//------------------------------// // Battle of despair // Story: FrostBound // by Azrael the alicorn //------------------------------// “So, what’s the plan captain?” asked hopeful Pinkie Pie, “Because there is a plan, isn’t it?”. “We already faced dragons that big... well, almost that big” tried to assure her Steel Wing. But the truth was that the captain of the Dragon Watch was just as scared as the Mane 6 and the rest of his men. During their years of duty, his team had faced almost any kind of dragon, be that big and small. But this FrostBound was something else. The size of this dragon alone was a sight to behold, twice the size of Torch. And those ice powers... until now, the Dragon Watch had never faced one capable of magic. And those eyes, filled with such cold hatred... “Mister captain Steel Wing?”. A meek voice managed to make him snap out from his thoughts. It was from none other than Fluttershy. “Yes, miss Fluttershy?”. “I wanted to know if there is some way to communicate with FrostBound”. That request made every pony in the control room look at her, astonished by her wish to talk to that behemoth. “You can’t be serious, Fluttershy!” said Rainbow Dash, in disbelief. “I have to agree with Rainbow for this one” nodded Rarity, “My dear, what you think of getting by speaking with that monster?”. “I know that it may sounds absurd but I think that there can be more to him than just a raging monster. Maybe that’s what Celestia has been keep hidden from us, because she was afraid that we wouldn’t want to fight it”. “Well, is not like we wanted to fight someone like that to begin with” remarked sarcastically Twilight Sparkle. “Probably is not going to work, but I think we should at least try. Then, who knows, maybe we can solve this situation without fighting”. “Hopefully” muttered Applejack, without taking her eyes off the giant ice dragon. There was something in those eyes so filled of hatred that it made hard to look at them and, at the same time it was hard to look away. Captain Steel Wing nodded, before turning to the communication with the other ships and telling to the others commanders to wait before open fire on the monster. Then he pushed some button and started talking. “FrostBound, we are the Dragon Watch. It’s our duty to deal with dangerous dragons and trust me, we are good in our job. Now listen here: what about you let Princess Cadence and anyone else that is inside that kart go, so we can avoid a fight that nobody here wants?”. Steel Wing speech was simple and clear and the right balance between friendly and serious. FrostBound remained silent, glaring at the airships for a few seconds. In those seconds, the Mane 6 and a lot of the members of the Dragon Watch hoped that the enormous dragon would accept those request. But then FrostBound replied and, just like Steel Wing, his answer was just as clear and straight. Only that, instead of using words, he used actions. He opened again his mouth and then a stream of almost blinding white/azure flames came out. Too quick and sudden to do anything but watch with horror how it devoured the airship. But instead of turning the vehicle and the crew into cinders, it turned them into ice crystals, which then crumbled into snow, scattered in the wind. They say that actions speaks louder than word. In the case of FrostBound, his actions were deafening. *** “You didn’t told them the truth” said Luna. Since their return to Canterlot, the two royal sisters had done all in their power to make sure the citizens were warned about the incoming threat and ensuring that each one of the would have a safe shelter and food. In all this time, Luna had been very silent. But now, in the privacy of their royal palace, she had the chance to speak her mind. “The citizens doesn’t need to know about FrostBound arrival. They are already scared enough with this sudden change of weather. If they knew who is responsible for it...” “I’m not talking about that, Celestia”. “Oh” Celestia looked away, ashamed to not have realized what her younger sister was talking about. “I had my reason to keep this thing a secret”. “Because you are afraid to lose their trust in you. Trust me, sister, I know the feeling” said the blue alicorn, staring at the window glass, depicting when she, as Nightmare Moon, faced the Elements of Harmony and got defeated. “But I also know that keeping this secret is not going to do any favour to you. You must have faith that the bearers of Harmony will comprehend your actions”. “I will reveal to them FrostBound secret, once he and the Windigos will be stopped. Telling them right away would have distracted them from the battle and not use the Elements in the correct way”. “What effect do you think the Elements of Harmony will have on him?”. “I really don’t know. That’s one of the reason why I didn’t used them on him, when I still could control them. They might actually heal him from the curse of the Windigos. That, or he may actually die. After all this centuries, bounded to those hateful spirits... ”. “It always confused me how you lost the control over the Elements, sister” pointed out Luna, “How’s that possible?” “I wish I could know. Right after your banishment, they just refused to be activated”. Luna was about to inquire into the matter when Shining Armor entered in the hall, shaking the snow off him. Other than that, his soldier training made him resilient to the harsh temperatures. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I bring the reports from the others cities”. “Is the situation as bad as here?” asked Celestia, a noodle in her throat, fearing what dreadful news she was about to her. “Actually, no, is not as bad as here, thankfully” he replied, eyeing the blizzard outside, that was howling like an army pack of Timber Wolves. “Lakes and rivers are frozen, temperatures are pretty low for the season. But other than that, it seems like the focus of this winter weather is all focused between here and Ponyville”. While hearing that the other cities in Equestria were only suffering slightly trouble was comforting, at the same time it made realize something to the royal sisters. If the weather was so much focused on them, then it meant that FrostBound was very close to them too. That particular made Celestia feel as if she was outside, in the heart of the storm. The princess of the sun looked at the windows, depicting the Mane 6 in all their glory. She prayed that, once again, the Elements of Harmony would make a miracle. *** “OPEN FIRE!” ordered Steel Wings to the rest of the Dragon Watch fleet, giving permission to give all they got to the gigantic ice dragon. A storm of thunders from the cannons and the mithril harpoons clashed with FrostBound, striking what should have been the weak spot of any dragons, like the wings and the eyes. Word is should. To their horror, neither of the two parts suffered any damage from it. The mithril harpoons on the other hand shattered at contact with his icy skin. “Impossible” muttered Twilight, incapable as the other ponies to conceive what just happened, “No dragon could be that durable”. FrostBound stood still, watching their pitiful attack fail to even scratch his cold body, without muttering a word. No monologues about how worthless they were, no laughs. Nothing, except cold glares filled with hate. Then he attacked again and again, using his frost breath and summoning from the sky a hail the size of an house. Luckily, this one attack wasn’t a one hit kill. But it still made tons of damage to the airships. For how much they tried it, they were too slow and the bullets too fast to be avoided. As they tried to do that, they still kept firing at FrostBound, hoping to worn off his resistance before he could destroy them. Or they would run out of Harpoons. A possibility that Twilight wanted to avoid to all cost. She had already seen so many innocents die, she would not allow any more to suffer the same cold fate. And by the short exchange of glares she had with her friends, she knew that they felt the same way. “Commander Steel Wing” she shouted, so that he could hear her above the noise. “Is time for us to enter in action”. The male pegasus looked at them with an hint of doubt, “Are you sure of it? I mean, I know that the Elements are powerful but--“. “No buts. Is our only chance. We have tried to talk to FrostBound. We tried to take him down as a normal dragon. Neither worked. If we want to stop this battle, the Power of Harmony is the only thing it may work!”. “Hopefully” whispered Applejack. “Fine then. I wish you the best of luck, against that thing out there”. The Mane 6 nodded, and then they rushed to reach their goal. During their travel to the bridge of control, the Steel Wing explained to them that, when and if the time would come to use the power of Harmony, the ponies should have went to get on the top of the Monarch. Uncomfortable, especially given how cold was outside, but it was the only way. Other of course to break the window in the bridge of control, like Rainbow Dash mentioned. “Of course, only if necessary” added, after some glares. They run through the corridors, up the stairs, trying their best to not fall down every time the Sovereign moved. After one long minute, they finally reached the gate to access to the top of the Sovereign. Just as they opened the door, they realized how strong and chilling the wind was. Even with their winter clothes, they shivered from it. Yet they marched on, ignoring that brutal weather. “Ok, here should go!” shouted Twilight once reached the middle of the outside bride. She had to shout to make sure her friends could hear her, in the middle of the noise. Not hearing anything, she turned around to watch the status of her team. They were watching something right in front of her, their eyes as big as plates by the fear. Following the direction of their stare, Twilight nearly jumped in fear. With the thundering noise of the ion cannons and the howling winds, they hadn’t noticed that FrostBound had moved from the top of the mountain. Now, standing on his hind legs, his massive skull-like head towered above the ponies. He let a short growl out of his spiked jaws. Short, and yet powerful enough to be heard above everything else. His eyes stared down at the Mane 6, paralyzing them without no ice, not cold, but just fear itself. Death glare could have been a good way to call his gaze, but words weren’t enough to express how much hatred filled the cold and dark eyes of FrostBound. Each one of the Bearers of Harmony felt like those eyes were staring right at their souls, freezing them at the same time. Every single one of them felt like they were foals in front of the dreaded Bogey Mare. In that moment, they knew what Discord meant, when he said that this FrostBound wasn’t like all the previous threat they had faced. It took all the willpower of Fluttershy to shake off from that sensation. “Twilight, we have to use the Elements, now!”. This seemed to snap the rest of the group from that trance of fear. “Right!”. And so they activated the renewed power of Friendship. The Mane 6 got surrounded by a luminous sphere that shined above the vast area, colouring it with the colours of the rainbows as it flew well above the Monarch and FrostBound. The ice dragon did not showed any kind emotions, following the sphere with his eyes, not even a bit bothered by the strong lights that came from it. Then at last, the bubble opened, revealing the Mane 6 in their magical empowered form. While the people inside the airships watched in awe at their transformation, FrostBound seemed unmoved by their transformation. In fact, he huffed at the Bearers of Harmony, in what looked like a mocking gesture. “Did that ruffian just laughed at us!?” asked Rarity, angry. “If we can call that laughing” replied Pinkie Pie. “Well, we certainly don’t look threatening, in this form” admitted Applejack. “Focus, girls. Let’s show him what we can do” said Twilight Sparkle, to which the rest of the mean nodded. As the Mane 6 prepared to shoot the rainbow ray, FrostBound took a deep breath, charging his own attack. As he released an even greater burst of cold flames, the pony released the Power of Harmony upon him. The clash between the two caused a shockwave so powerful that made all the airships of the Dragon Watch pushed back. The sudden and effective counterattack of the ice dragon caught the Mane 6 