//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Just Another Day In the Draper Household // Story: Kinbound: Greater Than Friendship // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// A mountain of snow drifted slowly down on the house, taking its time covering each and every inch of the land and house with a thick blanket of snow. It was currently August, a strange month for snow, but to the inhabitants of this land, such absurdities were not so uncommon. Piece by piece, the house’s blue shingles became covered in the soft white layers of ice, causing the house to almost disappear into the land surrounding it. The house had two dormer windows on the front of the second story, and an insulated attic that had been converted into a bedroom. Despite the location, and small space the attic provided, someone still found enough comfort in there to sleep like a bear hibernating in the frozen wastes. Simply biding his time to reawaken in the spring...or at least he would have if it ever stopped snowing, that is. However, this is not the story of the person in the attic, but of the one in a room beneath him, on the second floor, in a room to himself. He was having a wonderful dream, but it was not to last, as a shrill sound began emitting from the small machine beside the bed, blasting in his ears. The beeping of the alarm clock pulled one Kenderick “Kenny” Noah Draper out of his dream with a cruelty only a machine could be capable of, causing the nine-year-old boy to reach for the snooze button. Missing, he tried again, flailing his arms madly, just to buy an extra ten minutes of sleep, only to instead shift his weight too far, causing him to tumble out of bed. The still-beeping alarm clock soon followed, beaning him on the head before sliding out of his brown hair and landing in the lap of his ocean-themed pajamas that matched the theme of his bedroom. With a sigh, Kenny flipped the switch to turn off the alarm. He then started to run one hand over his headboard, squinting his blue-gray eyes, trying to find something while the other hand rubbed the spot where the clock had hit his head. Stopping, he called over his shoulder, “Kris? I can’t find my bucking glasses again!” His eldest brother, the fifteen-year-old Khristopher “Kris” Nathaniel, burst into the room. His green eyes, framed by matching green glasses, sparkled with mirth. Kris was already dressed, wearing a green and lime plaid shirt and a pair of blue jeans. While he stood almost a good head and a half taller than him, Kenny felt more protected than intimidated by his older brother’s height. Kris chuckled as he got onto his hands and knees to assist in the search that happened on so many mornings. “So Kenny, you’ve been wearing glasses for four years, and you still misplace them almost every morning?” After letting out a light-hearted chuckle, he continued. “Why are you swearing like a pony? We don’t swear anyway, and last time I checked, Equestria’s still across the flipping ocean. This is still Hominia, little bro.” “Well, I want to go there someday,” Kenny said in his defence. “And besides, since I’m human, it doesn’t count as a swear word when I say it, so those ponies can just suck it when I get there!” Kris sat up and sighed. “You know, your human friends may think it’s a riot, but the fillies and colts at your school likely hate it.” “They’d tell me if they did,” Kenny scoffed. “Besides, it’s summer break.” “Whatever,” Kris sighed again before handing over a pair of blue-framed glasses. “By the way, here’s your glasses. Now you won’t be blind as a bat again until tomorrow morning.” Snickering, Kris left the room with Kenny sticking his tongue out at him until he left. It was hard to stay mad at Kris. For as long as he could remember Kris had been his protector at school. He had been able to intimidate his bullies and the fear of the kid six years older than them slowly turned most enemies into allies. Even after Kris moved on to Middle School, the alliances that formed held, and the scrawny nerd who couldn’t even do any magic well unless it was Water-based (not even Ice came well to him at all!) had a faction form around him, who protected each other, one for all and all for one. After getting his glasses on, Kenny took a look around the room. Like every room in houses in the Frozen North, there was an atmospheric filter, a device built of human magitek. They needed such things because they didn’t have such luxuries as the Crystal Empire’s Crystal Heart. There were