Crying filled the streets of Ponyville. Mrs. Cake exited Sugar Cube Corner with a tall, lanky yellow Earth Pony stallion with an orange mane and tail, a well-defined underbite, and bright green eyes. He wore a red and white hat with matching bow tie, along with a white apron, and had a Cutie Mark of three slices of carrot cake. The mare stopped cold, her ear twitching in the direction of the cries that pierced her ear. “Honey, do you hear that?” Mrs. Cake asked, pointing into the distance
“I think so, dear, but…” Mr. Cake started, looking in the indicated direction. Mrs. Cake had already begun galloping towards it, eliciting a resigned sigh from the baker as he ran after her.
The two ponies approached a large gathering of ponies with Nova’s crying ringing clearly over the muttering. Mrs Cake worked her way into the crowd, quickly making her way to the front to find that it made a circle around Nova’s carriage and a collapsed Boltsinger in a radius of at least ten feet. “Oh my goodness! Boltsinger!!!” She turned to the mare next to her with an angry squint in her eyes. “What happened here? And why in Celestia’s name hasn’t anypony gone to help him? Can’t you hear that baby?”
“The baby is what we’re afraid of!” The mare declared, pointing at Nova. “Nopony really knows what happened! We want to help, but the last time Prince Nova cried like this… Well, you were there! Nopony had any magic, and the sky was pitch-black!”
“He’s scared!” The baker pointed out. “He needs someone to be there for him!” The mare looked over at Mrs. Cake, then back at Nova, visibly shivering as she backed up. Mrs. Cake breathed a sigh, shaking her head as she turned towards the wailing baby. She dragged her hoof on the ground, hunching over and leaping with all of her might. She cleared the distance between her and the baby in an instant, looking warmly into the carriage at Nova. “Nova, sweetie, calm down, please!” She reached in and lifted the foal up, pulling him close and sitting down. Nova turned his body to lean into the grown-up, putting his hooves around her as she began stroking his mane. “There, there, sweetheart... I’m here…”
Mr. Cake finally caught up, stopping on a bit next to his wife. “What happened here? Is Boltsinger okay?”
The plump pony looked up at her husband. “I don’t know… Looks like he just… fell over!” She turned her attention back to the colt, keeping up her soothing.
“Right… I’ll go get Twilight!” The stallion suggested. Before Mrs. Cake could even respond, there was a cloud of dust where her spouse had stood.
Mrs. Cake looked over to the unconscious Pegasus, wondering just what could have happened to cause this happenstance. “Please hurry…”
Twilight stood on the stage of her classroom with students all around, motioning to a remarkably full blackboard as the scribbling of notes began. “So, that’s one example of Kindness empowering the other Elements. Any questions?”
As Ocellus raised her hoof, the classroom door flew open with a hyperventilating Mr. Cake standing there with a frantic look on his face. “Twilight… come… quick!”
“Mr. Cake?!” The Princess wondered, galloping over to him. “What’s going on?” Mr. Cake took a few steady breaths, leaning in to whisper the details into her ear. Twilight’s eyes proceeded to widen with fear as she listened, her ears and jaw dropping exponentially. “Class dismissed! Everyone take the rest of the day off!” She ignited her horn, and in a flash, the teacher and the baker were gone. Once they were sure their instructor was gone, the entire class erupted into cheers.
In the castle throne room, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight Glimmer sat around the map, waiting anxiously for the return of the resident Princess. School had been cancelled for the rest of the day, and the overall aura of the room had dimmed as Applejack looked worriedly at the empty chair between her throne and Twilight’s. “Whaddaya suppose is goin’ on?”
“I wish I knew.” Rarity replied, leaning on the map and resting her head on her forelegs, casting her own gaze at the empty spot. “Spike said there was an emergency, but that’s all he said.”
A magenta light enveloped the door, letting a slow-moving Alicorn walk in with a foal in her wings, with Spike hovering in close behind. She had a somber expression on her face as she sat in her throne. “Thank you all for being here so quickly…”
“It’s no problem, Twi.” Rainbow assured. She jumped out of her throne, walking to her friend’s side. “So what’s goin’ on?”
