Ethereal Chaos

Infernalo sat in his usual chair, intently reading the book as he got to a particularly engrossing chapter. Without warning, Frostburn skipped in. She stared up at him, her eyes glistening with excitement. Infernalo, sighing in defeat, finally looked down at his baby sister, smiling up at him eagerly. He attempted to ignore her, but Frostburn continued to stare at him like a small puppy trying to get a steak. Infernalo finally just looked down at her and she smiled brightly.

“What,” he asked irritably.

“Infernalo, I just learned this really, really cool trick and I wanted to show you because I know you'd think that's so cool,” she said in a single breath.

“Fascinating,” he said sarcastically. Infernalo turned back to his book, unamused by her display. Frostburn looked over his shoulder, as he glanced up at her in annoyance.

“Whatcha reading, big brother,” she asked.

“Eltigo Morose's Interrogation of a Soldier,” he answered coldly. Frostburn cocked her head to one side in confusion. “Look, it'd take much too much time to explain it to you. Why don't you just go talk to Stonebolt?”

“Okay,” Frostburn chirped and skipped out the door. That was too easy, Infernalo thought as he returned his attention back to the book only for Frostburn to return almost immediately after.

“I thought you were going to see Stonebolt,” Infernalo said, not hiding the fact he wanted more than anything to get Frostburn out of his mane.

“Where is she,” she asked.

“She's hanging around with her friends,” he said coldly. Frostburn nodded and left once more, only to return again.

“What now,” he demanded. “What is it this time?!” Frostburn's eyes averted to the floor.

“I just wanted to say I'm sorry for bothering you,” she said. When she met Infernalo's gaze again, tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes. “I'm s-sorry.” Infernalo walked over to Frostburn and hugged her.

“It's okay, Frostburn,” he said comfortingly. “I didn't mean to yell at you like that.” She sniffed a bit, and wiped the tears out of her eyes before his tone immediately shifted from comforting to deadpan. “Now, just go find Stonebolt.” with that, a large black void appeared and Frostburn fell through it, disappearing with the portal. “Why can't she be more like her sister,” he muttered. “She's only twenty minutes older than Frostburn, and she isn't an emotionally unstable wreck.” He returned back to his book, picking up where he left off.

Stonebolt and Zephyroak had been sitting outside Zephyroak's house all morning, not really sure what to do, so Zephyroak decided to tell her best friend about a friend of hers that Stonebolt never met and what happened between her boyfriend.

“...so then, she said that he was just into her because she was a Sky Trossel,” Zephyroak continued, Stonebolt only half paying attention. “and then I said…wait a minute. Do you hear something?” Stonebolt turned and looked around for the point of the strange sound. Frostburn, out of a mysteriously created void, fell from the sky. This time, however, she remembered she could fly and gently landed down next to the two.

“Judging from the void in the sky you fell from, Infernalo sent you here because you were getting on his nerves again,” Stonebolt said as one might say about a minor inconvenience one. Frostburn nodded. In record time, Leafwind burst out of the house and jumped at Frostburn.

   “Frostburn, you're here,” Leafwind said excitedly. “You're here, you're here, you're here, you're here!” the little filly kept bouncing faster and faster, until Zephyroak finally placed a hoof on her head to stop it, which seemed to work perfectly.

   “I just learned this super amazing new trick,” Frostburn said excitedly. Zephyroak tightened her hold on Leafwind to prevent her from going into another one of her hyperactive fits of bouncing and squealing. Frostburn backed up a bit before flying into the air, forming a large brick of ice to form from thin air.

“Wow,” Leafwind said, her eyes widening at the vast scale of the large glacier in front of her. It even gave off a large clockwise spiral of frost from the angle that Frostburn had flown up to it. Frostburn shook the few snowflakes out of her tail and called down to the others.

“What do you think, guys?” Stonebolt tilted her head to one side like her sister did.

   “That's it,” Stonebolt asked, a bit confused at how underwhelming the new “trick” turned out. Frostburn shook her head.

   “Of course it isn't, Stone,” she said, chuckling a bit. “That wouldn't be much of a trick. I mean, any Ice Trossel can just make a huge brick of ice, and even some Water Trossels. Of course, Water Trossels can do a lot more, but Creation Trossels can make stuff way more—”

“Frostburn,” Zephyroak blurted out. “Would you just do the rest?”

“Okay.” She flew down, this time a stream of fire following before she landed in front of the ice block. Despite the immense heat, the block still stood. Then, Frostburn came to a sudden realization of this and kicked at it with her back legs, causing bits and pieces of the ice to shatter away. What was left was a tall ice sculpture of herself, Stonebolt and Infernalo. Frostburn’s tail briefly froze to extinguish the small flame at the end. Leafwind's eyes lit up in awe, not just because of the beauty of the sculpture, but because a gust of wind had taken hold of some of the frost  coming off the sculpture. Zephyr followed Leafwind’s glance and noticed the frost drifting in the air.

     “Wait a minute,” Zephyroak said in protest. “How is that moving? There isn't a cloud in the sky and there hasn't been any kind of breeze all day.” the mysterious air current flowed down and circled around Leafwind. When the pieces of ice vanished, an image of a leaf blowing in the wind was present on what was once Leafwind's ordinary blank flank.

   “Leafwind,” Stonebolt said in amazement, her eyes gazing at the filly's flank.

   “What,” she asked, following Stonebolt's gaze as she smiled brightly. “I-I got my cutie mark,” she said in disbelief, before erupting into excitement. “Yay! I got my cutie mark! It's so amazing and so cool! Doesn't it look so cool, Zeph?” Zephyroak smiled and nodded to her cousin as the filly bounced and danced around excitedly, praising herself on getting her cutie mark.

