An Icy Reception
She was ice blue in color, and her mane and tail stuck out like silver icicles. Her deep blue winter vest was bundled up to her neck despite the summer heat, and her horn shimmered silver as a few of her possessions floated in front of her as she trotted into town. Her cutie mark depicted a set of three silver snowflakes shimmering on her flank.
Not far behind her, a fiery yellow pegasus flew at a leisurely pace, pushing his own possessions along on a little fluffy cloud. His mane and tail looked like black-tipped flames shooting from his body, and he wore a leather greaser jacket unzipped. His cutie mark was a little ball of flame that had sprouted wings on either side. The two ponies closing in on their new home could not be more different, yet they stuck close to each other and never let the other out of their sight for even a moment.
“Is this Ponyville?” Asked the azure unicorn in a voice that sounded like the first snow in winter.
“I guess so.” Replied the crimson pegasus in a voice that sounded like warm apple cider on Hearth's Warming Day morning.
Not two minutes after they had gotten into the center of town, an extremely hyperactive pink pony with a mane so fluffy it was hard to believe she ever combed it came running at them full speed, nearly knocking the blue unicorn mare over.
“Ohhhhhhhhmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” The pink pony nearly hollered. “I haven't seen you around Ponyville before! Are you new? You must be new, because I know all the ponies in Ponyville and if I've never met you it means you must be new to Ponyville and if you're new to Ponyville it means you must not have any friends yet and—HHHAAAHHHH---!!!” The pink pony gasped quite loudly for a breath of air and suddenly darted off, babbling something about streamers and whether or not a cake could be produced on such short notice.
The unicorn and the pegasus just stared at her, watching her run off and chatter to herself, and then looked at each other warily. Suddenly the pink pony ran back at them and tackled the pegasus to the ground. The cloud he was pushing popped, and all his bags fell to the ground in a heap. The unicorn cried out in shock.
“Who are you guys anyway?” The pink pony asked as if she weren't pinning a pony to the ground.
“Agh--! I'm Pyrefly!” The pegasus gasped from beneath the pink pony. “And that's my sister, Ice Dancer!”
“Oooooohhhh, okay! I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you!” Pinkie giggled, letting Pyrefly get up. She shook his hoof hard enough to shake him around like a rag doll, then grabbed Ice Dancer in a tight hug, swinging her around and off the ground. Ice Dancer looked terrified and let out a startled squeal. Pyrefly reached in and pulled Pinkie Pie off of his sister.
“No offense, Pinkie Pie, you look like you're super-nice and all, but please don't touch my sister. She doesn't like strangers.” Pyrefly said as gently as he could. Ice Dancer just stood in place and started to cry, and it took Pyrefly standing up on his hind legs and holding her in close for a few minutes to calm her down. Eventually, Ice Dancer was able to compose herself.
Pinkie Pie looked hurt and somewhat confused for a moment or two, then returned to her sunny self. “Okay! Hey you guys, come to Sugarcube Corner at four, okay? It's the building that looks like a gingerbread house! I promise to introduce you to a few of my friends!” Pinkie offered.
Ice Dancer looked wary. “That's nice of you to offer,” she said, in a small, quiet voice, “but my brother and I just got here. We need to set up in our new home and unpack our things--”
“There's plenty of time for that!” Pinkie interrupted. “Come on, pleaaaaaaaaaase~? My friends are super-duper-ooper nice!”
“Well, I guess we can stop by for a while. No harm in that, I guess.” Pyrefly agreed.
Pinkie Pie squealed in utter glee and ran off towards Sugarcube Corner.
“Py, I really don't like this.” Ice Dancer said, her front hoof kicking at the ground.
“I know, Icey, but Pinkie seemed really insistent. Besides, what's the harm? It's not like she's going to bake us into meat pies or anything. She's a bit off, but I don't think she's a psychopath.”
“Okay.” Ice Dancer finally relented, and turned down a different street. Pyrefly followed behind, re-forming his cloud and dumping his things back upon it. They got to their new home and took a look inside.
“Nice place.” Pyrefly commented idly. “Hard to believe they're just letting us live here for nothing.”
“Anything to house the seven-time champion of the Coltston Grand Prix and his family.” Ice Dancer commented sharply, eying her brother through cold silver eyes.
“There's no need to get all snappy about it. What happened happened, and wishing it were different doesn't make it so. I'm sorry. It was an accident, Icey.” Pyrefly said sternly, his own golden orbs staring down his sister.
“Accident or no, it was because of you we have to live here. This wasn't exactly my first choice of places to live.” Ice Dancer spat, her stranger-wary demeanor falling away to give way to a sharper, colder side of herself that only Pyrefly got to see the cruelty of.
“Yeah, you'd rather live out in Las Pegasus with Handsome Thunder, wouldn't you?” Pyrefly snarled, stomping his front hooves on the floor in disgust.
Handsome Thunder was a kind and incredibly philanthropic stallion who had taken Pyrefly and Ice Dancer in for a while when they were traveling through Las Pegasus, and Ice Dancer had quickly developed feelings for him. Though Icey told her brother she was over her crush on the grey-and-yellow unicorn stallion, Pyrefly knew his baby sister better than that. While most of Pyrefly's comments on the subject were of a joking and innocent manner, as a big brother would tease his little sister, the pale yellow pegasus couldn't seem to stop himself from making this particular comment cut deep to Ice Dancer's soul.
“At least Thunder didn't abandon me for weeks on end while he went flying off into those stupid races! You could have gotten yourself killed a billion times!” Ice Dancer punctuated her statement with a flash of her horn, which caused a nearby vase full of dried flowers to burst and shatter into glass shrapnel.
“Yeah, all he did was 'comfort' you while I was away!” Pyrefly spat venomously. Pyrefly had never forgiven Thunder for his apparent 'seduction' of his sister, though nothing untoward had ever taken place.
“Only because you forced him to by putting yourself in such danger! You could have died!”
“But I didn't, did I?” Pyrefly shouted over her. “I'm here! I'm alive! I made it through and I always came home to you, Icey! Why are you suddenly being so horrible about all of this?”
