Calefacient Gelidity
Chapter One: An Icy Reception
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.”
--William Shakespeare
The clip-clop of in-sync hooves clattered along the cobblestones as the newcomers entered the bustling villagescape that was Ponyville. In a shimmering silver aura, the young unicorn mare carried a small bag of possessions in the air just in front of her, quietly avoiding anypony's eye. Next to her, his hooves perfectly in sync with hers, a young pegasus stallion carried his own belongings under one wing. They stopped as they got to the town square, suddenly surrounded by a hustling, bustling marketplace filled with the sounds and smells and sights of town life.
“Wow!” The pegasus breathed in awe. “We're finally here! Ice Dancer, we're in Ponyville!”
“Your propensity for pointing out the obvious is as evident as ever, Pyrefly.” The unicorn replied in a clipped tone, her voice quiet and cold.
“No need to get all big-wordy on me, sis. It's just cool here! Look at everypony! This place must be at least, like, 40% cooler than any place we've been.” Pyrefly said brightly. His fiery tail flicked behind him in excitement. “Let's go find our new house!”
“May I remind you, brother dear, that we are only living in this place due to Mother and Father's premature deaths? They left us this house in their will, brother. I do not understand the logic in being so excited to be here. I, personally, am feeling a wide variety of emotions, none of which qualify as 'joy'.” Ice Dancer snapped. Her silver eyes glared at her brother. Pyrefly's eyes, the colour of molten gold, softened into sadness and sympathy.
“I know, sis, but don't you think Mom and Dad would be happy if we liked living here? Sure beats that stupid orphanage, anyway.” Pyrefly tried to nuzzle his sister affectionately, but she bristled away from him. “Come on, Icy, don't be like that. This is our home now, and we might as well make the best of it.”
Ice Dancer did not respond, but instead began walking silently, her hooves a steady march away from her brother.
“Aw, come on! Icy, quit it!” Pyrefly took his bag in his teeth and flew to catch up with his twin sister.
Twins though they were, they could not be more different.
Pyrefly was a pegasus, heralded in his hometown of Coltston as winner of the Coltston Grand Prix seven years running. He would have won an eighth year, but some newcomer from Ponyville named Rainbow Dash smoked him on the final lap, leaving him dazed and in fourth place, with the rainbow-maned mare taking home the gold trophy. She wasn't exactly humble about it either, what with that celebratory Sonic Rainboom she blasted over all of Coltston. Sightings of the Rainboom were even reported as far out as New Hoofshire. While the fiery-maned pegasus was happy to live here in Ponyville, he wanted to find that blue mare and give her a piece of his mind over that.
He was a sleek golden-yellow colour, his mane and tail red and orange, like a ball of flames come to life. His cutie mark was a deep red fireball with wings, representative of his fiery nature and love of racing. He was blazingly fast, but apparently not fast enough to win the Prix for an eighth time.
He was a dim sort, not quite all there, but his heart was in the right place. He was a warm sort, making friends easily, though sometimes he had a tendency to say the stupidest things and lose them. He'd lost many former friends due to his mouth. He seemed to lack that little filter between his ears that stopped him from blurting out something unintentionally hurtful or rude. He was the type of guy to actually ask a mare if she were pregnant or just overweight, then try to cover his blunder with a series of other comments that were meant to be comforting, but came off as rude and uncaring. (“Uh, I mean, not that there's anything wrong with being kinda chubby, I mean, curvy girls can be sexy too, y'know, more cushion for the pushin', right? I mean, uh... hey, where ya goin'?”)
In addition to his lucrative racing career, Pyrefly also did promotional work for the Wonderbolts, mostly in advertising, as Pyrefly was a surprisingly gifted graphic artist. He was not a member of the team, though he seriously wanted to be. He seemed to have a bigger idea of his own abilities than the Wonderbolts did, and as such had not yet been given an opportunity to audition. He completed the Wonderbolts training course, but still hadn't been called back to audition for the team. He still held hope, though hope was all he had.
Pyrefly's fuse was short, and he could get angry easily. It wasn't uncommon for him to get into fights with other ponies because of a simple misunderstanding that got taken too far. He was forgetful and scatterbrained, and although he was aware of that fact, he didn't appreciate being called out on it.
In all, Pyrefly was a zipping ball of fire, warming up the room and blazing his own path through life, and that suited him just fine. He loved himself, in who he was, and who he wasn't. He was comfortable in his own skin, and he was simply happy to be alive and well.
