Shades Of Home
“Bolt!” the yellow-skinned boy exclaimed, pulling Boltsinger into the tightest hug he had felt since arriving in this world. “I can’t believe it! You’re really here!”
“... Can’t… breathe!” Boltsinger wheezed out, struggling to raise his arms. “Could… you… let me go, please?”
“Oh! Yeah! Sorry…” He loosened his grip, putting his hands on Boltsinger’s face. “Is it really you? Are you really Bolt?”
Boltsinger felt the steam of his thoughts begin to billow from his ears. This was his brother he was dealing with, but at the same time, a complete stranger. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to lead him on, either. “I’m… well… Yes?” he shrugged, raising his hands questioningly. “Brightling… I don’t understand. Why are you so surprised to see me?”
Brightling pulled his ‘brother’ in again for a softer hug than before. “None of that matters anymore! You’re with us again, and that’s what counts!”
Boltsinger pushed Brightling away, giving him some space and a confused look. “Wait a second… I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m just happy to see you, little brother.” he replied, smiling warmly with tears welling up in his eyes. “I… just… excuse me…” He turned away, heading off into an offshoot hallway, Sparks following him with her hand on his shoulder.
“He looks a… little freaked out.” Sunset noted. “What do you think?”
“He could just be happy to see his younger brother again after a long time away.” Rarity suggested. “I know I’d be an emotional wreck if I had to go a long time without my Sweetie Belle!”
“Missing family, huh?” Boltsinger mused, staring at the ceiling. “I can understand that… Maybe I’ll go with him for a while… Give him some time with the brother he missed so much.”
Sunset thought for a moment, unable to keep her concern to herself. “Are you sure? What if you meet your counterpart?”
“Darling, with a reaction like the one we just saw, the chances of that are nigh impossible!” argued the couturier. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“And why do we have to bring her along, anyway?” Sparks inquired, looking to the back seat of the vehicle Brightling drove. Boltsinger and Sunset sat in the back, the blue-haired boy looking out the window with a sense of wonder in his eyes.
“‘Cause she’s my friend and I want my friend to meet my family.” he retorted, looking from car to car as they passed.
Brightling chuckled, looking at Boltsinger in his mirror. “It’s no problem that you want to bring your girlfriend, Bolt.”
Sunset and Boltsinger immediately sat up straight, looking at each other, then at the driver. “Excuse me, but he is not my boyfriend!” Sunset declared, pointing at her new friend. “He may be staying at my place, but there is nothing like that going on between us!”
“Right!” he confirmed, crossing his arms. “Besides, I’m quite happily ma-- I-I-I mean spoken for! Sunset is just a friend!” He held his fist in her direction, giving her a confident grin. “Right?”
Sunset nodded back at him, bumping his fist with her own. “Right.”
“Sheesh! Okay! You don’t need to get so defensive, little brother.” Brightling exclaimed, throwing a hand up in defeat. “Either way, Mom is gonna be ecstatic when she sees you!”
“You think she’ll cry?” Sparks wondered.
Brightling nodded, coming to a stop at the light. “Definitely. After all that’s happened, she’s bound to get weepy-eyed.” He paused for a moment, eyeing Boltsinger more from the mirror’s view. “I kinda wonder if we should even tell Mom yet…”
Boltsinger relaxed, letting his eyes drift back to the window. “Yeah… Haven’t seen Mom in forever…”
Brightling laughed as they approached their destination. “What do you mean ‘forever’? You’ve only been gone for a month!”
“I see… Well I still look forward to it.” he concluded. The car came to a stop, Brightling, Sparks, and Sunset exited the vehicle, leaving Boltsinger to wonder just how he was supposed to follow suit. Sunset rolled her eyes, walking over to his door and pulling it open. As he stepped out of the car, he got a better look at his surroundings. They were in a residential district of Canterlot City, in front of a two-story green house with a brown roof. There were several other houses all around, forming a cozy neighborhood.
“Well, Bolt, welcome home!” Brightling greeted, opening the front door. “Your room is exactly how you left it. I made sure nobody touched anything!”
