BoltStreamZero Presents
Flaring Souls
/-/-/
5:58 A.M.
The twins' bedroom, Falconwind, Equestria
"Snore..."
The light blue pegasus, Boltstream, covered her ears even though she knows that it is no use.
"Snore..."
She didn't get any sleep last night till this morning, because her brother's dreaded monthly loud snoring came to give her insomnia.
"Snore..."
Her red eyes became redder due to her lack of sleep. Her enormous wings became stiff because of the uncomfortable feeling of not sleeping. If she could only put a duct tape around her twin's mouth, these things will not happen, but sadly, he forbade her from doing that.
"Snore..."
Since her brother hit puberty, he started snoring. She has no idea why he snores monthly, but she marked it as one of her brother's weird body wonders.
"Snore..."
She sighed in defeat, there's no way she can sleep while her brother is snoring. It's been four years since he started snoring yet she's still not used to it.
"..."
Silence.
Silence filled the room.
Boltstream could almost explode because of her happiness, she can finally sleep peacefully without any disturbances.
"Thank you Celestia for snapping my brother's throat," she thanked quietly as the world fades into darkness.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
"Why do you evil things exist?!" Boltstream shouted angrily as she threw her blanket away.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
She pressed the snooze button like she's going to break it and looked at her brother who is still sleeping soundly. Impressed that he didn't woke up even the alarm clock is making a terrible noise, she went back to her own bed.
She picked up her blanket she threw earlier then closed her eyes.
Five seconds...
Ten seconds...
One minute and thirty seconds passed and she is finally asleep.
Her spiky yellow mane brushed against her pillow as she curled into a ball.
Suddenly, the door knob twisted.
"Hey, kids! It's morning!"
That time, Boltstream opened the gates of Tartarus.
/-/-/
6:10 A.M.
Spence's Dining Room
"Oh, so it's your monthly snoring! Heh, so that's why she's angry when I woke the two of you." Hawktail Spence, a red unicorn stallion with blue and red mane, laughed while rubbing his black eye with ice.
Thunderstream, the fraternal twin of Boltstream, smirked. "I still have no idea why I'm snoring every month," he chomped down the pancake his adoptive older brother made for him.
Suddenly, Boltstream who is wearing a bath towel around her neck, entered the room without letting them notice her presence. Her dark eye bags are three times darker than it usually were, her eyes are hazy and her wings are fully erected that it almost touched the ceiling.
Hawktail's sixth sense reacted then turned around. He widened his eyes then turned back into his normal state. "Good morning, Bolty! You scared me, I thought you were a ghost for a second," he sighed in relief.
"You sure do know the qualities of the ghost!" Thunderstream grinned, ignoring the angry look Boltstream gave him. "By the way, good morning."
"Hawk, why in Vamroz did you woke us up in the middle of the night?" she asked while drying her mane and tail with her towel.
"Hey," Hawk said, surprised by Boltstream's attitude, "watch your attitude, Bolty, you know that we need to say 'good morning' to your fellow siblings."
Thunderstream raised his hoof nonchalantly. "I'm fine with no good mornings, but middle of the night?" he snickered. "Dude, are you drunk? It's six in the morning!"
"Seventeen is not the legal age to drink alcohol in Vamroz, and I'm pretty sure you're drinking a lot," she deadpanned, taking a seat next to Hawktail, "and I don't know what kind of clock interpretation you have guys, that's pretty unusual to me."
Hawktail laughed. "I think you'll be a good comedian," he patted Boltstream's head—much to her annoyance.
"Yeah, whatever, it's not even funny, just what kind of humor you have?" she brushed Hawktail off her and grabbed a soda can that is sitting quietly on the table. "By the way, Thunder, the shower's yours now."
"Okay," he beamed and licked the pancake's remain quickly, then he flew to the bathroom, creating a breeze.
Boltstream sighed, she's not a morning pony, nor the pony who can sleep in the night (morning?) in just ten seconds, she asked the Maker how could this happen to her. She drank her soda in one gulp then turned her head to Hawktail, who is still busy rubbing his black eye with ice—however, she didn't feel guilty. To her, it's Hawktail's fault for waking her up.
"So," Boltstream said in a serious tone, "What's the reason?" she repeated her question from earlier and ate the pancake left for her.
Hawktail smiled in a brotherly way, even though Boltstream mistreated his left eye. "You're kidding right? It's like the biggest event that will happen in your teenage lif—" he paused for a second, "—it's not like I'm saying that I'm old, I'm only twenty-six! I'm only nine years older than you so I'm still young, right?
Boltstream ignored him, she knew something's going to happen if she commented. "And what's the biggest event that will happen in my teena—oh-so great life?" she avoided the word, but was a bit hurt when she said the substitute word.
He cocked his head, staring at Boltstream questioningly. "What? I thought you know it? I swear I told you many times before."
