Broken Feathers: Frozen North

by That Avi Nerd

The Nightingales

Celestia's sun set on the Glacien horizon, but was covered by the trees of the Palmyra forest. Captain Cypher had led the Equestrians onto a train, and headed here. The train ride took most of the afternoon, and only now did they arrive at their destination: a small, makeshift camp full of Glacien guards. Groups of canvas tents surrounded fires that dotted the area. Around the perimeter of the camp, were patrols of guards that followed barbed wire barriers, on the lookout for their enemy. The air here was far colder than that of Aquila, which Archer wouldn't stop complaining about. He even went as far to put on a heavy, fur lined arctic suit under his armor, with a white mask and black goggles, completely covering from head to hoof.

"I want to see where Prince Castor's patrol was attacked," Phantom instructed Captain Cypher.

"We can do that in the morning," the captain replied, pushing his was past the pegasus and heading towards a command tent.

"WIth all due respect, Captain, if to find the prince, it's best we start as soon as possible."

"And with all due respect, Staff Sergeant, we're up against Nightingales. You recognize the first syllable, right? Night? We're in their domain, now. That's why we don't have patrols at night, and why we step up security at our outposts. Because this is when the Nightingales attack. This is when we lose guards. This is when we're defeated."

"So tell me this, if they're attacking, who's guarding their base?"

"..."

"Exactly. We need to go out, find were Castor's patrol was attacked, and follow the steps of the Nightingales back to their base, and get him back."

"Easy for you to say, you've never had to fight them! They may seem like a group of disorganized rebels but somepony is giving them advanced training. They're knocking my guards out left and right."

Phantom got muzzle to muzzle with the Captain of the Glacien Guard, glaring into his eyes. "Scared, Cypher?"

The stallion in question stepped away from Phantom. "No, but I'm not stupid. Here's what I'll do..." he looked around for a moment, and zeroed in on a passing guard. "Corporal." The pony he was addressing snapped to attention. "Get me a map of the Palmyra forest." Said corporal rushed into the nearby command tent, reemerging several moments later with a map in his magical grip. Captain Cypher took the map in his own aura and held it open in front of Phantom. With a hoof, he indicated to several points. "We're here. Prince Castor and his patrol followed this route, and disappeared, here." Cypher rolled the map up, and placed it within the pocket on the gaskin of Phantom's left rear-leg. "You're on your own. If you want to go into the forest now, go for it."

Phantom nodded. "Let's go, team," he replied, and headed for the base's only entrance/exit.

"I'll have my guards look for your frozen corpses in the morning!" Cypher yelled at them over the breeze.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, taking to the air and hovering at Phantom's side. "I hate that guy."

"I think we all do," Archer commented with a muffled voice through his mask from behind the pair.

"Eeyup," Stryker agreed. "So, Phantom, where we heading?"

The pegasus stallion stopped outside of the camp entrance, looking off to the north. "This way," he instructed, and headed towards the trees. Though the snow was only a few inches deep, and the wind was blowing ever-so lightly, a path in the snow was lightly carved out from where ponies had traveled through here earlier that day. On the train ride over, Captain Cypher explained that the Prince's patrol had left in the morning, and was the only patrol to leave the encampment that day. Apparently, only three ponies survived, two were in critical condition, leaving the remaining guard to carry his fallen comrades back to the camp, and proceed to make his way to Aquila and alert the King as to what had happened. Had he been an Equestrian, he probably would have gotten a medal. As for the Prince, the guard stated that he had been captured by the Nightingales.

Within minutes of leaving the relative safety of the Glacien camp, Phantom, Rainbow Dash, Archer and Stryker found themselves swallowed up by the infinite emptiness of the Palmyra forest. Luna's moon had rising before Celestia's sun completely set, and now sat directly over the ponies heads. It's light was their only source of illumination, reflecting brightly off of the white, pristine snow. Even with the light, the void that was the forest managed to keep their visibility down only to the twenty feet around them. They were practically blind, following tracks to Celestia knows where.