Boltsinger entered the abode, looking carefully at the decor. Things were simple. The biggest theme that could be noticed was that they seemed to like clouds. On the hearth and walls were numerous pictures depicting Gusty, Brightling, a man with the same color hair as Boltsinger, and someone he could only assume was his own counterpart at various ages. They showed family photos, happy occasions, holidays, everything expected of a close family. The whole room reminded him of his favorite chandelier, giving him a strange nostalgia. Feels kind of weird, being in the house another me grew up in… Wait, he said something about ‘my room’. I wonder… He found his way to the stairs, entering a hallway lined with doors. Two of them had signs on them. One showed a pair of light bulbs with the name ‘Brightling’ nearly lit up between them, giving him the impression that this was where Brightling slept. At the end of the hall, the second signed door became clearer. It was awash with lightning bolts, with a large number of them spelling out his own name. He reached for the knob, feeling a mild shock as he touched it. Lingering for a moment, he slowly opened the door, taking in his surroundings. Headphones, music posters, and a device on a desk at the corner of the room with a device that he had seen in a few other places, with a TV-like apparatus next to a keyboard, then a microphone set up on a hinged stand, all connected to a large block-like device that sat next to the desk.
The sound of a finger on a music shelf ran through his ears. Boltsinger turned around, catching Sunset inspecting the dust. “You know, if I didn’t know you were from Equestria, I’d have guessed this was your room.” She smirked in his direction, flicking off what dust remained. “You strike me as a music fan.”
Boltsinger laughed, plopping down on the bed. “Like my horrible attempts at rocking out to Rainbooms didn’t give that away.”
Sunset paused, looking at him with a small hint of shock in her eyes, then let out a boisterous laugh of her own. “That was ‘rocking out’? I thought you were having a seizure!”
The boy’s brow furrowed as he raised his finger to make a point. “Hey, that…” Slowly, his arm fell, the point vanishing. “... actually makes sense…” He fell back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. “Why am I here, again?”
Sunset sat next to him on the bed and pulled out a book with a combination of Twilight’s Cutie Mark and the sun symbol on her shirt, clicking a pen and writing in it. “To be there for your family.” Her writing stopped a moment, putting her pen to her lip. “Or… at least this world’s version of your family. Personally, I think you’re doing a good thing. Besides, it could help us on our magic hunt.”
Boltsinger sat up, scratching his head. “Eeeyeah… I guess so. It’s just… really weird being here.” He brought his hands together, taking in the sights again. “I think… I should probably go soon.” He stood up and walked to the door, looking out into the hall. As he approached the door to Brightling’s room, he heard sole some muffled whispers. His interest piqued, he put his ear to the door.
“Okay… He’s still a little unfamiliar with everything, but we can work with this!” Brightling started, the sound of a pencil on paper filling the background. “He just needs to readjust. That’s understandable when you think of where he’s been!”
“I don’t know, Brightling. Can you really be sure it’s even him?” Sparks reasoned. “I spent a little more time with him, and for a while he was acting like it was his first time being human!”
“If you’d been in the state he was in, you’d be off-kilter, too.” he retorted with the sound of a chair sliding back. “We’ll just give him some space and some time to figure things out.”
Boltsinger backed off as he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer. The door opened to reveal the brown-haired boy, a soft smile on his face. “Hey, Brightling. What’re you up to?”
“Just talking with my girlfriend.” he answered. He put his arm around his ‘brother’, beginning to walk down the hallway. “What are you up to?”
Boltsinger gave him a tentative glance, then took a deep breath. “I think I should probably get going. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to be here. I just feel a little… out of place right now. Sunset has been getting me… um… re-acquainted with everything at a really nice pace. Plus… I have no idea how to get around.”
The happiness in Brightling’s face washed away. He stared blankly at Boltsinger, trying to come up with a reason to keep him there. “Yeah. Yeah, I understand. We can go whenever you’re ready.” He started down the hall, reaching into his pocket. “You will come back, right?”
This time it was Boltsinger’s turn to offer up a warm smile. He stepped forward, putting his hand on his shoulder. “Of course. I just have a lot to do, and where I’ve been staying has been a great little hub to get places from.”
Brightling nodded, the happiness making its return. “Okay, then. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
“Eeyup!” he confirmed, turning back to the bedroom. “I’ll let Sunset know we’re heading out.”
Brightling gave a thumbs-up, walking down the stairs. “Sounds good. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”
Boltsinger tilted his head. “Yeah… a ‘call’... On a ‘phone’, right?” He was met with an enthusiastic nod. “Oooookay… I don’t have one of those.”
“So, let me get this straight…” Rainbow started, sitting with Boltsinger and all of her best friends by the sparking statue. “Gusty Gale, the weather lady, is your mom, but not your mom?”