“Maybe I'm tired of watching the only family I have left work himself to death fighting for a hopeless cause! You're pathetic, you are! Always thinking about yourself and never thinking about your family!” Ice Dancer cried out, turning on her hoof and storming out of the room and up the stairs, leaving Pyrefly to manage both their piles of possessions.
“And maybe I'm tired of watching my only family cry herself to sleep at night wishing in vain to bring the dead back to life.” Pyrefly whispered to himself, letting a tear fall down his muzzle and drip to the wooden floor.
At about four in the afternoon, Pyrefly tried to get Ice Dancer to come with him down to Sugarcube Corner like they had told Pinkie Pie they would. Ice Dancer vehemently refused to come out of her room.
“Come on, Icey! We told Pinkie Pie we would!” Pyrefly pounded on the door.
“Correction, brother. You. You told Pinkie Pie we would. I don't like crowds. You can go alone.” Ice Dancer replied coldly, and before Pyrefly's eyes a sheet of solid ice grew from the floor and sealed Ice Dancer's bedroom off from the rest of the house like a barrier.
“Oh.....Okay. I'll try to tell Pinkie you're not feeling well, then....” Pyrefly mumbled dejectedly, trotting back down the stairs and outside. He looked up at the house, and saw that the area of the house where Icey's bedroom resided was covered in a large sphere of ice, like a socially-awkward snow globe.
Pyrefly would normally have stayed to try and comfort his sister, even if they were fighting, but at this point he felt obligated to at least stop by and say hello to Pinkie Pie. He trotted off down the road, zipping up his jacket self-consciously.
He opened the door to Sugarcube Corner and was met with a huge surprise. To be precise, he was met with several ponies shouting “SURPRISE” at him and a pile of streamers being blown into his face by what appeared to be a low-powered cannon of some sort.
A banner above Pyrefly's head screamed “WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!” in huge letters. There was a cake on the table and a bowl of punch on the counter. Apparently Pinkie Pie had set up an entire welcome party in a little over an hour, somehow.
“Wow!” Pyrefly commented on Pinkie Pie's handiwork. “You did all this for my sister and I?” He asked.
“Well of course, silly-billy! There's no time like party time! What better way to make new friends?” Pinkie Pie giggled back. She pointed to a group of ponies behind her. There were five mares talking animatedly to each other in center spotlight, with three fillies causing trouble in one corner under the watchful eye of a large red stallion who was silently chewing a stalk of wheat. “These five are my very-berry-bestest friends in all of Ponyville! That's Twilight Sparkle, and Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Rarity, and Rainbow Dash--”
“--Rainbow Dash? Not 'winner of the Best Young Flier competition and only pegasus ever to perform a Sonic Rainboom' Rainbow Dash?” Pyrefly interrupted her.
“I see my reputation precedes me.” Rainbow Dash shot back with a smirk.
“Of course I've heard of you!” Pyrefly laughed. “Your name is all over the Wonderbolts' mouths! They can't get enough of you!”
“Really? You know the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow Dash squealed suddenly.
“Well, yeah. They host the Coltston Grand Prix every year, and the winner gets free entry into the Wonderbolts' flight camp for the summer. Not only am I the seven-time grand champion, but I've received training from Spitfire herself because of it.”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash nearly barked. She quickly regained her composure. “I mean, that's cool, I guess. So you're from Coltston, huh?”
“Yeah. My sister and I.”
“You've got a sister? I didn't see you come in with anypony.” Twilight Sparkle commented.
“She's... not feeling well right now. She opted to stay home and lay down for a bit. She's pretty worn out.” Pyrefly said, casting his eyes sorrowfully at the floor as he kicked at the ground with one dejected hoof. And pretty mad at me. The pegasus neglected to mention.
“Well, that's no good, sugarcube. Ah hope she feels better.” Applejack replied. “Here, give 'er sum'ah this.” Applejack reached into her saddlebag with her mouth and pulled up a jar of the strangest rainbow-colored jelly Pyrefly had ever seen. “Ah'm sure she'll come 'round sooner 'r' later.”
“Thanks. I'll be sure to.”
“Yeah, yeah, that's great. Jam. But tell me more about the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow booted the other ponies out of the way so it was impossible for Pyrefly to focus on anypony but her. Not that she really needed to, Pyrefly was already pretty focused on Rainbow Dash.
That's a pretty mare. His brain suddenly blurted, and luckily the red pegasus was able to control his mouth in time before it came blasting out of his big dumb muzzle.
“Uh, well, they're awesomely cool--”
“I knew that, idiot. I meant, what's it like to work with them?” She asked. “Are they strict teachers? Do they show off their moves a lot? How much do you learn? Tell me everything.” Rainbow shook Py hard enough to make his vision go blurry.
“Ahmmghhghhh--!” Py babbled as he was shaken like an overturned bottle of ketchup. After his vision had cleared, he was able to answer. “They're not bad teachers, that's for sure. They know their stuff, and they know how to teach other ponies. They're not the best when it comes to other issues. It's like they expect you to not have any other obligations. I can understand that they want pegasi fully committed to the task, but they didn't seem to understand that taking care of my sister came first.”
Rainbow seemed almost downtrodden at the news that her beloved idols were not perfect in every single way possible. But she perked up a little and asked, “So did you get to join the Wonderbolts? With your stats, I would think they'd have snatched you right up!” Rainbow said the last part sarcastically, as if she weren't quite in belief of Pyrefly's supposed stats.
“They asked me, but I declined.” Pyrefly said. “Again, taking care of my sister comes first, and after the accident, well... She needed me more than ever. Ack, I've opened my fat mouth. I said too much-- ignore me.” Pyrefly looked humiliated as he turned away from the others.
“Wait... the accident? What accident? Are you talking about that accident that was all over Equestria a few years ago about that huge fire that took out half of Coltston and took a hundred Pegasi three days to put out?”
Pyrefly's cheeks burned red and he looked devastated as he suddenly sat down on the floor. He hung his head silently for a few moments, and Twilight thought she detected a tear falling down his muzzle onto the floor.