"Stryk," Archer called, "isn't this where you grew up?"

"Near here, yes," replied the unicorn. "My home was further in a few miles, though. I used to play through the same tree's we're walking through now."

"Nice, what kinds of games did you play?"

"My brother, sister, and I would often run from our home, to where that camp is - there used to be a large white oak there - and back. Last one to get bitten by a Wendigo wins."

"Wen-Wendi-Wendigos?" Rainbow Dash mumbled.

"Eeyup. Wendigos. And those are the least lethal thing in this forest next to wolves."

"Least... lethal?" the mare gulped, suddenly finding herself extremely close to Phantom's side.

"Aside from those two, there's also ice snakes; which are these giant, brown snakes that like to burrow about an inch under the snow so they look like snow covered tree branches, then, as you walk by, BAM!, they strike. Their venom is potent enough to drop several manitcores from one drop." Rainbow's unsteady gaze drifted towards the ground as show rose a few inches in the air to avoid anything that might look like a fallen branch. The stallions took note and couldn't help but surpress a small snicker. "Then there's the Nix Obitus. It's a tree with white bark, and white pine needles. A single prick from said needle, and you've got more poison in you than a six bites from an ice snake."

Dash looked around at all of the trees around them. All appeared to have white bark, and white leaves, but couldn't be sure about that in the darkness. Deciding it was better to be safe than dead, she dropped back down to the ground, and walked along side Phantom, keeping plenty of distance between her and the trees.

"Enough with the horror stories, Stryk," Phantom laughed. "You're scaring the rookie!"

"So wait," Rainbow Dash said, fuming. "None of those are real?"

"Oh, they're very real." Stryker explained. "In fact, there's an ice snake in front of you now."

Rainbow looked to where Stryker pointed with a hoof, and saw a lump in the snow. Suddenly, two, black eyes, opened up and reflected Luna's light into her own. The lump of snow rattled, and leapt at her. Letting out an unfortunately loud shriek of terror, Rainbow Dash took to the air in fear. The ice snake stopped directly below her, trying in vain to jump up and take a nip of her rainbow tail. Stryker quickly took the snake in his magic, throwing it deeper into the woods and away from them.

"Rainbow 'Danger' Dash..." Phantom sighed. "What ever will we do without you?" Archer attempted to hide his snickering, but was unable to do so. Along with Stryker. That was, until Phantom abruptly stopped, holding a hoof by his head, signaling the others to follow suit. They watched with careful anticipation as his ears swiveled around, searching for something.

"Hear something, sir?" Archer dared to ask, albiet in a murmured whisper.

"Probably the echoes from Dash's scream..." Stryker joked, quickly regretting hit when he saw the stare that Phantom shot his way. Bowing his head, the unicorn apologized. "Sorry."

"Quiet," Phantom advised, now looking around their area intently. "Get down and follow my lead."

Phantom pulled up his hood so that it covered most of his head and hair. He then laid down, tucking his tail under him. Tucking himself as far into the snow as he could, he quickly blended in, pretty much disappearing from sight. The only piece of him that was visible were his eyes, the top of his muzzle, and his breath.

Rainbow Dash and the others quickly followed suit, blending into the snow as best they could. It wasn't immediately clear as to what Phantom had heard, but to see the stallion that could out-stare a statue - maybe even Fluttershy - get down like that was disheartening. What ever it was, it wasn't good.

"Put snow in your mouth and burry your muzzles in the snow," Stryker whispered.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Rainbow Dash could see Phantom's head moving around. Presumably he was taking Stryker's advice to heart, so, she did the same. The snow that now covered her muzzle and laid within her mouth was making it difficult to breathe. The cold was becoming too much, numbing her head and appendages. She could feel her nostrils beginning to freeze, and her eyes becoming itchy.

Ahead of the Equestrians, just emerging into their field of vision, were eight silhouettes, all approaching them. Phantom was the farthest ahead of the group, so he got the first good view of the approaching ponies. His first thought? Nightingales...

