One Bolt, Many Questions

by Boltsinger

Deciding The Lineup

Twilight looked up from her scroll, looking around Ponyville with the paper dragging on the ground behind her. She was making a checklist of all of the things they were going to need for her wedding. The florists had screamed with delight when she delivered the news, offering an abundance of blooms. She had informed them that the wedding didn’t even have a date yet, but that didn’t seem to stop them. She had finally pinned down what cake she wanted with the Cakes, and the different musical styles of the ponies performing had begun to blend quite well. Her outfit was ready, and her groom was due for his fitting. Everything was perfect.

Except for one thing. She had all of the bridesmaids picked out, but her Maid of Honor was a complete enigma. She had five wonderful choices among her best friends and bridesmaids, but the last time she was forced to try and choose between all of them, it caused utter chaos all throughout Ponyville. Her mind drifted between them all, wondering who the best choice would be. Fluttershy was on music, Rarity was busy with outfits, Pinkie was on reception, Applejack worked with the Cakes on catering. Rainbow Dash wanted to perform a Sonic Rainboom like she always did for big celebrations, but that wasn’t totally set yet. Luckily for her, the topic of the Maid of Honor hadn’t come up yet.

Boltsinger’s decisions for his side of the party weren’t quite so difficult. Best Mare, Starlight. That much was obvious. After that, he had a few choices of stallions and other creatures to tux up and put on display. He knew for sure that he needed five groomsponies. When it came to actual ponies, he could think of three off the top of his head. First was Sunburst. It might be a little awkward that he was a groomspony while his special somepony was the Best Mare, but it was worth it. After that, of course, was Big Macintosh. He was the first stallion he’d befriended, and the two did things together more than often enough to warrant a place in the party. Of course, there was no way he could do this without the pony who helped him set up and execute the proposal. If Shining Armor wasn’t there, he’d be hearing complaints from all sides. Plus, he’d already heard back from him on the subject.Then he got to the non-ponies. He was pretty certain Spike was going to be part of Twilight’s side of things, but just in case, he had a plan for the dragon. Then there was the most difficult… creature… he knew. Discord. He was going to take a special kind of convincing, but he couldn’t imagine not having the Draconequus in the wedding party. Besides, if he was going to try and have a bachelor party, he could only truly go to one place. Ironically, all of the ponies that lived in the Crystal Empire had agreed to their part, but the ones he saw on a more regular basis, as well as Discord, had yet to realize the Pegasus’ plans for them.

---

Boltsinger was crouched low, a black cloak draped over him, saddlebags full of various items stashed under his wings, a dagger in his mouth, and a hoarde of what looked to be giant paper drawings of skeletal ponies bearing down on him. He looked around for an opening, seeing little hope as the enemy forces continued their march.

“Boltstinger!” Spike’s voice called, a beam of magic vaporizing one of the foes surrounding him. “We’re coming!” Arrows rained down from above, striking down more of the paper menaces as a large sword wrapped in orange magic sliced clean through the remainder of them.

Boltsinger dove to the side as a red stallion with black armor and an out-of-place Unicorn horn sticking out of his already-horned helmet galloped by, letting out a thunderous “EEYUP!” as he sliced through another wave of the marching enemies.

“Thanks, guys!” The Pegasus said, turning to face Spike, who was garbed in a wizard’s attire, and Discord, who held a bow in his eagle talon and wore a green tunic with long, flowing blond hair replacing his typical mane. “You really saved my butt there!”

“Yes, I suppose it was a very heroic rescue, wasn’t it?” Discord bragged, rubbing his lion paw against his chest as a small group of enemies popped up behind him. He remained in his pose, blissfully unaware of the looming danger until the skeleton ponies screamed in agony. “What was that?!” He turned to face the noise, seeing the enemies fall over and disappear, Boltsinger tossing his dagger into the air, bucking the pommel, and flying towards it, the blade landing safely in its scabbard.

“Oh, nothing.” he replied, giving off a smug grin. “Just a rather heroic rescue!” He took off into the air, flying ahead to join the fray with the armored Big Mac, slicing more of the papered pony bones to ribbons while Spike and Discord unleashed their ranged attacks on the enemy’s back line. As Boltsinger cut down foe after foe, he stood haunch-to-haunch with Big Mac. “So, Sir McBiggun, I have a request!”

Big Mac brought up his shield, bashing away more enemies as he cast a glance at Boltsinger. “Eeyeah?”

Boltsinger nodded, diving under the shield and bucking a skeleton that had attempted to sneak its way past. “Yeah! You know how Twilight and I are getting married, right?”

Big Mac’s assault on the enemy continued. “Eeyup!”