“And where the heck is Bolt?” Pinkie inquired. “I haven’t seen him all day!”
“That’s the bad news…” Twilight answered, hanging her head with a sorrowful sniff. “Bolt is in the hospital…”
A loud, simultaneous “WHAT?!” shook the chandelier above the mares. All hooves had found a solid surface, and all rumps were firmly raised at the new information.
“What on earth could have happened?” The couturier conjectured.
“Is ‘e okay? Anythin’ broken?” Applejack asked, rushing to her friend’s side. “Tell me he’s at least conscious!”
Twilight slowly shook her head, refusing to open her eyes. “Nothing’s broken, but… He’s not conscious. Mrs. Cake found him collapsed on the road, and he hasn’t woken up since.” Her face scrunched up as her eyes opened, looking down at her little colt. “I have no idea what happened… He’s been doing so well… So happy… strong… full of life... Now he’s just laying in a bed and not responding to anything anypony says!”
At this point, the Princess of Friendship was surrounded by those that gave her power. She held her baby close, receiving a hug in return as her friends joined in. “Don’t worry, Twilight!” Pinkie began, giving her a tight squeeze. “I’m sure he’ll be okay! Can’t be any worse than all the other times he’s passed out, right?”
“Most of the time, there’s an explanation…” She stated, gently tightening her hold on Nova. “There’s usually some kind of magic, or he slammed into a wall, or something like that… according to the ponies Mrs. Cake talked to, there wasn’t any real reason, this time. He just… dropped without warning…”
Starlight sat on the arm of the throne, placing her hoof on the Alicorn’s shoulder. “Why don’t you take time off from the school for now? I can bring Sunburst in to cover your classes, and you can focus on your family.”
Twilight looked up at her former student, her eyes turning puffy. “Are you sure? It’s not too much to handle?”
Starlight waves a dismissive hoof. “Please, if I can run the school with Discord messing with everyone, I can certainly handle the normal goings on!” She moved over to the crystal array, turning back to look at Twilight. “Besides, you look like you wouldn’t be able to focus much right now.”
Twilight looked back down at the baby hugging her, bringing her hoof up to stroke his mane. “Okay… I’ll pack a few things and head back to the hospital.” She rose from her throne and started for the door once more.
Fluttershy brought her hoof to her muzzle as the Princess passed her, letting a thought bubble up in her mind. She gave a determined nod, then looked over at the dragon following Twilight. “Spike, could you cover my classes?”
Spike looked back at the yellow mare with a sense of confusion, stopping just short of his head hitting the open door. “”Uh… sure. But why do you need me to cover classes when you’re not going anywhere?”
The animal expert trotted past Spike, taking a position beside Twilight. “I am going somewhere! I’m going to help Twilight take care of Nova and Boltsinger.”
Twilight shot a glance back at the Pegasus. “You are?”
“Of course!” She confirmed. “The last thing we want is for you to worry yourself sick! So, I’m going to go with you and share the load.”
Twilight wiped a tear from her eye at her friend’s words, pulling her in for a hug. “Thank you, Fluttershy… I’d love to have you with me!”
As Twilight and Fluttershy turned to head down the hall, Applejack leaned into Rainbow Dash, nudging her in the wing. “I betcha ten bits she’s got more reasons to help than keepin’ Twilight sane.”
“You kidding? I’m not taking that bet!” The Wonderbolt replied, making for the entrance. “Anypony with eyes knows that you’d win!”
Twilight sat next to a bed at Ponyville General, resting her hoof on one belonging to its occupant. Boltsinger was unconscious and largely unmoving, save for the rise and fall of his chest. Floating in front of her was a book with a large red cross on the front. “Doctor Horse said there wasn’t anything wrong with you… So why?”
From the doorway, Fluttershy poked her head in, the corners of her mouth curling down at the sight before her. She ran her wing over the mane if the colt in her foreleg, looking down at him. “Well, sweetie, it’s time to go see your daddy.” She took a deep breath, slapping her face with her wings and stepping into the room. “So how is he?”
“He seems fine. He just… won’t wake up!” The mother replied, putting her book away. “Apparently he was just going about his day, and then collapsed. Nopony knows what could have caused it!”
