Twilight's initial plan to take Billy to Canterlot that day had to be put on ice for a while due to...well, ice. The pegasi ponies had apparently fallen behind in their snow days due to the constant destruction of Ponyville and all the evil ponies coming to destroy them. So when Billy woke up the next morning, he looked out the window to find that the world had been covered in a white blanket. A smile crossed his face and he jumped out of bed and ran over to Spike, shaking the dragon until he was startled awake.

"GAH! B-Billy? What's going on? Another evil pony attack? Chrysalis has returned?" Spike asked quickly as he started looking around for what had gotten Billy so worked up.

"Better than any of that! Spike, it snowed!" The look Spike gave him was one of the utmost hate.

"You woke me up from my warm bed and awesome dream because of a little snow?" he asked with no emotion. When Billy nodded excitedly, Spike grabbed the covers of his bed and rolled back over, muttering to himself. Billy tried to wake him a few more times, but Spike was once again sound asleep. So with a shrug, Billy raced down the stairs into the kitchen, where Twilight was trying her hoof at breakfast again.

"Morning Twilight!" Billy said happily as he sat himself down at the table.

"Oh, good morning Billy. I thought I heard you get up," she replied with a smile, moving his pancakes onto his plate. "I see that you weren't able to get Spike up either, huh?"

"Nope, he really likes his sleep," Billy said while she slid his food to him. He looked down at the pancakes with some hesitation, remembering the little fiasco last time.

"Don't worry, Pinkie showed me how to properly cook these last night when I had the girls over," Twilight assured him, sitting herself down across from him and beginning to eat her own batch. "The pegasi teams really pulled out a massive snow storm today. I doubt that we'll be able to get to Canterlot today."

"That's fine with me. With all the hero work I had back home, I haven't been able to play in the snow in ages," Billy explained while wolfing down the pancakes, thankful that they were actually like the ones they had one earth and weren't made of some weird grass. He walked over to the stove and scooped up more pancakes. "Think Applebloom and the others would want to come along?"

"I doubt it," Twilight muttered as Billy inhaled the stack he had just grabbed. "Those three normally spend days like this trying to get their cutie marks. Actually, they spend every day like that."

"What's their obsession with those marks anyway?" Billy asked as he went back for thirds. "I thought that those showed up when a pony discovered their special talent?"

"Yes, but those three are impatient and would rather spend every minute trying to find their talent instead of waiting for it to happen naturally," Twilight said with wide eyes, watching as Billy downed his third stack. "Um, did you eat at all in your world?"

"Sometimes I had to go days without food, so I eat whenever I can," Billy said with a frown and Twilight giving him a sympathetic glance. "But back to the CMC. So these cutie marks are the only thing they care about?"

"Yes and no. They want their cutie marks more than anything else, but they still enjoy having fun with their sisters and others. And yes, Rainbow Dash acts as an old sister to Scootaloo," Twilight said, predicting Billy's next question. "They might hang out with you, but you'd have to convince them not to go crusading, which is tougher than it sounds."

"That's okay, I can think of something," Billy said with a shrug, standing up and heading for the door. "Thanks for breakfast. I'm going to head out to Rarity's. I need a coat and some gloves for this kind of weather."

"Did somepony say Rarity?" Spike had come flying down the stairs at the sound of her name and had run right over to Billy "You wouldn't mind if I came along as well, would you?"

"Um, I guess not..." Billy began, but Spike threw open the door and waved to Twilight.

"By Twilight, we'll be back later!" he said with a smile, grabbing Billy's sleeve and dragging him out the door with him. Spike took off at a pretty fast pace towards Rarity's, leaving Billy to jog after him. Despite being taller, he still had to run pretty fast to keep up with Spike. As they ran to the Carousel, Billy looked around the town with an aching heart. The buildings were still in bad shape and a lot of the ponies were living in tents for the time being. Twilight had been informed that the princesses had been out during the attack, investigating another far off village being decimated. She had told them last night that every time one if these attacks happened that the princesses would hide something from her. Billy wasn't sure what to think, but he prayed that it wasn't Doomsday. With no way to contact the league, he was against that monster all on his own. He snapped out of his thoughts to realize that they had reached Rarity's and headed inside. They found the mare hard at work on a design, but she stopped what she was doing when she saw the two of them enter.