“Well, I need at least three more members for my side of the wedding party, what with Twilight’s choices of bridesmaids being more obvious than your favorite kind of pie. I can’t even think of not having you as a groomspony! What do you say? You wanna join up?”

Big Mac let out a yell, swinging his sword in a wide circular motion that cleared out every foe around them. “EEYUP!”

Boltsinger and his Earth Pony friend let out a simultaneous victory holler, beginning to dance around, chanting about it being ‘guy’s night'. Spike and Discord ran over, soon joining in as the battlefield around them was dispelled. They stood atop the map, all striking triumphant poses with a game map situated behind them. On the map was several tiny figures with drawings of what the members of the group just looked like on them, surrounded by a number of dice and more figures that had been knocked over. The four of them laughed, stepping down from the table and sitting down.

“So, I just talked about this with Big Mac, but… I have a request for you two.” Boltsinger said, directing his attention to Spike and Discord.

“Oh?” Discord began, bringing his head close. “Could it have anything to do with the fact that you’re going to have a wedding? I would be honored to be your Best Beast!”

“Yes, and Starlight is Best Mare.” The Pegasus answered. “What I do need, though, is to round out the wedding party. Five bridesmaids needs five grooms… um… creatures. I’ve already got Sunburst, Shining Armor, and Sir McBiggun here. I just need two more to walk down the aisle with Twilight’s half of the arrangement.”

“So who are the bridesmaids?” Spike inquired, bringing a claw to his chin. A sudden silence filled the room, a cold wind blowing past all of them as the dragon received a series of blank stares from every being in the room. “Oh… right… obvious…”

“Starlight and Sunburst are gonna walk together, and then it’ll be Pinkie and Rainbow. Twilight’s Maid of Honor hasn’t been chosen yet, but whoever it is will walk with Shining Armor.” Boltsinger explained. He turned his gaze towards Big Mac. “Big Mac, I was hoping you could walk with Applejack, since there’s an Apple on each side.” Big Mac gave an understanding nod as the orange pony looked back at the other two. “All that’s left for partners on Twilight’s side are…” he leaned close to Spike, giving a sly smile as he raised his hoof. “Rarity…” Spike's entire body stiffened at the name, causing him to fall over. Boltsinger turned to Discord, his expression still smug. “and Fluttershy.”

“Well, Princey-poo, that does certainly sound tempting…” Discord admitted, materializing a little black book and looking through it. “I suppose I can fit your little soiree into my busy schedule. But why isn’t Fluttershy the Maid of Honor? She’s clearly the best of the bunch!”

Spike raised a claw in protest, sitting up. “What about Rarity? She’s the one designing the dresses, and she was a big part in setting those two up!”

Big Mac raised a hoof and opened his mouth to speak, but Boltsinger put a hoof on his shoulder. “I know what you’re thinking. Applejack did a lot, too, and helped in ways that neither Rarity nor Fluttershy could, so you think the title should go to her, right?”

“Eeyup…” the farm stallion confirmed.

“And you all have… decent… reasoning.” Boltsinger stated, putting his hoof back on the floor. “But… That’s not our decision. It’s Twilight’s.”

---

Twilight was wracking her brain, trying to find a way to pick a Maid of Honor that everypony would agree on. She wanted to give all of her friends a shot at explaining why they would be the best choice, but it would have gone much more smoothly if Boltsinger hadn’t picked one of the prime candidates for the role as his own Best Mare. She entered the main treatment room of the Ponyville Day Spa, where a large number of ponies were all gathered and receiving treatment. She lowered herself into the hot tub, letting the relaxing bath take her mind off of the impending decision.

“So glad you could make it, Twilight!” Rarity exclaimed, climbing into the bath next to her.

“Hi, Rarity. Thanks for inviting me.” the Princess greeted, melting into the water. “I really needed a break from all the planning…”

“Yes… about that…” the Unicorn started, inching closer. “I’m touched that you made all of us your bridesmaids, but… If I may ask, who have you selected as your Maid of Honor?” Twilight let out an exasperated sigh at the question, starting to inch away. “If you haven’t made your choice, could I, perhaps, offer my hoof for the role?”

“I’m… not sure…” she admitted, beginning to climb out. “I was hoping I could spend my time here without having to think about all that.”

“Oh, yes, of course!” she affirmed, laughing nervously. “I was just… curious… You know, it’s just such a big role and you’ve only got the five of us for your bridesmaids! You need to make a choice eventually. I just wanted to… give you a nudge.”

Twilight looked blankly at the glamorous mare. “Gee. Thanks.”

