//------------------------------// // Resolution // Story: Broken Feathers: Frozen North // by That Avi Nerd //------------------------------// Phantom struggled to keep himself up right in the powerful cross winds. He was standing in the middle of a blizzard, the most powerful he had ever witnessed. Snow and small bits of ice were whirling about, biting at his fur. The ice had razor-like edges that cut into him, drawing out small trickles of blood that were instantly frozen by the cold air. If he were to guess, it was at least twenty below zero here, without the wind chill. Little did he know it was actually thirty below. When he flew through the portal only moments ago, he was thrown into the ground. He was caught completely off guard by the ferocity of the storm. Part of him wanted to burrow beneath the snow to seek protection. But the majority of him reminded him of why he was here. Somewhere out there, in this storm, was Rainbow Dash. And she needed his help. So he rose to his hooves and pushed on, head first into the fray. He shielded his face from the wind by putting up a wing. It helped a little, but not much. It was a struggle to keep his wing off of his face. Eventually he decided that it wasn't worth the wasted energy and folded it against his side. A steady current of air traveling at about forty miles an hour was superseded by gusts that went as fast as sixty miles an hour. He was nearly blown over several times. To compensate he had to cross his hooves and basically crab walk in order to stay up during the gusts. Several times he was pushed all the way over. And each time he would pick himself back up and drag on. “Dash!” he yelled as loud as he could, using all the air in his diaphragm. There was sufficient evidence to deduce that nopony would be able to hear him, even if they were standing in front of him. The roar of the wind was deafening, drowning out all other sounds. “Dash! Where are you?!” Phantom stopped and looked around, trying desperately to find her. But it was hopeless. Nothing beyond several feet in front of him was visible. In the midsts of Boreas' storm of wrath, he was unable to find Rainbow Dash. So he did what any logical being would do in that situation; he pressed forward. “Kay!” Phantom knew she probably wouldn't show up, but he still had some hope. However litter there was. “Rude! Red! Em? Hope! Violet?! Anypony?!” The storm was beginning to take its toll on the stallion. He could feel the energy being sucked out of him. Finally he collapsed to the snow, half-buried in it. Quickly, the snow fall from the storm seemed to wrap itself around him, burying him even further. Phantom's heart began to slow as the cold entered his veins. His eyelids became heavy. The familiar feeling of melatonin taking over sank in. Just as his eyes were about to close for what would have been the final time in his existence, never to again rise, something he saw caused him to force them back open. Off in the distance, a small, dim, red light. It seemed to call to him with a constant ringing sound, like that of a small coin being dropped on a floor. Not even hesitating to wonder what was emitting such a light, Phantom put one hoof in front of him, crawling out of the pile of snow that had accumulated around him. Then another, continuing to pull himself forward. Then another, and another. Using his wings to help prop him out of the snow, he was able to pick himself up. Phantom continued to trudge forward, resembling a zombie pony from the recent string of horror flicks that had come out a few months ago, practically stumbling over his hooves. The light in front of him continued to shine. Its ringing sound seemed to grow slightly louder as he neared. The light also seemed to be growing in both size and intensity. After sometime of battle through the snow, Phantom noticed that the closer he got, the more the light seemed to move down, no longer sitting on the horizon. So whatever the source is, it's on the ground, he deduced, and I'm close. Twenty more feet of travel brought Phantom to the source of the mysterious light. It was shining through the snow, whatever it was, illuminating the snow itself, making it look like a strawberry smoothie. Phantom could feel his stomach growl at the thought. Even though he had just eaten a full plate of hay fries, he hasn't eaten anything in the real world in a day and a half. This growling he was felling now must have been a sign that he needed to wake up and eat some actual food. With those thoughts, dehydration came to mind; this kind of inter-pony sub-conscious travel surely must be taking a large sum of energy out of him. Back at the task at hoof, the light was directly below him, beneath the snow. Phantom dug away at the snow, trying desperately to reach the source. His hoof struck something solid. A metal 'tink' sound reached his ears, causing them to twitch. Taking in a deep breath, Phantom stuck his head in the hole he had just dug and blew away the thin layer of snow covering the object. The bright red light illuminated his face. Buried in the snow, the Element of Loyalty stared up at him, its gem glowing brightly. Phantom's jaw dropped. He tried to pick it up but couldn't, it was somehow connected to the snow. He pulled harder and found that the Element of Loyalty was stuck on some kind of white cylinder. He felt around the necklace, trying