One Bolt, Moving Forward

by Boltsinger

The Experiment

Starlight Glimmer walked down the streets of Ponyville with some heavy saddlebags hanging on each side of her. She had three different books floating in front of her, her attention divided evenly between them. “Let’s see… There’s not much reference for how something like this might work. Transfiguration, but on a timer, and… How do we do this part? Well, Twilight and I should be able to bridge those gaps when we come to them.” She looked up from her books, where Rarity caught her eye. “Oh! Hey, Rarity!”

Rarity stopped her forward movement, turning to see her friend coming down the street. “Ah! Starlight! Good to see you!” She trotted over to the pink mare, giving her a quick hug. “So, what are the books for, dear?”

“I can’t tell you outright.” she replied, stowing them away in her bags. “But, you’re more than welcome to come to the castle and see for yourself.” She pointed her head to the castle with a smile. “It’s going to be… interesting, to say the least!”

Rarity cocked an eyebrow, her curiosity coming to the forefront of her mind. “Why, I think I will!” She turned alongside her fellow Unicorn in her trot to the enormous purple building, her thoughts racing regarding what possibilities there are between the most magical mares she knew.

---

“So, are you ready for today?” Twilight asked, walking with Boltsinger through the castle halls. She reared up, waving her forelegs in front of her and fluttering her wings. “I know I’m excited!”

The stallion scratched his head with his wing. “It would help if I knew what the hay we were doing today. All you said was…” He rapidly shook his head, his mane appearing like a blue version of Twilight’s. “‘Wake up! You’re in for one magical day!’” His face turned flat, the impromptu hairstyle quickly zapping back into its typical mess. “And then stuffed some oats in my mouth.”

Twilight laughed, hiding her muzzle with her hoof. “Okay, I admit I haven’t been all that informative with you.” She splayed her wings excitedly, leaping forward. “But Starlight is coming! Aren’t you excited to see her?”

“Okay, that, I know I’m looking forward to.” He admitted. “I haven’t seen her since we had to send her off to Cloudsdale! We definitely don’t get to see her enough.”

“I know! And today we’re going to be trying a brand new experimental spell!” She continued, beginning to hover as she kept pace with him. She squeezed her cheeks with her hooves, scrunching up her face. “If this works, we could contribute to friendships all over Equestria by providing a level of understanding that nopony ever dreamed they’d have!”

“I figured you had some kind of spell in the works. What kind of spell is it?” He wondered, gently pulling her back down to the floor.

Twilight gave her husband a knowing look, an air of smugness about her. “Oh, you’ll find out. We can’t perform this spell without you, after all!”

A confused blink occurred on the stallion’s face that repeated itself three times. “But… I don’t have a horn… How do you need me for it?”

Twilight landed and trotted ahead of him, swishing her tail on his muzzle. “Oh, you’ll find out!”

Boltsinger looked at her with a tinge of bewilderment. “I don’t know whether I should be excited or scared…”

“Both.” Spike suggested as he ran by to join his best friend.

Twilight led Boltsinger to a normally unused room in the castle, where a table had been set up with several chairs. There were a number of items placed on the table, reminding Boltsinger of the things Twilight had set up to build up her strength again after the first time her magic shorted out. He opened his mouth to ask a question when the sound of hoofsteps came up behind them.

“So, everything’s ready?” Starlight asked from the doorway, trotting in ahead of them. She looked around the room, laying eyes on the other ponies in it and perking up more. “I’m really excited for this!”

Boltsinger chuckled and stepped up to his friend, putting his wing on her shoulder. “Good to see you, too, Starlight.”

Starlight pulled the Pegasus in for a hug. “Hi, Bolt. It’s been too long.” She pulled back and moved her saddlebags to the corner of the room, taking a few books and piling them on the table as she turned to Twilight. “So, I have most of it ready, but there are some parts I haven’t quite figured out. You think you could help me out?”

Twilight nodded. “Absolutely!” She walked over to one of the chairs and sat down, opening the books as Starlight joined her. From there, they started into a discussion about the nuances of the spell in question, going over several techniques that threatened to overwhelm Boltsinger’s not-so-magical mind.

