A Cold Wind Blows

Chapter 7
The Slice of an Apple; That didn’t Fall Too Far from the Tree

It had been a few weeks since Glacier and Style had properly started a semi-relationship. Glacier was stationed back at his home, listening to some music on his trusty turntable and making himself some grub to munch on in the kitchen. He was fixing himself something rather simple and easy: cinnamon baked apples. Red apples to be specific. And to be even more specific; from Sweet Apple Acres.

The toasty-sweet creation was one of Glacier’s favourite snacks, and on the occasion, his full-blown meal. He just really loved the way a toasted red delicious apple tasted once it was baked in the oven, and the inclusion of some cinnamon really tied the whole thing together.

“Just need to mix this,” Glacier said aloud, throwing the apple slices he had already prepared into a small, green mixing bowl on the counter. The bowl was situated in-between Glacier glass cutting–board—featuring an array of vegetables and fruits upon its sheen—and a few canisters of varying height, filled with sugar, cinnamon, and more sugar in that order.

The apple slices fell upon a semi-mixture of brown sugar, regular sugar, nutmeg, and, finally, cinnamon. It already smelled rather sweet, the almost ready to bake concoction permeating its heavenly scent throughout the room.

His mouth now watering heavily, Glacier took a small wooden spoon (already coated in the mixture under the apple slices) and began to mix the apples into the mess. They tumbled about the plastic, green bowl, getting thoroughly coated in the cinnamon-y and nutmeg-y goodness. Once the stallion was happy with the results, he greased an oven tray with some margarine and slid the tray into his oven, closing it with a little whistle and a flick of his tail.

“Now it shouldn’t be too long before these are done; about 30 minutes or so,” Glacier said under his breath. He then turned about face the oven and began to head back into his common-room.

The stallion pulled the stylus from his playing record and placed the tonearm back in its resting place. He then walked over to his floor-standing radio in the far corner of the room. He played with and flicked a few nobs and dials before the speaker in the unit spark to life with a series of light but playful sounding crackles. Next what filled the room was that of an audio play, it’s catchy little jingle playing out like it always did just as it was getting ready to start for the next hour. Of course there were breaks throughout the performance, thus the radio play actually lasted for approximately and hour and a half.

This audio drama in particular was one about a member of the Royal Guard, which, single-hoofedly, was the sole reason that Glacier had been inspired to write a story about two stallions of the Royal Guard finding love with one another. There had been stories here and there (audio play and not), all about a stallion whom finds the mare of his seemingly idealistic dreams. Though, Glacier thought, that there had never been a play—or a novel really—that touched upon this subject. Nothing in Equestrian literature really dared to tread on the topic of same-sex couple or courting having to do with the likes of them, so Glacier thought this to be out of his comfort zone as well. Sure, books about same-sex couples had been rather successful in the past, but that doesn’t mean that Equestria was really ready to accept it openly and without resistance. There will always be resistance, just as there continues to be after a ruling by the Canterlot Council that gay marriage shall receive the same jurisdiction and rights as “traditional” families and couples of Equestria.

Sitting there and listening to the play go on, Glacier had to get up only once, and that was to get his cinnamon apples from the oven. He sat down with a little bowl of them thereafter and continued to listen to the play, lost in the words that various actors and actresses spoke. He was lost in thought, slowly munching on his apple slices (loving the way they tasted) but far too busy to really take full account of their true flavours and textures.

Once the stallion had finished his collection of apple slices there was a knock at the door, and Glacier groaned out in disapproval as he wondered who could have been coming to his home, bugging him on such a relaxing and lazy Sunday such as this. His ears then perked up at the proposition of it being Style or Ice and Glacier practically galloped over to the door in a flurry of jubilant glee.

The stallion tore the door open without a second thought, beaming as brightly and warmly as he could. His toothy grin radiated the sunshine back into the face of the pony that had been standing in the doorway, and, with a rather hearty thud and a slight curse beneath the breath was revealed to be neither of the ponies that Glacier had previously thought would have been there. Instead it was a pony that Glacier hadn’t seen in a very long time. About four years or so to be exact.