to identify what the object was. Its surface was cold, stiff, yet soft like fur. Then it clicked in his mind. It was fur. Phantom wrapped his hooves around the necklace and cylinder, pulling up with all his might. Part of it moved, lifted a familiar face out of the snow. "No..." He fell to his haunches, holding Rainbow Dash's head in his hooves. Her eyes were shut and her breathing was light. Phantom was quick to dig the rest of her out of the snow, though it was difficult to see between the mare's now white coat and the equally white snow. The only thing that gave indication that a pony was even there was her eyebrows, and grayscale cutie mark, mane, and tail. "Dash!" Phantom pulled the mare close to him, trying to warm her up with his body heat. "Come on, hang in there. Wake up, Dash! Wake up!" "Phantom...?" He could barely hear her voice over the wind and chattering teeth. Her eyes opened to barely more than slivers. Thankfully from what he could see, they were still her eyes and not the black slits of that demon. She wrapped herself in her wings as a reaction to being cold. Pulling her in closer so that she was basically in his lap, Phantom also wrapped his wings around her to help. "Wha... What are you doing here...?" "Shh shh. It's okay. I'm here to rescue you. You're safe now, just hang in there." Phantom began rocking back and forth, rubbings his hooves along Rainbow Dash's side in an effort to build up frictional heat. "Just don't fall asleep. Stay with me." "How'd... How'd you get here?" "Your Element of Loyalty brought me here. I touched it with the Conduit and work up in your subconscious." "Wha...?" "I'll explain after I get you out. Just relax right now." Rainbow Dash nodded. For awhile the two ponies sat there, Rainbow Dash held by Phantom like a filly, cocooned in his feathers. His head rested on top of hers as he kept a weary eye out, ears swiveling in all directions. "By the way, where's Boreas?" "He's everywhere... This storm is him." Phantom unknowingly held Rainbow Dash a little closer. Kay, I could really use you right now... He knew she couldn't do anything, she was apart of Rainbow Dash's subconscious, and this was her conscious mind. Kay didn't have the control here like she did in the other realms. The only pony who would have control here was Rainbow Dash herself— Phantom gasped with realization. Kay mentioned that this was basically a dream... a lucid dream... "Dash... I think I know how to fight Boreas." "All ears." "Well this is really a dream for you. One that you can control. I don't think I'll be able to fight Boreas here; you'll have to. You can make anything you want happen here. This is your realm, not his. Fight back, Rainbow Dash." Phantom pulled himself away from Rainbow Dash, standing up and moving in front of her, much to her grumbling protests. He offered the white mare a hoof, which she accepted. Once she was on her hoof, Phantom could see that she was weak. Her wings were dropping, her legs wobbling, and her head was hung low. He stepped up to her side, draping a wing over the mare's back. Lowering his head so that it was level with her's, Phantom began to encourage Rainbow Dash. The pair took a careful step together. Not having moved around in some time, Rainbow Dash nearly fell over. But Phantom was there to catch her. They took another step forward, pausing afterwards so that she wouldn't fall. With Phantom's encouragement, they continued this process until they were moving at a semi-decent pace. As they did, Rainbow Dash's head slowly began to perk back up, and her wings were returning to her sides. With apparently most of her strength back, it seemed time to move onto the next step. "You control this place," Phantom reminded her. "You decide what happens." Rainbow Dash looked up at him, smiling. "Okay," she nodded. She slid out from Phantom's supportive embrace, moving ahead of him, standing on her own power against the storm. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, taking in a series of deep, calming breaths. The winds around the ponies began to die down. The blizzard that once bit at Phantom had dissolved into a simple snow flurry. Even that didn't last long. In no time the sky began poking through the clouds. Eventually the storm had completely cleared out, and the two pegasi were standing in the middle of a winter wonderland. But Rainbow Dash wasn't done modifying her realm. The snow beneath their hooves melted away, the water disappearing into the barren, featureless round. Phantom felt something poking at the undersides of his hooves. He lifted them up to reveal grass growing beneath them. All around the green blades breached the surface until they turned the wasteland into a luscious field. Spots of flowers of all types and colors contrasted with the single green color. Forest's worth of trees grew in moment, their branches climbing high into the sky. Birds seemed to flock from nowhere to land in them. The temperatures warmed up over this period of time, returning to a level equivalent to that of spring. Soft white clouds dotted the sky, completing the scene. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to view what she had just created. She turned in a circle with a wide smile, taking in all the new sights, sounds, smells, and feelings. When she stopped and faced Phantom, she was beaming from ear to ear. "So awesome!" she practically squealed, running up and hugging the other pegasus. Phantom happily returned the embrace. They parted, putting a few feet between themselves. Rainbow Dash examined her coat and mane for any changes. "At least I still sort-of look like me, even though I'm still white..." Phantom put a hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sure when we get back to reality you'll be better. That or Twilight will probably be able to come up with a way to fix you." She nodded. "Speaking of reality, how do we get back, exactly?" "If I were to guess? I'd say you have to wake up. Kay wasn't very clear on that part." "Well how do I wake up then? And who's Kay?" "She's—never mind, I'll explain later. And I think you need to defeat Boreas. Here. In your conscious mind..." "Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?" "Trust me, if you wen't through what I just did then nothing would be ridiculous ever again." "Fine. Boreas!" Rainbow Dash shouted into the air, her voice echoing through the plains. "Come out here you bucking coward!" "Dash, maybe you should chill out just a little... element of surprise and what not..." "Oh no. I've had it with this guy. This is my dream right? I can control what I want? He doesn't stand a chance!" Rainbow Dash was hovering a few feet in the air, shouting at the top of her lungs. "Come out here and fight me like the girl you are you cold minded piece of—" She was cut off by an unfortunately familiar roar. "Now you've done it..." Phantom lamented. He also took the air, putting his back to Rainbow Dash's so that they were watching all directions for any sign of the demon. Rainbow Dash was the first to see it: a massive swarm of snowflakes coming over one of the forests she had created. They twisted and turned through the air as if they weren't exactly sure where they were going, but their general course was leading them directly towards the two ponies. She tapped Phantom on the shoulder, directing his attention to the rapidly nearing swarm. It cleared the tops of the trees, circling a small area not far in front of the ponies. They spun and they spun until they achieved a decent height in the form of a vortex. With a crack of thunder, the snow flakes shot out, disappearing. This revealed Boreas, standing where the vortex had been, in his dragon form, his eyes staring daggers at the ponies. Not wasting anytime on some kind of a diabolical monologue, Boreas opened his mouth and sucked in a large gulp of air, enough that it actually dragged the ponies towards him a little bit. The two pegasi planted themselves on the ground, gaining enough grip to not be pulled towards the dragon. Rainbow Dash recognized what the dragon was preparing for and adjusted accordingly. Closing her eyes so that she could concentrate easily, she imagined a rock wall shooting up through the ground between Boreas, and her and Phantom. Then she pictured it continuing to rise such that it arced over them slightly, further deflecting the impending blast. Boreas icy breath traveled out of his mouth with a large amount of power, impacting the rock wall. The blast was for the most part deflected up and over the pegasi. What wasn't deflected froze the stone through to the other side. Between where Rainbow Dash and Phantom had ducked, a sharp ice sickle the length of a pony had pierced the rock, narrowly missing the two ponies. Phantom moved from his crouching position, flaring his wings open. Just as he took off, Rainbow Dash caught him by the tail and pulled him back on the ground. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "Giving you some time to figure out how to defeat him." Phantom pulled his tail out of her grip and took off, flying backwards then up to get out of the protection of Rainbow Dash's rock wall. His trajectory brought him above the dragon, who had ceased to use his ice breath and was just about to bring a powerful claw down on the wall. Phantom dove down, putting both hooves in front of him. He slammed into the top of Boreas' head. His force caused the dragon to miss his attack, slamming the ground next to the wall instead. Phantom followed through with his punch by flying down and pulling up just above the ground, the grass tickling his belly. When he turned around to see what he had done, Boreas was preparing to take to the air and give chase. The great dragon only managed to get off one flap, rising a few feet into the air, before a massive boulder fell from the sky, crushing him. Rainbow Dash leapt into the air, hoof pumping. "Yeah!" she cheered. "Take that! Who's the mare? I said 'Who's the mare?'