"Billy! Spike! Please, sit yourselves down and tell me what I can do for you," she said with a smile, waving them over to some chairs off to the side.

"I'm here because I'd like to ask you for a coat and some gloves," Billy asked humbly, remembering that he had no money. "I can't pay for it right away, but I can work it-"

"Nonsense darling, as long as you're trapped in our world, I won't take a bit from you," Rarity said with a smile, taking out her measuring tape and measuring Billy's hands. "I must admit to you that I am fascinated to make clothing for a creature such as yourself. We don't get humans in these parts, so I always enjoy a chance to make something new. Plus, I can't just let you go out into this weather with nothing to protect you."

"Hi, Rarity," Spike said with affection. Billy could swear that he saw little hearts in his eyes.

"Hello Spike. Now Billy, if you could just stand over here I'll get to work on that coat of yours," Rarity ordered, showing Billy where to stand. He did so and watched as she worked her magic to begin making his request. Cloth floated all around here, different tools were picked up and discarded and she put on a face of the utmost concentration. The thick cloth she eventually settled on was soon transformed into a master piece of fashion. She floated the coat over to him so that he could examine it for himself. She had gone the same route as his shirt, making the coat bright red with a golden lightning bolt down the side. He was a little nervous about that, but the hood is what really startled him. It was a white hood with golden trim around it and the white pattern extended halfway down the back of the coat. He looked at her with worry in his face, but she gave him a wink and put her hoof to her lips.

"Right, now that your coat is done, it's time for the gloves." As Rarity began the procedure, Billy could hear the sounds of hooves walking down the stairs. He turned to find a sleepy Sweetie Belle with incredible bed head standing at the foot of the stairs.

"Rarity, why are you being so loud? I have the day off and want to sleep...Billy? Spike? What are you two doing here?" she asked with a smile, instantly waking up and running over to them.

"I'm here to have a few clothes made. Spike is," Billy began, looking over at Spike who still hadn't taken his eyes off Rarity. "Actually, I have no idea why he's here."

"Why are you having clothes made? Yours look fine," she asked while looking at his clothes, getting a confused look when she looked at the lightning bolt on his chest and jacket.

"I'm having them made so that I can go play in the snow," Billy replied, moving the jacket out of view. "I haven't done that since I was a lot younger and I plan to have fun today."

"Sounds cool! I'd join you, but me and the girls were planning to go look for our cutie marks today," she said with enthusiasm. "We're going to try and get our marks in manticore wrangling!"

"Oh no you're not!" Rarity's voice said from across the room. "The last time the three of you messed with a manticore we had to drive the poor creature out of town. I don't want to see you going anywhere near a manticore."

"Fine!" Sweetie Belle yelled back before motioning for Billy to come in closer. "We're not actually taming a manticore. We’re actually going to see if we can find a sphinx. We heard that there was one spotted in the forest a few days ago."

"What's a sphinx like?"

"Apparently they tell you a riddle and if you get it wrong they try to eat you," she explained, recalling what she had learned in class. "If we can find it, we might get out cutie marks as riddle masters!"

"Or you'll get eaten," Billy pointed out.

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," Sweetie Belle said with a shocked expression.

"Billy, they're done!" Billy raced back over to Rarity to find that she had indeed crafted his glove. They were a golden color with lightning running through them. There was no doubt in Billy's mind that she knew, but he was grateful to her for seemingly not telling any of the other ponies. He slipped them on and immediately felt warmth course through his fingers.

"Wow, these are amazing. Thanks."

"No need for thanks, I'm just happy to help, especially after everything you've gone through since you came here," Rarity said with a sly smile, leaving Sweetie Belle confused.

"Since what? What happened since he came here?"

"Sweetie, shouldn’t' you be heading out to meet your friends?"

"Right. I'd better get going." She started to walk to the door, but Billy stopped her and pulled her aside.

"Hey, after you three have gone and...solved the sphinxes riddle, you guys wanna come and have fun together?"

"Sure! What better way to celebrate getting our cutie marks than to spend the day with a friend!" Billy agreed and Sweetie Belle took of through the door to go meet her friends, leaving a concerned Billy behind. He was fairly certain that they wouldn't find the sphinx, even if there was one. But if they were to find it, would they be able to solve its riddle?