"I'm absolutely certain you didn't," she frowned at him, "Maybe you told me in your dreams.'
Hawktail blinked and thought for a second, then he nodded in agreement. "I guess I did," he rubbed his back while smiling sheepishly.
Boltstream facehoofed.
She's not amused by her brother's immaturity.
She thinks that she's more responsible than her older brother.
To calm herself, she grabbed another soda.
Hawktail coughed to break the tension and grinned. "Well, we're moving to Canterlot!"
She laughed internally, thinking that he's joking. "Nice joke."
"I'm not joking," he said while raising his eyebrow, "We're going to live with Mom and Dad there."
Boltstream widened her eyes, but remained calm. "And why?"
"Because I sold this house to my friend!" he grinned widely.
She almost choked on a mouthful of pancake. "Why?!"
"Why? Because it's a great opportunity to live with our parents. You know, after they left Vamroz to work in Canterlot," he drank one of the soda that is sitting on the table.
Boltstream frowned. "No, no, no, no, I know we're going to live with them, but why sell this house? Couldn't you just hire a caretaker?"
"Oh, come on," he waved his hoof dismissively, "We can buy another one."
She facehoofed. "Rich bastards," then suddenly, a realization came in her mind. "If you sold this house, how come we're still living here?"
"They're moving here today, so go pack your things because we're leaving in seven o' clock."
Boltstream's jaw dropped. "What?! Forty-five minutes is not enough!" she said as she looked at the wall clock.
"Yeah, so hurry up!"
"Ugh, you're too irresponsible to be an older brother, you should told us yesterday!" she ruffled her six feet long wings which created a strong breeze in the room, causing the furniture to move.
Hawktail caught the falling dishware just on time with his magic. "Whoa, be careful with your wings," he warned while placing the other stuff back into their perfect place, "And I'm not even an older brother to begin with."
"Sorry, my wings are a bit itchy today," she stopped herself from rustling her wings again. "I don't know why, though."
"Come to think of it, Thunder's wings are itchy too," he looked at Boltstream who is still sitting. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go pack your things and say goodbye to your 'friends'!"
Boltstream stood up after hearing the word that irritates her. "Be sure to tell my twin about this."
"I'm pretty sure I told him," he replied, cocking his head.
"No you didn't. See you later, then," she proceeded upstairs where her shared room was.
As he watched her go upstairs, a realization crossed in Hawktail's mind. "Wait a minute, she's not wearing her clothes, did she finally realized that ponies don't wear it normally?" a smile crept in his face as he thought that Boltstream finally has become a normal pony.
Then suddenly, a blue and yellow blur came in the room, his yellow mane and tail has black highlights like Boltstream, his small blue eyes are completely different from Boltstream's small red eyes that you can't see their eyes in one look—his fangs are small compared to Boltstream, whose fangs are enormous that rivals the fangs of a batpony. He has normal-sized wings but Boltstream has wings that are bigger than her body.
To Hawktail, Thunderstream is slightly a normal pony than Boltstream, but she was offended by that.
"Hey, what did I miss?" he asked, taking a seat.
"Well, Bolty no longer wears clothes."
Thunderstream grinned. "That's my twin for you, she would do anything just to become like me."
Hawktail rolled his eyes while snickering. "I don't think that's the reason, she's too proud of being herself."
/-/-/
6:20 A.M.
The twins' bedroom
Boltstream screamed.
Internally.
She stood in front of the mirror, her cheeks flared from within.
"How can I possibly forget," she gulped hard, not believing what she's seeing, "To wear clothes?!"
Her jaw dropped, her pride of being herself is shattered into pieces. She forgot to put them back on after she got out of the shower, which is very rare for her because she never forgets to wear clothes even she was still a filly.
Even worse, she stepped in a room where her brothers were.
Knowing that the only way to restore her pride is to wear clothes, she quickly trotted to her wardrobe and grabbed her long-sleeved shirt that she always wear. Then she put the other shirts into her luggage because that's the last thing on her list to pack.
Then finally, she wore the black shirt with white lines and sighed in relief. "Thank Celestia," she muttered quietly.
The final thing she's going to wear is her black wristwatch. It was given to her by her father's inventor friend and told her that it's not a normal wristwatch but she ignored him, she just wanted the wristwatch since she's time conscious.
Knowing that she's finished packing her stuff including Thunderstream's stuff in just three minutes, she stepped out the door, feeling good to herself.
But suddenly, she was tackled by her twin.
"Thunder!" she said while she stood up, "I told you to refrain from flying while you're inside the house!" she glared daggers to Thunderstream while scolding him.
Thunderstream rubbed his forehead, he's not as tough as Boltstream. "Well, I'm sorry because I can't stand walking around," he finally stood up and stared at Boltstream for three seconds, then frowned. "I thought Hawk said that you're no longer wearing clothes!" he threw his hooves in the air due to his frustration.