“...Yeah.” Pyrefly finally said, his voice thick with grief. “Icey and I lost our parents in that fire. I retired from racing after that, and Icey and I have been looking for a new permanent home ever since.”
“....Oh. I-... Hey dude, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up. My bad.” Rainbow apologized. She poked Pyrefly in the shoulder with a hoof lightly.
“It's not your fault. That fire was pretty big news. I had ponyrazzi tailing me for months after that fire because they thought I had started it during a race with my signature move. I mean, they don't call me Pyrefly for nothing." Pyrefly laughed nervously. "B-But they're wrong! Why would I want to burn down half of my hometown? But they wouldn't give up. I had to take Icey and run. She's too fragile to deal with that kind of stress.” Py said. He stood up again and shook his mane out of his eyes. He forced a smile. “But hey, enough about my woes, let's have some fun. This is a party after all.”
Rainbow Dash laughed. “Alright. Hey, you wanna race? I'd like to be able to say I beat the flank off the seven-time Coltston Grand Prix grand champion!” She said arrogantly.
Pyrefly barked in derisive laughter. “Big words against the stallion who won by twelve lengths in his last race!”
“Yeah? I think I can handle you. How about tomorrow? Noon.”
“I don't think this is a good idea, Rainbow. You just met the colt-- why alienate him now?” Twilight piped in.
“Oh, Twilight. It's all in good fun. It's just Rainbow's way of saying hello.” The quiet pony called Fluttershy whispered in her half-voice.
“I don't know... seems a bit mean, Rainbow. But I guess if Fluttershy's on board....”
“You're on, Rainbow Dash. Bring your A-Game, because I'm playing for keeps.” Pyrefly's wings shot out and he launched himself into a backwards somersault, just to show the brilliantly-colored mare in front of him a small taste of what he could do.
“It's not that smart to show off all your moves in one day, Pyrefly.” Rainbow Dash laughed sardonically before flying out, with the fiery male right behind.
Pyrefly was having fun. It was a thrill to fly around and loop-de-loop around the Wonderbolts' biggest wish. Rainbow Dash was having fun too, trying to prove she was faster than a champion.
That ended when things got very cold all of a sudden, as if all the warmth in the summer air was just sucked out of it. Like some Derpy pony had dropped a snow cloud over that particular street corner by accident. “Oh....dear...Celestia.” Pyrefly stated.
The entirety of Pyrefly's and Ice Dancer's new home was covered in broken shards of ice, snow, and slush. Cold frozen shrapnel that pierced the walls and surrounded the snowy building like a swirling, deadly fence of sub-zero spikes. The building was now a fortress of ice and sorrow, a castle made of good intentions gone awry. A mournful song could be heard from the upper windows, the song of the freezing wind blowing past a shattered spirit. Sure, I meant well, but look at what well-meant did. The road of good intentions lead where such roads always lead. No good deed goes unpunished.
“Uh, I don't remember that being in Ponyville this morning.” Rainbow Dash said confusedly.
“That's because it wasn't.” Pyrefly stated with fear in his voice. “Ice Dancer, what have you done...?”
“Your sister did this?” Twilight Sparkle panted, having caught up to her friend and Pyrefly.
“I knew she was upset but I thought she could control her magic better than this now. Oh dear Celestia. I should have known not to leave her alone like that. I should have known.” Pyrefly took off from a dead stop and tried to fly into the building, but another sheet of ice blocked his path, shimmering silver with Ice Dancer's ice-based magic. He was unable to stop his forward momentum in time and slammed directly into it, getting knocked on his backside in front of his new friends. Brushing himself off, Pyrefly got up and tried again, with the same result. Once more, same result.
The pegasus colt tried time and time again to break through the barrier more and more frantically, eventually building up such a momentum that the air behind him began to ignite in his wake, and he appeared as a pony-sized fireball bouncing back and forth against the maze of crystalline ice spikes like a pinball. Each blast of Pyrefly's flames was punctuated with a sonic boom.
“He's breaking the sound barrier.... over and over.” Rainbow Dash said, with awe in her voice, as well as a little bit of fear. Not fear of Pyrefly, but fear of what he was doing to himself. If just one breach of the sound barrier was enough to put Rainbow Dash out of commission for a week or more, than what this pony was doing to himself could very well kill him.
“How? How is he doing that?” Twilight asked, poring through her books frenziedly.
“His love for his sister and his concern for her well-being must be overriding his body's signals to stop.” Rarity piped in, watching the ordeal.
“Ice...Dancer! Icey! Icey! Iceyyy~!” Pyrefly screamed over and over, burning his way through layer after layer of thick diamond-tinted ice. “Icey!” He shouted, bouncing back and forth against the ice. The sonic booms were loud, like fireworks in the daytime. Finally, Pyrefly's body simply shut down, and he fell against the ground, his wings still smoking and his eyes filling up with tears.
Ice Dancer, where are you? Already dead or bleeding? One more disaster I can add to my generous supply.
“Pyrefly, are you alright?” Twilight asked.
“I-I-I can't... I can't do it—I can't get in-- I can't...” Pyrefly babbled, exhausted and in a fairly generous amount of pain. One question haunts and hurts. Too much... Too much to mention. Was I really seeking good? Or just... seeking attention? Is that all good deeds are when looked at with an Ice-cold eye? If that's all good deeds are.... then maybe that's the reason why....
“Let me try.” Rainbow Dash said. “I may not look it but I represent the Element of Loyalty. I won't give up on my friends.... even if I've never met them.” Rainbow finished, referring to Ice Dancer.
“No. It's too dangerous.... If I can't, then you can't.” Pyrefly said more harshly than he meant to, and Rainbow Dash took it as an insult.
“Are you telling me I don't have what it takes? I'll have you know I've performed a Sonic Rainboom! Three times. I think I can get past a flimsy ice shield!” Rainbow shouted angrily.
“No... no! Rainbow, don't!” Pyrefly called with the last of his strength as Rainbow Dash took to the sky, and was forced to lay there and watch as Ice Dancer's magic lashed out at the sense of a stranger nearby.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out in shock as the blue mare fell to the ground like a stone before even reaching the barrier.
