-Equus, Meadow Hills Region, Gallus-
“Why did you ask me to train you again?” Fizzlepop Berrytwist was a hard flank, but she was good at fighting with her hooves and I thought I could learn a few things from her.
I was proven horribly right, because she was apparently known for absolutely beating the fight out of a manticore. Fluttershy apparently knew that Manticore and called him Manny, our teachers were still as weird as ever when it comes to their intertwined histories.
“Was it perhaps, because as far as the guard goes, I’m the most competent one you know about and I taught Ocellus a few things.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head, this unicorn was not someone anyone would want to mess with. “Remember that I’m still the ruler of my own nation even if I have a day job with Twilight, so that’s why you are here to help me get the lambkin delegate out of their bunker.”
I really couldn’t really answer her at the moment, I thought flying would at least give me some advantage. I was beaten black and purple when she proved to me that flying wasn’t everything if I couldn’t get close enough to my target to even come close to bringing them down. As far as unicorns go, Fizzle was more physically fit than a good ninety percent of them.
I couldn’t be beaten blue because I already had the colorful feathers to hide that and having claws or digits to wield weapons with didn’t help me at all in our training exercise.
“I have my work cut out for me I see, come along. You’ll be a fairly decent guard someday, which puts you in the top ten percentile of royal guards. At least you might be exempt from ever meeting my dementedly fluffy wife if you keep this up, she arguably does worse to those who won’t take the job seriously.” Her horn sparkled and fizzled as she lifted my battered form off the ground, at least she wasn’t making me walk like this. “You have ten minutes to catch your breath before I stop carrying you and drop you on the ground, I’ll either come back for you later, you can start walking from there or you can head to the nearby town. Whichever you feel like doing.”
I could tell already she wasn’t kidding when she said she’d drop me, but it’s nice to know she’d come back for me at least.
-Earth, a day later, Kansas, trailer park, Bolt-
It was here in… I believe it was called Kansas… that I finally opened my eyes to the full truth.
The water fell from a dull grey sky and I was sitting under an awning watching it. I looked at what was once considered a mark of power, now just a dirty black blotch in my fur no longer in the shape of a painted on lightning bolt.
I didn’t have super powers, I wasn’t a real hero and I wasn’t ever let in on the fact that I was just an actor on what was supposedly a popular show according to Dolly.
I know all of this because I just watched myself on a screen, remembering the lines I said in those very moments and actually meaning them as it all felt so real to me.
There was no looking away as I listened to the intro of the show several times introducing me as I used to be, as I kept watching the various episodes of the ‘Bolt, the Super Dog’.
Pom had left us here because she needed to buy food for us and Dolly stayed with us in the trailer park to watch over us, it wasn’t long before she came back that I had already watched several episodes of what was supposed to be my reality.
Dolly and Mittens both tried to get me to play with them or think about something else, but I couldn’t stop watching the marathon featuring me even when Pom came back.
Pom silently sat down next to me and watched an episode with me. Once it was over she gently hugged me, patted me on the head, whispered condolences for how I wasn’t ever given a chance to be normal dog and left me to my thoughts without more words. I appreciated Pom immensely for that.
Having no idea what to do with myself, I was trying to cling to the one last thing that I knew had to be real. I know that Penny cared about me, I know she did!
Now that I’ve seen the truth for myself, how would I even approach her? If she didn’t want me, then would she at least let me have Mr. Carrot so I can go find somewhere else to live?
Mr. Carrot was the only possession in the world that I would care about taking with me if Penny rejected… the dog that now knows he’s no longer going to be fighting the world to protect someone from it all with everything he had.
Pom, Mittens and Dolly’s kindness were another thing for me to cling to desperately, they were helping me get back to Penny even if… even if it turns out… she didn’t want a broken dog.
I had been living a lie, maybe an incredible dream that I woke up from and direly wished I could simply go back to. Now that I knew the truth… I knew it was impossible for things to go back to the way they were.
I couldn’t ignore it, I couldn’t look away and knowing the truth made me feel horrible.
I spent most of my life trying to be protective of Penny, only to find out that the person I was protecting from danger… wasn’t ever really in any danger to begin with like I believed at the time.
If I was an actor, then I had never repeated a scene and managed to do everything perfectly the first time. At least it made for a good show, though watching myself from the outside of it all was disturbing.
“Hey, Bolty, you feeling okay there?” Mittens, was very forgiving towards me after I dragged her into my need to get back to Penny.
“No.” I huffed and turned my side into the rain and let the water run down my side and drip onto the ground, I reached up with a paw and then started wiping the black blotch out of my fur.
I wasn’t super… was I even really a dog at this point? I certainly didn’t know how to be one.
“Uh…” Mittens was still trying, but why? “It’ll be okay Bolty, you’ll see. At least we have someone like those two watching out for us right?”
I looked over to Pom and Dolly. Dolly was sitting still as Pom tied and splinted up her tail again. Pom tied off the base of her tail with a bow and Dolly looked upset with it and Pom just smiled at her. It seemed like Dolly was going to accept the bow regardless of how she felt about it.
I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying, but Pom was being gentle and saying something with a smile, Dolly begrudgingly lifted her nose to her.
Afterwards Pom took care of Dolly’s nose and I winced when I saw it after Pom peeled the bandages away, the grisly sight was something I never had to really experience before.
Never really been injured, probably never saw a real injury before and that was a fresh injury. Real, raw and ugly… like how the world felt at the moment. My show had a lot of death by explosions, knocking out guards and incredible circumstances where people disappeared, how hadn’t I noticed all that before?
“Mittens, what am I anymore?” My voice tiredly droned out as I wilted and was slowly losing the will to live. I watched Dolly interact with Pom by licking her on the nose and cuddling up against her and them hugging each other. “What do I really have to offer if I can’t do the things I thought I could? I can’t act like I don’t know the truth, I was never taught how to act.”
My heart yearned for that kind of relationship with Penny, for it to be real and not part of the dream. I wanted to believe that Penny really cared about me, that nobody could replace me in her heart. That we could be close like Dolly and Pom.
“Well… your dog named Bolt and are a very brave and sweet guy who just had the rug pulled out from under him and most importantly you’re my friend, that’s despite all the stuff you’ve put me through. We’ll work our way up from there buddy.” Mittens wrapped a paw around my neck and I leaned into the hug as she nuzzled her face against my neck. There were two cats that I didn’t like, but if they hadn’t taunted me so badly then I wouldn’t have met Mittens. I let it into my heart that not all cats were bad. “If things don’t work out at the end of this trip… then I’ll stick with you! I have your back Bolt and I’m not going to abandon you, not in the same way those bipeds abandoned me at any rate... anyone who wouldn’t want a dog like you would have to be a complete idiot. I mean what other dog would cross the whole country like you to get back to someone you only believe cares? I would normally tell you to stop trying to cling to the past and find a nice place where the food is plentiful to settle down, but Pom and Dolly have helped turned my world view around. I mean have you seen how those two act together?”
Yes and I was kind of jealous of their relationship. They were talking and looked to be enjoying themselves.
“So what if you’re not a Super Dog right now, that doesn’t mean there’s a zero percent chance you can’t be super in some way eventually. Even if it’s being a super good friend.” Glancing at Mittens, who has yet to let go of me, she gave me a broad smile. “Besides, I think this is an opportunity to see the world a little, I wasn’t going anywhere in New York. Hey, do you want to know a secret about our traveling companions?”
“What, that Dolly has ninety eight brothers and sisters?” I didn’t even know whether or not that was a normal number of dogs for a family to have. “I really don’t know much about other dogs if you haven’t noticed.”
“No, that the world is much weirder than anyone would really believe. I mean it took some convincing, but Dolly eventually showed me some things that should be impossible. She was a normal dog, like you, and then she had her world turned upside down by something unusual happening too.” What were you talking about Mittens? “Want to guess?”
“Um… I have no ideas, did she come from a TV show too?” That at least got me a giggle from Mittens.
“No, it’s when and how Dolly’s whole family met Pom. Look at what Pom is doing right now and tell me how she’s doing it.” Deciding to humor Mittens, I turned and then I blinked more than once.
The sight didn’t change between blinks.
“What the…” What I was seeing was Pom sitting on a wall of a trailer above Dolly, the only problem was it should be physically impossible for her to be sitting on the wall like that.
“That’s why I can’t believe there’s a zero percent chance for you to possibly gain super powers Bolty, Dolly was a normal dog until she did something amazing a few days ago.” What were you talking about Mittens? “Even without a handle on what she can actually do, she saved two hospitals and protected a powers station against a ‘real’ mad scientist like the ‘green eyed man’ from your show, who’s apparently named Dr. Calico. She mostly did it without super powers and just a skateboard, it’s why she has those injuries.”
“So Dolly and Pom have…” I slowly drew out in disbelief.
“Super powers? Yeah, they do! Dolly apparently has always had the capacity for them, she just doesn’t know how to use them on purpose yet or even knows what she’s actually capable of. Invulnerability certainly isn’t in Dolly’s power package though.” As Mittens said this, I was still staring at the sight as the rain stopped and a rainbow shined over the area in various colors. “Pom on the other paw, she actually knows how to use her abilities. Would you believe me if I told you she was a magical creature and an alien?”
Pom got up, still clinging to the side of the trailer, she walks up a vertical surface. Up… not fall down, not fall sideways, just walked up and onto the roof to look around. She went back down and said something to Dolly and Dolly got up onto her back and then Pom made her way back to the roof so they could both sit down to look at the rainbow from a better vantage point.
“I… might believe it…” I said slowly. So my whole life was fake, but that didn’t mean that impossible things couldn’t be real. I felt my tail slowly shift from side to side.
“That’s more like it, come on Wags! If we’re going to be here for the rest of the day, then I might as well teach you the joys of simply playing in mud… maybe even teach you to do the dog face to mooch food off the surrounding bipeds and animalistic people.” Uh what was that Mittens? “Oh yeah, remind me to show you Leap Lamb and Caper Canine in action, I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of it. Now cheer up Bolty, we must have some guardian angels watching over our sorry butts since we’re palling around with real heroes!”
-An hour later-
I wasn’t actually bitter about it, instead it truly warmed my heart that there were actually people out there that could actually achieve extraordinary things and were still heroes even without the abilities they did have.
I could be Penny’s hero even if I didn’t have super powers, provided Penny wants me and I still believed in the idea of her!
“Good, now you’ve got it, now go do that with that guy over there and don’t forget to make a small whining noise.” Beginning to wonder why Mittens was teaching me how to do this and not Dolly, then again I did just watch what Dolly and Pom were capable of on their device Dormarch.
Dormarch was the first commercially created true AI that was given to Pom, which had mercenaries trying to kill her. She still wasn’t giving him up despite the dangers involved, because he was her friend and it was probably keeping the world safe somehow that she protects him.
Dolly was amazing without super strength, durability, super speed or even laser vision, that she could do a real Super Bark made me feel better about things that my show might actually have some basis in reality. She said she hasn’t been able to that Super Bark since the fight with that mad scientists machine, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t eventually learn how she did it and do it again.
Pom said that Dolly was possibly capable of it long before she had even met her, but Dolly had retorted she wouldn’t have known it was possible if she hadn’t seen Pom actually do one when they were still in Africa after an incident with a giant woolly lizard monster on an airplane.
I was friends with a very nice and helpful alien, one who’s trying to meet up with her friends and find a way home. Pom was still taking me to Penny first before going north to meet up with two of her friends. It was surprising that Pom and Dolly were still focusing on helping me first, if the situation were reversed… I’d be doing the same thing.
Okay ears back, wide eyes, head slightly tilted, looking upwards and now… whine a little.
“Huh… oh look at the adorable little dog! Are you hungry, do you want a treat you’ll not get often? Here you go! Lean meat from the grill, not too much fat. You’re only getting the one, I don’t want your owner to come after me for possibly hurting you.” The biped cockatoo tossed me something that smelled really good and I caught it in my mouth and went back over to Mittens to share it with her. “Such a nice dog.”
I made my way over to Mittens and sat down.
“What… it’s yours Bolt I’m not going to take…ulp?!” I forced half of this tasty food into her mouth until our lips met and then bit off my end and started chewing to swallow it.
Mittens looked a bit red for some reason as she started slowly chewing on her half of the treat.
“Did I do something wrong Mittens?” I watched as she rubbed her paws at her head.
“Maybe… I should teach you how to interact with other animals as my next lesson Bolty. You obviously never knew your parents to help acclimatize you to the world… I hardly knew mine too.” Mittens mumbled something I didn’t quite catch afterwards as she looked way, but she looked upbeat so maybe I didn’t do anything wrong. “So you’re going to need to learn a few things about humming birds and bees. So when a humming bird flies into a bee hive…”
-Dolly-
“Well that was cute, but what exactly did those two eat and was it safe?” Pom asked as we were trying to figure out how we’re getting to the next state with a Waffle World, in fact we’ve been stopping at those places on the way and getting small treats from Pom.
“Hot dog, basically lean meat and yes it’s safe… though they are going need some water immediately after eating it.” I looked away. “I know from experience that a dog shouldn’t eat more than one, sharing half of one isn’t going to be as harmful.”
“Is it too oily or salty?” I asked nervously.
“Salty, not much oil when it is usually burned out of the meat.” Dolly answered quickly, I sighed with relief. “Uh, you’re not exactly upset about them eating meat are you?”
“Why would I be upset? I’m just concerned about their health is all, Mittens looked half dead when we first met her and now look at her.” Doing as asked, I saw a healthy cat that didn’t look like she was struggling on the streets and wasn’t jaded about her situation anymore. Also my brother Deepak would be shipping those two like crazy. Not that it wasn’t cute to watch, but no. “I don’t mind if you guys eat meat, remember that where I’m from I have a pack load of dogs that spent a lot of time protecting me from predators by eating them while protecting me. I’m not about to say I wasn’t perfect live bait for them, but just because our dietary habits are different doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”
“Good, because I’m still going to eat carrots and bananas.” Bananas were awesome and I wouldn’t give up on them, but I had to make sure not to eat too many as the sugar might get to me.
“Yeah, I know a dog’s dietary needs Dolly, but I’m not exactly up to date on a cats dietary needs.” Why would you be Pom, you’ve never spent much time around them.
“That is where I come in Pom, Mittens and Bolt will be fine if they get plenty of water. Mittens doesn’t have much fat on her, so the hot dog will not have a harmful impact on her health. In fact she needs a little more weight to reach the healthy zone.” Dormarch stated as the PET came to life and he smiled at us. “Bolt will be able to handle the fat in the hot dog much better, but its salt content is not recommended. Don’t forget I can assist you in all traveling endeavors including health!”
“Oh my goodness, It’s Bolt the Super Dog!” My attention was drawn to a hamster, who turned to look at us. “Leap Lamb and Caper Canine too! Did I die and go to heaven?! This has got to be the most incredible moment of my entire life! Oh… oh ho ho, Leap Lamb and Caper Canine with Bolt the Super Dog and… what’s the cat’s name?”
The hamster in the ball was weirding me out, did we just run into Bolt super fan? Oh dog damn it!
“Mittens.” Why did I answer him?!
“What about Mittens?” Pom asked.
“It’s the hamster he wanted to know about Mittens name.” I pointed to the spot where the ball used to be. “Uh…”
We both looked over to see the hamster running his ball around Bolt and Mittens excitedly and the two kept watching him with confused looks.
“Is this going to be another building headache for us?” Pom said deflating in front of me.
“If I said no, would you ever think I was telling the truth again?” I grinned at her brightly.
“What did he want exactly?” Pom finally asked.
“I think he might be a ‘Bolt the Super Dog’ fan.” We looked into the trailer he must have come out of, it was the same trailer that Bolt had watched a portion of the running marathon of his show.
“Trouble?” Well Pom wasn’t be a sack of sunshine.
“Yep.” So was I for that matter.
“Great-.” Kind of liked it when Pom got sarcastic, which was rare. “Not like we don’t have enough problems with being hunted, carting a famous dog actor across the country and are juggling all the responsibilities with keeping everyone alive. Why not add a hyper hamster on top of things?!”
Pom, probably, shouldn’t have said that.
-Thirty minutes later-
Yep, Pom shouldn’t have said that as we now had Rhino the super fan hamster as a traveling companion. He didn’t care that Bolt didn’t have super powers or that Mittens was a normal street cat.
Again, dog damn it!
“So isn’t anyone concerned that we’re basically kidnapping a hamster?” Pom asked weakly.
“I’m not being kidnapped. I’m coming with you guys of my own volition, it’ll be great!” The excitable hamster stated from within his ball.
“Why does the hamster have wolf genetics in him, also why do I calculate that he’ll live to eighty years in by biped standards?” Dormarch, that wasn’t something I wanted to hear, he’ll be stuck following us for the rest of our lives!
Well unless bolt goes with Penny, which I am now hoping for as Rhino is far more into Bolt than us! That and Bolt will be happy, that’s a plus too.
“Okay guys, this might be a bit iffy, but we need to catch the train and… go… go now.” Pom suddenly stopped and the wool on her body rippled violently.
“Pom…” I stated slowly as I felt all my short, but incredibly thick, fur prickle with a sense of dread.
“Dolly… take Dormarch and cover them…” Pom passed the PET to me and turned around to start looking around. “I’ll catch up... I promise.”
“Right!” I narrowed my eyes. “Move it!”
“What’s…” Bolt didn’t get farther as he jumped at the sound of a gunshot going off and Pom hopped backwards as the bullet impacted the ground where she just was.
“Run for that train!” I howled.