Fluttershy took a seat beside her friend, looking hard at the sleeping stallion’s face. "It’s true, there doesn’t seem to be anything different about him…” She looked between the stallion and the now-squirming colt, noting the various resemblances between them as an idea came to her head. “Twilight, how often is Boltsinger the one to take care of Nova?”
Twilight turned her eyes back, trying to recall the requested detail. “Well, ever since we started the school, he’s been with him most of the time. Why?”
“I see… I have and idea of what it might be, then.” Nova put his hooves on Fluttershy’s foreleg, pushing against her in an attempt to free himself. Fluttershy smiled down at him, bringing her other foreleg forward. “Aww, do you want to go back to your mama?” She lifted him up, passing him to the waiting forelegs. He nestled into her, keeping his eyes fixed on his daddy and fidgeting at regular intervals. “I think Boltsinger may be--"
“Burned out, huh?” A snide mare’s voice asked. Boltsinger sat alone in a blackened version of the castle nursery, slumped over the bed. Tendrils of shadow snaked out of the walls, forming into a pitch-black image of a fragmented mare with more tendrils coiling around her to create false wings and wrap firmly around her horn. Red light seeped out of each crack in her form and from her eyes, with a flowing, flame-like mane and tail that was accentuated by more tendrils. The blackness around her came to a point at an amulet with an Alicorn motif and a diamond-shaped red jewel. She sauntered to over the dejected pony, standing over him. “Anypony would get tired from having to look after a whiny foal like that as much as you have.”
“He’s not ‘whiny’…” Boltsinger spat, rocking the bed with his hoof. “He’s the best little colt in the whole world…” He took a staggering breath, letting his hoof fall to the floor.
“And you failed him.” The mare countered, using a single tendril of her wings to rock the bed. “He’s all alone in the street, you know. Probably crying and scared.” She sent him a devilish smirk, trailing individual tendrils up his back like the skittering of a bug. “And you, his dear daddy, can’t even hope to protect him! That must be torture!”
Boltsinger slapped the tendrils away with his wing, sending a discharge at the creature. “You think I don’t know that?” He turned his fierce gaze to her, lightning sparking in his eyes. “I get it! I failed as a father! I don’t need you reminding me of that!”
“But that’s the fun part!” She exclaimed, spreading her false wings. Her horn went alight, wrapping the Pegasus in a red aura and lifting him up. “And you know what? You and I get to play together for a long time, this time!” She gave off a dark chuckle as the tip of her horn intensified its light, pulling the stallion closer. “So nice to see you again…”
“No… No…!” He started, squirming against the magic that covered him. “I don’t want anything to do with you!”
The creature cackled, jutting her head forward. “You don’t have a choice, remember? I’m here as long as you live!”
“That doesn’t mean…” He strained his wings free of the magic, sending a spark into the field. “... that I have to…” With a powerful flap, he spread the discharge all around the aura, creating electrical cracks in the red magic. “... listen to you!” The lightning expanded, shattering the magic in a burst of lightning. He landed on the floor, twitching his tail with an aggressive snort.
“And what exactly do you plan to do?” She asked, extending the tendrils of her false wings to point at him, poised to strike. “Fight me? You’ve never stood a chance before!”
“Yeah, but I have a family, this time!” Boltsinger declared, dragging his hoof on the floor. “And I’d do anything if it means getting back to them!”
“Anything?” The monster repeated.
“Anything!” Boltsinger confirmed with a determined grin.
The monster stomped forward, glaring down at the Pegasus. “Such as…?”
Boltsinger remained silent, repeatedly dragging his hoof for emphasis. After a moment, he reared up, flailing his forelegs as he promptly performed a 180, galloping off into a newly-forming hallway. “TACTICAL RETREAT!”
The creature recoiled, retracting her wings. “You little coward! You can’t outrun me and you know it!”
Boltsinger looked back with a smirk as the hall before him expanded. “Joke’s on you! It’s my dream!”
With a dark laugh, tendrils spiked out of the walls in front of him to block his path. The creature formed once more out of the tendrils, looming over him. “Your dream, my domain!” She brought her false wings forward, homing each sharp tendril on his position as he raised his own wings.