“I told her! I told her.... Ice Dancer's terrified of strangers.... she would never let anypony but me get near if she were upset like this....Even if she can't control her own magic, her magic itself knows how to keep other ponies out.” Pyrefly coughed, struggling to get up.
“So that's why she got scared when I hugged her earlier.” Pinkie Pie said oddly somberly, her fluffy mane having gone flat with worry. “You just said she didn't like strangers.... but you never said she was scared.” Pinkie said.
“I'm sorry! I know. I should have said something, but she gets so embarrassed when I bring it up! She's terrified of strangers.... She's so fragile.... She was always the baby of the family. She never learned how to be strong, because she always had me to protect her!” Pyrefly finally managed to stand up and limp his way over to Rainbow Dash.
“Oh.... oh.... Oh, no. Oh.... no.” Twilight moaned mournfully as Pyrefly dragged Rainbow Dash away from the barrier.
Rainbow Dash was frozen solid. She was an ice sculpture. A Dash-cicle. Ice Dancer's wild magic had frozen the look of determination and apprehension onto Rainbow Dash's face, and held her body, still stuck in time in a pose of attack, forever sealing Rainbow Dash within a shell of magical ice.
“Ice Dancer.... What have you done?” Pyrefly repeated, staring alternately at his new friend, frozen in time and in ice in his hooves, and back at what used to be his home, now transformed into the very vision of his baby sister's vulnerability and sorrow. “No.... not what have you done... What have I done?”
Chapter Two: Pyrefly's Last Stand
“'What have I done?' What do you mean by that?” Twilight Sparkle asked Pyrefly. Rainbow Dash, frozen solid in the yellow pegasus' hooves, said nothing.
Pyrefly let out a strangled sound that gave off the impression that he knew more than he was letting on, and was doing a bad job of trying to hide it. His eyes darted back and forth between the frozen mare in his hooves and the frozen fortress that Ice Dancer had created. Holding back the truth wasn't going to help them now. In fact, it was only going to make things worse.
“It... It's all my fault-- I...I lied when I said I didn't cause that fire in Coltston!” Pyrefly shouted suddenly. “I-I-It was an accident, and I was too young to understand what I'd done-- and that's the real reason I took Icey and ran away!” Pyrefly sobbed the last part, his tears falling onto the ice cube that used to be Rainbow Dash and freezing to her frosty skin on contact. “That's why Ice Dancer has so many emotional problems! That's why all of this is happening! It's all my fault! If I hadn't run in that last race-- if I hadn't wanted to win so badly-- I wouldn't have pushed my limits! I wouldn't have tried to break the sound barrier! I wouldn't have performed my signature move, and I wouldn't have set that fire that killed our parents!”
Applejack nudged Pyrefly with a hoof and wiped his tears away softly. “Yer blamin' yerself fer way too much, sugarcube. Y'all couldna known that was gonna happen. T'aint like y'all could see the future.”
“I... I'm such a failure!” Pyrefly shivered. Rainbow Dash's frozen body was beginning to lower his own body temperature. “I ran away from my mistakes instead of facing them, and I taught my sister to do the same! Now she's so afraid of my failure that she can't control herself!”
“You're not a failure, Pyrefly. Ponies make mistakes. Sometimes big mistakes. All you can do is pick yourself up and learn from them.” Twilight consoled softly. “Trust me. I've felt like this before.”
“Did you burn down your parents' home and trap them underneath burning rubble, too?” Pyrefly deadpanned darkly, staring blankly at Twilight through dull golden eyes.
“Well, no, but I understand what it's like to feel like you're not good enough. To feel like everything you try to do ends in a miserable failure. I know what it's like to feel like you're not good enough for the sibling you love so much. Like you don't deserve their kindness and love. I know that feeling well.” Twilight explained. “I also know that no matter how terrible you feel, you always have somepony to count on. You always have your sister, Pyrefly. I know that she loves you.”
“She doesn't love me! She hates me for what I've done to her and to our family! I'm nothing to her but the monster who murdered Mom and Dad and dragged us away from our home!”
“No, she doesn't think that of you!” Twilight insisted sharply. “You want to know how I know? Because she is your sister! Your sister will love you no matter what!”
Pyrefly snorted. “Are you even looking at the giant spiky ice fortress she's turned our home into?!”
“I see it, Pyrefly, but it doesn't mean she hates you! It just means she's upset and needs some time to herself. To... cool down, so to speak.” Twilight said more softly. “Right now, our main concern is Rainbow Dash.”
Pyrefly finally looked back down at Rainbow Dash's icy form. “...Right.”
Pyrefly stood up and shook the frost off himself. “Twilight, Rarity. You guys are unicorns. You think you could levitate Rainbow Dash to a wide open field somewhere? Somewhere huge and empty.”
“What'r y'all plannin'?” Applejack asked suspiciously.
“Are we having a Frozen Rainbow party?” Pinkie asked excitedly. Applejack's even stare sombered the pink pony up quickly.
“You'll see.” Pyrefly said cryptically. Twilight and Rarity did as they were asked, lifting Rainbow Dash-cicle up into the air and leading the way for Pyrefly and the others to follow.
Casting one last glance at his frozen home from the field Twilight chose, Pyrefly began stretching his wings. “I'm not certain I'll be able to do this.” Pyrefly admitted. “It's been a long time since I even attempted this move, but I'm sure it's the only way to thaw out Rainbow Dash. My sister's magic is wild and unpredictable, but it's powerful. I know how to counter my sister's ice magic, but it's going to take everything I've got.”
“Are you talking about that fireball move you were doing earlier?” Twilight asked.
“No. Well, sort of. I didn't actually perform my signature move back there. The moves I did were desperate, yeah, but it wasn't the best I had. I was too nervous and too freaked out to really give it every ounce of wingpower I had.”
“But you broke the sound barrier on that move, multiple times.” Twilight rebuked.