“I wonder what kind of spell those two are working on…” a posh soprano started, standing next to the baritone.

“That’s what I’d like to know…” he told her, directing his eyes to the source of the voice. “Rarity? What brings you by?”

“Starlight invited me to see what’s going on.” She stated, looking curiously at the Princess and her former pupil. “It tickled my curiosity, so I decided to pop in and find out. Whatever it is, it must be terribly advanced.”

“Twilight tells me she needs me around for it to be a success.” the performer added.

Rarity softly smiled at him. “Oh, that’s so sweet! You’re like her good luck charm!”

Boltsinger shook his head, looking tensely at the seated mares. “No, I think there’s a different reason for that.”

The books slammed shut, Starlight moving them back over to her saddlebags and floating a freshly-scribed parchment in front of her. “Okay! We’re ready!” Starlight declared, pointing her hoof at the center of the room. “Bolt, you stand over there. Rarity, have a mirror ready!”

Boltsinger did as instructed, letting a little fear creep into his expression. “So I am the guinea pig for this spell… Gotcha…” He plopped his rump onto the floor, waiting patiently. “Not the first time experiments have required this kind of help.”

Rarity stood beside Twilight, floating a mirror over from the closest bathroom. “Darling, I can’t help but wonder just what’s going on.”

Twilight looked over the parchment she and Starlight had worked on, triple-checking for errors. “Do you remember when we all helped that group of Breezies to get home, and I used that spell to turn us into Breezies for the trip?”

“How could I forget, dear?” she replied, her hoof on her cheek. “They were all so adorable! And their home… Oh, it was positively captivating!” She pulled herself out of her memory. “But what does that have to do with all of this?”

“Well, that spell was able to change ponies into other creatures, but it didn’t allow me to do much between ponies.” The Alicorn elaborated. “Like it or not, there are still some ponies who don’t understand what it’s like for other kinds of ponies. So, Starlight and I have been working on a spell to help fix that problem!” She trotted over to Starlight, floating the paper between the two of them. “Everything is all set. Let’s do this!”

Boltsinger closed his eyes, slapping his muzzle with his wings to prepare his mind. “My body is ready…” he told himself, repeating the phrase as if he had practiced it for some time.

Twilight and Starlight ignited their horns, loosing magic from them that swirled together into a blue ball showing the magenta silhouette of a Unicorn’s head that flew into the air. They pointed their horns at Boltsinger, the orb flying into him and creating an explosion of blue and magenta light that enveloped the room.

Boltsinger opened his eyes, seeing Twilight, Starlight, Spike, and Rarity all standing around him. All of them had mouths agape. “What happened? Did it not work?”

“Oh, it worked, all right.” Spike informed him, slowly nodding. “I just can’t believe my eyes!”

Twilight stepped up to him, offering a hoof. “Now, take it slow. The effects of the spell are going to take some getting used to.”

Boltsinger nodded, making to extend his wing towards the hoof. “Something’s wrong...;” he started, looking at where he thought his wing should have been. “Where is my wing?” His rump rose from the floor as he looked at either side of his barrel. Not a wing in sight. His pupils shrank, lowering his ears as he looked at the horned ponies in the room. “What happened?!”

“I… think you should see for yourself, darling.” Rarity suggested, floating the mirror up for him to look into it.

His jaw dropped. In the mirror, he saw his face, which was entirely normal. Nothing much had changed, except for the thing protruding out of his forehead. A horn, the same color as his coat, with a spiral going from base to tip. He backed up until his rump hit the chair, knocking over some of the more precariously positioned items as he let out an ear-piercing whinny. He reared up, charging forward and into the hallway. His head hit the wall, his newfound horn embedding itself into it. He put his hooves on the wall, pushing with all of his might to get his head unstuck. After a particularly strong shove, he flew back from the wall on his hind legs, falling backwards onto the floor.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

