“NOPE!” Boltsinger shouted, bringing his digits to the ground, turning around. He saw what looked like the base of a statue standing there, electricity coming out of the wall facing him. He did his best to run on all fours towards it. “NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!” He reached for it, but found himself blown back by the sparks emanating from it. “Wait, is that my lightning?! Why would my own lightning hit me?”
“What the…? What is that guy talking about?” someone from the crowd asked. Boltsinger looked to the source of the voice, spotting a blue female of the creatures with two-tone blue hair and golden eyes, much like the pony he knew as Lyra Heartstrings.
“I don’t know… I’ve never seen somebody like that before.” another voice responded. It looked to be male, but his features were something he couldn’t quite recognize.
“Um…” Boltsinger started, a furious blush coming to his cheeks. He looked around the area, several creatures looking at him like he was insane. Many of them had an air of familiarity to them, while others were completely new. “I… uh…” He brought up his digits, waving gingerly. “Hi…” Many of the creatures shrugged, continuing about their business. He observed how they moved, seeming to fall from one leg to the other in a repeated sequence. He put his hindquarters under him, using what he normally knew to be his hind legs to rise up. Surprisingly, despite his lack of a tail, he found balance easy. He brought his digits up, experimenting with their dexterity. These feel like my feathers… He took a step towards the large building, then another, and then more, finding himself somehow not tripping over his own lower appendages. Doesn’t seem to be anywhere else to go… I just hope I can find somepony that can explain all… this…
Inside the building was a large entry hall filled with trophy cases and bulletin boards. Posters were strewn about the exposed walls, and the halls contained lockers as far as the eye could see. Several more of the creatures socialized next to them, walking from room to room until a bell rang. Boltsinger cringed, covering his ears as the halls filled completely with the creatures. He worked his way through the crowd, trying to find some space until he felt an impact that threw off his new sense of balance. He fell onto his hindquarters, shaking his head and opening his eyes. In front of him sat a female creature with features that reminded him of one of his best friends. She was yellow, with long, pink hair and blue eyes that had eyeshadow over their lids in the same shade as her hair. She wore a long, teal sundress with green trim along the hem and pink shoulder straps. The dress bore three butterflies on the right side of the skirt in white and two shades of pink, and she wore butterfly-themed pink open-toe shoes with ribbons wrapped halfway up her legs, along with transparent green sleeves on her otherwise-exposed arms. Most notably, around her neck hung a pink geode pendant that bore the Cutie Mark of…
“Fluttershy?” he asked.
She rubbed her own hindquarters, not having noticed the one who had bumped into her as the hallway cleared. “Ow… What happened?” Out of her backpack, a bunny resembling Angel hopped, scampering down the hallway. She jumped up, scooping up her backpack and running after the rabbit. “Angel, wait! You’re not supposed to come out when we’re inside!”
Boltsinger got up, doing his best to follow the familiar face. “Certainly sounds like Fluttershy!” As he rounded a corner, he saw that she had already picked the bunny up and was hugging it tight.
“Oh, Angel, please don’t run off like that again! I don’t want the staff to find out I’ve got pets in school!” she told the bunny. It nuzzled her back, climbing onto her shoulder and into her backpack. She started back the way she came, pulling out a strange device and looking at it. “Oh, my! I’d better hurry or I’ll be late for class!” She broke into a run, rounding the corner past Boltsinger, who reached his arm out at her.
“Fluttershy, wait!” he called.
At the sound of her name, Fluttershy yelped, stopping in her tracks and turning around. “Um… yes…? Can I… help you…?”
Boltsinger smiled wide, throwing his head back. “Oh, YES! Finally a friendly face!” He put his digits on her shoulders, making her yelp some more. “How did you get here? Does Twilight know what happened to me? Is there any way I can get home?”
With each question, Fluttershy backed up, bringing her arms up defensively and hiding her head behind her hair. “I… I go to school here… I don’t know what you’re talking about getting home… And… and…”
He came a little closer. “And…?”
“I have no idea who you are!” she exclaimed, bringing herself low. “Can you please let go of me?”
Boltsinger recoiled. “You don’t… know… me…?” his digits fell from her shoulders, staggering back a few steps. “But… but you were just in the library with Nova… You were so…” His back hit the lockers behind him, sliding his way down to the floor and clutching his head.