Their armor appeared to be matte black, and hugged their bodies closely, like an exoskeleton. They were covered from neck to upper hooves with this chitin-like armor. Their heads were covered by black balaclava's, and their eyes protected by dark tinted goggles. Hoods over their manes that were connected to cloaks that helped conceal their tails. Though, through snowy eye lashes, he could see more details, like the brighter colors of their manes and tails than the Glaciens they saw in Aquila. One feature of their apparel that stood out the most, however, was the sheathed swords at their side.

There appeared to be eight ponies total, but only seven seamed to be acting as guards. One pony, who wasn't wearing armor, was following the leader of the formation, being pulled along by a rope. The remaining six ponies surrounded the apparent captive; their heads on a swivel, searching for danger.

"It's the prince," Archer whisper through the snow.

"Wait till they're over us," Phantom instructed in an equally hushed voice. "I'll take out the lead, and the ponies nearest the prince. Arch, take out the rear protection. Stryk, you've got the outer perimeter. Dash, I want you to do one thing and one thing only. Get. The. Prince. Out. Everypony got it?"

"Aye," replied Stryker.

"Copy," Archer responded.

"I'll fly straight up with him," Rainbow Dash confirmed.

"Okay," Phantom continued, "take him straight back to the camp." A few silent moments passed. "Go silent."

As the approaching ponies neared, the light breeze carried their voices.

"Boreas, don't tell me you're lost..." Spoke on of them.

"I'm not lost, I'm just... Uhh..."

"Exactlly, you're lost."

"Hey, that storm earlier got me turned around."

"How can you be lost? Don't you remember what she said? 'Follow the flowers'?"

"I don't see any flowers, do you?"

"Go," Phantom ordered softly.

"What'd you say?" asked the first pony.

"I didn't say anything," his friend replied.

"But I thought—"

The first pony's sentence was cut short, primarily due to an armor-clad pegasus stallion rising unexpectedly from the snow in front of him, and then charging forward will all of the power of his wings and legs into an incredible tackle that knocked the wind out of him. In seconds, he found himself flying above the tree's, and falling back into the forest, and into a quiet darkness from which he wouldn't see light until the next day.

Phantom, after he dropped the lead pony from above the tree line, made a high speed beeline for the remaining guards around Prince Castor. As he did, Archer and Stryker pounced from their hiding spots in the snow, aiming to tackle the guards indicated by Phantom, though, Archer did most of the tackling while Stryker used his magic to defeat his opponents. Dash rose from the snow, knocking her hood down. Spreading her wings, grabbing onto Prince Castor, and taking flight to the tree tops where she proceeded to watch the battle, much to the prostests of the prince.

"Put me down!" he commanded. "I surrender, I surrender! I'll tell you what you want!" His struggling was making it difficult for Rainbow Dash to maintain a hover.

"Hey!" she yelled into his ear. "I am here to help you! But if you keep flailing around like this, we're gona fall!"

"We're going to fall anyway! Look how high we are!"

"I won't let you fall; I'm the greatest flyer in all of Equestria!"

"E-Equestria?" Prince Castor looked up at that pegasus above him, his jaw going slack. Because of the moon light, he could see Rainbow Dash well, but also because of the moon light, he could see more. Her signature rainbow mane seemed to radiate some kind of magical aura. The white light shone off of the ice crystals frozen to her fur, creating a second rainbow effect that seemed to give her the appearance of a deity. She felt the prince tense body ease up in her forelegs, and his once strained expression relax. Of course, all of this blew of Rainbow Dash's head as she watched the battle rage below.

Below, Stryker was taking on another unicorn, their beams of magic pushing against one another. Archer had take a sword in his fetlock from a fallen pony nearby, and was crossing blades with another earth pony. Phantom found himself staring at who appeared to be the leader of this group of Nightingales, also a pegasus, though, he had a sword, and Phantom didn't.