"Would you mind watching them, just to be safe?" Rarity asked, thinking along the same lines as him. Billy nodded and headed out the door, following Sweetie from a safe distance. She met up with the other crusades in the center of the town and they immediately headed off in the direction of the woods. Billy slipped into an alley way and after looking around to make sure no pony was watching him, uttered his magic word.

"Shazam."

{S}

"Great, we're lost," Scootaloo sighed as the three found their hoof prints in the snow for the third time.

"We're not lost. Ah'm just making sure we don't lose track of where we were," Applebloom said defiantly. The three had been wandering around in the Everfree forest for a few hours, with no idea of where to find the sphinx or even where to begin looking. So they had gone with their best idea: march straight ahead into the dark forest with no plan. It hadn't worked.

"Well I say we're lost. Where was this sphinx supposed to be anyway?"

"According to the rumors, it's supposed to be near a waterfall in the center of the forest. But since we're lost, we'll never-" Sweetie began as the three walked into a clearing in the forest and found themselves at the base of a massive waterfall. "Find it."

"What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?" The three shrieked and spun around to find an odd creature walking towards them. It had eagle wings, a lion’s body and the tail of a snake. But what startled the three the most was that it's head looked very similar to Billy's, except more feminine.

"W-what?" Applebloom asked.

"What had four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?" it repeated, looking at the three while licking its lips.

"Um, a table?" Scootaloo guessed. "Four to begin with, two after we've gotten a hold of it and three after we tried to put it back together?"

"Wrong. Two guesses left."

"Girls, we have to think hard. This thing will eat us if we guess wrong twice more," Applebloom said sternly.

"I've got it!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "It's Lyra! She starts on four legs, then tries to stand on two, then on three when she has to catch herself when she falls!"

"Brilliant Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo said.

"Clever, but also wrong," the sphinx said with a smile, unsheathing its claws. "One guess left."

"Um, four in the morning, two in the evening and three at night." Applebloom thought as fast as she could, watching as the creature got even closer. "I don't know, is it-"

"Man."

The four all looked up and let out a collective gasp. Floating nearly twenty feet above them was the angel, Captain Marvel. He floated down and paced himself in-between the three fillies and the creature with his arms crossed and a dangerous look in his eyes. "The answer's man. Four as a baby, two as an adult and three when he needs a cane."

"Grrr...correct, you may live" the sphinx growled, then turned to the three fillies. "But these three have guessed wrong, so they will be my next meal." The three fillies shrunk back as the sphinx advanced towards them, but Captain Marvel quickly placed himself between the two.

"Before you do, I have a riddle for you," Marvel said, causing the sphinx to look at him with interest.

"A riddle for me? Very well, let's see if you can stump me."

"Alright. I have the wings of an eagle and a humans head, but if I take more step forward I will end up dead," Marvel said in a dark voice. "What am I?"

"Me," the sphinx growled, glaring from Marvel to the three fillies that hide behind his legs. He snarled and launched himself towards Marvel, fangs bared and claws outstretched. Marvel smiled and swung his fist right into the sphinx's jaw, launching it into the air. The girls watched in amazement as the sphinx came back down and found itself running right into a left hook, sending it sailing off into the distance.

"They never listen," Marvel muttered as he turned around to check on the three. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle gawked at him with open mouths, while Applebloom smiled and walked right up to him.

"What took ya so long?" she asked with a grin.

"I wanted to see if you three could answer the riddle without me," he replied with a shrug. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both looked at Applebloom as if she was talking with a timberwolf.

"Wait, you know him?" Scootaloo asked. Applebloom turned to both of them with a playful smile.

"Of course ah do. Ya both do as well if ya think about," she teased.

"Applebloom," Marvel said in a warning tone. She turned towards him and gave him a look.

"Oh come on, their yer friends as well, ya should trust them."

"Wait, we're his friends? I've never really talked to him before," Sweetie said. Applebloom sighed and face-hoofed at her friend’s ignorance.

"Come on Marvel, ya gotta learn to trust others," Applebloom begged. "And these two can keep a secret."

"I don't know..."

"Please. Trust me." Marvel was beginning to give in and then Applebloom went in with the finishing blow by giving him puppy dog eyes.