Fluttershy pulled her hair aside, getting a look at the one fretting before her. “Are you okay…?”
“She’s Fluttershy but… but she’s not Fluttershy but she’s totally Fluttershy! But she’s not and…” he rambled, eyes darting around the hallway, repeatedly refocusing on her.
She stood up, tentatively walking over to him. “I think you may need some... help…” She reached her arm out. “Here, take my hand.”
He looked up at her, his face stricken with confusion. “What the heck is a ‘hand’?”
“Oh! Well… um…” She grabbed his arm, helping him up. “Just… come with me, please.” She pulled him along, leading him through the building. “This Is going to sound strange but… Are you… not from around here?”
“What was your first guess?” he asked, giving her an uncertain smirk. “Sorry for scaring you like that…”
“Not as sorry as you’re gonna be!” a familiar rasp shouted. Fluttershy and Boltsinger looked in the direction of the voice, where a girl with medium-length hair of six different colors stood. She wore a short-sleeved blue jacket with yellow stripes over a white shirt with an unmistakable mark. Covering her legs were black pants with rainbow-patterned lightning bolts on the outside and blue and white shoes with red laces. Her wrists, with rainbow-colored wristbands, rested on her hips as she leaned towards them with a fierce scowl. “Fluttershy was late, so Miss Cheerilee sent me to make sure she’s okay!” she stomped up the Boltsinger, grabbing his shirt collar and getting in close. “So what’s your excuse, buster?”
Boltsinger went pale, letting his knees shake without cease. “Excuse? What do you mean excuse? Am I doing something wrong?”
“What are you doing with Fluttershy?!” she spat.
His eyes shot back and forth, wondering what she might be implying. “I… uh…”
“Rainbow Dash, stop!” Fluttershy cried, putting her hand on her shoulder. “He’s… new… here, and I was taking him to Principal Celestia’s office… But… I think he might want to meet Sunset first…”
“Sunset? Like, Twilight’s book pen pal Sunset?” he inquired, looking between the two.
Rainbow Dash let go of Boltsinger’s shirt, pointing a finger at him and looking at her friend. “Is he from…?”
Fluttershy nodded. “I think so. What do you think we should do?”
Rainbow Dash pursed her lips and squinted her eyes, looking the boy up and down. “He seems mostly harmless…” She poked his nose aggressively. “I’m gonna let Fluttershy keep an eye on you till lunch. Don’t make me regret it!”
“Okay. Yeah. No regrets here!” he told her, raising his hands. “I know better than to make you regret stuff!”
Rainbow gave him a confused look, then shook her head, turning down the hall. “Whatever… Come on, Miss Cheerilee is waiting for us.”
“Coming!” Fluttershy answered, following along. She took hold of Boltsinger’s wrist again, pulling him towards the classroom. After they had walked for a while, she stopped, looking back at him. “Oh! I’m so sorry I didn’t ask this earlier… But what’s your name?”
Boltsinger pointed to himself. “Me?” His new acquaintance nodded, prompting a sigh of realization out of him. “Right… You don’t know me… My name is Boltsinger.”
Fluttershy gave him a wide smile. “Well, Boltsinger, let me be the first to welcome you to Canterlot High School!” She held her hand out, wide open. Boltsinger eyed her palm curiously, unsure of what she was doing. “Um… Do they have handshakes where you’re from?”
“Ah! Yes! Hoofshake! Why didn't I think of that?” He placed his hand in hers, grasping it firmly and giving a modest shake. “So, this is a school, huh? Ironic…”
The bell rang again, becoming less panic-inducing each time Boltsinger heard it. Fluttershy had led him through various classes, where she advised him in some of the terminology, such as the word ‘person’, ‘people’, and use of the term ‘everybody’ instead of ‘everypony’. Amongst the students, he found various girls who looked shockingly familiar. One was orange with blond hair and a stetson, wearing cowboy boots that each had three apples on them, along with a denim skirt and a white shirt with short green sleeves and a bright red apple on the front. Another was two shades of pink, wearing a white, sleeveless shirt with a balloon pattern, a poofy pink skirt over white pants, bright blue shoes and a blue bow in her frizzy hair. Finally, there was a white girl with curl-treated purple hair with a diamond-themed hair clip. She wore a bright blue sleeveless tunic with a bejeweled green collar and another purple jewel design near the flared out waistline, over a modest purple skirt, and wore jewel-encrested purple high heels. They would all stop and look at Fluttershy’s current companion curiously, sometimes talking amongst themselves. This time, Fluttershy took him to a much more open room, full of tables, with a line of students holding trays at one end.
