Forest Green

Chapters

An Afternoon in Ponyville
At the Hospital
Search and Rescue
Cutie Mark Crusaders on Ice
Storms and Bruised Egos
Stranded
Super Smash Sisters: Scuffle
Lightning War

An Afternoon in Ponyville

It was a pleasant afternoon in Ponyville as Applejack and Twilight Sparkle were walking together. Applejack had agreed to take a break from the apple orchard to have lunch with Twilight and Spike, the latter sitting on Twilight’s back. This time, however, they were going a little out of their way to invite Fluttershy. They reached the door to Fluttershy’s cottage and Twilight knocked, but they were surprised when Angel opened the door. Angel pointed to Fluttershy, who was hiding next to a nearby window.

“Hey Fluttershy, AJ and I were just about to have lunch and...” Twilight started before getting looking at her. Fluttershy was timidly peeking through her window, clearly scared of something outside. “Is something wrong?”

“Well, um, there’s this stallion outside and, well,” Fluttershy paused, motioning toward the window, “he won’t go away. I don’t know why he’s here.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, sugarcube,” Applejack assured her as Twilight looked through the shades, “if somepony’s givin’ yah trouble, Ah’ll give ‘em a piece of mah mind.”

“Easy, Applejack,” Twilight said while looking out the window at the stallion, “I don’t think he’s here to cause trouble. If anything, he looks like he’s lost. Stay here Fluttershy, AJ and I will go talk to him and see what’s up. Spike, stay here with Fluttershy and make sure she’s okay.”

Spike nodded and hopped off of Twilight. After Applejack and Twilight left, Angel held an unfinished carrot in his paw, aiming at Spike’s head. “Cool it, furball. Now’s not the time for this.” Spike said, noticing Angel in his peripheral vision. He then turned to Fluttershy, who was giving him a dirty look. “What, that bunny of yours is a brat sometimes,” Spike argued. Fluttershy agreed in thought that Angel was a hoofful, but maintained her reprimanding look. It wasn’t The Stare, but it was enough to get her point across. “Fine, I’m sorry.” Spike finally said before changing the subject, “Hey Fluttershy, feeling any better about all this?” She nodded, still concerned about that strange pony outside, but feeling a bit more relaxed.

Twilight and Applejack walked toward the stallion, who was still looking around aimlessly. He was an earth pony, and looked about the same age as any of Twilight’s friends, perhaps a bit younger. He had a green coat and a black tail. His mane was also black, but with a few white bangs. He wore some kind of bracelet around his right foreleg, but considering its size, it could just as easily have been a decorative armor piece. The item matched his ominous cutie mark in appearance, and both of them were black, just like his mane and tail. “Hello, I’m-” Twilight started to say, when she was interrupted by Applejack.

“Alright, who are you and what’re you doin’ ‘round here?” Applejack asked harshly. The green pony looked at the two mares confronting him. His mouth was slightly open and he had a somewhat startled, yet curious expression on his face. “I don’t want you causing any problems, so why don’t you just get along now!” Applejack gestured with her hoof away from Fluttershy’s cottage, further emphasizing that he wasn’t welcome here. The green pony scowled at Applejack, rolled his eyes, and turned around to leave. After he had left, Applejack turned to Twilight and proudly said, “Well that wasn’t so tough, was it now?”

“Was that really necessary?” Twilight asked with a disapproving tone.

“Twilight, Ah don’t know ‘bout you, but that boy seemed suspicious to me,” Applejack said, “So yeah, Ah had to do that.”

“Okay, was he suspicious like Zecora when she first came here, or was he actually suspicious?” Twilight asked.

“Hm, maybe Ah was a bit too harsh,” Applejack conceded, “Tell y’what, if we run into him again and he turns out to be nice, Ah’ll apologize.”

When they returned to the cottage, Fluttershy agreed to have lunch with them. They talked about several topics during lunch, and they continued their conversation after they left the restaurant.

"So, Applejack," Twilight said. "How’s the farm doing?”

“Well, we’re doin’ alright, same as every year really,” Applejack responded. “Lucky for us we’ve got a big orchard and fertile soil, so we usually make ends meet. Still, Ah’d bet if we had just one normal year, we’d make a lot of money.”

“Normal year?” Fluttershy asked.