“Well, it’s not like you have many other choices, dear.” Rarity informed her, leaning on the edge. “There’s just the five of us, here! Starlight would have been an option, had she not been scooped up to be Best Mare! And even then, she’s all the way up in the Crystal Empire!”

Twilight stopped, looking back at the white pony with a face of glee and realization. “That’s it!” She shouted, rushing over to Rarity and giving her a hug. “Rarity, you’re a genius!”

Rarity blinked, turning her pupils towards the Princess. “I’m… not sure I understand, dear. Why am I a genius?”

“The Crystal Empire!” she clarified, pulling back. “The perfect pony for that role is there!” She squeed with joy, hopping back into the bath. “Cadence! Oh, I can’t believe I didn’t think of her earlier! It’s perfect!”

Rarity’s face sank slightly at the mention of the Princess, keeping a smile. “I see… Well, she is the perfect choice, isn’t she?”

“Isn’t it great?” Twilight agreed, flaring her wings. “Now I don’t have to choose between all of you! Oh, thank you, Rarity!” She lunged forward and gave the beautician another hug.

“What do you mean, ‘choose between us’?” Rarity wondered. “Is that why you hadn’t made your choice, yet? You were afraid to choose?”

The Princess of Friendship nodded profusely. “Uh-huh. It felt like back when I only had the one extra Gala ticket so long ago. I was afraid you were all going to want me to pick you and things were going to get crazy! Thanks to your giving me the idea, I don’t have to worry anymore!” She let go of the Unicorn, letting herself sink into the water. “Now, I can just relax…”

Rarity let a sad look escape onto her face, looking at her relaxing companion. “Darling, I can’t help but feel slightly offended that you would think we would compete like that.”

Twilight lifted her muzzle out of the water. “Huh? Why would you be offended?”

“It’s been years since that whole ticket debacle!” the fashionista explained. “We’ve all been through a lot since then, and I’d like to think we’ve matured beyond trying to compete for a special place next to you without first listening to your opinion!”

“But you were just trying to convince me to give you the Maid of Honor spot!” the Alicorn retorted. “How is that any different from back then?!”

“I wanted the spot, yes, but not at the expense of anypony else!” Rarity continued, motioning to herself. “Do you really think Fluttershy would want it so badly as to go out of her way for it? Or Rainbow Dash! She wouldn’t care about a ‘frou-frou’ thing like that! Neither would Pinkie, or Applejack, for that matter! I’ve been pushing you and Bolt together since day one! I just hoped that… maybe I would have my efforts in that regard recognized!”

Twilight softened, coming to understand the situation. “Rarity, I understand how you feel, and I’m sorry for underestimating you.” she told her, facing her earnestly. “Nopony appreciates all you’ve done for Bolt and I more than we do, honestly. However, I can’t simply put you on a pedestal above all of our friends. Besides, Cadence was the one who helped me to realize just how I felt. If it weren’t for her showing me what was going on, I may never have worked up the nerve to kiss him! You’ve done a lot, and I’ll always be thankful. But everypony played their part. Even if some of them took a while to catch on.”

“I… understand…” Rarity admitted, relenting. “And Cadence really is a wonderful choice. I suppose I just wanted to stand out.”

“You really think you need to do extra in order to stand out?” Twilight asked. “You already command most ponies’ attention just by being yourself! I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

Rarity smiled, her whole essence shining through as she brightened up. “Well, when you’re right, you’re right!”

---

After a number of other treatments, more for Rarity than for Twilight, the two mares made their exit. They walked towards the Carousel Boutique at a leisurely pace, talking about upcoming events and what they most looked forward to. As they saw the building in the distance, the clopping of hoofsteps, slow and deliberate, panged at Twilight’s eardrums. She shook her head, turning her head to see where they might have been coming from. Walking in the opposite direction, heading to the east, was a grey mare with a distinct white-to-black tail and a Cutie Mark of three extinguished sparks.

“What is she doing in Ponyville?” she wondered. She lowered her head, making ready to confront her as Rarity’s magic tugged on her tail.

“Oh, pay her no mind, darling.” Rarity suggested, beckoning her friend back over. “She’s not worth the effort. Besides, I’m sure that any business she has here will be done post haste, so that she doesn’t have to stay any longer than she has to!”

Twilight took her friend’s suggestion, turning around while keeping her eye on the mare for as long as she could. “I hope so.”

Author's Note:

I hope you're prepared, because something big, and wicked, this way comes.

Also, happy accident: Paragraph number is the same as the chapter number.

Comments

[Amos Anon]

I loved that interaction between rarity and twilight! It's good to see the maturity coming through in their decisions.