It all started on a day that was like any other. My brother, Sub Zero and I had made our weekly trek into the Monocerus capitol city Malvilea, to purchase the groceries. Malvilea was a grand place, a city built on a mountain. It started at the base and wound its way up almost to the top.
We had just made our final purchase and were preparing to return home, when the large crowd that always filled the marketplace of Malvilea parted, clearing a path down the middle of the bazaar.
Zero and I were at the back of the crowd, and kept getting pushed into nearby stalls. When the shifting of ponies had ceased, I watched as a group of carriages, each pulled by a pair of earth ponies, rode passed. Once they were clear of us, the group of unicorns closed the gap, and resumed their business as if nothing had happened.
“Did you see that?” I asked Zero.
“Yes. What of it?” He replied in the cold tone that he always spoke with.
“‘What of it?’ It’s not every day that a group of Gaia ponies marches through the marketplace.”
“Yes, but it’s not like it’s a once in a lifetime occurrence either Nova. You know very well that a caravan of ponies from the Gaia tribe visit Malvilea every full moon to drop of food and other goods.”
“I know, but we’ve never been here when they did so.”
Zero just sighed. He’d never understood my fascination with the outside world, he was always content with the world he was born into, but he never belittled me for it. He may have been a little cold toward others, but he was a good pony at heart.
Once we’d packed up all of our goods we began to make our way home, to a little farm just outside the city. As we walked along the path to our home, Malvilea behind us, I couldn’t help but stare at the horizon. “You ever wonder what’s out there?” I said.
“Out where?”
“There.” I lifted a hoof and pointed toward the horizon. “Beyond the mountains. You ever think about what might lie beyond them?”
“Not really. I mean, I’m sure that many interesting things lie beyond the horizon, but I don’t think that they are things that we should worry about.”
“But don’t you want to see whatever is out there? Wouldn’t you like to see the wonders of the world?”
“I don’t know. Seeing the world is something that I have never really thought about. You have always been the one who was intrigued by the world beyond the farm. Me, I’m content with just knowing that the Gaia are beyond the mountains and that the Thestrals are above the cloud. Anything else is just….” he drifted into silence.
“I think we should go and see whatever is out there.” I proclaimed.
“What?”
“We should journey passed the mountains and see what wonders the world has to offer.”
“You cannot be serious Nova. We can’t just go off on an adventure beyond the horizon.”
“Why not? We’ll be of age soon, then we’ll be able to do whatever we want with our lives.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to go and travel the world. You know what I want to do.” he looked down at his Mark. It was white against his light blue coat. Zero’s Mark was a beautifully intricate snowflake. A representation of his eye for detail, along with his incredible ability to control ice and snow. Zero looked up at me and caught my eye. His dark blue eyes matched the color of his mane. “I’m sorry Nova, but if you want to see the world, you must do it on your own.” With that he marched ahead of me.
I felt bad. I knew Zero had dreams of his own, he wanted to use his powers to help the tribe work through the hard winters that we often had. But, whenever I dream of leaving the farm and traveling the world, Zero is always with me. I feel as though he must be there, otherwise it just wouldn’t be the same. But I understood and respected his wishes.
I suddenly found myself looking at my own Mark. It was a white flare with flames dancing around it. A representation of my immense power over fire. Fire was my destiny, and fire is forever moving. Ice was Zero’s destiny, and ice was stagnant.
But then again, even glaciers move.
Back at the farm we sorted the groceries and proceeded on with our daily chores, Zero acted as if the conversion that we’d had never happened, but I could tell that it haunted his thoughts. Benefits of having a twin, you can always tell when something is bothering them. I let Zero brood. It would do me no good to push the matter, he would open up when he was ready, he always did.
We worked together in silence. The farm where we and our parents lived and worked was an apple orchard. It was small, after all, unicorns weren't made for farming, but it was sufficient. The size didn’t matter much to us anyway, we got most of the goods we needed from the markets in Malvilea.
Money was easy enough to come by. We sold some of the apples that we grew at the market. But most of our income came from trading with the ponies of the Gaia tribe. Our father was an expert in alchemy, specifically fertility potions. A few drops of one of his concoctions and the land would become fertile enough to grow any number of crops. Through some friends that he had in the city, he was able to sell his potions to the Earth pony tribe and receive quite the profit.
It was a simple life. But one I was not content with. I had made my decision, in a few weeks time I would be of age and free to leave the confines of the farm, which was exactly what I planned to do. My only reserve was that I would have to leave behind Sub Zero. For my entire life he’s been there, not only my brother, but my best friend. Plus he was an expert at keeping me out of trouble, my curious nature had landed me in bad situations more than a few times.
I didn’t know what I would do without him, but he was just as much of an adult as I was, and he was free to make his own decisions. If he wanted to stay on the farm, then that was his choice.
“Zero! Nova!” Our mother called. “Come on, it’s time to eat!”
“Coming mother!” I called back. “Come on let’s go.” I said to Zero and together we walked back to our home.
We lived in an average house. Our mother built it using magic. She was an amazing architect, but enjoyed the simple life. She’d grown up on a farm similar to this one, it was out by the village Mavus, a Monocerus settlement to the west of Malvilea. She met our father when she came to the city after her coming of age. Using one of fathers potions to make the soil fertile, they built the orchard that we lived on.