two things in the room that the rest of his siblings envied: his personal door to the bathroom and the double-wide side window behind his headboard that granted him a direct look into the temperate wonderland of the greenhouse that took up as much space as a house lot. The personal door to the bathroom was something that irritated his sister to no end. Oh, he’d respect her privacy on the toilet, but while she showered behind a curtain? If he needed to go, he’d take advantage of how the lock for that door was on his side of the room and just barge in. His paternal Grandfather, a genius at magic, chemistry, and the combined field of alchemy, had grown rich off of alchemical journals sold by the family business he headed, making him worth over ten million Hominian Dollars (the Dollar and the Bit had proven too hard to merge, so they left the racial regions’ currencies apart.), so when he bought the family a house, he threw in a second lot with a greenhouse so his five grandkids would learn the kind of hard work he’d learned growing up on a farm in Archipellaga, the land that had long ago been the Kingdom of Water. Because of the view he had from his room, Kenny worked twice as hard as the others on Tuesdays, his day of the week to tend to the greenhouse, so that its beauty would last year-round. His crocheting kit was on his nightstand, along with a few books. He’d started to crochet a few years back. He had started with a blanket but in spite of all the books he read, it had turned out awful. Not even their pet rabbit at the time wanted it, it was so bad. With his mother’s help though, he had became a natural in days, and now adored the activity. His bookshelf between the door to the Family Room and the door to the bathroom was full of books, even the latest edition of the Byetkul World Encyclopedia, the complete set, from A to Z, named for the world they all lived on. It was one of his favorite reads. He especially loved cracking open a volume and start crocheting while reading. Hours could fly by in what felt like mere minutes! His Complete Guide to Human Magical Arts Volume 1 was propped open on his desk again. He’d tried and failed to control a simple Fire-based lightsource spell, and the scorch marks on the desk were the proof of his failure. He sighed when he saw that. He knew all the basics backwards and forwards, even a few higher level techniques, too, but in spite of that, he was still only good with Water magic. The other twenty-one categories were beyond his ability to control, making him seem like a failure at magic. Luckily, magic wasn’t a required course for school. His room was painted to look like the ocean floor, with a beige carpet to resemble sand, images of kelp painted on the walls, and even a real forever-coral trident hanging from the wall. It was willed to him by his great uncle, who he’d never met. It was apparently a family heirloom. A magical anti-theft aura was projected over it from the hooks it hung from, and a sign beneath it read, “Priceless family heirloom–NOT A TOY–DO NOT SELL–Great Uncle Ralph Lawrence” The letter he kept framed next to it was the only words he’d had from his late Great Uncle from his mother’s side: Dear Kenderick, I know you won’t remember me, as I’m dying before you would be old enough to remember me, but when I saw you as a baby, I could sense that you should be the one to inherit this. You may need it someday, and if you want to know more, ask someone at the Museum of Pre-Union Human History to explain more. It’s supposed to be from the Age of Elemental Kingdoms.” Good luck, Ralph A. Lawrence Kenny did want to know more, but the museum was in Prismara, the human capital set up after the human nations formed the Human Confederation, but before the High Council of the Byetkul Confederation was established to bring the nations into a cooperative system. His family couldn’t just take a day off from his father’s work to go there, and Saturdays were too busy with people going everywhere for the weekend, and Sundays were out of the question. Their holy day? That’d be as insane as a pony asking to be thrown in Tartarus! Thinking Some other day, For what felt like the billionth time, Kenny put on a bubble-patterned long-sleeve T-shirt and some blue jeans, then slipped on his blue slippers. Deciding to deal with his hair later, Kenny left his room, ran across the family room to the staircase landing, passing right by the ladder to Keith’s attic bedroom, slid down the banister only for his Mom to