The pegasi stared each other down, stalking around a central point in a counter-clockwise circle, judging the capabilities of the other.

"You're not a Glacien," Phantom remarked.

"No Nightingale is," the other pegasus replied. "You also are not Glacien."

"I'm Equestrian. Royal Guard, specifically."

"So why are you helping the Glaciens?"

"I was told to. You're attacking government positions and instillations, destroying property, burning villages."

The other pegasus charged at Phantom, using his wings to keep him, and the sword, off of the ground. Phantom took the low route, and dove into the snow. He used the side of his armor to deflect a blow from the sword, wrapped his hooves around the wings of the other pegasus, and brought the two of them into the snow. The other pegasus stood atop Phantom, pinning his wings and torso into the snow.

"You know nothing of this war, Equestrian."

Phantom kicked with his hind legs, pushing the Nightingale off of him and into a tree, where he pinned him to hit. The pegasus' sword dug itself into the trunk of another tree. "Then explain."

The Nightingale head-butted Phantom, causing him to stagger back. "We're the good guys," the Nightingale explained. "The Glaciens are tricking you."

"Prove it!" Phantom rocketed himself into the other pegasus, dragging him high into the air, up towards the icy clouds. He threw the stallion into the nearest one, the resulting impact created a thunderous lightning bolt.

"King Centauri wants to free Boreas!" The Nightingale yelled over the rumbling thunder. "He thinks he can control him and conquer the world! We're trying to stop him!"

"It's all a myth though!" The Nightingale charged at Phantom, but the Equestrian dodged the punch. Just as the Nightingale turned back to charge at Phantom once more, he was hit with a bright, tan, magical beam. The Nightingale seemed to freeze in the air. Paralyzed, he fell into the icy forest below. Phantom chased after the falling stallion, but caught up to him only just after he impacted with the snow. Rainbow Dash, with Prince Castor, seemed to see the fight, and flew over to the crash site.

"You okay?" Rainbow called out.

"Yeah! Just get the prince back to the Glacien Camp." Dash nodded, and flew back the way they came, much to the protest of Prince Castor.

Phantom landed next to the Nightingale, and looked at him closely. Removing his goggles and balaclavas, he could tell that the stallion was still breathing. The snow must have absorbed most of the impact. The Nightingale's eyes opened slightly.

"Don't... believe me?" he murmured. "Just... ask... your Glacien... friend..." Then, with no other words, he slipped out of consciousness.

A rustling in the bushes off to his side caught Phantom's attention. Looking over, he saw Stryker approach him and the Nightingale. "Sorry," the unicorn apologized. "It didn't look like you were fairing too well."

"I was just interrogating him. He knows more than I got out of him, we should bring him back to finish the interogations."

"Are... are you sure? The weather here is unpredictible and usually very, very, very bad to get caught in. Especially at night." Stryker pointed to the edge of the Nightingale's mouth. "He's bleeding, too. Wolves would track us, and catch up to us. It'll be better to leave him here. He is the enemy, after all."

"Yeah... yeah..." Phantom looked at the Nightingale once more, reflecting on the conversation they were having moments earlier. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's go."

Stryker turned tail to leave. Just as Phantom was about to follow him, something caught his eye. Neatly tucked away in one of the panels of the Nightingale's chitin-like armor, was a small, pink pedaled flower. How can a flower like this grow here? he thought. Then in a spark of realization, he recalled the conversation the two Nightingales earlier were having.

"How can you be lost? Don't you remember what she said? 'Follow the flowers'?"

Hmm... Phantom pondered, grabbing hold of the calming flower, and putting it into the pocket on his left hind-leg.

"Ya comin', Phantom?" Archer called, poking his head over a bush.

"Hm? Yeah, let's get out of here before more of them show up."

Archer disappeared behind the bush, and Phantom followed after him. Though, before stepping through the bush and back on the path, he gave one final thoughtful glance to the Nightingale behind him. Determining nothing more was left, he went to gather the remaining members of his team, and leave.