She rolled her eyes. "If you came here to pack your things, I already did that because I'm so kind, be grateful."
"Indeed, I'm so grateful I could kiss your hooves while on the ground and worship you," he said in a sarcastic voice. "By the way, the buyer is here with her annoying kids and she's talking to Hawk in the living room, so come on, let's race!"
"Of course, Thunder, I will gladly accept your invitation to race with you," she quickly changed her princess-like tone to her usual brash one. "Is THAT what you want me to say? Like hell I would say that!"
He widened his eyes in amusement then laughed. "Oh my Celestia, that accent! Bolt, that accent!" he continued to laugh, ignoring the ominous presence in front of him. "When and how did you learn that? I thought you're a princess for a while, a rogue princess!"
"Shut up," she sighed. "No matter what you do, I will not race with you. Even if I did, you'll always lose."
"Please?" he said, ignoring Boltstream's comment.
"No means no," she growled. "How about a talk?"
Thunderstream raised his eyebrow. "About what?"
"About something," she replied nonchalantly as she proceeded downstairs to exit the house.
"What something?" he asked while following Boltstream downstairs.
"Shut up, you're annoying me."
He snickered at his sister's rude attitude. "When did you get so rude?"
"Since the day I was born," she went to the garden and sat on the bench, covering her red eyes with her hoof as the sun went up. "Not the sun..."
"What?!" he sputtered, hovering beside Boltstream. "But you're so sweet and lady-like when you're still a filly!"
She spat, not wanting to remember her embarrassing fillyhood. "I thought we promised not to talk about that again."
"I made such no promises," he puffed his chest out. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
Boltstream sighed. "Did you told Hawk about our secret?"
"What secret?" he said absentmindedly.
She gave him a disappointed look. "Our secret of having no friends! Oh gosh, I can't believe that you're a ditz."
He ignored Boltstream's comment about him, he's used to it, "No, I didn't, why?"
"You know Canterlot, right? That place full of princesses?" she asked while watching newspaper ponies do their job, but she didn't need it, she'll just feed it to her neighbor's dog without the master knowing.
"Pfft, of course I know," he rolled his eyes. "You may call me a ditz, but I'm smart. So, what about them?"
"One of the princess there is the princess of friendship, and I get an uncomfortable feeling that he will try to talk to Twilight to teach us about friendship, even if it costs money. Heck, that guy is the richest bastard I ever known so far, he's willing to give her all the money he has and he's still rich," she looked up, watching the pegasus ponies clearing the clouds in the sky, vexed by the fact that it's scheduled to be a sunny day.
"It's Princess Twilight, Bolt, not Twilight," he said.
Boltstream was annoyed. "Shut up, I have no time for honorifics, only ponies who want to have a relationship with her or want her money use honorifics," she stated her theory while receiving hi's and hello's from the morning ponies, but she has no energy to reply back, plus, morning ponies are her nemeses.
Thunderstream's jaw slightly opened, amazed by the theory she just said, then nodded in agreement. "I never thought about that before," he went to the tree branch and sat there. "I think you're being paranoid about that, I don't think he has the guts to talk to someone who is way out of his league."
"You don't know what he can do. My paranoia is telling me that Hawk already found out that we have no friends, despite our efforts of hiding it from him," she yawned. "Our family is full of social butterflies and we're anti-socials, and they'll force us to make some friends."
"Welp, looks like we're busted," he said. "By the way, you never explained the reason why you hate going outside."
"Two exhibitionists in the house is enough, but all the ponies outside this house is a hard pill to swallow, I'll go blind before I know it," she replied casually.
Thunderstream just laughed.
"Well how about you?" she curiously asked,
He blushed in embarrassment, but managed to say it. "I'm just scared that they will pick on me," then he narrowed his eyes. "I'll never forgive the ones who bullied us, I hate ponies," he grimaced when he remembered the nightmares he's having about ponies torturing an alicorn stallion.
She just stared at her twin brother who is ready to die in embarrassment, but didn't reply, she just smiled in her mind. "He's always been a wimp and a scaredy-cat."
Boltstream sighed and looked at her black wristwatch. "Look at the time we wasted, let's go now before Hawk freaks out," she stood up and ruffled her wings rigorously, knocking Thunderstream off the tree but he managed to fly before falling. "Why these wings are so itchy?! If only I am a unicorn or an earth pony," they made their way towards their house.
/-/-/
6:35 A.M.
Hawktail stood outside his house with his and the twins' luggage beside him, waiting for Boltstream and Thunderstream's return. His violet eyes shifted from left to right because of his impatience.
Finally, both of them returned.
"Hawk, let's go," Boltstream trotted to him, yawning.
Hawktail gave her an incredulous look. "Really? No sorry? I waited here for like three minutes! Do you know how long that is?!"
Thunderstream laughed. "Three minutes?! How did you managed to buy our tickets for the ship? Ugh, I really want to see your face when you're waiting in the line."
Hawktail intentionally eyed him. "What do you mean? We already have Mom's cruise ship, we've been there before right?"
He facehoofed. "Bolt's right, our family is full of rich bastards. Good thing we're not related to this family."
Hawktail looked to Boltstream, who is fiddling with her wings and gave her a stern look. "So, where's the 'sorry'?"
"There's no 'sorry' in my dictionary," she replied in a laid-back tone while nibbling her wings.
He smiled, ignoring her rude attitude, he's used to it. "You'll add it in your dictionary eventually."
"In your dreams."
Thunderstream, who is doing the same thing as Boltstream, said. "Ugh, let's go!"
"We don't have time if we trotted to the harbor, it's three thousand meters away!" Hawktail thought for a second, "Let's just teleport there."
When he's about to channel his magic after Boltstream nodded, Thunderstream whinnied. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! I thought I told you never EVER do any magic on me?" he said in a frightened tone. "You know I get uncomfortable around magic, right?"
"Hmm," he put his hoof under his chin, thinking for a solution. "How about a race?"
Thunderstream's ears perked up, then smirked. "What's the rules?"
Boltstream sensed that she's going to be involved in their race, so she walked away.
"Hey, Bolty, you're involved here," Hawktail smiled, not wanting Boltstream to walk away.
Grumpy Boltstream is grumpier than before.
"There's no rules," Hawktail stated, receiving a gleeful look from Thunderstream. "You'll fly and I'll teleport, let's see whos the fastest: wings or magic?"
"Pshaw, of course, wings! Right, Bolt?" he asked Boltstream, who's bound to swearing.
"Hay no, use your mind. Teleportation spell happens in a blink of an eye," she viciously growled to Thunderstream, giving him a deadly glare that could scare ghosts.
"O-okay," he grimaced, the current Boltstream is scarier than the previous Boltstream.
Hawktail chuckled. "Alright, Bolty said it; magic is faster than wings, still up for it?" he said, giving Thunderstream a contemptuous smile.
He puffed his chest out, looking proud. "Of course! I'll prove it to you that wings are faster than magic! Even if it defies logic!"
"If you lose, do whatever I told you to do for three days, deal?"
"Deal, but if I win, you have to dance a silly dance in the ballroom in the cruise ship," he said.
He stopped smiling, then smiled again. "Heh, there's no waaay he can win against magic, no pegasus has ever won against magic before," he looked at the clear sky above, smiling to himself. "Deal," he spat on his hoof and brohoofed Thunderstream.
"Since," Hawktail looked at Boltstream, who couldn't even stand on her own because of drowsiness. "I said that you're involved here, you've got to pick which side are you, me or Thunder?"
"Neither," she replied.
"Which side?" he persisted, wearing a creepy smile.
"Do you want to make me drink your blood to quench my thirst?" she countered back, revealing her sharp, pointy fangs. Even if it's a joke, it will make Hawktail shiver, however, he didn't.
"I said, which side?"
Annoyed, she stepped away from him. "Heh, I said 'neither', didn't I? I'll join the race."
Horrified, Thunderstream hovered in front of her. "You can't do that! I'll lose!"
While Thunderstream is saying that, Hawktail turned away from them, sweat dripping from his face and his heartbeat was beating very fast. "That took all my lifetime courage!" after recovering, he turned back. "Yeah, Bolty, you'll destroy the town! The last time you flew, you created a tornado in the whole city!" he grimaced when he remembered that he payed for the wreckage.
Boltstream, looking smug. "Who said that I'm going to fly? I'll race using my hooves."
They sighed in relief.
"Well, okay, what's the deal?" Thunderstream asked.
"If I lose, you two have to dress like a mare until we get to Canterlot, deal?" she replied bluntly, then was shocked when both of them are laughing, surprised by their reaction, she looked at them in disbelief. "I said it clearly, how can they laugh? Are they deaf?"
"Deal," both of them said.
Hawktail coughed to get their attention. "Then shall we start our race?" he asked.
Thunderstream nodded, but the still-in-shock Boltstream only stared at them.
"Then, here we go," he took a deep breath before starting the countdown, "Five."
Thunderstream readied his flight position, Hawktail channeled a blue aura around his horn, while Boltstream just stood there.
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Go!"
Thunderstream blasted off towards the harbor, creating a wind, while Hawktail instantly teleported there.
That leaves Boltstream, still recovering.
Only the sound of the humming breeze can be heard.
Finally she recovered. "Well, damn, I have stupid siblings," she shook her heard before trotting towards the harbor.
*Boltstream* Achievement Unlocked! - Participate in The Race Between The Siblings