//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Star at Critical Mass! 
// Story: Fires of Friendship and Ice of Hatred 
// by Super Ponyman 
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(The Palace of the Windigo Queen, Front Courtyard)

Queen Diamanda stood at the front entrance of her courtyard, she had made sure to look as beautiful as she could, as she hoped to win him over with "love at first sight."

She thought to herself, "Why do ponies believe in the silly concept of love at first sight? It sounds ridiculous, two ponies, hell... any member of any race need to get to know their partner before it could be called love..."

A Windigo soldier shouted down to the Queen, "My Queen! I have spotted Frost Soul, he appears wounded."

The Queen signaled to the guardsmen to open the gates. She mumbled under her breath, "You idiot. You shouldn't have done that, you have potentially damaged my position with him."

The iron doors were opened and Frost Soul staggered in, parts of his ice mane and tail were melted partially and his skin was charred gray. 

Frost Soul collapsed, breathing heavily. Diamanda could hold her temper for now, she needed at least one competent soldier to fight for her. 

A pair of guards helped the Windigo Champion to his feet and dragged him towards their queen. 

He lifted his head slowly and said, "I'm sorry, my queen. I could not stop him from reaching here, I deserve any punishment you have to distribute..."

Diamanda slapped the soldier and said in a harsh tone, "Are you mad?! I WANTED him to come here so that I could talk with him, why in the name of Faust, did you go try to kill him?!"

Icicle Storm put one of his wispy hooves on his Queen's back, saying to her. "Easy, it will do you no good to argue with him while he is in this state. Let him heal... it may be best to then go speak with my brother." 

The assassin waved the guards off, "Take him to the ice pools, he will heal there."

Upon seeing the damage that this Burning Star, did to her most powerful warrior, Queen Diamanda suddenly had a spike of self doubt.

Did she make a mistake in inviting this pony?

Diamanda shook her head to clear her mind, saying to herself, "I can't doubt myself, I am completely sure he will not act the same way around me."

About 30 minutes later, Queen Diamanda stood in the courtyard alone. She had ordered all of the slave laborers and machines of war to be hidden while her guest was here. 

A few guards exited into the courtyard from the palace and said, "My Queen, come inside. This is a situation best left to us, we will take care of him." 

Diamanda smacked one of the guards with a slab of ice, "No! I am not going to let you all kill my, I mean, our hope of establishing trust with the ponies of Equestria."

Suddenly, the howling northern winds stopped, the snow ceased, and everything grew quiet. 

The iron doors that protected the entrance slowly started to glow bright orange and melt. The windigo guards lowered their halberds and Diamanda took a battle stance, her eyes glowing bright blue as sharp shards of ice began to form around her, taking the shape of a giant clawed paw.

The doors finally melted away and a black Alicorn stepped through the doorway, his mane and tail were blazing bright red with fire. 

Diamanda immediately drew the conclusion that this was Burning Star, the Alicorn of Fire.

With every step Burning Star took towards the trio of Windigos, the ice on the ground melted and steam began to evaporate from the now boiling puddles of water left behind by the melting ice.

Diamanda was the first to speak, "Greetings traveler. You must be Burning Star, yes?" 

Burning Star narrowed his eyes, "Yeah, I am. My question is who are you and why I shouldn't incinerate your entire tribe?"

Queen Diamanda approached the Alicorn of Fire and said, "I am Queen Diamanda, ruler of the Windigos, master of the Frozen North, and the strongest monster in Equestria."

Burning Star smirked, "Strongest Monster? Hah! I've seen better, Queen Diamanda."

The two guards rushed up to Burning Star and drew their swords, saying "You will not insult our ruler, Alicorn of Fire! You are very lucky we didn't kill you as soon as you arrived, you gravely wounded Frost Soul, our strongest warrior! Have you no mercy?"

Burning Star snorted and pushed the two windigos off balance. He then said, "You shouldn't talk about mercy, windigo. You nearly froze Equestria solid on the first Hearth's Warming Eve, so shut your icy mouths." 