“No, I didn't.” Pyrefly admitted. “What you heard as sonic booms were actually just me bouncing off the ice blocks. The acoustics of ice are a little bit weird, especially magical ice. It amplified the sound of me smacking into the ice over and over and you interpreted the sound as a sonic boom.” Pyrefly explained.
“But I saw you burst into flames!” Twilight argued. “I saw a fireball melting through the walls!”
“Again, it was an illusion caused by the ice's magical surface. You just saw the streaks of my mane and tail bouncing around, reflected in the ice's sheen. I wasn't even melting anything. It was a trick of the light, that's all.” Pyrefly said. “But this is going to be different. I'm going to give it my all.”
“I... okay.” Twilight finally conceded to Pyrefly's explanations to what happened, and hung her head.
Pyrefly backed up to the very edge of the field, facing Rainbow Dash. “Just in case this doesn't go the way I planned, I want the rest of you to take cover, okay? I don't want anypony to get hurt.”
Pyrefly didn't have to tell Fluttershy twice. She was already up in a tree and hidden from view before he finished his sentence.
Pyrefly planted his hooves firmly on the ground and flapped his wings as fast and as hard as he could, feeling the friction gather in the air around him. The temperature rose around him rapidly, and he took off, pushing himself to his very limits and then beyond. All at once, the air around him burst into flames, real flames, and Twilight could see the difference between this image and the one she saw earlier. Pyrefly was right. Twilight realized. I remember now. I couldn't feel any heat when he was bouncing around earlier. He wasn't really on fire.
Pyrefly shot forward, a real sonic boom echoing in his wake and sending a shockwave of flames powering through the air around him in every direction, forcing Fluttershy out of her hiding spot in the trees, lest she be burned in the blast. He left the smell of ardent earth in his wake. He reached Rainbow Dash and banked a hard left, spinning around her in circles. A column of spinning fire rose from the ground, surrounding Rainbow Dash in an infernal tornado. As the flames grew hotter and Pyrefly flew faster, the flames turned from orange, to red, to blue, to white. A column of pure white hellfire spun around the frozen mare, slowly thawing her body from the inside out. The ice melted bit by bit, dripping off of Rainbow's coat and leaving shivering, freezing, living mare behind.
When Rainbow Dash was fully thawed and gasping for breath, Pyrefly broke off from the tornado, but was unable to stop his forward momentum and crashed headlong into the ground, digging himself into a huge rut in the earth.
Rainbow Dash seemed surprised. “I... I'm alive? I'm alive!” She cheered, and the rest of her friends cheered with her. “You saved my life?” She asked of Pyrefly, still collecting his marbles at the bottom of a smoking crater.
“No, Mommy, I don't want to go to school today. I want to stay home and bake cookies with you!” Pyrefly babbled half-incoherently, dizzy and smoking from his efforts. Rainbow Dash lent a hoof and pulled the stallion out of the scorched hole.
“Whoa, there, buddy. Are you alright?” Rainbow asked.
Pyrefly finally shook himself out of it. “Yeah..... Ugh, I'm okay. My concern is you. Are you alright?” He asked. He tested his wings, and found that one wouldn't move. He had broken his left wing upon his landing, and now it was shooting red-hot needles of pain through his entire torso. He looked back at it and realized that he was pretty mangled from his efforts. Seared skin under a singed coat and oozing blood from spots where feathers were yanked out by his momentum.
Rainbow Dash looked herself over a bit and shook the remaining water out of her hair. “I feel okay, yeah. I think I'm gonna be just fine. Thank you, Pyrefly. You saved my life.”
“I'm sorry my sister turned you into an ice cube.” Pyrefly blushed.
“It's alright. I forgive her.” Rainbow laughed. “Now let's get your sister out of that ice fortress.”
“First, I think we need to get Pyrefly to the hospital.” Fluttershy gasped. “He's bleeding!”
“No, it's okay. I'm fine.” Pyrefly insisted, but a prod to his broken wing by Fluttershy sent him reeling to the ground, howling in pain.
“Oh, I'm sorry, Pyrefly. I didn't mean to hurt you. But I really think I should take you to see a doctor... if that's alright. Your wing is clearly broken.”
“My...sister....” Pyrefly choked, sniffling in pain.
“We'll try to get through to your sister. Don't worry, we'll stay outside the freeze radius. Fluttershy, can you get Pyrefly to the hospital? I'm going to go get Spike.” Twilight announced, darting off. Rarity and Rainbow Dash followed her, with Pinkie Pie bounding off in some other random direction. Applejack stayed with Fluttershy and Pyrefly.
“As if I didn't have enough trouble with spikes lately.” Pyrefly rolled his eyes.
“Spike isn't an ice spike, Pyrefly. Spike is Twilight's assistant. He's a baby dragon.” Fluttershy explicated, lifting Pyrefly onto her back and floating gracefully on cream-colored wings towards Ponyville Hospital.
Somewhere within the walls of Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia prodded one of her assistants. “Excuse me, does it seem... cold in here to you?” She asked. “Like, unseasonably cold? It's mid-summer, yet I can clearly sense snow on the horizon.”
“Would you like us to make it warmer, Your Highness?” The assistant replied, his horn preemptively glowing to raise the temperature in the room.
“No, no. I was just wondering if you noticed the change in temperature, or if it was just me.”
“It's been cold all day, Princess. Actually, we think the cold front is coming from Ponyville. Some sort of spell gone awry, but we can't precisely pinpoint the origin. We think that the origin is being blocked by a different spell that we've so far been unable to figure out.”
“Hmm.... I'd best send a letter to Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia's horn glowed with magical light, and a quill and a piece of parchment flew to her.
Back at the library, Spike coughed up the letter the Princess had sent in a short blast of green flames.
My faithful student Twilight,
It's been unseasonably cold in Canterlot all day, and my meteorologists tell me that a strange cold front has manifested in Ponyville and is spreading throughout Equestria. They think it's a spell gone awry. I was wondering if you knew anything about it, because for once I'm clueless on the matter. I'm being told we can't quite pinpoint the origin of the cold front.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia
“Spike, take a letter.”