“An’ you met yer big brother at the mall?” Applejack added. “But… He ain’t yer actual big brother?”
Pinkie raised her hand, keeping the rhythm going. “So you went to his house…” She pointed to her left with her right hand. “Or… your house?” She pointed to the right with her left hand. “Or… Not your house?” She twisted her wrists, her index fingers nearly touching one another.
“And… they actually thought that you were this world’s version of you?” Fluttershy concluded.
“Eeyup.” Boltsinger replied, looking around. “I’m gonna be seeing them again soon if anyone’s interested in joining us.”
“Joining ‘us’? Who is going with you?” Twilight wondered, adjusting her glasses.
Sunset raised her hand, leaning forward to look at her lilac friend. “That’d be me.” She held up the book with the combined marks on it, propping her head up on top of it. “Princess Twilight asked me to stick with him while he’s here. She’s pretty worried about him. Plus, I’m curious. I want to learn more about where Bolt’s counterpart went.”
“That does sound intriguing.” Twilight looked at her phone, swiping a few times with her finger. “I don’t have anything planned for today. I’d be happy to join you.”
“And if she’s going, I’m going!” a voice called from Twilight’s backpack. Boltsinger jumped, raising a defensive arm as the bespectacled girl unzipped her bag. From inside came a small purple and green dog, wagging its tail and jumping onto its owner's lap. “After all, Twilight’s a total wreck without me!”
Twilight giggled, hugging the dog tightly. “Sorry about the surprise. I really should have introduced you earlier. This is my dog. His name is--"
“Spike.” Boltsinger finished, reaching his hand over to the canine. Spike leaned in, sniffing his hand, then relaxed again.
“How did you know?” Twilight asked.
“Because you’re Twilight Sparkle.” he deadpanned, sitting back down and scratching behind Spike’s ear. “And wherever Twilight Sparkle goes, Spike is never far behind.”
“You got that right!” Spike declared, leaning into the scratches with a twitch of his hind leg. “No, seriously… You got that just right… Could you scratch a little harder?” Boltsinger grinned, doing as directed. “Oh yeah… That’s the good stuff…”
Boltsinger looked over to Sunset, eyeing the book she held. “So, that’s the book that--" he glanced at Twilight, then looked at the book again. “--that Princess Twilight communicates with you through?”
“Yep. When I filled the last one, she made me this, and we’ve kept writing to each other ever since.” she explained, holding up a pen. “You want to write to her?”
Boltsinger’s eyes widened at the prospect of talking with his wife, images of her flooding his mind. He reached for the book, pulling it over and opening it to the first blank page he could find. Sunset smirked and handed him the pen. He eagerly put it to the page, finally beginning to create a line. He worked on his writing with a fervor the girls had never seen out of him, going for several minutes to get as much as he could out. The closer his writing came to completion, the further his expression shifted from joy or excitement. A frown formed as he dropped the pen on the pavement, closing the book and bringing his head low. “Of course… Of course it has to be like this!” He pounded on his knees repeatedly, letting out an angry shout that shook the ground around him.
The girls were sent a short distance back from the scream. Rarity raised her hand to bring forth a gem-shaped force field while Applejack simply planted her feet. Fluttershy waited until the shaking died down, then knelt next to her friend. “Boltsinger, are you okay?” He shook his head, refusing to open his eyes or look up. “What’s wrong? You know you can tell us.”
“Oh, it’s nothing…” he fibbed, a stagger making itself known from the depths of his voice. “Just that I only have one way to communicate with Twilight and Nova, and I can’t even do it…!”
Fluttershy put her hand on Boltsinger’s back, slowly rubbing back and forth. “What do you mean?”
Sunset picked up the book, opening it to the page Boltsinger had used. “He… can’t write.” she told them, holding it out for the others to see. On the most recent page was a frantic scribble, a few attempts at words barely legible. On the next page, golden writing began to form, fading to black and writing in concise calligraphy that reminded Twilight of her own handwriting. Sunset pulled the book back, looking at the new entry and retrieving her pen. “She’s asking what that just was. Should I tell her what happened?”
Boltsinger stood up in a huff, putting his hands in his pockets. “Tell her whatever you want… Everything, for that matter… I’m gonna go… I dunno… I guess I’ll go to the library… Maybe there I’ll find some books that I can make use of…”
Sunset let out a sad sigh, remembering her own struggle to scribe as she wrote her response. Twilight guided Spike back into her bag, then slowly stood up to follow him. “I think I’m gonna go talk to him. He might get lost without our help, anyway.”
