08-28-2017, 04:58 PM
The sea.
They were born by the sea, in a cavern beneath the volcanic cliffs doted on lovingly by mother and father. Neither of them wanted for anything; father made small horses of fire that raced around the cavern walls providing light and entertainment and mother kept them close to her soft warm sides, and they guzzled milk from her flanks whenever they desired. Even the sound of the surf in the distance lulled them to sleep as did the sounds of their parents talking in hushed tones above their swaying sleepy heads. But even in this idyll of contentment, the twins grew curious and sought ways to venture further and further afield from the cavern and their parents’ ever watchful eyes. It was how they discovered the one secret about themselves that brought them closer as if the bond of being twins was not enough (it was, but this was something else too, that made them united and feel further as one only halved) - they could shift their shape!
It had happened by accident.
Mother let them leap and splash in the low tide while she stared at the sea and father groomed her back and sides. Iron chased Wine farther than he intended, nipping at her heels as her girlish peals of laughter rang loud from her throat. Both of them had strayed too far into the sea’s clutches and a wave bigger than normal bowled them both over until they tumbling end over end and the wave finally deposited them upon the shore but far from their parents. Neither was afraid, they were breathless with delight and laughter but each of them was not a foal any more - they were sleek black panther cubs now damp from the sea and eyeing the claws that sprang from their newfound paws. By rights, they ought to have been surprised but Iron and Wine took this change in stride and scampered around the sand until their parents called them back to their sides with whistles of irritation and fear.
Something in their parents’ tones made them shift back though they had no true idea of how to effect this change on their own. One moment they were gamboling as happy cubs and the next, they were foals again on long skittering legs as they joined their parents, sharing secretive looks with one another and sly smiles that their parents mulled over but never asked questions about. After that, mother kept a closer watch on them whenever she allowed them out and about. It was as if she knew, or suspected at least, that the twins had discovered something but refused to share that discovery with either of their parents. They liked having this secret between them, even if they could not fully exercise it at the moment but they’d also learned how to duck their mother’s watchful eye - they simply got father to distract her.
Just as they did on this day when father started fawning all over mother, winking at them over her back. He suspected too, and knew that the twins needed time to themselves to just be twins since he was one after all. So safe from their parents’ eyes, the two took to trying to make each other shift in order to better control it. This was no easy feat for either of them since it acquired some element of danger at first or pain, as they had unerringly discovered one time when Wine had pushed her brother over then stepped on him. It wasn’t like she had done it intentionally, things like that happened during bouts of rough battle and she hadn’t meant to step on him but her hoof had found his pastern and the yowl he’d let loose came from no horse’s throat but a panther cub’s. Of course, Iron bit her with his sharper feline’s teeth and that had caused her to shift shape too. So today, they took turns trying to bite and kick each other until their shapes changed.
Nothing happened no matter how hard they tried.
So, panting and sweaty, they decided to cool off in the sea but there was a pale mare there swimming out against the tide that had turned and was growing considerably more dangerous. Iron looked at Wine. Wine looked back at Iron. Neither seemed to want to disturb the mare because she had a look of happiness about her that struck them as almost reverent, like she worshipped the way the waves washed over her and left her smiling. Sometimes, their mother looked like that when she stared out at the sea, standing ankle-deep with the twins playing hide and seek behind her tail.
“The tide is starting to change… you probably shouldn’t swim out too much farther!”
It was Iron who spoke, the silver bay overo colt whose pattern wasn’t a traditional overo one but rather, mimicked flames consuming his small body. Wine, the black overo and very much his twin in every way besides that and the flame markings, stood beside him quiet and concerned.