"Put me down! I said put me down! Don't you know I'm a prince!?" Prince Castor flailed his legs, making it difficult for Rainbow Dash to keep aloft, even as she mouthed his words mockingly.

"You've only told me about eight times... Look," she indicated with her head to an area of lights ahead of them. "We're almost there." Within minutes, the pair landed outside of the Glacien command tent in their forward operations base.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Prince Castor sung as he began kissing the snow. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

Hearing the ruckus outside, Captain Cypher emerged from the tent. "Prince Castor!" he bowed. "You've returned safe and sound! Your father will be overjoyed to hear!"

"All thanks to this mare, Captain." Prince Castor pointed to Rainbow Dash with a hoof.

The captain nodded at Rainbow Dash. "Thank you for your efforts. Please, the both of you, come in side." He held the flap open for the two as the trotted inside to the warmth. "I'll have one of my men bring you two some tea." Captain Cypher disappeared behind the flap, looking to fulfill his promise.

Now that Prince Castor was in decent light, he could see Rainbow Dash better than before, and was still just as awe-struck. Seeing this, Rainbow assumed that he merely wanted an introduction.

"Name's Rainbow Dash," she held out a hoof to him.

"Ahem, well, yes, Rainbow Dash," Prince Castor took her hoof, kissed it, and bowed before the pegasus. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire compared to the previous temperature they were at. "Thank you for saving my life from those rebels. Boreas knows what they would have done to me if they were allowed to take me back to their camp."

"Uhh... Yeah..." Rainbow rubbed her hoof along the ground, cleaning it of his kiss. "No problem. And I'm not the only one who save you, though."

"Oh but you were! It was you who swept me off of my hooves and out of danger! Though, it was to a peculiar position in the sky..." His gaze drifted towards the wings. Prince Castor caught himself, shaking his head. "I do apologize. We don't have pegasi or earth-ponies in Aquila. I've never even seen one outside of my teachings and books. You, you said you were from Equestria?"

"Yup. Me and the rest of the team I'm apart of. Princess Celestia sent us here to help you guys in your war."

"Well that was very kind of her." Prince Castor used his magic to pull out two chairs from under the command table, which featured a map of the area. He indicated for Rainbow Dash to sit in one, to which she accepted. While he sat in the other, he continued. "I would certainly like to hear more about you and you're culture while we wait on your comrades to get back. If, that's alright with you, Miss Dash."

"It is. And just call me 'Dash', 'Rainbow', or 'Rainbow Dash', please. Hm... where to begin... I was born in this city called Cloudsdale. Like you could expect, it's made completely out of clouds! Only pegasi can live there because of that, and it's at least a mile in the sky! That's where we make all of the weather for Equestria, like the snow, clouds, storms, and rainbows!"

Author's Note:

There ya have it, another chapter down! :D *I'm liking this story far better than the first, by the way*
I can't really think of much to say other than my usual: Hope you guys enjoy it! Also as usual, any ideas you guys may have are appreciated! I'd also LOVE to hear your skepticism on the story so far.
Right, moving on. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with the next chapter specifically, BUT, I do have the rest of the story planned out and I know what I'm going to do with the rest of the characters blah blah blah. Anyway:
What's coming up: What does our resident Glacien truly know? And what the hay is going on back in Ponyville, anyway?

Comments

[PinkieCydni]

that is all.

[Azhanzhang]

awww.... does someone have a crush??? lol

[That Avi Nerd]

3489701 Crush? What Crush...?

[Azhanzhang]

3489791
coughtheprincecough idk i seems like it

[That Avi Nerd]

3489817 Yes, I know what you were referencing, I was just trying to make it seem even more suspicious It actually was of my intention to invoke those thoughts in the readers, I'm happy that it actually worked

[Azhanzhang]

3489828
good for you then! ^-^ I can't wait to see how this turns out...

[dashybrony2012]

Aaww I love this chapter as well I cracked up at the part when Archer said he was sending letters and they found out it was Twi it was so funny but yeah amazing job