yell at him as she headed out the door. He then ran through the foyer, passing the living room on his left and the under stairs closet on his right to enter the dining room. After walking to the pantry that straddled the point where the dining room and kitchen met at the end of the counter, Kenny reached to the shelf above and pulled out his favorite cereal: “Captain Nemo’s Nautilus Crunch” (Will stay crunchy, even 20,000 leagues under the sea!). He grabbed a bowl from a cupboard above the counter and a gallon of milk from the fridge. Smirking for a second, he considered pranking everyone else by ripping out the Ice-elemented Refrigeration crystal. If he did that it would cause the Freezing Crystal in the freezer on the left side of the unit to take over cooling for the whole unit, freezing the refrigeration side. With a sigh, he decided against it and made his way to the table, his eleven-year-old sister Kimberley Nancy was sitting in her purple nightgown and black slippers in the exact spot at the table that he used for every meal while at home, especially dinner. He couldn’t stand it when another person was eating there when he was planning to eat. He and his siblings had agreed to the official assigned seating at the table when they had first moved here, as their parents wanted to make things orderly. While anyone could sit anywhere when it wasn’t dinner time, it was generally frowned upon to not sit in your seat, so much so that all anyone had to do was ask and they would get their seat from anyone that had taken it. Tapping his foot impatiently, he cleared his throat. “A-hem!” She paused and looked up, blinking as if acknowledging him for the first time. After pausing to swallow, she said, “Oh, hi Kenny. You look like you’re about to eat.” “Yes,” Kenny huffed. “I am,” starting to scowl at Kim. He knew she knew what he wanted. He’d gone over this with others a few times before. “Well, why haven’t you picked a chair already?” She inquired, still playing dumb. Holding up a hand which glowed purple, she started levitating one chair at a time with Mind magic, utilizing the psychic spells that were one of many sets Kenny stunk at. “I’ve already chosen one,” Kenny growled. “I chose it years in advance for every breakfast, lunch, and dinner until I move out, but it’s occupied.” “Kenny, just pick another seat,” she scoffed. “You won’t die.” “No one ever treated me like this five years ago…” Kenny sulked. “You were the youngest then,” Kim chuckled, pushing down painfully hard on Kenny’s head and ruffling his hair until he struggled free. “You’re not that any more. You’re invisible like me now, get over it already.” “One, you’re not invisible because you’re the only girl,” Kenny huffed, “And two, unlike you three, I actually remember being youngest! It’s a lot easier getting over what ended when you were two or three years old, so you have no memory of it! Now, Kimmy—” Kim froze, turned her head slowly to face her brother, and whispered, “What did you just call me?” Kenny stood his ground however. “I called you Kimmy, Kimmy.” Kim stopped again, stunned that Kenny was being so bold. But she got ahold of herself shortly, her eyes beginning to glow red while her hands radiated heat and were engulfed in an identical aura. “Kenderick, if I were you, I’d take that back right now,” Kim told him coldly. “I’m way better at magic than you are, you droplet squirter. I could give you major burns, and you’d finally learn to respect your older sister. Now! Take it back! Apologise!” Kenny still didn’t budge, although the insult really stung. “You won’t, sis. ‘No combat magic in the house’, remember?” “But Mom’s outside right now, and Dad’s asleep,” Kim chuckled darkly. “Now, do as I say—” “Not on your life, Kimmy!” Kenny yelled. In seconds, Kim stood up; a whole head taller than her little brother thanks to puberty, raised her hands, and just as fire began to form, Kenny screamed at the top of his lungs, “Mom! Dad! Kim’s using combat magic!” Before Kim had a chance to realize what was going on, a net of purple energy ensnared her, cancelling the spell. The door leading to the master bedroom on the right was flung open, revealing their father, Dean Edward Draper, his face red, his brown-framed glasses doing a poor job of obscuring his bloodshot eyes, his teeth clenched, and panting like a man insane, still in his black and gray plaid pajamas. “Kimberly Nancy Draper,” he said levelly, “Why were you about to cast Firestorm on your little brother?” “I-I-I-I…” She