Ice Dancer was a different story. Younger twin she was, and always in Pyrefly's shadow. And the brighter they shine, the darker the shadow they cast. She quickly grew cold and jaded with the world around her, and set out to shine in her own gelid light as a competitive figure skater. She came home with ribbons and trophies aplenty, slowly but surely building up a collection to rival her brother's. No longer would she be seen as “Pyrefly's baby sister” or “that chilly little filly following after her brother” but an entity unto herself.
She was a quiet, focused mare in soft blues and silvers. As intelligent as her brother was obnoxious, she could explain away his blunders and faux pas with a little quip or white lie about having been dropped on his head as a foal. But, she was an aloof sort, usually preferring solitude over socialization. Her magic was ice-based, as was her cutie mark, which appeared as three shimmering silver snowflakes surrounded by magical sparkles on the soft blue and silver of her body.
She was spotted, an odd pattern to see on an otherwise unremarkable young mare, but if she weren't the great Snow Shimmer's daughter she would be seen as rather strange-looking. Ice Dancer appeared just like her mother in all but her horn. Snow Shimmer was a pegasus, one of the best snowflake creators ever to come out of Cloudsdale. Her snowflake designs were beautiful and unique, every one. There were rumors at one point that Snow Shimmer had been descended from the legendary Snowdrop herself, but the rumors proved to either be false or inconclusive, as the line went too far back to trace and Ice Dancer never bothered to try. Attempting to live up to such a legend would have made Ice Dancer's already dangerously-low self-esteem bottom out entirely, and Ice Dancer was smart enough to not let that happen. She preferred ignorance over madness.
In all, the siblings were as different as different comes, but after their parents, including their father, Pyro Technic, were tragically killed in a house fire five years ago, it left the then-too-young Ice Dancer and Pyrefly with no one to turn to but each other against the hazards of the world around them and the horrible string of orphanages and foster homes charged with their “care”. Once Icy and Py came of age, they were given their parents' summer home in Ponyville, as dictated in Pyro Technic and Snow Shimmer's will. And yes, though their family had a decent amount of money, giving them the opportunity for a summer home, the long and arduous string of unscrupulous foster parents and orphanage owners had taken it all, leaving the two with barely anything left but the clothes on their backs and a small collection of personal possessions to take with them to their new home. There were no family heirlooms left, no extra bits stashed away, no furniture or photographs or scrapbooks. There was only the house, and whatever possessions the pair could smuggle away with them every time they switched dwellings for a few months.
Amongst Pyrefly's possessions were a yo-yo he stole from an abusive foster brother, a pearl necklace from a drunken foster mother some months later, a toy train from an orphanage, and a set of toy soldiers. Amongst Ice Dancer's collection were mostly musty old books from orphanages that had largely been neglected and a few knick-knacks here or there, taken as personal revenge against foster parents who had done her wrong. None of Pyrefly's or Ice Dancer's medals or trophies remained, having all been destroyed in the fire that killed their parents.
And while Pyrefly was questioned about the fire's origin (Pyrefly was known for, well, a certain proclivity towards flames), Pyrefly staunchly denied having anything to do with it. At first, it looked as though Pyro Technic had set the fire, as his magic was quite clearly fire-based, and Pyro Technic was known throughout Equestria for never being entirely stable to begin with. And although he loved his family dearly and treated them with all the love in the world, he had a certain tendency to accidentally get his family into arson-related trouble regularly. But soon, it became clear that Pyro Technic could not have caused the fire, as he was in Canterlot on business while his home burned in Coltston. He pulled up in the taxi from the train station just in time to see his children crying and injured on the street, begging Daddy to save Mommy from the fire that consumed their home and their belongings. Pyro Technic had run into the building to save his darling Snow Shimmer, but was too late, and in his attempt to escape the burning building he became trapped himself, and died along with his wife.
So, five years later and on the verge of a new life, Pyrefly and Ice Dancer stepped into their parents' summer home for the first time.
Author's Note
Note: I decided to give this story another try, because the first time was awful, and Pyrefly and I still aren't talking to each other, so I figured showing him up would make me feel better about myself. Well, it's more like he keeps posting on my Facebook wall and I keep ignoring him because I'm a woman and therefore I can hold a grudge forever.
I MADE THIS AND NOW YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT IT
