Parcly Taxel: Even trees can be “genified” in a way, as I found out on a morning walk to Hokkaido Shrine. To prevent the branches from spreading out like Twilight’s castle, several bamboo poles are erected around the tree’s base and tied at their tops to force a conical shape. This kind of confinement isn’t perfect - the surface leaves bulge outwards where there are gaps between the poles - but it does look as if the tree is filling a bottle.
 
Spindle: The windigos are truly free spirits, without permanent hierarchy or dependence on other species. They have a very technological culture with computers, teleporters and assorted magical implements, some of which they invented themselves. I am just one of them who found the ways of friendship.
 
As I entered the shrine proper, I remembered the Castilian earth pony I once was, who went by the name of Rocinante. Her stonemason parents made her haul heavy rocks every day between a quarry and their shop, which stirred lots of hatred in the little draft horse. Eventually it all boiled over and she ran away under cover of night to the mountains, where she got caught in a blizzard. The windigo who started it (Corannulene) did not hesitate to impale her heart; the last things she saw were her eyelids peeling away…
 
Parcly: Why? Is it a painful experience for you?
 
Spindle: Yeah, and I would like to cry, but those teardrops will freeze over my icy coat. Each windigo must feel pain at the time they transcended from the material world to the spiritual, but from the same episode they derive strength, for they become the bringers of winter.
 
Parcly: Aww… [hugs Spindle]
 
Spindle: Either way, it was our last full day in Hokkaido, so after the shrine visit we toured Sapporo much like how Pinkie brought Parcly around the other day. First we had some sashimi and onigiri at the shopping centre in Maruyama, not far from our house.
 
We then went to the Sapporo Factory, so named because it was once a brewery for the eponymous beer (which has a classic version available only in Hokkaido). The original buildings still stand while new ones surround them; developments in the latter include an arcade and a fitness centre. As day progressed into night there, I admired a huge Hearth’s Warming tree sparkling in all its lights under a glass house - a reminder of my uniqueness among the windigos.
 
Parcly: Yet I was showing signs of fatigue under the bright lights and cold air currents. Though I looked normal on the outside, that was because my facial muscles had numbed somewhat, whereas my gait was wobbling. It could not have been a better time, for I could teleport back to my house and pack my saddlebags for the next leg of my Japan trip: a flight to Nagoya en route to Takayama.
 
Pinkie Pie: OK, sorry for bringing you out. You’re just not meant for loud parties. You prefer a more intimate affair, maybe one where Octavia plays her cello while you swerve your genie tail.
 
Parcly: That would be right.