The rescue party went along for what seemed like a hundred miles. It was starting to get colder.

"I don't think I can fly anymore," Surprise said.

"I told you you needed to go on a diet, Mario," Luigi said.

"Hey!" Mario shouted, indignantly.

"It's not you, Mario," Surprise said. "It's just freezing out here, that's all."

"Well, it could be worse," Mario said, shrugging. "We could be in Alaska."

"Or the North Pole," Sundance said.

"Then we'd see Santa Claus," Fizzy said. "Gee, I wish we were there now."

"Forget it, Fizzy," Gusty said. "We have a mission, you know!"

"Oh yeah," Fizzy said, sheepishly.

The ponies, Megan, and the Mario Bros. continued on. They reached the castle, only to find it surrounded by a moat.

"Can you unicorns wink across there?" Megan asked.

"Wink?" Mario and Luigi said in perfect unison.

"It's how the unicorns go from one place to another," Locket explained. "All the unicorns have magic powers. All of them can wink in and out, and they also can do one specified trick. Gusty can make the wind blow, Fizzy can blow bubbles, Buttons can move things, Galaxy can make it warm, and Ribbon can read minds."

"Sorry I asked," Luigi muttered to Mario. Mario just nudged his brother in the shoulder for that.

"There's no place to wink to," Buttons said. "Not a ledge or anything."

"Too bad that moat's not frozen over," Fizzy said.

"It's the only thing not frozen over," Luigi said, teeth chattering.

"Wait a minute!" Mario shouted, snapping his fingers. "Bro, you just gave me an idea! Fizzy, you can make bubbles right?"

"Yeah?" Fizzy asked.

"And Gusty, you can make wind blow right?" Mario asked.

"Uh huh," Gusty said. "Why?"

"Well," Mario said, "I was just thinking that Fizzy can blow as many bubbles as she can over the moat and Gusty can probably blow wind cold enough so they'll freeze."

"I don't know if I can do that," Gusty said. "It's kind of hard to blow a big blast of wind for a little pony like me."

"Come on, sure you can, Gusty," Fizzy said. "You can do anything!"

"Well, okay," Gusty said. "I'll try. Hit it, Fizzy!"

"I'm going to need total concentration," Fizzy said.

Fizzy squeezed her eyes shut and made her horn light up. Millions of bubbles produced. Gusty took a deep breath, made her horn light up, and blew Fizzy's bubbles toward the moat. She blew a little harder to make it colder. Finally, the moat began to freeze over.

"All right, Gusty and Fizzy!" Firefly shouted.

"You did it!" Surprise shouted.

"Maybe not yet," Mario said. "I'm not sure if this ice'll hold all of us."

"I'll go first," Cupcake said. "If it'll hold a pony, it'll hold anyone."

Cupcake walked carefully onto the ice. She almost slipped a couple of times, but continued along slowly. Suddenly, she lost her footing completely, and fell into the ice. The impact caused it to crack. Cupcake immediately ran back to the others before she could fall in.

"There's no way it's going to hold," she said. "I'm not even sure it will hold you, Mario, and Luigi, Megan!"

"Megan, maybe," Luigi said. "But Mario? Forget it!"

"Very funny!" Mario shouted, sarcastically, giving his brother a dirty look."

"Looks like there's no getting inside now," Luigi said. "Too bad. Let's go home."

"Hold it just a minute!" Buttons shouted, grabbing the back of Luigi's overalls with her teeth.

"We can't go back now!" Locket shouted. "We haven't saved Ember yet!"

"But there's no way we can get across the moat and inside the castle!" Luigi argued.

"I think there might be a way," Firefly said. She carefully walked over to the moat, and stomped on the ice until she managed to make a small hole in it.

"Okay, Megan, call upon the sea ponies!" she shouted.

"Sea Ponies?" Mario and Luigi asked in unison.

Megan walked over to the hole, pulled a small, scallop shell out of her pocket, and dropped it into the moat. Several minutes later, Wave Jumper, Seawinkle, and Sea Light appeared before our heroes, cracking through the moat.

"Shoop-ee-doo, shoop-shoop-ee-doo!" they sang.

"Hi, Sea Ponies," Firefly said. "Do you think you can help us get us inside the castle?"

"Sure," Wave Jumper replied.

"No problem," Seawinkle said.

"Just hop on the shell!" Wave Dancer said.

The three Sea Ponies dove underneath the water, and returned carrying a large ponies, Megan, and the Mario Bros. climbed aboard the shell and the Sea Ponies took them around to a wall.

"There's an icicle up there that's a lever," Wave Dancer said.

"Forget it," Surprise said. "I don't think it would be a good idea for one of us to pull it. It might break."

"I'll pull it," Mario said. "Fly me up there, Firefly."

Firefly and Mario flew up to the lever. Mario grabbed it and pulled. A secret door opened.

"Everybody in!" Mario called.

The rescue party snuck into the castle, not knowing what they were getting themselves into. It wasn't easy finding their way around, however. There wasn't any light.

"Boy is it dark," Buttons said. "I can barely see a thing!"

"And cold," Mario said. "Hey, Galaxy, can you light up your horn? That way we'll be able to see and warm up at the same time."

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," Galaxy said. "This is a thin hallway, it's made out of ice, and it's the base of the castle. If I light up and heat up the room, the walls could melt and the castle would come crashing down on us."

"That is not something I'd like to think about," Luigi said.

Finally, the rescue party managed to find a staircase and they climbed up. Things were starting to get lighter, but nobody knew where they were going.

"What do we do now?" Surprise asked.

"We split up," Mario said. "Megan, Sundance, Firefly, Surprise, Locket, and Gusty come with me and we'll take the right hallway. The rest of you go down the left hallway and we'll meet in the center."

"Check," Cupcake said.

"Wait a minute . . . ." Luigi started, but Mario and his group was already gone. Cupcake and Ribbon practically had to drag Luigi by the overall straps to get him moving.