"...Fine," he groaned. "...Shazam." Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both jumped back with screams as the bolt of lightning came down and struck Captain Marvel, bathing him in electricity. When the cloud that the bolt kicked up died down, both of the fillies were jaw dropped at who stood there.

"Billy?" they both asked at once.

"Yeah, it's me," Billy said with an awkward smile.

"Why didn't you tell us it was you!? I thought that the angel was Big Mac," Scootaloo said with some heat.

"Mah brother? How'd ya get that?" Applebloom asked.

"Well, they're both red, never talk much and both insanely strong."

"I thought it was Gummi," Sweetie said with a shrug.

"They're not even the same species!" The three girls started to argue over why their pick was better than each other’s, causing Billy to sigh and look around cautiously. He could feel eyes looking at the group, some just curious, others with more nefarious purposes. He decided that it was time to leave.

"SHAZAM!" The three fillies screamed as the lightning bolt came down again and changed Billy back into Marvel. He bent down and scooped the three up into his arms. "How about we get out of here and save the bickering for later?" The three nodded their heads in agreement and he took to the skies, smiling as the three let out their amazement at how fast he was flying. Within a few minutes, they reached the outskirts of Ponyville, where Marvel turned back into Billy. Then the real fun began.

{S}

Failing once again to get their cutie marks, the CMC were in a pretty down mood and looking for something that could lift their spirits. So when Billy offered to battle them in an all-out snowball war, the three faces lit up and they instantly agreed. And with some persuading and use of the puppy dog eyes, they even managed to convince Spike to join them. Applebloom had decided that the battle would be colt’s vs mares, so the CMC would work together and Spike would fight alongside Billy. The girls had chosen the battlefield and both armies were soon ready to wage war in the field right by the crusaders tree house.

"I can't believe that you convinced me to do this," Spike grumbled as he helped Billy finish up the snow fort they had been making. "I could be in my bed right now with a cup of coco, but instead I'm out in the cold about to be ponded with ice balls. Ugh."

"Come on Spike, you spend way too much time in that library," Billy said with a smile, watching his breath freeze in the cold. "You've got to get outside once in a while and try to have fun."

"I'm fine with having fun, but why do we have to have it in the cold?" he muttered, placing his hands in his armpits to try and warm them. "And why are we fighting the girls?"

"Because they're also our friends and I'm trying to cheer them up," Billy said with a smile, starting to make snowballs for the fort. "Plus, I want to get back at Applebloom for the cheap shot she got on me back when I first got here."

"You two are really similar, you know that?" Spike said with a chuckle, looking at the fort they had made with a bit of pride. "Have to admit Billy, I think we have a pretty good fort here."

"Yup, we're totally going to win this. Hey girls!" Billy yelled out to the other fort where the girls were at. "You ready to begin?"

"Ready!" Appleblooms voice called back. The two hide behind their fort and got ready for battle. "On the count of three! One...two..."

"THREE!" all three of the voices called and the two boys screamed as a hail of snowballs started to fly around them. Spike and Billy hid behind the walls of the fort, hearing as the snow collided with the fort. The moment the snow stopped falling Billy and Spike picked up their ammunition and began to fire back. Shrieks could be heard from the other fort as a few of their snowballs scored direct hits. Scootaloo stuck her face up and Spike nailed it with a fast ball. She screamed and fell over while the two high fived each other with huge smiles.

"Haha, I haven't had this much fun in a long time!" Billy said with a huge grin.

"I know, I'm actually enjoying being out in the snow," Spike agreed. "Maybe this isn't so-"

SHWACK!

Billy jumped back as Spike took a snowball directly to the face, knocking the dragon to the ground. Billy joined him a moment later as he dove to the ground to avoid another snowball swarm. He could hear the snowballs landing all around him, his hands over his head to protect himself. Spike staggered back to his feet and immediately paid for it, taking another shot to the face. After a few seconds, the snowballs stopped flying, but Billy stayed on the ground behind the wall of the fort, not trusting the girls. But after a minute of waiting, he got up and slowly looked over the walls of the fort. The girls fort was silent, he couldn't even hear them giggling over there. Where had they-?

"SURPRISE!"

Billy let out a high pitched scream as he was covered in snow that went down the inside of his coat. He was vaguely aware of three separate laughs as he ran around trying to get the snow out of his back. The girls had snuck up behind Billy and dumped a bucket full of snow on him. Once Billy had gotten the snow out of his clothes, he turned towards the laughing girls with a humorless frown.