Boltsinger sat up, trying to slap his muzzle with his wings, but finding no impact. “Oh, I’m F.I.N.E., just feeling like I wanna disappear!” At the last word, he saw an electric blue light forming just above his eyes. There was another flash of blue light, and he found himself on top of the castle, “Did I just…” He heard the poof of teleportation, turning to see Starlight behind him. He raised his hoof to address her, but saw another flash that took him to Sweet Feather Sanctuary. He looked around once more, spotting a large number of animals with open books in their paws and Fluttershy gawking at him. “Yup… I did…” He waved his hoof. He heard Starlight’s teleportation again. He looked in her direction, gaining a pleading look in his eyes. “Help…” His horn lit up again, the flash taking him to the roof of Sugar Cube Corner. He got up, trying to move around, but with his movement, he vanished again, appearing in the streets of the Crystal Empire, where Trixie was performing some tricks for a gathering of Crystal Ponies. He paid his surroundings no mind as he started to gallop forward, vanishing again. He next found himself in the Everfree Forest, running past Zecora, then in Canterlot. “SOMEPONY MAKE IT STOOOOOOP!” he shouted, the Royal Sisters each jumping to one side as he poofed away again. He appeared in Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Appleoosa, a lost temple past Daring Do, and finally the mountain just over the castle, where he skidded to a stop and slammed his rump down on the ground beneath him, putting his hooves up on the part of himself he was least familiar with. “Don’t… go… anywhere… Don’t… go… anywhere…”

Another poof sounded in front of him. “You’re really easy to follow when you teleport, you know that?” Starlight teased, putting her hoof on the stallion’s temporary protrusion. “But, how about you let me take us back.”

“Probably for the best.” he confirmed, smiling weakly. Starlight’s horn ignited once more as the two of them were instantly transported back to the room they started in, Twilight, Rarity, and Spike standing around them. Boltsinger stood up, concentrating as hard as he could on not doing anything with this strange new part of him. “So, the ‘experimental spell’ was to turn me into a Unicorn?”

Twilight’s face lit up at her husband’s calmness. “Yup! It’s a spell to change what kind of pony the subject is for a few hours! The idea came from the fact that I’ve always wanted to give you some horns-on experience in all of the magical concepts I taught you, so I asked Starlight if she could collaborate with me on this! We can use it when different kinds of ponies are having a dispute, to let them walk a mile in each other’s hooves! Isn’t it great?”

Rarity giggled to herself as she approached him. “I must say, you do make a rather dashing Unicorn, Bolt!”

“Thanks, Rarity.” he said, not breaking his gaze from the lilac mare. “So how the heck did I suddenly start teleporting?”

“What were you thinking at the moment you went?” Starlight inquired. “Were you thinking of a particular place?”

“I pretty much said how I felt.” he told her. “I didn’t really care where I disappeared to, though.”

“So you teleported to random places.” Starlight guessed. She moved to one of the chairs and waved the group over. “That’s a big part about how magic works. It responded to your feelings.”

“Well, right now I’m ‘feeling’ that I want my wings back.” he huffed, taking a seat. “I may not be able to control their magic, but at least I have an idea what I’m doing there…”

Rarity sat at the table opposite him, putting her front hooves up on the surface. “Isn’t that the idea of… well… all of this?” she wondered, motioning to the myriad items laid out. “And besides, you’ve got three experts in how Unicorn horns work right here to help you!”

“I know it’s not exactly your element, but you might as well make the most of it while you can, right?” Twilight suggested, pulling her chair up to sit next to him. “Why don’t you give it a try?”

Boltsinger groaned, looking at the teddy bear in front of him. It looked as if it peered into his very soul with its gaze, and he suddenly felt a desire to pick it up and mess with it. “Not like I have much of a choice… Okay, bring on the magic.”

“Yay! Magic lessons!” Twilight sang as she clapped her hooves, bringing herself forward onto the table. “Okay, so the first thing anypony needs to know when it comes to magic is how to lift things with your mind! Try picking up the teddy bear.”

“Pick up the teddy bear. Got it.” he repeated, reaching his hooves forward and lifting the bear. “Wait… No… That’s not what you meant, is it?” The mares all definitively shook their heads. He blushed slightly and put the plush back on the table. “So, I use this for it…” He flicked his horn, pointing it at his target. “How does this work, anyway?”