“And you keep things way too dark in here!” with another spark of electricity arcing between his wings, a light brighter than any before it flashed in the mare's eyes, sending her reeling. Boltsinger took the opportunity to turn again, moving towards a wall that immediately gave way to his presence. “Maybe you should cool off for a while, anyway! You look like you could use it!” The monstrous mare let out an infuriated shriek, followed by the sound of a body slamming against walls. Boltsinger slapped his muzzle with his wings, drawing his eyes forward. Okay, Bolt, your dream, your mind. Where can you go in your own mind that you can actually hide from that thing until you wake up? As if to answer his question, the hall ahead of him expanded out into a larger corridor lined with doors. He slowed to a walk, looking around at them. Each of them had a number on them, with most of them having an electrical surge covering them. What the…? What are these? He stepped up to the closest of the electrified doors, reaching for the handle. As his hoof made contact, a spark flew at him, sending him rearing back with a pained yelp. “What the…? How the hay can something in my own mind keep me out?” He stomped his hoof, turning to another, not so voltic, door. “Let’s try this one…” He tentatively touched the handle with his hoof, slowly turning it as the door opened. He stumbled through, finding himself walking along a familiar Vanhoover street, approaching a house that gave him an immense sense of nostalgia. “I’m… home?” He spun around, examining his surroundings in greater detail. “So… Does that mean I’m in a memory?”
Out of the house came a yellow Pegasus stallion with a dark blue mane in a downright swirly style, purple eyes, and a Cutie Mark of three clouds swirling around each other. He looked up to the sky, bringing his wing up to his muzzle. “Brightling! You missed a spot up north! Can you get to that?”
A dissatisfied groan sounded from the second floor as a smaller version of Boltsinger’s brother, Brightling, walked out onto the balcony. “All right, I’ll take care of it!” He spread his wings in a way that Boltsinger hadn’t seen in a great many years, flapping them hard and taking off into the distance.
Boltsinger smiled, going into a trot towards his foalhood home. “Eeyup. Definitely a memory.” He slipped past the image of his father, stopping for a moment to send him a look of reverence. “Hey, Dad. I’m home.” Passing the house’s threshold, he heard a booming noise in the distance, reminding him of his predicament. And it looks like I’ll be here awhile…
Daddy is in danger.
Above all else, Nova knew this. He found himself held by Aunty Fluttershy near the hospital entrance. Over the past day, he had seen his daddy squirming and writhing. He only got like that when he hurt, and there was something dark in him, and it terrified the colt far more than any scary Draconequus ever could. He squirmed in his aunt’s grip, trying to get loose as he cried out.
“Oh, are you wanting to go to your mama?” Fluttershy inquired. She slowly turned towards the room his mommy and daddy were in, walking at an almost painfully slow pace. He pushed harder against her foreleg, wiggling his wings free. Fluttershy let out a small gasp, bringing her wing forward to hold the colt back. “Careful, now! You don’t want to fall on the floor!”
Nova shot Fluttershy a mildly irritated look, spreading his wings out wide and pushing further. He let out another cry, lighting up his horn. “Da…”
The Pegasus mare’s eyes gained more width than they’d had in quite some time. “Nova, did you just…”
A blue magical field surrounded Fluttershy’s foreleg and wing, moving them aside. “DA-DA!!!” He called out, taking flight down the hall and rocketing past the passing staff. “DA-DA!!!” He repeated, rounding a corner on his way while drawing the attention of several patients. Finally, he came to the room he knew his daddy was in, hovering in place for a moment as Fluttershy began catching up to him. He took a deep breath, shooting forward one more time.
“Nova?” Twilight started, seeing the orange and purple streak zoom in. She ignited her horn, stopping the foal entirely and pulling him close. “Nova, honey, was that you?”
Nova strained to get out of his mommy’s magic, lighting his own horn again to penetrate the field. “Da-da! Da-da! Da-da!”
The Princess’ jaw dropped along with the light of her horn. “His first word…”
With another cry of “DA-DA!!!”, Nova pounced onto his father’s belly as hard as he could, gripping him tightly and bringing his horn to life once more.