“Now is that anyway to treat family, Glacier?” The voice was a lot gruffer than Glacier’s own, but none the deeper than his. However, Glacier recognised the voice he heard immediately.

Reeling back a bit and stamping his fore-hoof on the patio, he snickered under his breath. “Wasn’t really expecting my clumsy as a hippo brother to show up at my door.” The stallion looked down to his brother as he sat upon the patio, unmoving. His grey coat shone slightly in the light of the afternoon sun, his spikey mane of mirrored black and purple blew lazily in the breeze; it highlighted his horn perfectly.

“Glacier?” the stallion said, standing back on all fours, a cocky smile and a quirk of his left brow following.

“Amethyst?” Glacier countered, eyeing his brother down a little more intensely now.

The two continued to stare each other down for what felt like a century, the tension building between them both. They squinted their eyes, leaned in closer to one another, and then, without much warning at all, Glacier lunged forwards and tackled his brother to the ground completely.

Amethyst screeched much of a mare-ish shriek as he was brought down on the ground with the full weight of his brother. The chubbier pegasus—who was more that proving such with the way he was holding his brother down—continued to keep his brother pinned beneath his figure. A devilish smirk graced his features and then he spontaneously hugged his brother. Amethyst did not seem phased by this and, instead, hugged his brother back, smiling now. The goofy-grin stretched from ear-to-ear.

“I missed you,” Glacier said, pulling back from his brother now. “It really has been too long.”

“That it has,” Amethyst countered; his smile almost seemed to continue to grow. “Though, could you please get off of me? My stallion bits don’t really appreciate the added weight right now.”

“Oh!” Glacier squeaked, jumping off of his brother almost instantly. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Yeah, I know. Not this time, anyways.” Amethyst stuck out his tongue in a lazy, half-mocking fashion, and Glacier hid his face in slight embarrassment. It had only been one that time before. One time! Not to mention it was how Glacier found out—

Amethyst sucked his tongue back in. “It’s alright though, I kid.”

Glacier shook his head and steeled himself against his brother’s silly behaviour. “Well, what brings you here?”

Amethyst cocked his brow and quirk a peculiar smile once more. “Ice Stream didn’t come by and tell you…?”

Glacier paused for a moment, sitting there with a look that seemed as though gears were turning about in his cranium at a rapid but steady pace. He took to this look for a few moments longer before he shook his head and looked Amethyst dead in the eyes and finally responded. Though it came in a bit of a bated breath. “No, actually; she hadn’t.”

“Sounds like classic Ice,” Amethyst quipped. He giggled next and I followed suit. “Poor mare, though.” The stallion shook his head, looking from Glacier to the inside of his home. “You gonna invite your brother in?”

Glacier jumped a little, shocked in himself that he had indeed not invited his brother back into his home. “Well,” Glacier began with a low tone at first, before it eventually rose and became louder, “I most certainly am.” He stood to the side and allowed his brother to enter his home past him. Glacier closed the door closely after, and turned to look back at his brother, whom stood over by his writing desk now.

Rifling through some of his work, Amethyst chuckled to himself. “It’s good to see that you are still writing, even after all this time. I always knew that at least something would come out of it.” Amethyst glanced over at Glacier, a small smile forming on his muzzle now. “Is that what landed you your new, little colt-friend Ice had been telling me about?”

Glacier blushed. It was an incredibly intense blush. One that was so obvious Amethyst knew that everything that he had heard had to have been true. Glacier did have a new colt-friend. And this time, Amethyst was going to make sure to get all the additional details…just like he always did.

Rushing over to Glacier’s couch and vaulting over the back like an Equestrian Games athlete, Amethyst fell and sunk snuggly into the cushion; a sound that most resembled a poof of air followed. He looked over the backrest to his brother, a sly yet somewhat wry smile still gracing his features. He cocked his head to the side before speaking, though that didn’t calm the raging butterflies in Glacier’s tummy at all.

“So…” Amethyst started. “Details.” It was a simple statement, and one that Glacier knew was coming.

Though he replied much like he didn’t understand. “What?” He looked side-to-side, obviously having something to hide.