“Just concentrate on picking up the thing you want to move and how you want to move it.” Twilight explained. She confidently shut her eyes, putting her hoof over her heart. “It’s the simplest form of magic, but it can take some getting used to. Don’t be too discouraged if you can’t--”

“Lifted it.” he blurted out, the teddy bear floating shakily in the air in front of him, it and his horn surrounded by an electric blue magical aura that was charged with magical lightning. “Next is the pillow, right?”

Twilight blinked, shaking her head. “How did you…? Wait, is your lightning kicking in?”

Boltsinger blinked as well, the aura disappearing as the bear fell back to the table below. “I… think?” He looked back at his Cutie Mark, which had begun to crackle. He looked at his friends and his spouse, shrugging with a sheepish grin. “Talk about timing, right?” His pendant began to shine as electricity shot out of his horn like fireworks, extending out to the mares in the room with him. “Like Granny Smith says, ‘magic is as magic does’!”

Rarity squealed as the lightning touched her flank, pulling her closer. “That may be, but it could still be a little more thoughtful of where it… grabs me!”

Twilight and Starlight looked at each other, then at the lightning that now grasped them. “Wait, without your wings, how are you going to get to the place you’re supposed to--” Starlight began, cut off by the feeling of being lightly electrocuted as the ponies all saw a bright blue flash, appearing in a park in Manehattan, the stage for the Midsummer Theater Revival lit up and ready to go. “-- go?”

The stallion looked down at the ground, where the grass had been scorched. “Well, looks like we teleported.” He looked around, stifling a snicker as he saw every mare’s mane standing on end, the ends just a little bit singed.

“What are you laughing at?” Rarity demanded. “Is there something funny going on behind me?”

Boltsinger fought his way through the laugh and pointed to the nearby pond. “You might want to see for yourself!” he suggested. “All of you!”

Twilight and Starlight looked at each other again as Rarity made her way to the water and looked at her reflection. The more magical ponies each burst out laughing at each other’s manes, while Rarity shrieked. “MY HAIR!” she cried, rising up to her hind legs and stepping back. She quickly twisted around, landing back on all fours and pointing her hoof at Boltsinger. “How could you have done such a thing?!”

“Hey, if there’s one thing I know about magic, it’s that I can’t control it!” he shrugged, getting up to his hooves and looking around. “And it looks like Coco needs help again this year.”

“Wait, we’re in Manehattan?” the couturier asked, taking in her surroundings. “Then we’re close to Rarity For You! I’ll be right back!”

Boltsinger walked towards Twilight and Starlight, counting down silently to himself as his fashion-forward friend ran off. “Can one of you catch Rarity? She’s about to come flying back this way.”

Starlight looked quizzically at her latest guinea pig, wondering just what he meant as a shrill yelp was heard from the distance. Rarity came zooming back, pulled by a magical lightning against her will. “I got her!” she answered, encasing the flying fashionista in her magic and stopping her in place.

Rarity squirmed in the air, prompting Starlight to let go of her and allow her to land. “What in Equestria was that?!”

“That’s right… This is the first time you’ve come with me on a fli-- is it really a ‘flight’ this time?” he started, bringing his hoof to his muzzle. “Anyway, whenever somepony comes with me on one of these, they can’t really leave proximity of me until the job is done. Just like I can’t really get too very far away from where the work needs to be done. So you ladies are stuck with me until we’re done.”

“So what do we have to do this time?” Twilight asked, shaking her head to calm her mane. “You said something about helping Coco?”

“Rarity?” a mare’s voice called from the stage. The ponies turned to face the source, where the aforementioned off-white mare stood. “And… Is that Boltsinger?”

“Hi, Coco!” Boltsinger greeted, walking towards her. “Something tells me the Revival needs reviving again?”

Coco nodded, her eyes wide and unblinking. “Um… yes, but… There’s something different about you…”

“Just an experiment. Don’t worry about it.” He told her, waving his hoof. “What is it you need?”

“Right now we’re just a little short-hooved.” She motioned to the stage, which stood barren. “We have everything we need, we just need to get it all set up and do a sound test.”