Twilight entered the school library, taking in the smell of the books upon her arrival. She looked around the room, trying to find some hint of Boltsinger. He clearly wouldn’t be at the computers, as he had displayed a complete lack of understanding of all things technology. After a few minutes of searching, she wandered into the fiction section, where she heard a stack of books falling on the other side of a shelf.
“Stupid not having wings making me use the stupid ladder…” the baritone that was Twilight’s target grumbled. She rounded the corner to find Boltsinger lying under a pile of books, slowly sitting up and looking through them. “Now where is that Daring Do I saw?”
“You’re a Daring Do fan?” Twilight asked, squatting down next to him. “I love Daring Do!”
Boltsinger sifted through more of the books, looking at their covers. “Yeah, any world worth its salt lick has Daring Do. Only the best adventure books ever!”
“Would you like some help finding it?” she offered, putting her hand to her necklace. In a magenta flash, her hand lit up along with the book pile. She gestured up, floating the books and placing them back on their shelves, sorted to perfection. “I know this library like the back of my hand!”
Boltsinger stood up with a chortle at her display. “I swear I will never get tired of seeing that.”
“What, you mean my magic?” she wondered, looking at her still-glowing hand. “This is the first time you’ve seen it, isn’t it?”
Boltsinger nodded in her direction as he continued his book search. “Technically, yes. But that particular feat is something I always love to see.”
Twilight smiled, sifting through the tomes as well. “So, the ‘other me’ can do that, too?” Boltsinger gave a small confirming grunt. “I see… What other kinds of magic can she do?”
“Any kind you can think of. She’s got it pretty much mastered for the most part.” he explained, drawing ever closer to the book he sought. “Although she has to practice with new spells a lot more than Starlight. That’s someone who can fashion a big spell in an instant.”
“But… you can’t do magic like that?”
“Nnope. No horn. I can do neat stuff with the weather.”
Twilight’s curiosity had begun to bubble up. She pulled another book down, adjusting her glasses. “Weather? What do you mean?”
Boltsinger looked back at her and smirked, finding the idea of teaching Twilight Sparkle anything more than a little amusing. “It’s a little complicated. If you have the time, later, I’ll teach you everything I can.”
“That would be great!” She pulled out her phone and checked her schedule. “I think I can squeeze you in tonight after meeting your ‘family’ and some homework. How about the bakery tonight?”
“I think I can work with that.” he affirmed, reaching for the shelf and pulling out one more book. “Ah! Here it is!” He opened it up, his face alight at the words he saw. “Now here’s a book that’ll agree with me!”
Twilight smiled, quickly catching up to him and plucking the book from his hands. “Here, let’s get these checked out and go back to the others.”
No sooner had Twilight and Boltsinger returned to their friends did Brightling’s car pull up on the street beyond. He emerged from the vehicle, running up to the one he longed to see and catching him in a hug that lifted him off of the ground. “Hey, little brother! How’re you doing?”
Boltsinger strained to move, awkwardly smiling down at him. “Doing… okay… Could do without the asphyxiation, though…”
Brightling quickly dropped his ‘brother’, backing off and scratching his head. “Right… sorry!” He looked around at the gathering before him. “Are these your friends?”
“Eeyup.” Boltsinger confirmed. “You’ve met Sunset and Rarity, of course.” the aforementioned girls each waved. “And then we have Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle!” He gestured to each of them in sequence, prompting a greeting from each. A bark cane from Twilight’s bag, Spike poking his head out over her shoulder. “Ah, yes, and Spike.” He scratched the dog behind his ear. “Can’t possibly forget about him.”
“Well, it's nice to meet you all.” he told them. “It’s wonderful that my baby brother finally has some friends.” He pulled Boltsinger aside, draping his arm over his shoulder. “Seriously? All of them are girls? All of them!”
“Yeah. Why does that matter?” he wondered.
“Have you looked at them?” the elder brother stressed, sneaking a look at the girls.
“Of course I have. They’re my friends.” Boltsinger deadpanned. “What are you getting at?”
Brightling smiled, leaning next to Boltsinger’s ear. “Which one do you fancy?”