unprepared, they nearly let the flame hit them, but were quickly to push it back by increasing their power. The Bearers of Harmony were speechless, before this display of power. Where not even Tirek enhanced by all the magic of Equestria, included the one of Cadence, Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Discord, was powerless against the power of Friendship, FrostBound was actually fighting back. “He’s not going down without a fight!” noticed Applejack, alarmed. “And neither do we!” replied Rainbow Dash. The beam of war between the ponies and the ice dragon. From one side, the power of hatred, from the other, the power of Harmony and Friendship. Both of them turned from concept to tangible forces, capable to devastate or create. Both of them extremely powerful. Both sides determined to best the other. Sometimes, the cold fire would get some space, other times it would be the rainbow ray. The situation looked more going into a stalemate. In the end, the victor would be the one who could last longer. Which thought was rather worrying for the Mane 6, given how they never tested their power for prolonged periods of time. The possibility that FrostBound was capable to go on and on for much longer than them made the ponies feel uneasy. Could this be the time that the Elements of Harmony would fail? Was the world doomed to suffer an eternal winter? Apparently not. Slowly, one bit at the time, the rainbow ray started to push more and more against the cold fire of the ice dragon, until it finally managed to land a clean hit. As soon as that happened, FrostBound emitted a low growl, before his body started to turn into some kind of vapour, dispersing it all around. “We did it!” shouted Rainbow Dash, tired but triumphant, as her and the rest of the team descended into the outside bridge of the Sovereign. As they touched the solid ground, her, Pinkie Pie and Rarity started to jump around, chattering and holler in joy at their success. “One more bad guy bite the dust!” said Pinkie Pie, getting her puffed mane and tail back. “Do you think we actually have... killed him?” asked timidly Fluttershy. Unlike her other team mates, she wasn’t exactly pleased at the thought of having actually ended the life of another living being, even though this one was more of a beast than an actual person. “I don’t know and, if I can be honest, I don’t care” replied Rarity. Unlike the shy pegasus, the white unicorn lacked the compassion towards the ice dragon, “After all the victims he killed and the damage he has done, he got what it deserved”. She turned to the sky, noticing how the clouds were slowly moving aside. “Now all I care is that we can go back to Spring and hope that next winter will come a bit later”. Fluttershy mumbled something, yet not convinced. The same could be said for Applejack and Twilight Sparkle, even though for them the reason was something else. “Don’t you think it was too easy?” asked the earth pony. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked at her like she had lost her mind, “Easy? Did you missed the part where he nearly annihilated us?”. “Of course not. Is just that... Oh, I don’t know. I feel that’s something is not right”. Twilight didn’t said a thing. Form one part, it was true, it wasn’t easy to take FrostBound down. He had taken down at least two airships and was capable to match the power of Harmony. Yet she recognized that things could have went much worse, if FrostBound had actually attacked them head on, rather than limiting himself by standing still, making of himself an easy target. Was that just arrogance from his part? Or there was something more behind his actions? “Probably you’re just tired, darling” replied Rarity, “Now we can take it easy. Our work here is done. We just wait until they will bring out Cadence from that wreckage”. Some of the smaller airship of the Dragon Watch were slowly descending on the mountain were the kart of the Crystal Empire was. “I hope she’s alright” said Twilight, worried sickly. “I’m pretty sure she’s fine. You know Cadence, she looks like you’re typical princess, but she’s though as nails” reassured her Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, you’re right” nodded Twilight. “Now, let’s go back inside. I want to ask if they will need help to break Cadence free”. As they walked towards the door, the clouds were nearly gone. Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped. “Twilight” she called, “Is it normal that the sky is turning dark as night already?”. “Well, I guess in that case the time really flew by. Probably soon the sun will set down” replied the purple alicorn. “Ok, but what about it having different colours?”. This question made the ponies suddenly stop where they stood. “What do you mean?”. As she asked the question, she noticed that the light had suddenly changed colours, enlighten the world with light blue azure. And instead of giving warmth, it made them feel coldness. “What the hay” muttered Applejack, as she and the rest of her friends watched the sky. The sun had changed. Instead of yellow and orange, now it gleamed cerulean and ghostly white. “But...what’s happening!?” asked Rainbow Dash, confused and distressed. “I don’t know” was all that Twilight could say. This was another uncanny event in one day filled with absurd moments. Usually, when they used the power of Harmony and Friendship, the magic of it didn’t usually just defeated the villain, but it also fixed all the damage that he, her or it caused. For a second, she feared that by killing FrostBound so quick, they had condemned Equestria to suffer through an eternal winter. Before she or her friends could say anything, the speaker suddenly blared, making them jump, “Twilight Sparkle, we need you to the control centre, now!”. And so they did, running all the way back to the control room. Commander Steel Wing was at the window, watching below their position with a telescope. As the Mane 6 approached, he offered them the device while looking at them with a grim and startled expression. Twilight grabbed the telescoped and took a good look. And suddenly, she knew what was going on. “Oh no” she whispered, as the realization smashed in her head.