“Well, you definitely have the right ponies for the job, then.” Twilight declared.

Starlight stepped forward. “I’ve helped Trixie set up her stage lots of times, so that’s no big deal.”

Rarity perked up, rushing over to her fellow seamstress. “And I can help you go over the costumes! It’ll be just like that first little play we put on! Oh, won’t it be simply divine?”

Coco nodded nervously. “I certainly look forward to it!” She looked over at Boltsinger. “Could you take care of the sound testing?”

“Absolutely.” He said, looking up at the brightly-lit stage. “Just let me know when you need me.”

“And I can organize the whole thing!” The Princess proclaimed, fluttering her wings. “What do you think?”

“Sure! I’ll go get you what you’ll need for everything!” She affirmed, trotting off.

Twilight turned to Boltsinger, her horn aglow. “And in the meantime, we can pick up where we left off!”

“So, more magic?” he guessed.

“More magic!” She squeed, bringing him over to the sound equipment. She went into an involved lesson on handling delicate objects, including the ability to focus on a small part if a larger object, moving two things in tandem, and only grasping a part of an item for added finesse. After about an hour, he was making the technical preparations for the sound test by himself, with only a little supervision from Twilight.

“We’re ready for the sound test onstage!” Coco called. Boltsinger trotted over, seeing a set that looked like an old farming village in a snowy region.

“Trotter on the Roof, huh?” He hopped onto the stage, tapping the mic that had been set up and taking a deep breath.

---

A deep voice sounded from the stage, Rarity, Starlight, Twilight, and Boltsinger laying in the audience and resting on their fetlocks. The performance of the evening had begun, and many a magic lesson had been learned by the stallion whose Cutie Mark had finally returned to normal.

“So, this horn is definitely handy, but… I still miss my wings.” Boltsinger said, looking at his wife. “It’s harder to just reach out and hug you when I don’t have them.”

Twilight’s gaze went from the stage to the stallion, a knowing smile on her muzzle. “Well, that brings me to the last thing I wanted to do while you have this horn, here.”

An eyebrow was cocked. “Oh? And what’s that?”

Twilight leaned her head close to his, placing her horn perpendicular against the one that still came from her favorite stallion’s head. A powerful spark of magic flowed between the two of them, with a small discharge of magenta and blue circulating betwixt the locked horns. The sudden surge sent a chill down Boltsinger’s spine, accompanied soon after by a deep warmth. “This.” she replied, looking him in the eyes with as much warmth as he felt. “This is the unique way that Unicorns express their feelings for each other. The horn is where our magic comes from, and our magic is the purest representation of who we are… And now ours is intertwined…”

Boltsinger shuddered from the sheer sensation of the magic between them, bringing his hoof to her cheek. “Wow…” He brought his head closer, putting his forehead against hers as his body began to glow. From the tip, the horn began to scatter into bits of light. “That’s something I’ll have to treasure…” The horn vanished entirely, his wings returning in their full glory and spreading wide. Still lost in the moment, he reached them towards her and hugged her tight. “And if you ever want to do more ‘advanced lessons', you can count me in!”

“I’d like that…” she told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek and looking back at the show. “I was hoping we could do this once every couple of weeks! It would give me some time to build up my strength so I can cast the spell myself, and it wouldn’t get in the way of our other responsibilities, but if you want, we can have Starlight come over more often and do it on a weekly basis! Ooh! Or we could teach Rarity how it’s done and--” Boltsinger’s hoof came over her mouth.

“Honey?” he started, receiving a muffled response from the Alicorn. “Let’s just watch the play for now.”

Author's Note:

This chapter stemmed from three things. The first was that Starlight wanted some attention, and I wanted her to have some. The second was that Twilight really needed to relax and nerd out about magic. She's been pretty serious as of late, and she needed a break from that. And third was the fact that I'd been playing around with the idea of having Bolt being turned into a Unicorn against his will (at least temporarily) for a while now. It all kinda melded together into what you just read.
And, before you ask, no. Bolt will never, ever, become an Alicorn. He is a Pegasus. And except during those "advanced lessons", that is all he will ever be.