects, slightly pushing the frost pegasus back, causing them to right themselves and resist with an aggressive growl.

“What…a load…of cliche,” the light-brown earth pony bellows as she channels more strength into another push, “bullshit!”

The action throws the ice-coated pegasus back, who then flaps her wings to catch herself, flips backward, and lands a short distance from her opponent.

“Listen, Frosty the Snowcunt,” Tzana began, swiping her blade to the right. “If all you’re going to do is run your mouth, I can just go outside and fight another Hearth’s Warming fictional character—like that flying castle. Then again, I don’t suppose you could point me towards Rudolph the Red-Nosed Eldritch, could you?”

“You…you think this is a joke?!” The icy pegasus roared, eyes filled with white energy. Tzana was about to answer with an unhesitant ‘Yes’ but cautiously took a defensive stance upon hearing dark laughter from the pegasus.

“Hehehehe… You… You want a Hearth’s Warming story…?” A haunting mist forms and swirls around the pegasus, which soon obstructs her within a generalized cyclone-blizzard, with only her ghostly white eyes visible from within the veil.

“I’LL GIVE YOU A HEARTH’S WARMING STORY!!!” Snowdrop’s voice boomed and echoed, followed by a chilling roar that permeated from within the cyclone.

Tzana could tell that the roar itself, although somewhat equine, was also something a pony couldn’t normally vocalize. It was…different. Ancient. Supernatural.

The cyclone-blizzard began to take on a familiar yet different shape. And as what seemed to be a transformation progressed further and further, accompanied by echoing neighs and whinnies, what burst out of the cyclone was what Snowdrop had promised.

It wasn’t just something from a Hearth’s Warming tale…it was single-hoofedly responsible for the formation of the Equestrian holiday altogether.

A windigo.

“Huh…” Tzana quipped after a deadpanned pause, blinking her eyes twice. “So she’s a windigo… That’s just—”

The windigo ghostly whinnies while lunging forth.

“—oh, shIIIIT!”

The unveiled Snowdrop slams Tzana against the wall and smashes through it—causing the earth pony to drop her weapon—as the windigo forces their opponent through solid blocks of ice and crystals.

“Congratulations!” Snowdrop declared while continuing to force the earth pony through like a crude drill. “You’d best start telling this Hearth’s Warming story, Tzana… YOU’RE IN IT!!!”

Tzana grits her teeth, feeling every blow as the windigo pushes her through the ice and parts of the castle.

“I-i’m,” she managed, “s-so suing y-you for copy-r-right infringement!”

The windigo laughs as they continue driving the earth pony to the outside world.

---

The unraveled windigo emerges from the Pylon of Heroes with Tzana held within its forelimbs and spins in place, letting go of the earth pony and sending her crashing down through the roof of an adjacent, multi-storied building.

Tzana smashes through three floors before finally stopping, falling on her back in a hallway.

“That…sucked…” She groaned through closed eyes, opening them slowly, only to see the windigo looking down at her from the latest hole in the ceiling as the entity began to descend to her level.

“So,” Snowdrop starts after descending into the hall, “what did you think of that story, hmm?”

Tzana’s ears twitched as she looked up to the windigo while on her back, chuckling, “Heh. Don’t suppose we could return to when you were still a pegasus?”

A pleasant expression presents itself on the ghostly equine’s ‘features.’ Then, a sudden black and purple anomaly manifested on a nearby wall, followed by Arche’s flailing form as he collided with the adjacent wall and landed on the floor.

“Hey, Snowdrop!” Synergy greets as the sisterly counterpart of Arche exits the breach, a ruined field of grass visible from beyond the portal—the telltale signs of the siblings’ conflict. “Love the new look, girl.”

The windigo sighed in annoyance. “Idiot.”

“S-so…” Arche comments as the black earth pony and Tzana get back onto their hooves. “How’s things on your end?”

“Turns out Snowdrop’s a windigo. So, there’s that,” Tzana answered. “You?”

“Sister’s as crazy as ever. She brought Cryogen here via one of her portals, and we bonded over several biomes. Mind you, that’s while we fought and threw each other through our portals.”

“Eh,” Tzana shrugged. “All things considered—just another day in this crazy world.”

“Speaking of crazy,” Arche says as his features hardened. “Here they come.”

Both Snowdrop and Synergy began their steady approach, prompting the duo of earth ponies to shift to attention.

Tzana stretches a forelimb out to the right. “And what do you think you’re doing?” Snowdrop asked.

“Calling a friend,” the light-brown mare answered. Seconds after, something smashes through the wall to her right as her Old Lord Oathsword seems to answer her call, the mare swiftly plucking the blade and wielding it again.

She then stands on her hind legs, calls forth another blade from her inventory, and wields it in her remaining forehoof: Bladecrest Oathsword.

“Ok, ladies,” the dual-wielding mare states while crossing her blades, Arche summoning spectral, lavender tridents and floating them around him.

“Let’s try this again.”

With that, both tag teams roar in unison and rush at their foes for another bout, their clash causing the entire hallway and the building itself to shake violently.

---

From the western portion of Hometown, Arctic Ace leads a small collective of individuals he had gathered throughout the conflict as the group makes their way toward the Pylon of Heroes.

“Keep moving, everypony!” The ice-winged stallion announced as he was tailed by the Pokemon trainer, Obsidian Red—mounted on her Charizard and soaring through the air; Flash Sentry—also airborne, and Flame Heart, who ran on ground level with an assortment of crystal ponies.

“We’re almost there!”

“How will Princess Twilight’s castle help us to stop Cryogen?!” One of the crystal ponies, a unicorn mare, questioned.

“It’s so much more than just a castle,” Ace answered. “The crystals it’s made of are the same as Pylons. Essentially, the entire thing is one giant Pylon, which is one of the reasons it’s earned its name, Pylon of Heroes.”

“Ok,” Flash Sentry chimed in. “But how does that help us?”

“Wait a second…” Red began in realization from atop her Charizard. “If the stories about Cryogen are true, then…that means…”

Arctic Ace nods in confirmation while looking back to her over his shoulder. He then turns his gaze forward again in determination.

“The Pylon of Heroes can access any and all types of Pylons, and that's because it's a Universal Pylon. And within Cryogen lies the key to our success: the Snow Pylon.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 114 - Boss Fight: Cryogen Pt: 3 Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes