One Bolt, Many Questions

by Boltsinger

Playing Up A Storm

Some time later at the Crystal Palace, Twilight, Cadence, and Boltsinger sat in the throne room, Flurry Heart flying around the Pegasus and making bubbly noises. She occasionally pulled on Boltsinger’s wings in an attempt to get him airborne again.

The stallion looked at the little filly, breathing heavily. “I’m sorry, I’m just too tired to play right now.” he told her, smiling. Flurry looked at Boltsinger pleadingly, holding onto one of his wings.

“She’s really gotten into flying lately, hasn’t she?” Twilight asked, looking at the flying filly’s antics.

Cadence sighed and nodded. “Yes, we can hardly keep her on the ground anymore.” she confirmed. “I’ve had to spend a great deal of time just chasing after her. That’s how we ran into you outside.”

Twilight giggled at the thought. “I imagine Shining Armor is at his wit’s end!” She flapped her wings and ascended into the air above Flurry Heart, where the two Alicorns began chasing each other around the room, Twilight making growly noises as she floated a nearby teddy bear over to her niece.

“I’m sorry I can’t keep going.” Boltsinger started. “I can actually keep flying for longer, but she started teleporting around along with the chasing! That’s something I just can’t keep up with!”

Cadence laughed. “That’s all right. Thank you for playing with Flurry for as long as you did. She really enjoyed it.”

Twilight and Flurry chased each other around the palace, eventually causing them to zoom over a white-coated Unicorn stallion with a blue and cyan mane and tail, blue hooves, and light blue eyes. His Cutie Mark was a shield with a similar magenta star to Twilight’s, with three smaller stars shining above it. He looked at the playing ponies as they zoomed by, rather slack-jawed.

“Twily?” He wondered aloud, running after them. After following them for a solid five minutes, he found himself in the throne room, where Cadence was casually talking with a stallion he’d never seen before. “Who is this?” He asked the Princess.

“Oh! Shining Armor!” Cadence exclaimed, getting up to trot over and hug her husband. “This is Boltsinger, a friend of Twilight's!”

Shining Armor looked at the Pegasus, who saw the much larger pony and drooped his ears. “A friend, huh?” He trotted over to Boltsinger and sat down next to him, putting a hoof around him. “You sure you’re just a ‘friend’, Boltsinger?”

The orange stallion ducked his head, his eyes darting around the room. “Why is everypony assuming that today?!” He raised his head and stepped forward, spreading his wings. “First Rarity, then Starlight, and now you! What are you? Her brother?!” He raised a hoof and looked back at Shining Armor, seeing his Cutie Mark and dropping his jaw. “You’re her brother, aren’t you?”

Shining Armor closed his eyes and nodded, a sly smile present on his muzzle. Boltsinger jumped up, hovering in place and raising his forelegs, shaking them rapidly.

“I swear, sir, I’m not planning to make a move on your sister!” He shouted. “She’s a very important friend of mine, and I don’t want to ruin that! I promise!”

Shining Armor burst into laughter, walking over to the spot just below Boltsinger. He looked up at him and beckoned him down. “Calm down! It’s okay!” The Pegasus slowly descended as the playing Princesses sped on by. “Twilight may be my sister, but she’s a smart cookie.” He looked up as his sister and daughter flew by again. “I trust her to make her own choices. You don’t have to worry so much.”

Boltsinger looked at his pendant, then at Shining Armor. He laughed nervously as Twilight and Flurry Heart came back into the room.

Twilight landed, trotting up to her brother. “Shining Armor!” she greeted, giving him a hug. “I see you met my friend. What were you two talking about?”

“Nothing!” Boltsinger shouted, his forelegs in the air again. “We were just introducing ourselves, right Shining Armor?”

Shining Armor looked at the Pegasus and laughed to himself. “Yep, that’s all.” He nudged Boltsinger with an elbow. “Anyway, it’s time for Flurry to have dinner.” He walked over to his daugther, floating her over to him with his magic. “We’ll be in the kitchen!”

Cadence walked over to Twilight. “So, what kind of research are you doing that you needed Sunburst’s help?”

Twilight pulled the book out of the saddle bag that rested on the floor. “I’m doing research on Cutie Mark magic. I recently saw a new phenomenon that piqued my interest in the topic more than ever!”

“Oh?” Cadence wondered, raising a hoof. “And what ‘phenomenon’ is that?”

Boltsinger chimed in. “I think she’s talking about my Cutie Mark.” He motioned to the symbol on his flank with his wing. “Apparently it does funny things when my wings do that thing they do.”

“Oh, I see.” the Crystal Princess said. She moved to leave the room, but stopped in her tracks as she heard the sound of galloping.

“CADENCE!” Shining Armor yelled as he burst through the door. “Flurry flew outside!”

Cadence sighed, spreading her wings. “All right, I’ll go and get her!” She took off towards the nearest window. As she pulled it open, a large gust of wind blew her back into the wall. “What in Equestria?”

Twilight, Shining Armor, and Boltsinger rushed over to Cadence’s side as she hit the floor. “What was that all about?” Twilight asked, directing her gaze at the window. She flew up to the opening, where she saw Flurry in the distance.

Boltsinger flew up next to the Princess, taking a look of his own. She was flying in circles, making familiar motions with her wings. She whipped her wings back and forth in a wobbly manner, creating gusts of wind that went in every direction. Unaware of the gale surrounding her, the petit Princess laughing all the while.

“Oh… my… goodness…” As the stallion saw the filly, his ears folded down, matching the frown that formed on his face as he descended. “I’m sorry…” He said, shuddering on the floor. He began repeating himself as his forelegs hit the floor, the shuddering intensifying.

Cadence stood up and cantered over to Boltsinger. “What’s going on? What did you see?” She asked, putting her hooves on his shoulders.

Boltsinger opened his eyes, looking the Alicorn squarely in the eye. “I-I-I think… I think she’s imitating me!!!” Cadence looked at him with confusion. “I think she’s trying to imitate my microphone effect! But that requires a lot more fine control than what she has! Without the right level of control, all anypony can make is just a straight gust of wind… Which is exactly what she’s doing… And, keep in mind that her wings are as big as mine! At this rate, she’s gonna whip up a windstorm that could cause major damage!” He jutted his head forward, emphasizing the last words he said as the Princess backed up, then proceeded to hide his face behind his hooves and return to his continuous apologies.

“WHAT?!” Twilight called, swooping down to the floor, landing next to her sister-in-law. “Then we’ve got to do something!”

“I’m sorry…” Boltsinger repeated. “I just wanted to do something to make her laugh… She’s just a little filly, after all! I never expected her to try to copy me! I’m really, really sorry…!”

Twilight tapped Boltsinger’s forehead with her horn, an electric spark passing between them. “It’s not your fault, Boltsinger! Flurry has always had a tendency towards imitating older ponies... You didn’t do anything wrong!” She turned to Cadence as the stallion’s shuddering slowed. “Do you think we can get to her before it gets bad?”

Cadence looked up at the window once more. “I think so... “ She spread her wings and took off, Twilight in tow. They went into a dive, building up momentum before pointing themselves upwards. The glide gave them speed, but not much in the way of control. They sped closer to the little pony, creating barriers around themselves to stave off the wind as they flew. As they approached within a few feet, the wind intensified, knocking Cadence and Twilight away and into the side of the palace.

As the Princesses fell to the ground outside, Twilight’s friends galloped over, working to help her to her hooves. The mares looked up at the building wind, seeing the makings of a tornado.

“Don’t worry! I gotcha, Flurry!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she took off. She flew around in circles below the wind, working her way up in a spiral pattern in the opposite direction of the wind the foal had made. After ascending approximately 1,000 feet, the wind had formed into a proper tornado, and the lone Pegasus was blown away like her friend before her.

As Rainbow Dash fell to the ground, Twilight looked on at the tornado, seeing the filly above move from a face of joy to one of fear as the wind started to overwhelm her young wings. She curled up into a ball and created a force field around herself.

“FLURRY!!!” She cried, terrified. She took wing once more, flying into the palace. What we need is a pony that can break through that storm! I only know one pony that’s done that before!

She landed next to Boltsinger, bringing her wings together on his face. “Boltsinger!” She exclaimed. “You have to snap out of this! Flurry needs you!”

Boltsinger opened his eyes, looking at the Princess. “What do you mean?”

Twilight looked into his eyes with an expression of pure panic. “You’re the only flyer here who has ever been able to literally break through a storm! We need you to do it again!”

Boltsinger reared back his head, flapping his wings and hovering in place. “WHAT?! But I only did that the once! Ever since then, I’ve only done small stuff! I haven’t been able to make a wind that can break a storm! At least not willingly!”

“Well, maybe you just haven’t been called on to do it again!” Twilight pressed. “But I need you to do it again right now! You’re the only pony that can do this! Please, we need your help!!!”

Boltsinger’s eyes instinctively widened as he heard Twilight’s pleading. The words hung in his head for a moment, and he sprang to his feet. His wings let out a massive electrical discharge, forcing Twilight’s protection spell to take effect. The Pegasus stallion looked at the Alicorn, his face completely different from before.

“Right. Let’s do this!” He shouted, seeming surprisingly calm. He flapped his wings, taking off out the window and landing next to Cadence. He offered a hoof to her. “Princess, I need you to come with me. Flurry needs her mother!”

Cadence nodded, giving Boltsinger a determined hoof-bump. The two of them took off, Boltsinger in the lead. He looked back at the Princess following him.

“I’m going to cut a path! When I tell you, you need to make a dive for Flurry!” he explained.

“Right! Lead the way!” She confirmed.

Rather than going into a dive, Boltsinger made a beeline for the top of the twister, twisting in the air as he went into what looked like a protective stance with his wings. As he hit the wall of air, he spread his wings hard. The force of the motion split the tornado for a moment, revealing a scared filly in a ball of magic.

“Now, Princess!!!” Boltsinger shouted. Cadence nodded and flapped her wings repeatedly, each flap at the pinnacle of her strength, reaching the tiny Princess and wrapping her forelegs around her. She cast another protective spell around them both. Boltsinger looked over at Rainbow Dash through the hole he’d made, pointing his tail towards the bottom of the storm with a twisting motion as he flew straight up.

Rainbow Dash took the tail gesture as some kind of instruction, she shook off her earlier impact and took off towards the bottom of the twister, repeating her previous flight pattern up the outside as Boltsinger went into a nosedive directly into the center. He spread his wings, spinning into the dive in the same direction as Rainbow Dash’s spiral. The two Pegasi continued to accelerate in their respective maneuvers, with a mach cone beginning to appear around the cyan mare. As she reached the top, a massive rainbow formed behind her. Blue lightning appeared from the bottom of the twister, blowing it away in every direction as a Sonic Rainboom appeared at the top, with Boltsinger appearing on the ground below, hyperventilating with stiff, electrified wings.

“I hope… I was… able… to help…” Boltsinger managed to say as he collapsed.