Boltsinger recoiled, turning slightly to see the friends he had made. “Well… I mean…” His gaze shifted between each of them, finally falling upon Twilight with a mild blush lining his cheeks. “Not… really. My wi-- Um… my girlfriend is… well… elsewhere. These ladies are just good friends.”
Brightling gave him a hard pat on the back, sending him staggering forward a few steps. “Whatever you say, little brother. Honestly, I’m surprised you have friends at all.”
“Wait, what?” Boltsinger turned to face his ‘brother’, utterly befuddled. “Why is it so surprising that I have friends?”
“Don’t you remember? You’ve always been a loner. Yesterday was actually the first time you’ve ever brought a friend home!” Brightling walked over to Boltsinger. “Speaking of home, Mom has today off, and… I haven’t told her you’re back. Not sure how she’ll take it right now. Would you be okay with postponing your next visit home a little longer?”
“Mom…” he started, looking at the car parked nearby. “Yeah… Yeah, I can wait. Wait a second… Why did you come all the way here if you were gonna just tell me all that? You could have just given Sunset a call.”
Brightling rolled his eyes, shrugging his shoulders as he made for his vehicle. “Honestly, I just wanted to see you. Lets me know yesterday wasn’t just a dream.” He waved farewell, getting in and driving off.
Evening had come, and Boltsinger entered the bakery. He sat at the table by the window, retrieving his Daring Do book from his jacket and starting to read as he waited. The sounds around him brought feelings of familiarity. The Cakes giving customers their orders, happy conversations all around. For a brief, fleeting moment, he felt like he was home again. All he needed was someone to join him.
His desire was answered before too long as Twilight made her entrance. She sat on the table across from him, pulling out a number of notes. “Okay, so I’ve learned a lot about how magic works in Equestria from Sunset already, but she’s only really given me a Unicorn’s perspective. You say that you don’t have a horn, but you can do stuff with the weather. Does that mean that you have wings instead?”
Straight to the questions as always huh? Boltsinger thought to himself as he marked his book. “Good to see you, too, Twilight.” He settled into a more comfortable position from which he could explain things. “Yes. When I’m my usual self, I’ve got wings like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have.” He went on to explain the nuances he had come to understand as a Pegasus, giving her the full rundown of what they’re capable of and what their role in the world typically was. As she had during their last magic discussion, Twilight took furious notes on the differences between Earth Ponies, Unicorns, Pegasi, and Alicorns, with all other things in the world suddenly not mattering in the face of the sheer learning. She even seemed to order their food on auto-pilot. All the while, Boltsinger observed her hands. The rapid movements of her pencil, the way her fingers moved to let the letters and other symbols come out onto the page with such ease. It certainly seemed more efficient than the kind of writing he was used to, but he couldn’t be entirely sure, due to not having the capacity to do either in his current body.
Boltsinger finally came to the end of his long and involved lesson on his understanding of magic, taking one final sip of his milkshake and letting out a sigh. “Thanks for this.”
Twilight looked up from her notes. “What? The milkshake? It’s no big deal. I get them all the time!”
Boltsinger shook his head, patting his book lightly. “Not just that… Everything. Letting me talk about magic, finding me in the library, and… well… Just being you. It’s a breath of fresh air. Especially… considering…” He brought the palms of his hands up, staring hopelessly at them.
“You know, if you’re having trouble writing, we can always help you out.” she informed him, taking a look at his fidgety hands.
“I know… It’s just that I wanted to be able to tell everyone back home…” He let his head sink onto the table. “... just how much I miss them. Poor Nova must be having fits without me…”
Twilight gave him a rather uncomfortable smile, returning her attention to her notebook. “So, this… Nova… is important to you?”
“More than you’ll ever know…” he confirmed.
“Well, I hope you get to see her again, soon.” she stated, tentatively placing her hand on his shoulder.
Boltsinger looked at her with tired eyes. “Him.” he corrected.
“Yeah… Him.” she affirmed, closing her notebook and getting up. “I’m gonna… get going. Gotta go over these notes!” She waved awkwardly at him, making for the exit. “I’ll… see you tomorrow!”
Boltsinger waved as he watched her leave, his mood on full display with a defeated sigh. “Yeah… Later...”
Stats
Page generated in 0.017 seconds
Total duration
1,093 users online
2,170,777 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
The only thing I don't understand is why boltsinger is hiding his marriage to princess twilight from his pseudo-family, and his child from sunset's friends. I'm sure it will be explained in the story, though.
loving the EQG spinoff.