stammered, “He was trying to get my chair!” “We have assigned seating, young lady,” Dean told her. “It’s his chair first, and If the assigned wants their seat, you are supposed to give it up without a fight!” He then turned to his son who was also present. “Kenny, did you try to force her out? Did you attempt to use combat magic yourself?” “No Dad,” Kenny replied. “I admit, I got upset too, but it only occurred to me that she wasn’t bluffing at the last second. I considered casting Hydro Curtain—” “Which is a shielding spell,” his father finished for him with a shake of his head. “Even though you lost your temper and possibly goaded her, the fact remains that although you may have done something punishable, she did something worse. Kenderick, thirty seconds in the corner for every year you are old after you eat your breakfast. You know the drill by now, no talking or leaving the corner until the timer goes off, or the the time resets. Kimberly, while I’m giving him half the normal sentence of one minute per year, as he committed a minor infraction, you may have been too young to remember the last time someone challenged the no combat magic rule. Triple sentence. As your food is almost finished, finish it in the corner, then stay standing nose into the corner and silent for thirty-three minutes.” Kenny nodded somberly and got to eating, but his sister freaked out. “It may be snowy outside like every day, but it’s summer, Dad!” she pleaded. “My friends and I were headed to Frostfell! The Big City inside the mountain! We were gonna see the latest movie from Feather Ballpoint Studios! Jenna’s Mom was going to pick each of us up! They’ll be here any minute, and we can’t be late! I was gonna get ready to go!” “Well, then you shouldn’t have threatened to seriously injure your brother,” their father said cooly. “Now, to the corner, young lady.” As Kimberly finished her food and sulked in the corner, Kris entered the room from the same path Kenny took, holding a small, portable television, complete with the Farnsworth Television and Radio logo above the screen. “Kenny, something awesome is happening!” Kris said excitedly, turning the device on. “But you know the rule: no TV at the table!” Kenny hissed. “Just humor me,” Kris pleaded. “I’m sure an Equestrophile like you is gonna love this!” That got Kenny’s attention, and he watched as the TV caught the signal, with a news desk bearing the letters: “PWN” (Prismara World News). “And now for the story we promised you for the last half hour,” the man at the desk chuckled. “Coming at you live from Canterlot, Equestria, is our anchorpony, Perfect Scoop! How’s it looking out there, Perfect?” “Well, Frank,” the red unicorn in a blue suit replied, levitating a microphone, ”It’s a lot less hectic than it was five hours ago, at ten-thirty AM here. Amazingly, a nine-year old filly by the name of Twilight Sparkle has managed to do the unthinkable for one her age and hatched a dragon egg! Her magic went further and ended up turning it into an adult and her parents into potted plants, but luckily, Princess Celestia was here to fix those problems. The filly declined an interview herself, but Celestia has remarked that she may consider taking the prodigy on as an apprentice to replace the one who vanished, spurring a global ponyhunt that never did find her.” “Well, I heard Luna’s trying to get an apprentice of her own, too,” Frank remarked, “Do you think they may end up having a short struggle over who gets to train her?” “Nah,” Perfect said with a wave of his hoof, “Luna is well-known to prefer the rarer sorcery method to the standard wizardry. The filly’s always got her nose in a book, and would likely never be caught dead trying to go the self-taught, experimentation route. Sure, that’s how most spells are made, but not everypony is cut out for sorcery. Hay, most everybody prefers wizardry, too! Back to you in the studio, Frank.” As it switched back to the studio, Kris clicked the tiny TV off and asked, a huge grin on his face, “So, what didja think?” “She sounds amazing!” Kenny gushed. “I’d love to meet her, just once!” Kris chuckled. “You’d have a better chance of fixing your magic issues by trying sorcery, and that’s still crazy.” “Didn’t all the Consumed get where they are through sorcery?” Kenny pointed out as he took his dishes to the sink, now done eating. “Most,” Kris corrected. “Not all. I used to know all their original names, but ‘Chimpanzee the Purple Squirrel’ used books a bit more than the others, so