"Alright, you three got us," Billy said with a defeated smile, walking over to Spike and helping him back up. "We concede this round to you."

"Ugh, I take back what I said about snow," Spike groaned, leaning on Scootaloo and Sweetie for support. "It really sucks to be hit with it."

"Sorry about that, I just wanted to get back at you for hitting me," Scootaloo said with an embarrassed smile. Spike grumbled something about his bed again as Billy heard a familiar voice calling for them.

"Billy! Spike! there you two are," Twilight said as she flew over to them.

"Hey Twilight, what's up."

"It's getting dark out, so I came to get you guys," she said with a smile. "Come on, if we get home in time you guys can help me reorganize the c through z. If we start soon we might be able to finish before bed!" Billy was amazed at how excited she sounded to actually do that, but he wasn't ready to go just yet.

"Come on, can we stay out a little longer? I need to get back at the girls for dumping snow down my back," he said while giving the girls a look. "You can join us if you want. Come on, try something new."

"Sorry, but we need to get back. Snowball fights are for foals," Twilight said with a shake of her head as she turned around and began to walk back. "Besides, organizing books is so much more fun. Think off all the knowledge you can-"

WHUMP!

The girls and Spike let out a collective gasp as Twilight was hit in the back of the head with a snowball. She stopped walking and stood still for a second, comprehending what had just happened. She used her magic to pick the snow off the back of her head and dropped it to the ground, slowly turning around with a look on her face. Billy was standing in front of her, lobbing a snowball up and down in his hands with an evil grin on his face. The girls and Spike looked from Twilight to Billy, wondering what was going to happen next. Then Twilight laughed and an evil smile spread across her face.

"Oh, so we're going to play like that, are we?" she said with a sinister smile. "Well two can play it that way." And then to the shock off all in attendance, Twilight used her magic at the snow near her hooves, levitating the mass of snow above her head. She then quickly formed the pile of snow into hundreds of snowballs, all ready to be fired. Billy's eyes widened as he realized his terrible mistake, but Twilight was ready to play now.

"Any last words?" she asked him with a grin. Billy looked up at the snowballs with a terrified expression.

"Sha-" The word never left his mouth as he was buried under an avalanche of snow. After they had dug him out, they all went into a full on war, the five of them against Twilight. Despite having the number advantage, they were almost completely destroyed until Billy called on the power of Shazam, evening the fight. The battle between Marvel and Twilight was one of epic proportions, but was ultimately decided with Twilight nailing Marvel in the head to claim the victory. After the battle, all parties went home while unanimously calling Twilight the victor. For the fillies and the boys, it had been a fun way to spend the day. For Twilight though, she had learned something new.

{S}

Twilight let out a sigh as she hung Billy's coat and gloves by a fire that she had started in a jar to melt the snow. She still felt a little guilty about how much snow she had used when she buried Billy, but he had assured her that he was fine with it. Because of the delay and the amount of time that it had taken her to get all the snow off of him and out of her house, it had gotten so late that the boys had already gone to bed and left her to re-arrange the books herself.

"I can't believe that Billy hit me in the back of the head with a snowball," Twilight muttered to herself, rubbing the back of her head. "Still...it was fun having a snowball fight again. Maybe Billy was right, maybe I should try to have fun more often." She smiled and headed towards the stairs, going to check on the boys. She gently opened the door to the bedroom, looking through to see how they were doing. Spike had rolled out of his bed and was lying face down on the floor, still sound asleep.

"Spike," Twilight said with a gentle smile, picking him up and levitating him back over to his bed and gently pulling the covers over him. "Good night, my little dragon." She kissed him goodnight on his forehead and turned to where Billy was sleeping, sighing as she saw him. He too had fallen out of his bed and was lying face down on the floor. She also levitated him back to his bed and placed him in it, pulling the covers up.

"I have to admit, things have been a lot more hectic with you around," she said to Billy as she checked to make sure everything in the room was right. "But in a good way. Though I can't believe somepony as sweet as you could have such a different side of him. But I suppose it's for the best. Oh, since I didn't say it earlier." She walked over to the bedside and gently kissed Billy on the forehead.

"Welcome home."