! I am! That's right! Uh-huh! Yeah! Who kick a god's plot? Rainbow Dash did! Woohoo!" Phantom was about to express his concerns over premature celebration, especially since they still hadn't awoken, when a more pressing matter was created. Boreas had turned back into his icy form immediately after the boulder crush him, the snow flakes slipping out from under it. They slithered across the ground, reforming into a vortex behind Rainbow Dash. This time the vortex dissipated without any excess noise, silently reforming Boreas without the white mare's knowledge. The dragon raised his claw, ready to swap her out of the air. And she would have no idea that it was coming; she had her back turned to him and was too busy celebrating 'her' victory to notice his escape. "Dash!" Phantom charged forward towards the mare. Hearing his voice, Rainbow Dash stopped celebrating and turned to face him, but took the long way around. She stopped when her eyes fell on the looming form of Boreas, his claw already coming down. With no time to imagine a way to protect herself, she did all she could: hold up her legs in front of her face, squeeze her eyes shut and hope that he some how missed. Boreas' claw came down with unrelenting force. Although it did actually manage to miss Rainbow Dash, it wasn't the fault of poor aim on the dragon's part, it was because Rainbow Dash was pushed out of the way. Phantom had grappled onto the stunned mare, using his momentum to knock her out of the way just in time. However, he became the target for Boreas' strike. His black claws sliced along his side and wing, knocking him out of the air. Phantom hit the ground, rolling head over hoof before coming to a painful stop. Rainbow Dash hovered over him protectively and closer her eyes. She used her new found abilities to create various rocks, trees, and other natural items to hurl at the god. She viciously attack the dragon, forcing him to duck and weave around the objects. He tried to blast the mare with a quick blast of ice from his mouth, but she countered by creating a wall of ice of her own in front of her, completely disabling the effects of his power. The winter god flew up, doubling his height. He let out a terrific roar before turning around flying off. Within moments he disappeared to some unknown destination. Rainbow Dash surprised her urge to celebrate, remembering what had happened just seconds earlier. Realization struck her like a freight train. She spun around and looked down. Below her, Phantom laid on his side, bleeding. She quickly landed next to him, desperately checking over his wounds to see if there was anything she could do. They were three large gashes that ran down his neck, barrel, left wing, and left hind leg. Each was bleeding profusely. The fact that his wing was still attached to his body was short of a miracle. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and imagined the stallion healed. But when she opened her eyes, the wounds were still there. "Bu... but I don't understand! Why aren't you healed!" Her breathing picked up, becoming shorter. Phantom laid there, not writhing in pain, but instead with with a relaxed jaw and heavy eyes. His breathing was calm. Unusually calm. She recognized these side effects from when Nyx and her rescued him from the gallows. He was going into shock. Not knowing what to do, she held his hoof in hers, sitting next to his head and petting his main with her free hoof. "I..." Phantom panted, "I'm not apart of your mind... You can't... you can't directly affect me, just like you can't directly affect Boreas." "So how was all that stuff working on him?" "You hit him with objects you created... you didn't directly attempt to affect him. It won't be possible to just imagine him out of your head, just like you won't be able to imagine my wounds to be healed. Though you can bandage them." "How?" Phantom smiled. "Simple, imagine some bandages." Rainbow Dash nodded, closing her eyes and imagining a group of bandages appearing next to her. She quickly took hold and wrapped them around his wounds tightly, hoping that that would stop the bleeding. Part of her began to panic when the blood started to soak through the bandages, silhouetting the gashes. "It's not working!" Phantom reached up with his left hoof and put it on Rainbow Dash's shoulder. Unable to pick his head up, he instead looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "It's okay," he whispered. "Just defeat Boreas, go back to your friends. See them again. Do it for me; for Nyx. Please..." Rainbow Dash bent down and wrapped her hooves around his neck. "No! No no no no no! Don't you dare say anything like that! You're going to come with me, dang it!" "Dash, think about your friends. They need you more right now than me." As she closed her eyes and did so, apparitions of the other Bearers of Harmony appeared around the pegasi. Rainbow Dash lifted her head off of Phantom's and looked around at all of her smiling friends. They each gave her kind smiles back and nice words of encouragement. Twilight, Spike, who was sitting on Twilight's head, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, who was floating above the ground by several balloons. Rainbow Dash felt reassured almost immediately, confident that she'd be able to see them again. They parted ways so that three more ponies could join the ring: Archer, Stryker, and Nyx. Out from between Nyx's legs, Scootaloo revealed herself. This is who I have to fight for... Rainbow Dash thought in awe to herself. These ponies love me... and I love them... I owe it to them to beat Boreas. All the apparitions moved on the other side of Rainbow Dash so that Phantom was between her and them. The mare tilted her head to the side, curious as to what the were up to; she wasn't the one making them do this. On their own volition, the ponies took several steps backwards. She was just about to ask what they were doing when she got her answer. From the air, another pegasus aspiration descended gracefully. This one was midnight blue with black tipped hooves, nose, and primary feathers, with a black and midnight blue mane and tale. His cutie mark was