Family
“Twilight?” Boltsinger started, looking away from his book and at the Alicorn as she observed her subject. “I know you’re doing research on it, but… You’ve been staring at it for three hours. It gets just a little bit weird when you look so… intently.”
Twilight looked on at the object of her research, a puzzled look on her face. “Just… five more minutes…” She said, floating her quill and parchment next to her.
The door to the library opened, Starlight standing in the doorframe. “Twilight, Bolt, dinner is--WHOA!” Starlight reared up, stepping back as she looked on at the scene that unfolded before her.
Boltsinger was reading a book. Nothing all that strange. He looked at Starlight, shaking his head as Twilight stared intensely at his Cutie Mark. She had yet to notice the arrival of the Unicorn.
“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” Starlight asked, utterly horrified.
Boltsinger facehoofed. “She’s doing research...” He tapped Twilight on the head with a foreleg, covering his Cutie Mark with his tail. “Twilight? You there?”
“Huh? What?” Twilight asked, looking up from her observations to see a freaked out Starlight in the doorway. She let out a surprised scream, jumping to her hooves and releasing her telekinesis. “Starlight! What are you doing here?!”
Boltsinger got up from his chair, swishing his tail across Twilight’s muzzle and walking towards the hall. “Come on, teacher. It’s time for dinner.”
Twilight walked up to Starlight, both mares looking at the stallion as he made his way. Starlight looked at her mentor. “Were you really doing research?”
Twilight brought her head back, lowering her ears as her face flushed with a nervous laugh. “Yes, I was.”
Starlight looked at Twilight the same way Twilight had looked at her research subject. “Are you sure?”
Twilight took a look at the Pegasus walking away, catching glimpses of his Cutie Mark with every step of his hind legs. “I’m sure. Now, if you’ll excuse me!” She cantered over to Boltsinger, walking with him to the dining room.
“So, Twilight, I’ve been thinking on something as of late.” Boltsinger said, turning to the Princess as they made their way. "Something… important. At least to me.”
“Oh? What’s on your mind?” Twilight asked.
“It’s not something that I can just… blurt out.” he explained. “It’s been on my mind ever since your brother came by.” The two made a turn towards the dining room. “So, I want to kinda prepare myself and tell everyone at once. Could I talk to everypony tomorrow?”
“Sure. Just let me know what time you think is best.” she answered with a nod, the ponies sitting at the table as Spike brought dinner forward.
There, in his bedroom, Boltsinger looked out his window. Twilight’s friends were going to be gathering with her in the throne room, all waiting for him. He felt pangs of nervousness, but mostly he was thinking about just how to say this… He knew it was time for him to crack open one more chapter of the already-open book that he was. They deserved to know.
Starlight opened the door, looking at the stallion at the window. “They’re here. Are you ready?”
Boltsinger chuckled to himself, closing the window. “As ready as I can be.” He trotted over to Starlight. “Thanks for helping with the execution. I know it’s not the easiest spell.”
“It’s no problem. I enjoy a good challenge!” Starlight replied, walking with the orange pony to the throne room.
Coming through the front door, Starlight moved over to a spot next to Twilight, while Boltsinger simply stood. He looked around at the ponies before him, their attention all on him.
“Well, we’re here.” Twilight started, beckoning him forward. “What is it you have to tell everypony?”
Boltsinger took a deep breath, walking over to the map and placing a hoof on it. “Before that, I feel like I owe all of you an explanation.” He turned to Starlight. “Starlight has agreed to help me with that. It’s a bit of a long story, and I feel like it’s better that I show you instead of trying to put it into words.”
Starlight stepped forward, taking a position in front of Boltsinger. She took a stance and lowered her head. “I’m ready when you are.”
The stallion flapped his wings, taking to the air and hovering in place. “I’m ready. Go ahead.”
Starlight nodded, her horn flaring to life with magical energy swirling around it. After a few seconds of intense focus, a blast of magic flew towards Boltsinger, and the room was enveloped by an expanding field.
Twilight, Starlight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike found themselves standing on a street in the town of Vanhoover, where a number of Earth Ponies were going about their day.
“Ooh! We’ve teleported to Vanhoover!” Pinkie shouted, running over to one of the passing ponies and reaching out a hoof. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you!” The pony continued walking, phasing through her. Pinkie shivered, her entire body tingling.
“No, Pinkie, you haven’t teleported anywhere.” Boltsinger’s voice sounded from no particular place. “I asked Starlight to perform a memory conveyance spell so that I can show you what I need to. You’re seeing Vanhoover from when I was a colt.”
“A memory conveyance spell? Like the one Cadence used?” Twilight wondered, turning to Starlight. “That normally just creates an image in front of us. What’s all this?”
Starlight smiled, a cocky look in her eyes. “I may have mixed it with a full illusion spell and a few others.”
“Wow! That is impressive!” Twilight shouted, giving her student a hug. She wiped away a tear of pride. “So… proud!”
As the two mares separated, an orange pegasus colt with a two-tone blue mane and tail and purple eyes walked through the group, his flank noticeably blank. The group of ponies and their dragon friend looked on at the familiar colt as he trotted along, occasionally hopping with a flutter of his wings as his head bobbed from side to side to a song he hummed to himself.
Rarity’s eyes lit up as she saw the little colt. She ran up to follow it along, the others following suit behind. “Oh my goodness… Boltsinger, is this adorable little colt you?” She brought her head next to the young pony’s, looking happily at his bright eyes.
“Yes, Rarity, that’s me.” Boltsinger’s voice confirmed. “And right now, I’m on my way home from school. What I want to show you here is a little bit of what my brother, Brightling, was like back then.” With that, a bright yellow Pegasus colt with a dark brown mane and tail trotted up next to the young Boltsinger. On his flank was a brilliantly lit light bulb, and on his muzzle was a smile.
“Hey, little brother.” the yellow Pegasus greeted, balling up the wing closest to his brother into a fist and hitting him lightly on the side. “You ready for cloud-busting?”
The young Boltsinger winced slightly at the impact, but kept smiling as he jumped into the air, hovering in pace with his brother. “I’ll give it my best, Brightling!” He landed shortly after, stretching his wings with a gesture that moved each individual feather independently of one another.
Brightling sighed, tussling his brother’s mane with a wing. “If you can’t get all the way up there today, that’s all right. We’ve done it plenty of times already. I just want you to build those flappers up so you can take my place up there!”
Boltsinger smiled at Brightling, giving a thumbs-up motion with the wing closest to the older pony. “I get better every day! Don’t worry about it!”
Rainbow Dash flew above the young ponies, looking at Brightling curiously. “Why does he want you to take his place up in the air?” She asked, twisting in the sky. “Flying is awesome!”
“Well, Brightling always had a fear of heights.” Boltsinger’s voice informed her. “But, before my wings were strong enough for me to actually fly, he had to take care of all of the flying chores, and help out with cloud-busting when our parents couldn’t handle it.” The scene shifted to a house in a residential district, where Brightling took off into the air with a terrified look on his face. “You see, at the time, my family was pretty much the entire Pegasus population of Vanhoover. Other than that, it was mostly Earth Ponies, with the occasional Unicorn. And being the only Pegasi, that meant we were the primary weather-providers. We had to take care of the basic work in the skies.” Brightling flew through the air above the town with two older Pegasi, using bursts of wind to break apart the clouds over the town while a young Boltsinger looked up at the goings on from the front door. “Weather work is the whole reason my parents moved to Vanhoover. They had me shortly after they got there.”
“That’s a pretty huge responsibility.” Rainbow Dash commented.
“I’m impressed that your brother was able to do all that work if it was so scary for him.” Fluttershy added. “If it were me, I don’t think I would be able to do it.”
“He always countered his fear by trying to streamline things. That light bulb on his flank stemmed from a desire to make ponies’ lives easier through innovation.” Boltsinger continued. “That little trick they’re using to bust several clouds with gusts of wind, that came from him. It’s what got him his Cutie Mark. But…” Brightling landed next to the young Boltsinger, shaking off the water from the clouds to spray all over him and walking inside. He looked back on his younger brother with a scowl of resent. “He really hated that I was mostly exempt from responsibility while I was still learning. He had to look after me, and he had to do chores that scared the living daylights out of him. It… wasn’t pretty.”
The image changed, showing Boltsinger and Brightling walking down the road once more. Before long, they were joined by the Unicorn that was with Brightling at the Gala, who shoved herself between the brothers.
“And that, my friends, is Dimming Sparks.” Boltsinger said. Twilight took a look at the Unicorn, trying to make sense of what she saw. Her eyes lacked the kind of luster that she was used to seeing from most ponies. There wasn’t a loneliness in her, but more of an emptiness. She wasn’t downright evil, but there was something… off about her. “Like all ponies, she has a special talent that she calls her own. She has a talent for influence. Through means magical or otherwise, I’ve seen her manipulate ponies in her favor by getting ideas into their heads. Brightling, of course, is a prime example of that, considering how smitten he was with her.” Brightling and Sparks conversed endlessly as they walked, Sparks occasionally bumping hard into Boltsinger. “She was never my biggest fan.”
Sparks turned to Brightling, nuzzling up against his neck. “I don’t know why you drag that brother of yours around everywhere.”
“He’s not going to become a stronger flyer by sitting around the house, Sparks.” Brightling informed her.
The young Boltsinger jumped into the air, matching pace with the two ponies with his wings, flying alongside them. “I can fly for a lot longer, now, at least! And I’ve even gotten to the point where I can help out a bit with the cloud-busting!” He landed next to them, whipping up a little bit of wind in front of him for emphasis. “And creating wind is really fun! I use it to clear out all the fog in town!”
Brightling smiled at his sibling. “You’ve definitely improved, Bolt. But I’d still like to see you get up in the sky.”
Boltsinger fluttered up again, landing on his brother’s back. “Don’t worry, Brightling, I’ll save you from that scary sky!”
“Please…” Sparks interjected. “You come up with all of these auxiliary plans, making everypony’s job easier.” She looked up at Boltsinger, her horn glowing in its telltale green. “Helping him is just a side job to you. You know full well that he’s not worth the effort…”
A flash of green shone in the young colt’s eyes, causing him to freeze in place, a blank exspression appearing as he fell off of his brother’s back, laying on his side.
Brightling stopped, turning around to check on his brother. “Hey, Bolt, are you alright?”
The little pony sat up, shaking his head and fluttering back up. “I-I-I’m… okay, yeah.” He looked at his big brother, confused. “What were we talking about again?”
“You were just going home, Boltsinger.” Sparks suggested, turning her nose up. “You didn’t want to get in the way of Brightling’s time with me.”
“Ah…” the colt said. “That… That makes sense, yeah.” He waved a wing at the two older ponies, turning to go back home whilst hanging his head.
Twilight looked at the sad little colt walking away, then turned her attention back to Sparks. “Wait, she used that talent of hers on you, too?”
“Hmm… Did she? Back then I just thought she was letting loose a little magical energy.” Boltsinger pondered. “Then again, I wouldn’t put it past her. She was never the friendliest pony.”
The scene changed once more, showing Boltsinger and Brightling in the air with a larger yellow stallion and orange mare flying with them. The mare had the same kind of brown hair as Brightling, while the stallion bore Boltsinger’s darker blue hue in his mane. The stallion’s Cutie Mark consisted of three swirly clouds, while the mare had a blowing gust. It was clear that they were professional weather-ponies. They were moving with several weather workers from Cloudsdale, getting many things in place for a storm.
“I bet you can’t guess what day this is.” Boltsinger joked. The group looked down, noting that they were standing in thin air above Boltsinger’s childhood home. “This is when it all went down.”
“All right, Bolt, the wind is gonna get a little too rough for you tonight, so I want you to get to the ground right away.” his father ordered, putting a hoof on his son’s shoulder. “If you want, you can keep watch.” Boltsinger nodded reluctantly, making a dive for the front porch as the stallion turned to the other colt. “Now, Brightling, I know it’s scary, but I’m gonna need you up here. The ponies from Cloudsdale are here to help, but they’re spread all over town.” He hugged his older son. “After this, I promise, I will never ask you to do weather work again… I swear!”
Brightling returned the embrace, shuddering. “All right, Dad. One more job.”
The Pegasi put the last clouds in place, and then each gave a swift buck, starting a downpour that fell upon the entire town. The scene sped up, showing the passage of about twenty minutes, to the point where a lightning bolt struck nearby, hailstones taking the place of several raindrops as the wind picked up.
“You all know what happens here…” The older Boltsinger somberly told the group.
From a cloud above, a hailstone appeared, consuming the cloud it came from. It fell rapidly, building up momentum and bouncing off of the ground. The young Boltsinger kept his eyes glued to it as it bounced high. As it rose up, he looked between it and his airborne family. He called out as loud as his voice could carry. From next to the colt, he was clearly audible, but his family and some other gathering weather-ponies didn’t even look his way. The colt fell into a panic, flapping his wings frantically. He lifted himself up off of the ground, only to fall flat on his face. Getting up, he looked back at the hailstone, and then at his family once more, an electric spark appearing in his eyes.