Diamanda growled out, "This is supposed to be a peaceful meeting, not a brawl! I suggest you all stop before I shatter you all into Icy pieces!" 

Burning Star sighed, relaxing his body. "Your queen is right, I came here to talk, not fight. If I wanted to fight, you would be dead already."

The two guards laughed, "I highly doubt that, Burning Star. Nopony can defeat a windigo completely! Not even your beloved Princesses!"

Burning Star used a telepathic link spell and targeted the queen, he said "I'm sorry about this, lady."

Burning Star ignited his mane and tail and swung his fire-covered tail at the pair of guards, who screamed in pain as a flaming whip lacerated their frozen skin, and sent them flying back.

The Queen immediately prepared an ice blast, but Burning Star glared at her, saying via telepathy. "Relax, they will live. I simply gave them a reason to not screw around with me, so... can we talk like adults now?"

Diamanda snorted in frustration, but nodded. 

"Fine. Come inside."

(The Palace of the Windigo Queen, Grand Hall)

The Grand Hall was the largest room in the palace, it was large enough to fit an Ursa Major barely. At the center of the room was a large circular table made of ice, which Burning Star and Queen Diamanda sat talking about politics. 

Something Burning Star loathed

"Now, I understand your distrust of me, since I am a windigo. But I am not as power crazy as my predecessor, Queen Cryonis. She was the one who facilitated the invasion of Equestria on that day. Besides, I know that you were once the student of King Sombra, one of our oldest allies. I expected you to be more like him."

Burning Star grunted, "Well I'm not like Sombra, despite being his student, You think you are any different than your predecessors? May I remind you that I have Fire powers at my beck and call, Queen Diamanda... you have ice powers, not the best idea to piss me off." 

Diamanda tugged at the collar of her chest plate, Trying to let off some steam, literally and figuratively.

despite having a body temperature of nearly -50 degrees Fahrenheit, she felt uncomfortably warm. 

Burning Star wasn't doing any better, as his skin was starting to glow a dull red. He began to sweat, with was unusual for him. Since he was Fireproof and Heatproof, he never needed to sweat and for the longest time thought he couldn't sweat. 

Well, guess he was wrong. 

Diamanda ordered a servant to come over and pass her guest some ice cubes, which he gobbled down and he cooled off instantly. 

Queen Diamanda sighed a breath of relief, if experience has taught her anything, it's that FIRE HURTS. 

Especially if it has the temperature of the surface of the sun... that would be bad. 

Diamanda changed the subject to something different, "Instead of talking about politics, cause it's clearly annoying you, why not talk about something personal?"

Burning Star raised an eyebrow, "Like what? I'm sure somepony like you would not like to hear some random Alicorn ramble on about old stories I've heard. Trust me, I once bored Discord to sleep with my story about Sombra's Dragon Land Campaign of Conquest. The only interesting thing I found during that campaign was an Ice Dragon very far from the Frozen North."

He got up and said in a voice of suspicion, "That dragon had strange markings on it, the same ones I see on your banners outside."

He slowly approached the Windigo Queen, "Something tells me you were sending me a message, or at least trying to get my attention. I don't know why though, you could have just asked to meet me when I was freed from King Sombra's serveritude and began my work with Twilight Sparkle..."

Queen Diamanda got up and began to walk towards her room, saying to the fire alicorn, "Well, follow me and find out." A hint of lust in her voice.

Burning Star's better instincts were on overdrive to GTFO of this Palace and burn it to the ground, but he could not resist his curiosity. 

He had the opportunity to learn more about Windigo culture, and assumed that this would be some sort of showcase of artifacts or something similar.

The Queen had a showcase planned, but it wasn't the type of showcase Burning Star assumed it was. 

It was much, MUCH more than ancient history or texts.

it was her chance to woo the Fire Alicorn! But, Burning Star didn't notice this until it was too late. 