Fluttershy let go of his wrist, turning to Boltsinger and gesturing daintily to the room. “And this, Boltsinger, is the--"
“Cafeteria, right?” he finished, stepping forward. “I got pretty familiar with the one at Ponyville General over the last year.”
“Oh? And what were you doing at the hospital so much?” she wondered as they made for the line.
“Twilight and I were… On second thought, it’s not important.” he told her.
“What was I doing that’s not important?” a girl’s voice queried from behind him. Boltsinger turned around, reeling back at what he saw. The lilac, the purple hair, the pink stripe, the star pattern in both her hair tie and on the dark purple skirt she wore. Nearly everything about this girl reminded him of his favorite mare, and the features that weren’t completely spot-on, such as the blue-striped shirt with the puffy shoulders and the thick-rimmed glasses, didn’t surprise him in the slightest. She waved to Fluttershy, then eyed Boltsinger. “I think I’d remember doing something with you… Wait… who are you, anyway?”
Those words from that voice stabbed at his heart fiercely. He stumbled back, hitting the counter behind him. After a second to process his situation, he brought his hands up, slapping his cheeks as hard as he could. “I-I-I’m… I’m nopo- I mean nobody important… Don’t… don’t worry about me…”
The girl shrugged. “Well, okay, then. If you say so.” She moved behind Fluttershy in line, taking a tray and making her lunch selections.
After receiving a meal from someone who looked strangely like Granny Smith, Boltsinger was led to a table where all of the girls he had previously seen were gathered, chatting and laughing about a number of things he didn’t understand. At the edge of the table sat one face he couldn’t even begin to recognize. She had amber skin with cyan eyes, with long hair of a fiery crimson and yellow. She wore a short-sleeved orange shirt with a sun symbol under a black vest, and sported a maroon skirt that was held up by a black belt and fastened by black straps, with high-heeled black boots covering her feet. Fluttershy and the girl he had most recently spoken with sat down next to the new face, the former of the two looking up at him. “Come on, Boltsinger, sit down. It’s okay.” Fluttershy said, patting the spot next to her at the table.
The newcomer did as directed, eliciting a glance from the red-haired girl. “Oh? And who’s this? New friend?”
Boltsinger scratched his neck, averting his eyes. “Um… you could… say that.” He held out his hand to the unfamiliar female, trying to imitate the gesture Fluttershy had given him that morning. “I guess… Fluttershy already said my name, but… I’m Boltsinger. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”
The girl smiled, grasping his hand with a rapid shake. “Nice to meet you, too, Boltsinger. My name’s Sunset Shimmer.”
Boltsinger’s grip tightened as he snapped his gaze to her, leaning in closer. “As in Sunset Shimmer from the book in the library that glows and vibrates Sunset Shimmer?!”
Sunset’s eyes matched the size of the boy shaking hands with her. “Wait, you mean the book in the castle in Equestria?”
The boy’s arms shot upward, letting go of her hand as he rose from his seat and let out a cheer. “YYYYYES! Finally, somepony who knows what I’m talking about!” he shouted, the sheer volume of his voice causing the tables in the room to shake.
Sunset reached forward, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Hey! Wait! Calm down for a second!” She eased him back down to his seat, lowering his arms. “Okay, so you’re from Equestria?”
“Eeyup.” Boltsinger answered with a nod.
“So you found the book that Princess Twilight uses to talk to me?” she continued.
“Eeyup.” he repeated. “Saw something in the process of being written, too.”
“Okay, this is gonna be weird, but bear with me.” she told him as she grabbed onto his wrist, her eyes going white.
In her mind, Sunset saw a myriad of images. An equine version of this boy crashing into a wall, spending time with Princess Twilight and her friends. A pendant, a brother, a reunion, a kiss, reconciliation, and a wedding. Then came a surprise, a dramatic year full of ups and downs, a persistent Princess with an uncertain stallion, all leading up to… a baby. Finally, she found what she had come to see. He stood over a book in the library as his wings sprang to life, shooting him into an all-too familiar mirror.
She let go of his wrist, hyperventilating as she looked him in the eye. “You’re… Twilight’s… husband?!”