“Ah mean one year without somethin’ crazy happenin’ in this town. Last year was kinda rough, y’know,” Applejack recalled. “Remember that day Spike was stealin’ everything in town? He stole the apples and leaves off all our trees. Not only did we lose those apples, we had to wait for the leaves to grow back before any apples could grow. Thank Celestia the trees even managed to survive.”

“I’m really sorry about that, by the way,” Spike said.

“That’s okay, Spike,” Applejack assured him, “at least yah didn’t pull those trees out of the ground like that Flim Flam fiasco. Those maniacs ruined half the cider we coulda made and tore up the south field. It took weeks for Big Macintosh and Ah to replant that field, and it’ll be a few years before we can harvest there again.”

“Oh darn!” Twilight interrupted, “I forgot my saddlebags in the restaurant. Fluttershy, could you go back in and get them for me?”

Fluttershy nodded and went back into the restaurant. She reached the table they had eaten at and picked up Twilight’s saddlebags. She flew back to where she had left her friends, but found that they were gone. After searching the immediate area, Fluttershy began to worry. “Hey Fluttershy, something bugging you?” called a friendly voice. Fluttershy looked up and saw a familiar pegasus with a rainbow mane lying on a nearby cloud. Rainbow Dash was lying on her back with her head hanging off of the cloud’s edge so that Fluttershy was upside down from her perspective.

“Rainbow Dash, did you see Twilight or Applejack or Spike just now?” Fluttershy asked, unable to keep the concern out of her voice.

“Nah, I just woke up. I had a little weather job this morning and I’ve been napping here since. Why, are they missing or something?”

“Well, I was having lunch with them, and Twilight asked me to go back into the restaurant to get her saddlebags,” Fluttershy explained, “but when I came back, they were gone.”

Rainbow Dash recognized that this was a good time to console her friend up close, but she couldn’t resist showing off a little bit. She pushed with her hind legs and slid off the cloud. She reoriented her body as she fell and flapped her wings twice, slowing her fall at the last second and gently touching the ground with her hooves. “Relax Fluttershy, I’m sure something really important came up and they had to leave. I’m sure you can return them to her later. After all, they’re just saddlebags.”

“Well, normally I’d agree,” Fluttershy said, “but there was this really strange colt outside my cottage today, and Twilight and Applejack told him to go away. What if he attacked them just now? What if-”

Fluttershy was on the verge of tears as she explained everything to Rainbow Dash. “Fluttershy, calm down,” Rainbow Dash said, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “We’re talking about Applejack and Twilight Sparkle. Those two are more than capable of handling themselves. Besides, even if somepony attacked them, he’d still have to carry both of them away for them to disappear like this. Now, describe this colt to me.”

“Well, he was more of a stallion, closer to your age really,” Fluttershy started. “He had a green coat, black mane and tail, and…” Fluttershy hesitated to finish her description. Rainbow Dash nodded, coaxing her to continue. “He had a cutie mark of a monster.”

“A monster?”

“Yeah, his cutie mark was black, and the image looked like a monster,” Fluttershy explained.

“Okay, anything else?”

“Um,” Fluttershy thought for a few seconds, and then recalled, “He had something around his right foreleg, also black, but I didn’t get a good look at it. That’s all I can remember.”

“Wow, what is it with this guy and black? Alright, I’ll help you look for them,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll fly up and get a bird’s eye view of the area. Stay here and wait for me to come back.” Rainbow Dash flew up and searched for any sign of Twilight, Applejack or Spike. “Wait, why do they call it a ‘bird’s eye view?’ Pegasi can just as easily see from up here?” Rainbow Dash thought out loud. “Must be an earth pony figure of speech. Whatever, I don’t see them anywhere. If they were attacked, they couldn’t have been taken this far, so they must've just left on their own. Whoever this colt is, he’s probably not that important.”

Rainbow Dash decided to report back to Fluttershy. However, when she returned, Fluttershy was gone. “Fluttershy? Fluttershy, where are you?” she called out. After searching the immediate vicinity, the only thing she found were Twilight’s saddlebags. “Alright, something’s definitely wrong here,” Rainbow said. “Let’s see, green stallion with a bunch of black on him. Alright, whoever you are, I’m coming after you.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Rarity was as busy as ever today. She was carrying a cart full of semiprecious stones down one of Ponyville’s streets. A few digging tools were carefully balanced on top of the pile of gems. Rarity needed the gems to experiment with some new fashion designs, but when she visited the library, neither Twilight nor Spike was anywhere to be found.