she didn’t count really as a Mind sorceress, and ‘Cobra the Violet Jellyfish’—” “Cobra is in fact a Death sorcerer,” Kenny said as he started to make his way to a different corner than his sister for his short punishment. “He read up on Neighponese martial arts and created a human counterpart for Nieghjutsu: Ninjutsu. I know my history. When it came to Death spells, he took the sorcery approach.” Kris opened his mouth to say more, but Kenny planted his face in the corner, and began waiting, prompting Kris to be quiet. Unfortunately, the one member of the family who was almost always a royal pain entered the kitchen, saw Kenny in the corner, and giggled. It was Kelvin Nigel, his four-year-old little brother who loved to take advantage of how almost everyone went easy on him. That is, except Kenny. This was the brat who took away his status as the youngest child. Kenny had hoped that his parents would have another child so he could see Kelvin going through what he was going through, but when their mother had her tubes tied, that chance went out the window. “Aww, did Big Brother do a bad?” Kelvin snickered. “Too bad ya hafta hold still. Ya can’t ta save yer life!” To prove him wrong, Kenny stiffened like a board, reminding himself it was only four and a half minutes. He could do it. Kenny could hear the sound of feet, a chair being pushed and climbed on, the same footsteps coming over to him, and finally a bottle of… something being shaken. “Don’t sneeze!” Kelvin laughed, shaking a pepper shaker under Kenny’s nose. Kenny’s eyes watered, but still he held still, breathing out through his mouth over and over, desperate to do something to stop himself from sneezing, which Kelvin would report as him moving, and because their parents thought him too innocent to not believe, they’d just reset the time on the brat’s word alone. As if by a miracle sent by Heaven itself, at that moment, their blonde, short and stocky mother, Helen Michelle Draper took one step into the dining room, saw Kenny’s plight, and gasped. “Kelvin Nigel Draper!” she exclaimed, causing Kelvin to freeze, “What are you doing, young man?” Kelvin hid the shaker behind him and tried to play innocent. “I was… Um… trying to make him feel better!” He exclaimed, but their mother thankfully wasn’t going to go that easy on him. Interfering with how the parents ran the house was crossing the line, even for Kelvin. “Then what’s the pepper shaker for?” Helen inquired with a smirk. Kelvin gulped, but still tried to play innocent. “W-what pepper shaker, Mom?” he laughed nervously. “I don’t see any pepper shaker!” “This pepper shaker, young man,” Helen replied, reaching over her youngest son and removing the shaker from his grasp. “Do you want to take his place with double his time? Do you?” “No, Mom!” Kelvin wailed, trying to use crying. Helen wasn’t buying his crocodile tears, but drawn by the cries, Dean reentered the room. “Helen, what—” “Dean, he’s trying to garner sympathy,” Helen said sternly. “He was trying to use this pepper shaker to make Kenny sneeze while in the corner, but I’ve got it under control.” Dean nodded, but added, “If he proves too difficult, bring him to me, and I’ll use the belt.” “Not the belt! Not the belt!” Kelvin screamed, “Anything but the belt!” “Your father has various healing spells to remove the lasting effects,” Helen said sternly, “But if nothing else works, a sting to your bottom may get the point through your thick skull. Now, apologize to Kenny.” “I’m sorry, Kenny.” Kelvin muttered before turning to leave, only for his mother to grab his shoulder and turn him back around. “Sorry for what?” Helen said in a no-nonsense tone, her expression brooking no argument. “I’m sorry for trying to make you sneeze so I could get you extra time!” Kelvin admitted, breaking down and crying the tears of a child who was only sorry for getting caught. “Now, what you were going to do wasn’t nice,” Helen scolded, “So stop crying about getting caught. You’re lucky we don’t send you to the corner yourself.” Before Kelvin could reply, another voice asked, “It was mean?” Kenny’s timer went off right at that moment, so he called back to the voice, “Could you stop rephrasing everything, Keith?” “You want me to stop?” the voice asked again as the last child of the family rounded the corner of the kitchen: Keith Neil, dressed in a red sweater and black jeans. Kenny and his siblings all had some degree of mental disorder, but Keith was the worst off. Careful coaching had helped him learn