a black, pixilated striking eagle. His cobalt blue eyes were the kindest she had ever seen. Pha... Pha-Pha... Phan... "Phantom?! What're... What are you... How?!" The stallion sighed. Without saying anything, he pointed at the ground in front of Rainbow Dash. She looked to see that Phantom was still there, although his eyes were closed, and his barrel was no longer moving up and down with each breath. "No..." she gasped, realizing what this meant. Phantom Knight, was dead. "No! You can't die! Twilight!" she looked up at the lavender alicorn. "Can't you bring him back? You're supposed to be smart." "Rainbow," Twilight replied solemnly, her voice seeming to echo through some kind of an ether. "I'm not actually here... There's nothing I can do... I'm sorry..." The alicorn, along with everypony else, evaporated into the air in thin wisps. Phantom's aspiration was the only one that remained. Rainbow Dash looked up at his ghostly form, tears welling up at the bottom of her eyes. "For what it's worth," Phantom's voice echoed to her ears, "I'm sorry. But even though I'm gone, your friends are still out there, waiting. Waiting for you. My legacy may have ended here, but yours still lives on. I believe that you will defeat Boreas and awaken from this nightmare." He began to fade, a detail that Rainbow Dash did not miss on. "No, you can't leave me! No! Please!" Phantom returned her words with a humble smile. "Phantom, don't do this! Please!" Just before he faded out completely. "I love you..." Rainbow Dash bowed her head, her eyes just slightly open. All she could see was Phantom's limp form and his peaceful expression. The mare, ever confident and stone faced no matter the circumstance, finally reached her breaking point. She lost all feeling in her forelegs and collapsed on them, her head falling atop Phantom's. Rivers of tears flowed from her eyes as her sobs reigned over all other sounds in the grassy plain. She heard the sound of grass rustling. Looking through bleary eyes, Rainbow Dash noticed that small streams of snowy particles were slithering towards Phantom. She quickly got on her hooves, tracing the white tendrils back to the source. Towering over her was that blasted ice dragon that has been haunting her since her and the rest of Celestia's task force reached Glacies. "Boreas..." Rainbow Dash growled. "You will pay." "This is unlikely," the demon-god smirked. "I am invincible. "You're in my head..." She took a step towards him, the earth beneath her hoof cracking. "You've trapped me here." Another step, this one destroying even more ground than the last. "Kept my friends from me." Storm clouds began to form overhead, firing bolts of lighting into the plains and forest. Several trees caught on fire, the flames spreading quickly. Smoke rose up to choke out the sun. "Froze countless ponies..." Rainbow Dash's eyes glowed white as a final tear leaked from one. Electricity was zapping between the feathers of her erect wings. Boreas took several steps back, unsure of the pony. "And you killed Phantom." The wind in the area picked up, spinning around in a clockwise pattern. The vortex was at least fifty feet in radius, easily creating a large ring between the pegasus and the dragon. Boreas tried to push through the barrier with his tail as a test, only to be shocked with powerful lightning. He was quick to retract his smoking tail close to him. The rest of the ground inside the vortex that wasn't supporting the two beings fell away, reveal molten pits of lava. "You will hurt nopony else!" "Just try to stop me!" Boreas fired an ice beam at Rainbow Dash. She did nothing to prevent his attack. The full force and chilling effects of Boreas' ice hit her head on, and seemed to ignore her. "How... How did you do that? No one has ever done that!" The Element of Loyalty around her neck was shining brighter than ever, giving the answer Boreas demanded. Rainbow Dash screamed. From the vortex, a stream of small Yellow orbs streamed in, wrapping around Rainbow Dash. They were sucked into the red Element. The yellow in her mane, tail, and cutie marked returned, glowing brightly. Next came a steam of Orange orbs, following the same path as the yellow. Her orange highlights also returned. Red orbs followed suit, closely trailed by Green, Blue, and then Violet orbs. There was a flash of white light that blinded Boreas. When he lowered his shielding claw from his eyes, the mare in front of him was not the same as she had been before. Now she had a cerulean coat, with bright magenta eyes that seemed to be on fire, and a pulsating rainbow mane and tail. Rainbow Dash crouched, building up a mass of strength in both her legs and wings. With a powerful kick and flap, she shot into the air, aiming directly for the Conduit around Boreas' neck. A rainbow trail followed the pegasus along her flight path. Just as her leading hoof connected to the Conduit, she broke the sound barrier. A deafening roar lead by a powerful shockwave destroyed the vortex, snuffed out the fire of the flames, and vaporized the clouds. Dirt and rocks were torn up from the ground, pulverized to dust. There was a massive rainbow ring that spread out in all directions, destroying anything that remained. Nothing else happened. The echoing explosion faded from existence. All light emitted from the beautiful yet deadly rainbow darkened to an eternal blackness.