‘Well that wasn’t quite as strenuous as I thought it would be,’ Rarity though to herself, ‘Normally I’d ask Spike to excavate gemstones for me, but I supposed magic is a suitable alternative.’ She looked back toward the digging tools, which she had telekinetically manipulated with her magic to unearth the gems. ‘Oh well, I suppose I can still save a few of these for my Spikey-wikey.’ She knew Spike hated that pet name, but saw no harm in using it in her inner monologue. Unfortunately, she was too distracted by her personal thoughts to avoid bumping into somepony’s side.

Rarity recoiled painfully after the impact. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” she said, rubbing her forehead before opening her eyes. Rarity looked up at the unkempt green stallion she had bumped into and noticed some blood on his shoulder. She levitated a mirror and saw that the tip of her horn was coated with his blood down to about two inches. “Ugh, do you see what you’ve done! Look at my horn!” The green pony raised an eyebrow, wondering why a bloody horn would take priority over the puncture wound it caused. “Oh, don’t give me that look, you’re fine! What do you have to say for yourself about this?!” Rarity tilted her head slightly and stepped closer. The stallion backed away, but remained silent. “Don’t you talk? Say something!” Rarity yelled, meeting his startled look with an angry glare. “Oh never mind, just get out of my way!”

Rarity walked around him with her cart full of jewels. The stallion looked at her as if to say “What’s her problem” before checking his shoulder and walking in the opposite direction.

When Rarity arrived at the Carousel Boutique, she was still fuming about her encounter with that other pony. “Who in Equestria does he think he is? He bumps into me, he stains my horn, and worst of all he’s green!” she said while applying a wet towel to her horn. Rarity hated the color green. To her, green symbolized envy, greed and illness, and she despised all those things. Sure, the color has its place in the visible spectrum, as Rainbow Dash demonstrated, but she frequently found it difficult to incorporate into her dress designs. Not only that, but to Rarity the mix of black and green in his appearance made him look like a radiation hazard.

Normally, the stallion's appearance wouldn't have angered her so much. If anything, she might have even offered to fix his appearance and make him look more presentable. However, her horn horn was in a lot of pain due to being yanked during the collision. Because of the pain, she was in no mood to deal with him. After a few minutes, the gems were separated based on type and deposited into several chests. Rarity looked at her mirror and was satisfied now that her horn was back to its pristine color. A moment later, she was hit in the head with a sharp blow, knocking her unconscious.

* * * * * * * * * *

Pinkie Pie left Sugarcube Corner, bouncing happily as usual. If anything, she was even more energetic today; as she went, she did a somersault on every fourth bounce. Pinkie gave a few greetings as she went along her way when she noticed a green stallion with a black mane walking by. ‘Ooh, I’ve never seen him before,' she thought. 'He must be new in town. Oh my gosh, look at him. He looks so sad. Alright Pinkie, this one’s an emergency! You’ve got to throw him a party to cheer him up as soon as possible, but first!’

The green stallion was looking around at the buildings and ponies around him, but he did look depressed. A second later, Pinkie was right in front of him with a big grin on her face. “Hi there!” The other pony took a step back and had a bewildered expression on his face. “What’s your name? My name’s Pinkie Pie!” she said, holding out her hoof. The stallion hesitated before lifting his hoof and shaking hers. “Not much of a talker, are you? That’s okay! Hey, why don’t you come over to Sugarcube Corner at 3:00 today? I’ll have a surprise there waiting just for you!” Pinkie trotted away from the green pony. She was already planning a party to throw for him, and was unaware that four of her closest friends already had their own encounters with him.

* * * * * * * * * *

At 2:30, Rainbow Dash was flying over Ponyville. She had been flying around for an hour looking for any sign of her four missing friends or that pony Fluttershy described. During her search, she had checked Fluttershy’s cottage, dropped off Twilight’s saddlebags at the library, and scanned Sweet Apple Acres from above. Rainbow Dash was now flying above the park, wondering if she should take a break or come up with a different plan.

She then spotted a pony that seemed to match Fluttershy’s description. "He’s green and black, but I can’t make out any details from this altitude." Rainbow Dash flew closer to the green pony, and as his features became clearer, she accelerated in her descent. The stallion matched Fluttershy’s description, and Rainbow Dash held out both forelegs in front of her, ready to tackle him from behind.

