//------------------------------//
// The Beautician's Guarantee 
// Story: One Bolt, Many Questions 
// by Boltsinger 
//------------------------------//

Rarity and Twilight stood in the inspiration room of the Carousel Boutique, looking sternly into each other’s eyes, a slew of items all around them. Twilight floated a quill and parchment in front of her as the stare broke.
“Hair brushes?” Twilight said, readying her quill.
“Check!” Rarity replied, floating a large box of hair brushes to her side. Twilight made a checkmark in one of the boxes on the parchment.
“Shampoo?”
“Check!” Rarity repeated, floating over several dozen bottles of the product.
Twilight checked another box. “Conditioner?”
“Present~!” She floated several more bottles nearby as Twilight put a little bow on top of one of the boxes.
“Extra hair brushes?” Twilight asked, her quill nearly touching the page.
“Double check!” Rarity confirmed, putting three more boxes of hair brushes forward.
“Stallion?” Twilight said, her eyes looking fierce.
“Right here!” Rarity told her, floating an unsuspecting Boltsinger into the room with her magic.
“Okay, that’s everything!” Twilight exclaimed, creating twin checks in the last box. “You’re ready!”
“Operation ‘Beautify the Bolt’ is a go!” Rarity announced, striking a stylish pose
Boltsinger looked between the two mares, mouth agape. “Wait… WHAT?!”





After what felt like some kind of introduction, Boltsinger sat in Rarity’s inspiration room, Twilight and Rarity looking at him with determined faces. Twilight perked up first, rolling up her parchment and putting it away in her saddlebag.
“Well, Rarity, I believe you can handle it from here.” Twilight started, turning to leave. “I’ve got to get to Canterlot to help with the Gala!”
Boltsinger reached a hoof over towards Twilight. “Wait! I don’t understand! What’s going on here?!”
Twilight walked out the door as Rarity trotted up to the stallion, closing the door behind the Princess.
“The Gala is tomorrow, darling, and my final task before it begins is that!” Rarity announced, pointing at the wind-blown blue messes that came from Boltsinger’s head and rump. The Pegasus grabbed his tail with his forelegs, holding it close as he lowered his head. Rarity floated a number of hair care products around her as she slowly closed the distance between them.
Boltsinger jumped to his hooves, scrambling for the door in a panic. “WHAT’S GOING ON?!” He screamed. Rarity proceeded to pull him back with her magic, immediately pulling a brush through his hair. His face tensed up immensely as the brush pulled at the large number of knots in his mane, yanking everywhere all at once. “Rarity, what are you doing?!”
“Boltsinger, I thought it was obvious!” She started. “I’m going to fix your mane! That tail of yours could use some work as well!”
Boltsinger stopped his mad dash for the door, looked at Rarity, and sighed. “I hope you’re prepared. Every time somepony has…” He winced in pain as the brush made its way through his mane again, then got a good look at the room. “Wait… You seem to be prepared. All right, let’s get this over with, then.” He walked over to Rarity and placed his rump firmly on the floor, lowering his head.
“So, Bolt, have you ever brushed your mane before?” Rarity queried as the first hair brush snapped in half. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen hair with so many knots before!”
“Flying at a speed that outclasses the Wonderbolts for days on end tends to do that.” the stallion explained. “I mostly just did what I was set to do, then I went to the library or took off again. I never got the chance to take care of my hair.” He tensed up as another hair brush met his mane. “I’ve never really seen it as too much of a priority over the years.”
Another hair brush snapped in his mane as Rarity gasped. “But… But you have to take care of your mane! If you don’t, it gets horrible things to happen! It turns all oily, and the ends never stop splitting! And… and... “ She fell over, magically sliding a couch over to her position to catch herself with a foreleg melodramatically raised to her face. “How have you gotten by after all this time?!” She sat up, taking another brush and lifting the Pegasus onto the couch with her. “Well, I won’t let this travesty continue! Your mane will be a work of art by the time I’m finished!”
Rarity floated several more products above him, creating a veritable cloud of detangler and other hair sprays, pieces of hair brushes flying out in multiple directions. As the cloud dissipated, Boltsinger was limp on the couch, the hair that made up his mane and tail poofing out in all directions before falling limp. It was quite a bit longer than it normally looked, with what was once erratic electric blue patterns turning into full-on streaks, causing a two-tone pattern. Boltsinger breathed heavily as Rarity blew the cloud away with a fan.
Boltsinger groaned. “Are we done?” He asked, looking at the Unicorn. She grinned as her magic lifted the Pegasus up again.
“That was just step one!” She trotted through the boutique, placing him in a salon chair. “From here, it only gets easier.”
After a rigorous wash and even more broken hair brushes being strewn throughout the room, Rarity finally stopped. She floated a slew of pictures that featured several styles for a stallion’s mane and tail.
“Um… I don’t know…” He pushed the book away. “My only request is that you don’t cut it short. I like having a long tail, it’s useful.”
Rarity nodded, putting the book down. “Very well, then! Keep it long, but make it beautiful!” She pulled out a pair of scissors and began her work.
“So, why does my mane need to be done for the Gala?” Boltsinger asked, fully settling into his situation. “I mean, yes, I’m going. But do I really need to look that fancy?”
Rarity laughed as she worked. “Oh, darling, you simply must look your best!” She ran a brush through his mane. “It’s the biggest night of the year! Everypony who is anypony will be there!”