“Yeah, I guess so, kid,” she said. “Your parents might be really happy for you.”

   Infernalo put down the book, having completed another chapter when he heard a knock at the door. Opening it, he saw Steelmind standing in the doorway.

   “H-hi, Infernalo,” he said as though he forgot that he lived there. “The girls aren't home, are they?” Infernalo shook his head, and Steelmind sighed with relief and entered. “Can—may I come in?”

   “I suppose so,” Infernalo said, a bit annoyed how his baby sister's boyfriend just invited himself in. Infernalo watched as the prominent Thought Trossel entered with several books behind him caught in his magic before closing the door behind him. Steelmind looked down at Infernalo's book, lying on the end table.

   “Morose always did know how to write a good novel,” Steelmind said absently in a poor attempt at small talk. “There was just no other stallion of his time that could properly convey such a balance between dark humor, characters, suspense, and sincerity.” Whether it was his ever-thinning patience or his curiosity, Infernalo finally looked over at his guest.

   “Steelmind, is there a reason you're here,” he asked. Steelmind nodded, gliding several of the books over and opening them to certain pages. Infernalo looked down at the opened books' contents and frowned. “The Cursed Trossels of the Aponaclypse? That's just an old mare's tale; I thought you, Steelmind, of all ponies, would be too intelligent to believe this galous terklé.”

   “Infernalo,” Steelmind stated simply and justly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “The Cursed Trossels of the Aponaclypse aren't just myth. Their reappearance marks the beginning of Ragnarök.” Infernalo tilted his head to one side in confusion much like his sister. “Armageddon? By the immortal and everlasting power of Paragon, Infernalo! I'm talking about, the ancient prophecy that foretells the appearance of the five will lead to the corruption and eventual destruction of Seldreinia, all of Golirath, and ultimately the world. The dark king Megitimore will then arise from his tomb on the deepest fathoms of Tartarus and claim his place as ruler of the eternally dark wasteland. The few left will suffer starvation, torture, cruelty, disease, and ultimately death.” Infernalo nodded in realization, remembering the story in detail quite vividly, before turning the page of one of Steelmind's books, revealing a set of Trossels with their spikes glowing, the center Trossel’s spikes glowing gold.

   “You didn't seem to have done all your homework,” he remarked. “The Cursed Trossels were defeated by the Sixth Elements. Their physical bodies were destroyed and their corrupted souls were sealed away forever in a box.”

   “Their own souls were enchanted by the Omni Trossel to be reincarnated into their respective families, in case such a threat ever arose or the Cursed Trossels were released,” Steelmind finished. “I suppose, it’s possible. However, even if, or when, the Cursed Trossels ever do reappear, we can't honestly just slap together a team of Trossels who happen to be from five of the Sixth Elements; how would we tell that they were descended from the original respective Trossels of the Sixth Elements?”

   “Steelmind, Steelmind, Steelmind,” Infernalo said calmly. “You're getting all worked up over what's essentially nothing. Now, I believe that it's best you just go home and plan for tomorrow, if you know what that means.”

   “Thursday,” Steelmind asked. Infernalo sighed in frustration. For a Thought Trossel, Steelmind did have a tendency to do and say stupid things or miss the point entirely. Although, he at least didn't keep traditional stereotypes of Thought Trossels being geniuses. Steelmind met Infernalo with a gaze at said he knew exactly what Infernalo meant and saw himself out, the books he'd brought levitating after him. Infernalo looked out of the window, seeing the sun setting in the distance.

   “Where the hay are those two,” he asked nopony in particular. He looked out the window again, and saw a large ice sculpture of the three of them starting to slowly melt. He smiled, knowing that it was Frostburn who'd made it. As the hours ticked away slowly, Infernalo began pacing nervously. Finally, he heard the door open and saw them trot through the door as Infernalo galloped over to them. Frostburn flinched, knowing that he'd probably yell at them, but then looked back to see him more relaxed and calmed down.

   “I was worried about you two,” he said, his voice—surprisingly—not angry, but more relieved. “You know I care about you.”

“We know,” they said.

“You just don't show it enough,” Frostburn reminded him.

“I know, girls,” he said. “It’s getting late. We should all head up to bed and prepare for something big.” Frostburn lit up.

“Something big,” she squealed. “How big?” Infernalo smirked and tasseled her mane playfully. “You’ll see, Frosty. Now, just get some sleep.” They all trotted up to their bedrooms, Infernalo flicking off the lights on their way up.

“Good night, girls.” When Infernalo left, Frostburn was bouncing excitedly up and down in her bed.

“Stonebolt,” she said. “Infernalo’s going to throw us the bestest- best super-duper-uper birthday party in forever! Isn't this great, Stone?” She looked over at Stonebolt, snoring silently next to her. Frostburn’s ears flattened a bit at the thought that her sister wasn’t as exicited about their birthday as she was. “This is so exciting. I can hardly—“ before she could finish, the Fire Trossel was already asleep. Unbeknownst to her, Stonebolt was practically bouncing off the walls inside her head about tomorrow. While his sisters slept, Infernalo thought back to the Cursed Trossels. He quickly shook the thought from his head, though. The Cursed Trossels were defeated long ago, sealed away in a small box and buried. There was no possible, conceivable way for anypony to bring them forth, let alone escape on their own power. With this, Infernalo grabbed his book and began reading before dozing off three chapters later.