(Palace of the Windigo Queen, Queen's Private Chambers)

Diamanda pushed the heavy ice door open and signaled for Burning Star to come in.

He said as he stepped through the door, "So what were you trying to show me? Is it some sort of Weapon an ancient ice statue?"

Diamanda said in a dreamy voice, "Well you won't believe what it is until you see it, Burning Star..."

Diamanda walked over to a blue curtain and pulled it back, revealing a statue that left Burning Star wide-eyed.

Behind the curtain stood the frozen body of a unicorn, its eyes wide with horror. 

Burning Star was in shock at the sight of this display, and it only got worse from there. behind the statue stood dozens of rows of frozen ponies from all species, they lined the hallway walls, all of which had terrified expressions on their faces.

Diamanda smirked and closed the door with a slam, saying. "Behold my passion, ice sculptures. Yes, I know it's a little cliché that an Ice Queen have Ice statues, but these are different."

Diamanda pointed towards one of the statues, Burning Star immediately recognized it as the Pegasus Warrior, the legendary Eagle Eye!

Another statue stood out to him, a unicorn with fiery red hair, and the revaluations hit him HARD.

This was Sunset Shimmer! 

Burning Star looked at the Windigo Queen in terror, a feeling he never thought he feel again. He said to her, "Wh-what are you doing to these ponies? They are frozen solid!"

Queen Diamanda let out an eerie laugh, "You see, I consider myself the most beautiful creature in the world, and these ponies didn't think so. Now they are unable to look away from my beautiful face..."

Burning Star sank to his knees in front of Sunset, she may have been nasty, but she didn't deserve... this.

Burning Star glared at Diamanda, saying in his infamous speech voice. "Ok that's enough! I understand some villains motives and their ability to exercise them. Few of them are pretty nasty, but there are some who cross the line between nasty to psychotic, you have crossed that line, Queen Diamanda!"

Diamanda chuckled, "Me? A villain? Oh that's completely false, Burning Star. I'm simply doing what I love, preserving the best of your species in my palace. Is that really that bad?"

Burning Star had enough of her games, he ignited his mane and tail, before picking up the statue of Sunset Shimmer and unfreezing it. He said to himself, "I gotta get out of here! This mare is crazy!"

Diamanda froze Burning Star's hooves to the ground, saying to him. "Oh no, you aren't leaving my grasp. I will have your handsome face in my collection!"

Burning Star used his magic to teleport Sunset into a nearby closet, he glared at the Windigo Queen with eyes ablaze with fire. He roared in anger, breaking the icy shackles on his hooves. 

"Fine! You want me! Come get me!"

Diamanda wasted no time as she Charged down Burning Star, an icy spear in her magical grasp. 

Burning Star went wide eyed with fear, he was overloading his body!

He screamed before saying, "Oh Sh-"

With a massive explosion, Burning Star detonated his Fire Nova spell, which was much larger than he was supposed to make it. Within seconds all the statues were melted and the ponies inprisoned in ice ran towards the door. 

One of the ponies was a mare with long green hair...

Sunset Shimmer awoke to Burning Star glowing bright red, she immediately knew what was happening. 

So she used her magic to teleport the two of them outside, and then collapsed from exhaustion.

Diamanda was blinded by the bright light, when it died down her prize was gone!

She screamed in anger, sending icy winds in all directions.

"NOOOOO!

(The Frozen North, The Last Stop on the Train)

Sunset was weakened magically, so she had to drag Burning Star's massive body to the train, it was just pulling in and Twilight Sparkle, Her brother and his copy, and the rest of the Main Six saw her dragging Burning Star's body towards them.

Twilight Sparkle looked down at Burning Star's body, ignoring any hostility towards Sunset, "C'mon everypony! Let's get out of here!"

With that, Twilight and her friends dragged their friends unconscious body into the train car and the train sped off down the tracks, heading south to Ponyville.

What they didn't know was that somepony very familiar was stowed away in the caboose...

The pony cackled, "Oh its so good to be back! Hahahaha!"