“Aww, I can tell when you have something that you’re not telling me on your mind, Glacy—“Glacier always hated that nickname. The other colts had given it to him in school, just because he was a little more ‘filly-like’ than they were. “You can tell Big Bro Amethyst all about it, though.”

“Can I Amethyst?” Glacier walked around the couch now. He tried to put on a mask to show that he was a little annoyed with his brother’s immediate pressure. Though, the message kind of fell through, and Amethyst continued to complain that his brother tell him all he had to offer.

“What do you mean, ‘Can I Amethyst’?” his brother retorted in exaggerated air quotes. “Of course you can, silly billy. All you have to do—“Amethyst raised his hooves and put them at the side of his muzzle—“is open and close your mouth like this—“he continued to make mouth-moving motions with his hooves all the while waggling his tongue like a dork—“and make sure the words that come out when you speak, are all about your little colt-friend.” Amethyst put his hooves down and continued to smirk at his otherwise bewildered brother. It had been years since they have seen each other, and then Amethyst just shows up—unexpectedly—and wants to know all there is to know about his new colt-friend. Something was up. Amethyst was never so direct. Annoying and frustrating at times, sure, but never that direct.

“Okay,” Glacier said in a huff of frustration, “what’s up?” Amethyst stopped his rambling abruptly, looking to his brother with almost a daze of confusion spread all about his face. “This isn’t the Amethyst I remember from a few years back.”

“Okay, fine! You got me, little bro!” Amethyst threw up his hooves in defeat and tossed his head back against the couch with an incredible thud. Glacier quickly joined his brother on the couch before he could get as little as one other word from his maw. Amethyst was slightly impressed, to say the least. But was still slightly frightened at the speed of his pegasus brother.

“What happened, Amethyst?” Glacier asked. His questioned dripped with concern.

“Aww, nothing old Amethyst can’t handle…” Amethyst’s tone of voice waved and he began to talk quieter now. “Snow just kicked me out of the house for a while, because we had a little disagreement…”

“Again!” Glacier yelled this time. “When are you going to learn Amethyst?” The stallion paused, grabbed the bridge of his snout and shook his head profusely. He looked up to his brother with a look of scorn, and distrust. “What did you do this time, doofus?”

“Well…” Amethyst went on to ramble out about three-hundred reasons that somepony would want to kick them out of the house, even for just a short period of time. Most of them sounded like relationship-breaking issues, but according to Amethyst, Snow promised that he would be allowed back in the house in one week’s time. Glacier was skeptical, but this was Snow they were talking about. And Snow doesn’t lie.

“Well, if Snowy says that you will be allowed back in the house next Sunday, I guess we just have to put good faith in that pony.” Glacier trusted Snowy. Amethyst however, didn’t completely. Something about this seemed to be the point that he believed would break them up for good. Glacier was trying to stay positive for the sake of his brother and himself. For if he showed one sign of falter, this veneer was sure to crumble around his hooves.

Amethyst looked over the hoof-rest opposite Glacier and groaned to himself like a little colt who had just had his favourite toy taken from him. He rolled his eyes, although Glacier couldn’t see him, and spoke. “If you believe him, I guess that means that I have to believe him, then, doesn’t it?”

Glacier stuck out his tongue, a sense of victory over the other stallion thus. “That is true!” he quipped. Sliding off the couch, Glacier took to the side of the couch that Amethyst had thrown his figure over. He rounded around him so that he may look his brother in the eyes and smiled down to him. “Come, I have some cinnamon apples that I made just before you got here, and I know how they are both your and my favourite.” Glacier said that last sentence with a little sing-song in his voice.

Amethyst propped his head up from the rest and smirk back at his brother. Though it was a little less of the same kind of smirk that Glacier had thrown him. This smirk was much more a mischievous one than not. “I thought I smelt them when I walked in. You make them with the extra cinnamon like we both like?”

It was now Glacier’s turn to roll his eyes. “That doesn’t answer my question. Do you want some or not?”

Amethyst jumped up next to his brother and pulled him into a big, hearty hug. “Some cinnamon-y fruit for the two fruits? Count me in.” They both laugh heartily as they made their way into the kitchen together.