Dear Princess Celestia,
The cold front in Ponyville is absolutely a spell gone awry, though this time it wasn't me, I swear. I've had enough messing with elemental spells after the time I made it rain frogs for three days last April. I learned my lesson on that one. Actually, it's due to a young mare and her brother who just moved to Ponyville, and the sister's a little... jittery, and can't control her magic well. We've already had an incident in which Rainbow Dash was frozen solid for a few hours, but don't worry, she's all thawed out now and feeling fine. We hope to have the confusion cleared up by the end of the day, though by the look of things, it's not going to be that easy. This poor filly is apparently a real mess.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle
When Celestia received Twilight's response to her letter, she immediately penned one back.
Twilight,
Would the two who moved to Ponyville happen to be named Pyrefly and Ice Dancer?
Princess,
Yes, they are. Why? They seem like nice ponies. Well, Pyrefly anyway. I haven't actually met Ice Dancer yet.
Twilight,
I'm on my way. Stay put. Don't go near the source of the cold front again. This is an order from the Princess.
Twilight was concerned about the last letter. Why would Celestia order her not to help her friend? That didn't seem like the Princess.
Princess Celestia burst through the window and landed on the floor of the library. “Twilight Sparkle. Show me where the cold front originates from.” She ordered sharply, and Twilight was actually a little scared. She'd never heard Celestia's voice quite that edged with venom.
Twilight silently nodded and turned on her hoof, leading Celestia through the streets until they reached the ice fortress. Celestia ran up to it.
“Princess, don't! You'll be frozen solid!” Twilight warned, and Celestia stopped in her tracks, glancing back at Twilight with a flash in her eye. “Um, I'm sorry, Princess, but the wards around it are designed to keep everypony out. If anypony besides Ice Dancer's brother Pyrefly comes anywhere near it, they're immediately frozen solid, and Pyrefly is the only one who can thaw them. But he needs to perform the equivalent of a Sonic Rainboom to do it, and he's currently holed up in Ponyville Hospital with a broken wing after he thawed out Rainbow Dash.”
Celestia looked to Twilight again. “It's clear that Pyrefly has no idea what his sister has become.” She said flatly. “She's become so warped and so broken from her foalhood trauma that she views everything and anything around her as a threat. She's so terrified of the world around her that her magic has overcompensated in the face of her fear, and turned her into a monster. She'll kill anypony who gets in the way of her 'perfect' view of life with her brother.”
“How do you know so much about them, Princess?” Twilight asked.
“It's my job to know, Twilight. I rule Equestria. It's my duty to know.” Celestia replied.
“Your duty to know what, though?” Twilight pressed. “That Ice Dancer is dangerous? How? She seemed like a nice pony. Or, what Pyrefly has said of her.”
Celestia shook her head. “Pyrefly is unaware that it was not his own, but Ice Dancer's faults that are causing them to roam from place to place in search of a home. He is completely unaware that his sister has turned into a sociopathic killer, trapped within her own mind and unable to break free. Look upon these, Twilight, and tell me if you believe Ice Dancer is not dangerous.”
Celestia tossed out a few newspaper clippings and a few crime photos from all over Equestria. Headlines like “Construction Accident Kills Six” and “Tragic Drowning of Three” splashed boldly across the clippings, and the photos were simply too horrific for Twilight to look at very long. They made her sick to her stomach, and the photos were entirely too saturated with the colors red and brown for her taste. Twilight immediately recognized that the innocent headlines were merely a cover for the true story; propaganda to cover up what had really happened.
“Princess.... how could a pony do this to another pony? It doesn't make any sense.” Twilight's voice quivered as she hoofed the line between maintaining self-control and breaking down into a terrified ball of tears.
“Like I said, Twilight, Ice Dancer doesn't have a sense of what's right and what's wrong.”
“Couldn't you just banish her like you did with Nightmare Moon?” Twilight half-shrieked in fear.
“Unfortunately, no. Nightmare Moon was an alicorn, like I am. Immortal. She could survive a banishment like that. If I were to banish Ice Dancer, she would not be able to survive without her brother's help, and he has done nothing wrong; committed no crime. I cannot legally banish him for anything, but because she could not survive without him, she would surely die quickly in exile, and then I would be no better than she is; a murderer.” Celestia explained. “The most I can do is strip her magic and keep her under mandatory psychiatric counseling until I feel she is no longer a danger to herself or others.”
“You can do that? Strip a unicorn's magic from them, I mean?” Twilight asked, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.
“Yes, Twilight Sparkle, I can. I do not enjoy doing so, but I will do whatever I must to protect my subjects from peril.” Celestia said gravely, staring up at the ice castle that was Ice Dancer's cavern of solace. A stronghold of diamond. A fortress of falsity. Ice Dancer's twisted view of ponykind had created this barrier against further sorrow.
A terrible cry suddenly rang out from the top levels of the fortress. It was a cry of horrible pain, of anguish and agony. It sounded like somepony was being terribly tortured. “That sounded like Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shrieked.
“Your friend must have gotten inside the fortress somehow and is now being held captive by a killer as cold as she is mad.” Celestia extrapolated.
“But how did Pinkie Pie get past the freeze radius?” Twilight wondered frantically. “Rainbow Dash was frozen completely solid instantly upon going anywhere near the place.”
Pinkie Pie shrieked again, and it was clear it wasn't a party she was having up there. Celestia tried to blast the ice down with a shot from her horn, but her blast was reflected right back at her, knocking her back and knocking her tiara clean off her head, where the gem inside it shattered against the ground. The crown itself was scuffed up a bit, but largely unharmed.
“Princess!” Twilight yelled out, going to help the large alicorn.
“I'm all right, Twilight.” Celestia assured, standing up on her own.
“There has to be a weak point in Ice Dancer's fortress. Otherwise how could Pinkie have gotten in?” Twilight wondered. Applejack and Rarity, having visited Pyrefly once he was situated, came running up. Rainbow Dash flew up as well, though she stayed far back from the ice wall, staring at the growing fortress warily.
“We thought we heard Pinkie Pie screaming.” Rarity said, with concern.
