Parcly Taxel: I felt a morning breeze caressing my genie tail, knotted and turbulent as it always was when I was released after a prolonged sleep. Sunlight shone through my flask and then into Spindle, who seemed happier than she normally was at this hour.
 
Even a windigo that’s not feeding on anything emits cold waves that can pierce the hearts of anypony within a metre. Here those waves were overlaid by the consistent warmth unique to Spindle, who offers it as a reward to those who loved.
 
Spindle: Japan is a place all too often portrayed by stereotypes - the samurai and geisha, kimonos and the “schoolpony’s outfit”, now a spate of young pop idols. Parcly has always shied away from these icons in favour of seeing things through their own histories and memories. She’s not into twisting others’ wishes and her dreams are only barely distinguishable from reality, both traits befitting of the chemist/mathematician she is.
 
Parcly: As I ascended the staircase of Canterlot Castle that leads to its highest balcony, I looked at my own self-made saddlebag. Each side has 18 gems - nine dark sapphires and nine light blue diamonds - patterned in a diagram of the Pappus graph that recalls my cutie mark. These gems were glistening, and my horn ring sparkling, in the crepuscular rays reaching from the east where I was headed. Since the native name of Japan means sun-source too, “flying to sunrise” was a more than apt descriptor of my voyage overseas.
 
Speaking of residences, I do not have a fancy castle like Twilight has. Instead, I live in a small and plain one-storey house right next to Canterlot Castle. The bedroom lies at its centre and is hexagonal, its floor bearing another depiction of my cutie mark. In common with Celestia and Luna I have a large cushion for a bed, where my filled bottle rests during dreaming hours.
 
Spindle: You’ve used dreaming hours because you can shift your sleep/wake cycle at will, right? You’re normally nocturnal, but in the presence of other ponies you can change that.
 
Parcly: Yes, yes, but I might have digressed a bit when explaining my bedroom. Back to the balcony: one swoop of my wings and I was speeding off. When I reached the stratosphere, a place only alicorns can fly to unaided, I had your presence fill the interior of both saddlebags to serve as a heat pack. And you poked your head out at times - how cute!
 
Spindle: I did that to give you directions. Besides signposts embedded in certain clouds that indicate preferred routes (the Wonderbolts call them skyways), the stratosphere is as wild as a blizzard, replete with unpredictable gusts and aeroplanes that carry earth ponies!
 
Parcly: Can’t earth ponies just ride on the backs of pegasi?
 
Princess Luna (voice in Parcly’s head): You have to understand that there aren’t many pegasi capable of lifting whole ponies, let alone those who aren’t involved with the weather. I know that you are a princess, but sometimes you must look down to the earth, your beginnings. You were a unicorn once.
 
Parcly: [pause, then cries] My master’s wishes… they show my heart, and bring out the best in me. [genie tail wavers] Accordingly, as my flight progressed and the sun started to set, I felt lighter and could fly faster, safe in the knowledge that Luna would always be there for me.
 
Spindle: The stars were shining bright when we landed at Haneda to rest. Parcly took this time to telepathically chat with Luna, where she shared her first impressions on the infrastructure and the local ponies; I sensed that she was rather surprised at how similar her surroundings were to those of the Crystal Empire, minus the crystalliness of course.
 
Parcly: I soon discovered that the value of transparency runs deep in Japanese culture despite all the world’s influences. Crystal ponies share this same value - whatever you do should be understandable to everypony - and add a literal dimension from their Heart: when they’re depressed, their bodies cloud up and their eyes dim.
 
Spindle: Little time was to be lost in philosophy, however, as Parcly took to the skies again in sub-zero temperatures. Without any light or warmth other than her horn and myself respectively, she let the blistering air blow unimpeded all the way to her final destination of Sapporo.
 
Parcly: “This is the kind of snowstorm windigos make,” I thought to myself. Large snow particles, a slippery floor and the wind slamming into my face all made it harder to make each successive step. Spindle, the only true friend I had before I got my cutie mark, faded from my conscious memory until I lost her in front of a ramen tavern, trying to blink two lead eyelids…
 
Spindle: The tavern owner came out with a ramen bowl and said something we couldn’t hear distinctly. A moment later, we were freed from the monolithic ice crystal that had encased us and we entered the tavern to eat the bowl just presented - the first food we had in Japan.
 
Parcly: Sure it did rekindle the fire of friendship between us, besides being plain delicious, but midnight had passed and we couldn’t bear any more coldness for the day. I checked in at the nearest bed-and-breakfast, positioned myself near a heater and let my bottle suck me in.