He got up on his hind legs, spreading his little wings as wide as he could, then flapped them so hard the rain around him paused. “WATCH OUT!!!” he yelled into the void, the sound and wind cutting through the storm and enveloping the flying ponies, who all looked at the terrified colt. He pointed with his foreleg, diverting their attention to see a hailstone like they had never seen coming up at them. The ponies all flew out of the way, Brightling getting nicked in a back hoof as they did so. Seeing his family safe, Boltsinger smiled, eyebrows raised and eyes wide. He fell back onto all fours, a satisfied grin on his muzzle.
“And then…” the voice of the colt in question sounded. In that moment, his younger self began to float in the air, his flank shining. The air above him started to become charged with electricity, and in that instant, there was a bright blue flash, and everything went black.
The group bearing witness to the events all shrieked as everything went dark. Twilight lit up her horn, while Starlight poked her head up.
“What just happened?” Starlight asked.
“That’s where I passed out.” Boltsinger told her, descending from above as the room returned to normal. “From there, I woke up, and my first ‘flight’ happened. As you know, my family all went to the hospital. I landed in Ponyville three days later, and after I helped a filly get her Cutie Mark, I headed back home. That’s how I learned what they all thought of me.” He sat his rump on the floor, leaning against the map. “I never saw my family after that, until that night at the Gala. And now it’s clear that Brightling’s resentment towards me turned into straight-up hatred.” He sighed. “And that leads me to the thing I wanted to tell you all…” He looked around the room at everyone with him. “I really envy all of you.” The ponies all looked back and forth between one another and Boltsinger, looking befuddled.
“Whaddaya mean, ‘envy’?” Applejack inquired.
“It’s a good kind of envy, don’t worry.” Boltsinger informed her. “You see, I realized something, talking with Big Mac, Shining Armor, everypony... “ He stood up and looked at the chandelier hanging above them, admiring the ornaments containing all of the happy memories. “You all have such wonderful relationships with your families. Those of you with brothers have their unflinching support just because they’re family. Not an ulterior motive in sight!” He looked at his own reflection in the floor, frowning and stomping on it. “My brother just wanted me to replace him in the sky, and during all that time that I couldn’t, he couldn’t stand me…” He turned to face the group again. “Now, I don’t even have a family… Or, at least, that’s what I thought.” He looked at each and every pony and dragon in the room with him, his smile growing wider as he laid eyes on each, finally landing on Twilight. “I don’t have a family of ‘relatives’, that’s true… But, I do have my chosen family.” He flared his wings excitedly. “All of you! If you’ll have me, that is...”
Applejack was the first to speak up, removing her hat and putting it up against her chest.“I dunno what to say, Bolt… But…” She put her hat back on, wiping away a tear. “Thank you, kindly! An’ welcome to the family!” Rarity smiled and nodded softly, her mascara running from the budding tears. Fluttershy repeated Applejack’s gesture, walking up closer while wiping away a stray tear. They looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was hovering above them, sniffling, but keeping her forelegs crossed. “Now, c’mon, Rainbows. We all know what yer thinkin’.”
Rainbow Dash sighed, landing next to Applejack with a loud groan. “Oh, all right! That was really sweet… And… Yeah, I’ll accept you!”
Pinkie could hardly contain herself. The waterworks began as she gave Boltsinger the hug of his life. “Oh, Bolt! I’d be honored to be your big sister!”
Boltsinger choked a little bit as the party pony pinched his neck. “Pinkie… I’m a year older than you.”
Starlight pulled the crying Pinkie off of the Pegasus. “I don’t have much contact with my relatives, either.” she told him. “But these ponies all became a part of my family as well. Of course I’ll have you.”
Boltsinger smiled deeply, looking at the happy mares around him. “Thank you… It’s… actually a pretty big weight off of my wings…” He looked over at Twilight, who was looking back fondly. “How about you?”
Twilight remained silent. She walked over to Boltsinger and placed a hoof on his shoulder, closing her eyes and leaning her head close to his. “It goes without saying, doesn’t it?”
Boltsinger laughed, leaning his head up against Twilight’s. “That’s true for just about everything between us, isn’t it?” He leaned in, wrapping his forelegs around her and pushing his nose against hers. “But there’s still a few things I wanna tell you later, okay?”
Twilight’s face turned bright red at the sudden nose-on-nose contact, her eyes opening wide. She looked into his eyes, seeing a spark in them, then grabbed him in a full embrace. “Okay.”
“Aha! I was right!” Rarity yelled. A feeling of shattering glass was felt by everyone in the room as they looked at the excited Unicorn. She was hyperventilating as she pointed at Twilight and Boltsinger. “I knew this would happen!”
The embracing ponies backed off from their hug, faces red as the stallion scratched his mane with his wing.
Applejack laughed. “Rarity, I think we all knew about this.” She pointed a hoof at the Princess. “‘Cept for Twilight, that is.”
Twilight’s pupils shrank as she shook her head. “What?! No, I knew what was going on from… the… beginning?” She looked hopefully between her friends. Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight all had smug looks on their faces. Twilight shrank into herself some more. “Okay! I didn’t catch on until Cadence came over and showed me her memories of asking all of you about him!” The smug-faced ponies all laughed.
Fluttershy smiled and sat next to Twilight. “Well, if it helps, I didn’t know what was happening at all!”
Pinkie shrugged. “Eh, I found out at the welcome home party.”
Spike looked over at the two ponies, seeing Twilight looking at Boltsinger in the way he recognized as the way he looked at Rarity. He scoffed to himself, crossing his arms and walking out of the room.
That night, Boltsinger sat on the floor in the throne room. He was once again admiring the precious chandelier that hung over the map while he thought back on the day he’d just had. It was the first time that he’d told anypony anything about his brother, even if they did already have a semblance of info. Nopony had ever been so willing to take time for him like those he had become acquainted with since he crashed into that wall in Canterlot. Most importantly, nopony had ever looked at him the way Twilight had. Or come after him. Or cried for him. His life was remarkably different from how he expected it to go, and he was okay with that.
The sound of the door opening pulled him from his thoughts, and he turned his head to see Twilight entering the room and coming to sit next to him.
“Hi, Twilight.” He greeted, looking back up at the roots. The two of them sat together for a while in silence, appreciating one another’s company. After about five minutes, the stallion spoke up. “You know, this reminds me of that night all those moons ago.”
Twilight turned to look at him. “Which night are you talking about?”
“The one where I realized that I was finally ‘home’.” He turned his gaze towards her. “Greediest night of my life, I think. I was lost in my own mind for a while, and you took those beautiful wings of yours and…” He slapped his muzzle with his wings. “Did that.”
“Oh yeah!” Twilight replied, remembering the events in question. “I’m glad it worked. Even if it did lead to you breaking down the way you did.”
“Oh, I needed that cry.” the Pegasus told her. “I needed to open up. And you were the first one to get me to do that.” He smiled warmly. “I think that was when these feelings of mine started showing up.” He turned his head away and scratched his mane. “Sorry… I know I asked for time… I was gonna take more, but… I think I know for sure what’s going on in this heart of mine now.”
Twilight blushed, not once turning her eyes away from him. “All right, I’m ready for it. Tell me your feelings.”
Boltsinger felt a wave of warmth build up in his chest. His heart was beating at a mile a minute as he looked back into the bewitching eyes of the Princess of Friendship. “The thing is… Everypony else says it’s a ‘crush’, but I’m not so certain that’s the word I would use.” He brought a foreleg and a wing over his heart. “Your presence has this way of making me… well… content.” He gave a warm, yet nervous smile. “I love you, Twilight. Everything about you. I love talking with you, helping ponies with you, reading with you, just… Everything.” He sighed, turning his attention to the floor. “But I know that you have really big responsibilities. You’re a Princess, which means you have duties to fulfill. I can’t expect you to prioritize me over the needs of Equestria. No one pony should ever be so important to somepony as important as--”
Boltsinger found himself cut off. His mouth had suddenly become occupied, as another mouth had pressed itself against his. Twilight had lunged forward, kissing him with all of her might. Her forelegs were wrapped around his head, with her wings cradling him at the same time. His surprise lasted only a moment, though, as he soon closed his eyes and leaned into it, bringing his forelegs and wings forward to complete the embrace. Several moments later, the two separated, faces appearing the same color as the ripest of apples.
“So…” Twilight started, pawing the back of her head with a foreleg. “I’ve heard your feelings, and taken them seriously…” She looked at him directly as the blush left her face. “And… I love you, too.”
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If Boltsinger was voiced, what would he sound like?
hmm...I'm thinking a iron giant voice
8892460
Wait what?! Click the link in the author's notes of the chapter "Pony of Performance". That's quite literally Bolt's voice. I know, 'cause it's my voice, and I would likely be the one playing him should he ever need it.
I know you're joking. It just caught me off guard.
Yes! Ah, this is why I like slow-burning romances.
No way in hell that’s not a changeling