“It was.” Celestia answered, and at the sound of her voice Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash immediately bowed in respect, only to be yanked back up magically by an impatient Celestia who was working on the very end of her last nerve.
“Look, there will be time for formalities later, guys. We need to get Pinkie Pie out of there. Ice Dancer won't give up willingly. How's Pyrefly?” Twilight asked.
“We had to hold him down to keep him from running off to come with us, but he's generally okay. Fluttershy's watching over him now.”
Celestia made a thoughtful sound in her throat and paced around the perimeter of the ice fortress for a moment. “I think I have an idea, but it's going to take Fluttershy's aptitude for kindness. Rainbow Dash, would you mind swapping out with Fluttershy to watch over Pyrefly? It's not that I don't think you're up to this task, but one of you has to make sure that headstrong little pegasus doesn't hurt himself further.” Celestia chose her words tactfully.
Rainbow Dash looked downtrodden that she was being asked to leave the fray. “But... I... But... Okay.” She reluctantly agreed, fluttering off back towards Ponyville Hospital.
As for the other residents of Ponyville, who had been strangely absent during this entire adventure, they had noticed the huge ice stronghold in the middle of town, and had taken careful measures to avoid it. They had noticed the Princess and all bowed to her inside their homes in respect, but didn't dare come out to see what was going on. After all, they had seen what had happened to Rainbow Dash, and they didn't want to meet the same fate.
Fluttershy came trotting up near Celestia. “I'm here... Rainbow Dash sent me to help you... Oh, but I don't know what I can do....” She half-spoke.
“Fluttershy, I have a special task for you, if you're up to it.” Celestia said.
“Oh, um, I... I suppose... But I'm not sure....”
“You can relax, my little pony. I'm not going to ask you to fly to the moon and back.” Celestia said, smiling a little. It was a nice change from her brusque and somewhat venomous tone from earlier. And it was nice to see that Celestia still retained her sense of humor, even in these troubled times.
“Oh, um, well, okay, I suppose...” Fluttershy agreed softly.
Celestia stood up tall and pointed to the ice fortress with one hoof. “Inside the upper levels of that fortress, your friend Pinkie Pie is being held captive by Ice Dancer. From the sounds we've heard, she's not being humanely treated as a prisoner; not at all. I suspect Pinkie Pie is in a great deal of pain, and possibly struggling for breath as we speak.”
As Celestia spoke, Fluttershy's eyes grew wider and wider, and her pupils got smaller and smaller within them. It was unclear whether Fluttershy was furious or terrified, though Twilight suspected it was a virulent combination of both.
“So, I'm going to use a powerful ward-nullification spell on a small portion of the ice wall, and you're going to slip inside, provided the nullification spell is successful. Confront Ice Dancer. Show her true kindness in the hopes that she will finally understand that what she has been doing is wrong. I know you can do it, Fluttershy. I have seen you take on manticores and dragons. I have watched you fight your way through a changeling battalion. I know you are strong enough to do this, Fluttershy. Will you do this for me, Fluttershy? For your friend, Pinkie Pie? For Equestria?” Celestia finished.
“Pinkie Pie.... Ice Dancer is.... hurting Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy's voice wavered in sorrow, but grew louder with thinly-veiled rage. “Ice Dancer is... killing Pinkie Pie? My friend?” Fluttershy certainly did not sound pleased.
With all the force of a raging fire, Fluttershy took off towards the ice wall, and Celestia barely had time to cast her nullification spell before Fluttershy was already inside. “Nopony hurts my friends!” Fluttershy shrieked from within the ice barrier, and the magical ice amplified her voice much the way it did for the sound of Pyrefly's attacks, making her voice louder, deeper, and more powerful, rumbling the ground beneath the group of ponies outside like the aftershock of a sonic boom.
“Remember, Fluttershy! Kindness!” Twilight called out, but it was too late. Fluttershy was tearing flank through the castle, furiously searching for the pony responsible for bringing harm to one of her dearest friends.
Fluttershy's rage quickly deepened into sadness and pity, and she slowed down to a trot. She couldn't help what she did. Fluttershy thought to herself. She doesn't understand that she's doing anything wrong. She thinks she's protecting herself.
Fluttershy turned the corner and the sight she witnessed nearly made her faint. “Oh... my....” she couldn't help but squeal.
Pinkie's mane was flat and matted with blood, having lost the tangled fluff of happiness usually present within it. She was chained by her forelegs to the wall, letting the rest of her dangle free, which was clearly putting a terrible strain on her shoulders. Fluttershy could see they were nearly dislocated entirely, just by the angle of her forelegs. Pinkie Pie had long since grown silent, probably due to the fact she was unconscious. Fluttershy didn't want to think about the rest of the blood on the floor and wall. It wouldn't end well for anypony.
Fluttershy moved closer as softly as she could. “Pinkie....?” She whispered. “Pinkie, are you okay?” Oh, what a question! Fluttershy chastised herself inwardly. Of course she's not okay, Fluttershy. She's chained to a wall and bleeding.
“She can't hurt me anymore.” A frighteningly calm voice sounded from behind Fluttershy, causing her to shriek in fear and take to the air, turning 180 degrees fully to view the source of the voice.
Ice Dancer stood in the doorway of the room, her silver eyes glued to Fluttershy. “Nopony can hurt me anymore. Not in here. How did you get here?”
“P-P-P-P-P--” Fluttershy tried to stammer.
“Pyrefly?” Ice Dancer guessed. “Did my brother put you up to this?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “C-C-Celestia--”
“The Princess is here?” Ice Dancer asked, but didn't seem to care. “Well, whatever. The Princess can't hurt me either. Not in here. My ice walls will keep me safe. My ice walls keep me happy.”
Ice Dancer was swaying a bit on her hooves, her silver eyes glassy and opaque. Her voice was dull.
“Ice Dancer, we t-t-tried to welcome you t-to P-p-Ponyville, but you d-d-didn't c-c-come to Pinkie's party--”
“Why would I come to a party like that?!” Ice Dancer suddenly roared back. “A party full of ponies out to hurt me! Out to hurt Pyrefly, my only brother!”