Boltsinger wasn’t sure how long he had been hiding in his foalhood home, but he didn’t care. All he knew was that it was getting dark when it really shouldn’t have been. Tendrils of blackness had started to seep into the house, clawing around to find their target as a dark voice called out. “Oh Bo~olt! You can’t hide for-e-ver!~” The sound of a booming saunter grew louder, as if the monster was approaching the house.
Boltsinger ran to the corner of his foalhood room, dropping to his rump and bringing his head to the floor with his wings draped over his head. Please don’t find me… Please don’t find me… Please don’t--
“Found you!” The construct announced. Boltsinger opened his eyes, seeing her dark red smile glaring down at him. “I told you I’d find you!” She focused her magic on Boltsinger’s neck, floating him back up into the air and poising her false wings once more. “Now, where were we?”
Boltsinger brought his wings and forelegs up to the red aura, his hind legs kicking furiously as the magic pressed him against the wall. “So this is ‘playing’, huh? What’re you gonna do once your ‘game’ is done?”
“I’m sure I’ll figure something out.” She spat, pushing harder with her emphasis. “Besides, I’m not going to be done for a long ti--” She found herself interrupted by a sharp pain in her chest, a blue light shining in it where the red normally came from. “What was that…?” She slammed her hoof into Boltsinger’s shoulder, getting in close. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” He admitted.
“Well, whatever it was, it won’t…” Another yelp escaped her as the light struck again, accompanied by a noise.
“DA-DA!!!” Came the cry of a foal, repeatedly panging at the construct. It let out an ear-piercing shriek as the blue light inside burst out, shattering it completely to reveal the magical blue image of an Alicorn colt flying headlong into the stallion.
“Nova…?” Boltsinger started, the magic around his neck fading as his forelegs found their way around the image that slammed into him.
Boltsinger’s eyes opened, spying the walls of a hospital room with a purple and blue mane brushing repeatedly against his chest. “Da-da…” The foal said, letting out cries that made his fur soggy.
The stallion brought his forelegs up, carefully putting them around his son and pulling him closer to his head. “Oh, Nova…” He managed to say, letting tears fall from his eyes. “Thank you… You saved me, little Prince… Even though I failed you…” He tightened his grip, nuzzling the colt with his tear-stricken muzzle. “Daddy is so sorry for failing to be there for you… It’ll never happen again, I promise!”
“Boltsinger!” Cried a pair of mares as two sets of forelegs surrounded him. Boltsinger looked up to see the ecstatic faces of Twilight and Fluttershy, crying tears of joy.
“Thank goodness you’re okay!” Fluttershy shouted, squeezing tighter.
“But I’m not…” He argued, running his hoof up and down the baby’s back. “I… I passed out… I left Nova all by himself… I couldn’t protect him! And… And then he goes and saves me… What… What kind of father am I?”
“The kind that was overworked to an extreme…” Twilight pointed out, falling from her embrace to look him in the eye. “Fluttershy told me all about it. How ponies get burned out going full bore like that for long periods… But why didn’t you tell us how tired you were?”
“I… I-I-I didn’t know…” He admitted, averting his eyes. “I was just… walking, and then… Thud.”
Fluttershy finally loosened her grip, sitting beside the bed. “That’s usually how it hits. It happened to me a few weeks after I started Sweet Feather Sanctuary.” She tilted her head, bringing a thought forward. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of somepony lasting long as you did before that kind of burnout. That’s really impressive!”
Twilight sent a sheepish smile to her husband. “Well, if there’s one thing he’s got going for him, it’s stamina!” The parents both let out a snicker with a mild blush, eliciting a confused look from Fluttershy.
“Well, I don’t feel tired, now. I think I should be good to keep going!” Boltsinger declared, moving to get up. Twilight sent him a deadpan look, magically holding him in place.
“Oh no you don’t!” The lilac mare said, forcing him back into a resting position. “The only place you’re going is back to sleep! If Mrs. Cake hadn’t found you, I don’t know what would have happened. I’m not going to let you go that long without a proper break again, even if I have to uproot my entire schedule to do it.”
Boltsinger straightened up, letting his spouse’s magic do its work. “Yes, dear!”