to ride a bicycle and even to talk when the doctors said neither would ever happen, but now they were having trouble getting him to speak properly. Before Kenny could reply, Keith started speaking for himself, pretending to be both sides of the conversation: “YES, KEITH,” he said in a gravelly voice. “Why?” he asked in his normal voice. “BECAUSE I SAY TALKING IS FORBIDDEN. HAHAHA!” he finished in the gravelly voice and threw back his head, laughing evilly. Tears welled up in Kenny’s eyes. Keith seemed to see himself as the main protagonist of the universe, and saw anyone who denied him something he wanted, even if it was bad, as a villain. Males would be given gravelly voices, and females would be given shrilly ones. If the person could get out the true reason before he could do it, he’d keep asking more and more questions to try to be able to do it, and if he either was asked “you tell me why” or he ran out of questions, unless he was dealing with Mom or Dad, he’d get violent, although mostly with his fists and teeth, not his magic. “Mom? He hurt my feelings!” Kenny blubbered. “I’m not a villain! It was a simple request!” As soon as Helen nodded, Kenny ran to his bedroom, shut the door behind him, then locked both of the doors in the room. He stared at the empty spot on the floor that had previously been where a bed had been only a few weeks prior. Since Kris and Kelvin shared a bedroom, their parents had tried to pair up the other two boys as well. Kenny knew that he was supposed to be patient with people like Keith, but It had been so difficult. People similar to Keith were easier to accommodate when he didn’t live with them. Keith could get violent. He had showed such promise when they raised his functionality level from low to high, and they thought they could help him learn more. Not enough to become normal, but enough where observing his actions would no longer make it obvious he had a problem. For Kenny’s birthday late last month in late July, his parents revealed that the attic had been remodeled and reinforced, and that from then on, the attic would be Keith’s bedroom. He had been so happy to finally get a room to himself. While he knew that he shouldn’t treat his brother poorly for his actions, especially when he looked normal by comparison, the years of frustration his brother had caused him just made the development all the sweeter. He had spent the last five years holding his complaints and grievances back that now any little thing his brother did seemed to set him off. It seemed the pain would take time to drain away. There was no instant cure, but with the source gone, he had time to heal. Now it was mid August, and after looking over to his bed, Kenny picked up the frame of a color photo of a man and a woman off of his headboard, paying more attention to the elderly man in glasses on the left while drying his tears. “I hope you’re doing great out in Canterlot, Grandpa,” he whispered, “I can’t wait for the stories you’ll bring to the next family reunion. I love your little quirks. You fill your life so much with chemistry and magic, you actually dream it. Although you’re always calling everything at the table the ‘whatchit’, and you call all five of us ‘Wooden-Head Puddin-Head Jones’.” Kenny chuckled, then looked to the elderly woman on the right. “Grandpa’s showing his age faster than you, Grandma. Please, look after him. Keep him safe.” With a warm smile, Kenny returned the photo to his headboard, switched to white socks and blue sneakers, then left the room. On his way downstairs, he heard the phone ring with an extra sparkle, meaning long distance magic was in effect on the call. Grandma or Grandpa, perhaps? He could hear his father pick up. “Hello? You’ve reached the Draper residence, may I ask who’s calling? Princess Celestia? To what do I owe the honor? Wait, what about my father?” In spite of the atmospheric filters, Kenny could feel the air grow colder as his father grew more worried. “He’s where? Where’s my Mother? With him? Okay, so, he collapsed you say? Not the first time he’s—He’s suffered a WHAT? Yes, let him know we’ll be there. Have you contacted my brothers and sisters? Good, thank you.” With the sparkling click of hanging up a magic call, Dean stepped into the foyer to tell Kenny: “Son, I need you and everyone to pack quickly. Magic is allowed for this. Your Grandfather just suffered a stroke, and he’s at Canterlot Palace’s medical ward. An express flight will be arriving to take us to Canterlot shortly.”