“Nopony wants to hurt anypony--”
“You're lying!” Ice Dancer fired a beam from her horn, and Fluttershy barely managed to escape. Ice Dancer's attack grazed her flank, and Fluttershy squealed upon feeling the chilly bite of a frozen knife cutting into her side. She fell to the ground, her back leg immediately numb.
Ice Dancer giggled dangerously. Her eyes got glassier and even more dead inside. She towered over Fluttershy and flashed her horn in warning. Fluttershy struggled back to her hooves.
“Icey, I understand your aversion to reason. I know you've had a lot of pain in your past, but I want to tell you that Ponyville isn't like that. It was founded by strong, hardworking Earth ponies who held family and community among the highest priorities. Ask my friend Applejack. She represents the Element of Honesty, and she'll know that it was her Granny Smith and Granny Smith's family who founded Ponyville. Hay, ask Granny Smith!” Fluttershy said, as firmly as she could under the circumstances. “Ponyville is a place where ponies who have nowhere else to go can live and love each other together away from persecution or fear. We're one of the smallest, closest, most wonderful towns in all of Equestria.”
Ice Dancer swayed and took a step back. “Everywhere I've ever been.... Pain, suffering, fear...”
“I know you've been told this many times before, and I forgive you if you don't believe me, but Ponyville is different. Let me tell you a story, Ice Dancer.
“I was born and raised in Cloudsdale, like a lot of pegasi. I was never a very good flier, and I was made fun of a lot in school. 'Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can hardly fly!' they used to chant at me as they pointed and laughed. They used to call me names like Klutzershy and Crashershy because I couldn't fly well.
“Rainbow Dash stood up for me once day and challenged the bullies to a race. As the race started, the force of the start caused me to fall down into Ponyville, unable to fly high enough to bring myself back up to Cloudsdale. I found out that Ponyville was a wonderful place to live, and nopony in Ponyville ever made fun of me because I couldn't fly well. I feel like all the ponies in Ponyville are my friends.
“I know the things I've been through aren't nearly as bad as what you went through, but I've never been through what you've been through. I haven't suffered like you've suffered, so I can't stand here and tell you I understand. But I can stand here and tell you that I, if no other pony, will always be your friend, because I believe that everypony deserves compassion and kindness despite their deeds and despite their past. I've reformed a God of Chaos, and tamed a Manticore. I've stood up to Minotaurs and the Changeling Queen. I am the Element of Kindness, and no matter how you treat me or anypony else, I will never show you anything but.”
Fluttershy finished, and flared her wings to accept Ice Dancer, should she choose to accept Fluttershy's embrace.
Ice Dancer's eyes went from glassy and dead to clear and lifelike. She fell to her knees on the icy floor. Suddenly, the ice that made up the room began to crack and melt. “I...I... My suffering...”
“--Was terrible. I know. You've survived through things that most ponies couldn't. You're stronger than you think you are.”
“I... I... I'm... I'm sorry....!” Ice Dancer sobbed, lurching forward into Fluttershy's embrace. “I'm sorry for everything I've done... I've been such a bad pony... I'm sorry!”
Fluttershy fell with Ice Dancer and let the blue-and-silver mare cry into her lap.
Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head.... Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed... Drifting off to sleep, let the long day be behind you, laying down to sleep, let the sweetest dreams come find you....
The ice fortress crumbled and evaporated, and Pinkie Pie's chains along with it. The pink pony fell to the floor and awoke slowly, her eyes fluttering back to consciousness.
“Fluttershy...? What happened? Why do my shoulders hurt so much? It feels like I've been partying for days!” She asked.
“Hush, Pinkie.... You had a bad dream, that's all. It was just a bad dream.” Fluttershy gathered Pinkie into her lap as well, and Pinkie drifted into a peaceful rest as the last remnants of magical ice melted and disappeared. The Princess climbed the stairs and entered the room, the others following close behind, including Pyrefly, whom Rainbow Dash sprung from the hospital with the promise to the doctor that she would make sure the young pegasus stayed off his wing until it was healed, and to check in with the doc once a week. Rainbow Dash had one wing draped over the injured colt for support.
“Fluttershy, you did it! Are they okay?” Twilight asked, gesturing towards the two sleeping mares in Fluttershy's gentle hooves.
“They're both just fine. Princess Celestia, please go easy on Ice Dancer. She's seen the error of her ways. She didn't know she was doing anything bad. She's sorry for everything she's done and all she wants is to be loved and accepted to a home that won't hurt her.” Fluttershy pleaded.
“I simply cannot overlook her deeds, Fluttershy. She's killed in the past. Taken many ponies' very lives from them.” Celestia replied gravely.
“But she didn't know what she was doing! It wasn't her. She wasn't aware of it. Oh, please, Princess, please! Don't banish her or throw her in a dungeon or banish her and then throw her in a dungeon in the place you banished her to!” Fluttershy begged.
Celestia sighed. “I at least have to protect my subjects in case of a relapse. When she awakens, I will remove her ability to use magic for a set period of time, but I will not imprison her... on one condition.”
“Oh, name it, Princess.” Fluttershy said earnestly.
“I will not imprison Ice Dancer, if you take her in, Fluttershy, and watch over her. Make regular reports about her progress integrating into Ponyville society, as well as your regular friendship reports. When possible, the two can be combined into a single report. Ice Dancer will also make friendship reports. After a sufficient amount of time has passed and I judge that Ice Dancer is no longer a danger to herself or others, I will restore her ability to use magic.” Celestia said firmly.
“Your Majesty, what about me?!” Pyrefly cried out. “I can't be apart from Ice Dancer! She's my baby sister and we've always been together!”
“It's alright, Pyrefly. Ponyville is a small enough town and you can easily visit your sister every day if need be. Fluttershy's cottage is only down the road.” Twilight answered for Celestia.
“But... I... we... okay. I guess.” Pyrefly seemed downtrodden, but accepted his sister's fate.
Ice Dancer's eyes fluttered open slowly.