“Everypony? But I thought it was just to commemorate the construction of Canterlot.” Boltsinger asked.
“Well, that’s how it started, yes. But it quickly grew to something much more!” Rarity explained. “It’s the most important formal gathering in all of Equestria now, and anypony that gets invited is bound to have at least some level of influence.”
“So, of course, you ladies get invited every year.” the stallion added. “I’ve seen the stained glass in the castle.”
Rarity giggled to herself. “Looking at the one of Twilight’s coronation?”
Boltsinger’s face flushed. “No… I looked at all of them! Twilight gave me a tour of her favorite places in Canterlot.”
“Aaaaah. So you were too busy looking at her to look at the windows.” she teased. “Is that right?”
Boltsinger tried to shake his head, but Rarity held him in place with her hooves. “No! I looked at everything around me.”
“Mm-hm…” she continued, moving to his tail to work on that. “You know it’s obvious, right?” Boltsinger looked at her, his eyebrow cocked in wonder. “You know what I mean. It’s obvious that you have a crush!”
“What do you mean? I don’t have a crush, or anything!” His entire head turned bright red. “It’s just like I told Shining Armor, she’s an important friend, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Oh, please.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “You’re practically butter in her hooves! If it was any more obvious, Pinkie would have caught on by now!”
“Oh? Who else has this idea in their head?” Boltsinger asked her, lifting his head to look at the mare.
“Applejack, of course.” Rarity confirmed. “She and I were the ones that convinced Twilight to ask you to the Gala in the first place!” Boltsinger’s raised his eyebrows. “I think Rainbow Dash figured it out recently as well.”
Boltsinger leaned his head back again, letting out a deep sigh. “Okay, fine. You can think what you want. Just promise me you won’t tell anypony about even the idea that I might have a crush on her.”
“I promise.” the fashionista said.
“Pinkie Promise?”
Rarity looked surprised. She took a deep breath and made a crossing motion over her chest with a hoof, raising that hoof to her eye. “You have more than that, dear. As a pony devoted to beautifying others, I’ve heard the grievances of every pony I’ve worked on! I pride myself in absolute confidentiality!”
“Really?” He leaned forward, resting his forelegs on his hind legs. “Absolute confidentiality?”
“You have my beautician’s guarantee!” she confirmed. “Have you anything else you need to vent? I’m more than willing to lend an ear.”
“Okay, fine… You’ve got me.” He leaned back into the chair again, staring at the ceiling. “I wouldn’t use the word ‘crush’ in my situation.” He pointed a hoof at Rarity. “But no matter how… right… you and Applejack may be, that doesn’t mean I want anything to change!” He huffed, crossing his forelegs as he turned his head to the side.
“So, if you wouldn’t use the word ‘crush’...” Rarity began, raising a hoof in contemplation. After a moment of thinking, her eyes opened wide and she stopped her styling for a moment. “Oh my gosh! You’re in l--”
“Don’t say it! Please!” Boltsinger rapidly sat up, covering Rarity’s mouth with his hoof. “Besides… I’m… afraid.”
Rarity moved the hoof aside. “I don’t quite understand, dear.. What are you afraid of?”
Boltsinger breathed a deep sigh. “I’m afraid of… well… relapse.” He brought his wings forward, taking a long look at them. “Have you ever looked out the window and wanted to just… fly away? Or, at least, run?”
“Darling, you’re looking at the queen of drama. I’ve wanted to run away from my problems so many times the joke has gotten old!” Rarity explained, making a dramatic gesture with her foreleg.
“Well, what if your problem was… yourself?” He continued. “What if you saw yourself as some kind of burden to everypony around you?”
“I’m afraid I can’t even imagine what that’s like.” she told him, going deeper into her work.
“I bet you’d do everything you could to get out of their manes, wouldn’t you?” He tapped on his knees, trying to occupy his legs. “And when you’ve got wings, that’s a pretty easy thing to do.” He looked at the work his friend was doing. “I can’t really go into much detail right now, but…” He plopped backward again. “My life right now is so different from how I’ve lived up until this point. I’ve never spent more than a month in one place until recently. And, yeah… In a very large part, I have her to thank for that. All of you, really.”
Rarity made one final brush on Boltsinger’s tail. “That’s very sweet of you...” She turned the chair to have him look in the mirror, where he found that his mane looked like if Shining Armor’s had gotten recolored and made to shine like the sun. He looked down at his tail, which bore the same kind of gloss to it. “But, you know, even if you did leave, Twilight wouldn’t rest until she found you again.”
Boltsinger got up from his chair, scratching his mane. “I don’t know if she would go that far…”
“Trust me. I know Twilight.” Rarity affirmed. “She would go into such a panic that she would keep going until you were right in front of her.” She walked over to Boltsinger, putting a hoof around him. “Now, you’d best get to Canterlot. Twilight already arranged for you to stay at the castle, and your outfit is waiting in your room.” She led him to the door as he spread his wings. “And we will see you tomorrow!”
Boltsinger looked at the Unicorn he’d just spent so much time with. She looked remarkably sincere, which made her look all the more fabulous.
“Pinkie promise, right?” He reminded her, starting to hover in the air above her.
“You have my word!” She made a zipping motion over her mouth with her hoof, waving as the Pegasus ascended. He took off at full speed, flying straight for Canterlot. “And don’t slam into any walls this time!”