Mother gave us our food as we entered the house. “Eat fast, there is still work to be done before the sun sets.” she told us.
“Yes mother.” We both said. We sat down and ate our food swiftly. We knew there was still a lot of work to be done, and if it didn’t get done then they would fall behind and not be prepared for the coming harvest.
Once we were finished eating, Zero and I returned to the fields to resume our chores. It was nearly sundown by the time that we finished. But when the final chore was said and done I looked at Zero and held my hoof out for him to bump. He did so with a grin, we always took great pride and pleasure in a hard day's work. But Zero’s grin quickly faded into a frown. “Nova?” he said.
“Zero?”
“I wanted to apologize for earlier. I know how much it means to you to one day go out and see the world. And I want you to know that if you decide that you want to leave and travel the land, then I will gladly join you.”
“Zero, you don’t have to, I know that it’s your dream to help the farm prosper, I couldn’t ask you to give that up. Not for me.”
“Please Nova. As much as I do want to help the farm, I want to help you more. You are my brother, and I belong by your side more than I belong here.”
Tears filled my eyes, and before I could stop myself I had thrown myself at Zero in an embrace. “Thank you brother. You don’t know how much this means to me. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t by my side.”
“Neither would I without you.” he returned my embrace for an instant, then ended it. “Now, let us return to the house. I need rest. And for the time being we still have the farm to tend to.”
“Aye. And now we have to find a time to tell mother and father of our decision.”
“Aye. That we must.”
The next morning Zero and I awoke before our parents. It was our turn to cook breakfast, so we did just that. We took our time cooking, wanting to make an exquisite breakfast, for we had decided that this was the morning that we would discuss with our parents our decision to leave the farm once we were of age.
Mother and father awoke only moments after Zero and I had finished preparing the mornings meal. We gave the pair their meals then went to fetch our own. When we return to the dining area, we began. “So, mother, father. Zero and I have something that we wish to speak to you about.”
“And what might that be?” Father said as cold and straightforward as Zero would have.
“Well,” I began. “As you well know, Zero and I will be coming of age in a few weeks, and we’ve made a decision.”
“What kind of decision?” Mother asked, with curiosity in her voice.
I shared a quick look with my twin brother, took a deep breath and said “We’ve decided that we want to leave the farm. Explore the world and see the wonders that it has to offer.”
They sat silent for a moment, stoic expressions on their faces. “You want to leave?” Our father said.
“Yes.” I replied.
“And you too Zero?”
He didn’t reply immediately. To explore the world wasn’t his dream, but he had made the decision to go. “I want to be with my brother.” he simply said.
Silence followed. I was unsure as to how they would react. I was afraid that they would be furious and say that if we left we could never return. But then Mother sighed. “We knew this day would come.” she said. “You’ve always been fascinated by the outside world dear Supernova. And you, Sub Zero, always by your brothers side.” tears filled her eyes, whether they were of sorrow or pride I could not tell.
“We will respect you decisions.” Father said. “If you wish to leave, you have our blessings, and you will be welcome home anytime you decided to return.”
Joy filled my entire body. “Thank you. Thank you both so much.”
“Just promise me one thing.” Mother said.
“Anything.”
“Please be careful. The world is a dangerous place”
“Don’t worry Mother.” Zero said. “I’ll make sure of that.”
“Thank you.” With that the morning discussion ended, and father sent us out to do our chores. “You are not of age yet.” he said. The rest of the day went by without a hitch. Zero and I blew through our chores and were back in the house with time to spare.
Excitement filled my being with every passing moment, for it was one moment closer to the day of out departure.
We waited until after the harvest to leave, after all I was only just after our coming of age, we agreed it would have been rude to leave Mother and Father with all the work that the harvest brought.
In the weeks leading up to our departure, Zero and I were in and almost constant state of preparation. We made sure to set aside plenty of food and gems every week. We’d bought new saddle bags to replace the old, beaten up ones that we already had. And we helped our parents find good ponies to hire as help around the farm.
When the day finally came for us to leave, we were ready.
The four of us stood together on the end of the path that led to our home, doing one final check to make sure that we had everything we needed. Food, water, money. Everything was in order.
“Now remember. Stay on this road, do you have the map I gave you?
“Yes Father.” I told him.
“Good. This road will take you directly to the village of Mavus. That’s a good place to start. The world is a dangerous place for anyone. Many beasts roam around, you two are lucky, your powers over Ice and Fire will be great assets if ever you need to defend yourself.”
Zero and I shared a look. This was something that we had thought about many times over the past few weeks, and we had done a lot of practicing to be prepared for any situation that may become dangerous.
“Oh, do be careful you two.” Mother said. “And don’t go picking any fights with any monsters, do you hear me Supernova.
“Mother, I would never.”
“You would and you know it. Do keep him safe dear Zero.”
“Yes Mother.”
Tears began to fill her eyes, but she quickly forced them back. “OK. Off you go you two, before I change my mind and make you stay.”
I looked over at Zero. “You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then let’s get moving.” I turned back to face our parents. “Farewell Mother, Father.”
“Farewell my sons. Be safe.” Father said.
And together, Zero and I began our trek down the path to the village of Mavus. Away from our home and into the arms of adventure.