She was two seconds away from her target when his head jerked up. Immediately afterward, he pushed off of his hooves and rolled to the right. Rainbow Dash reacted too slowly to his dodge-roll and crashed, sliding several feet. She got up quickly after she stopped sliding. This was nothing compared to her worst crashes, but more importantly, she wasn’t going to embarrass herself in front of her foe. “Are you okay?” the stallion asked, though he was only slightly concerned about the pegasus who had just tried to attack him.

“I’d be more worried about myself if I were you,” Rainbow Dash said, turning to face the green stallion, ready to attack again. “What have you done to my friends?”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t done anything.”

“I’m talking about my friends, three mares and a baby dragon,” Rainbow Dash said. “They all saw you today and now they’re all gone, and I want to know what you done to them!”

“Your friends are missing?” he said with a concerned look.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she tackled him into a tree. She held him up against the tree with her right hoof and glared at him. “I’ll give you one last chance to start talking before I beat the information out of you.”

“I-I don’t know where they are,” he said. “Look, if your friends are in trouble, I want to help you find them, especially if this has anything to do with me.” Rainbow Dash began to think he was telling the truth, and his offer sounded genuine.

She took a closer look at the stallion she had pinned against the tree. His eyes were also green, but a darker hue than the one on his coat. Fluttershy had exaggerated about his cutie mark. The image featured pegasus wings and a unicorn’s horn. In the center was something that could’ve resembled a monster’s head, but the comparison was lost because of a bright green sword superimposed over it vertically. The mark did resemble the item he wore on his right foreleg, which looked like both a piece of jewelry and a greave. The item was made of a black, lustrous metal, with an emerald in its center. Fluttershy also didn’t mention the white bangs in his otherwise black mane, or three white streaks that ran along his sides, where a pegasus’ wings would normally be.

“Alright, maybe you’re telling the truth,” Rainbow Dash said as she released him. “But I’m not letting you off the hook just yet. If I find out that you’re behind all this, I will come back for you.”

Rainbow Dash turned and started to fly off. “Hold on,” the green stallion said, “don’t you want my help?”

“Don’t bother, you’ve wasted enough of my time already.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Rainbow Dash flew around Ponyville for the next half-hour. She was still trying to find her friends, but that other pony turned out to be a dead end, and she had no other leads to follow. She touched down on a cloud near Whitetail Wood to figure out what to do next. From her perch, Rainbow Dash saw another stallion dragging Pinkie Pie’s unconscious body into the woods. She pushed off of the cloud, spread her wings and dove at him, ready to pull up in case this one did a last-second dodge-roll.

This stallion had a blue coat and a white mane and tail. His cutie mark depicted a brick wall, and he was about the same size as Big Macintosh. Despite his size, Rainbow Dash knocked him off his hooves through sheer momentum and threw him into a tree sixty feet away. She slid on her hooves for about five feet to come to a stop. “What are you doing with Pinkie Pie?” she asked. She tried to step toward him, but found her hooves completely immobile. “Hey, let me go!” She recognized the force holding her legs in place, and sure enough, there was a unicorn mare standing behind her.

The unicorn, without saying a word, lifted both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie with her magic. She motioned toward her earth pony accomplice to follow, and they both entered the woods. Rainbow Dash struggled, but could not break the unicorn’s telekinetic grip. Meanwhile, Pinkie woke up and saw her friend floating right next to her. “Hi, Rainbow Dash!” She looked at her surroundings, and then turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Where are we going?”

“Ask them,” Rainbow Dash replied, “but you’d better make it quick. As soon as I break free, they’re gonna get it!”

“Oh, you poor, pathetic pegasus. What makes you think you can overcome unicorn magic?” The unicorn asked.

Rainbow Dash was about to ask this unicorn what she had against pegasi, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie shouting, “We’re here!” The four of them arrived at a large clearing. A pegasus mare stood in front of them, and at the other end was another earth pony stallion. On the right side of the clearing, many cages were lined up. Only two of the cages were empty; the rest were occupied by Ponyville ponies, including the rest of Rainbow’s closest friends.

The unicorn placed Pinkie Pie in one of the cages and locked the door. “It’s a good thing I can let go of one of them,” she said. “This one is actually starting to break free.” She pointed to Rainbow Dash, who was still struggling.

“Twilight! Applejack!” Rainbow Dash called. “Can’t you break out of those?”

“What the hay do you think we’ve been tryin’ to do?” Applejack retorted. “These cages are too cramped for anypony to break apart from inside. Not only that, they’ve been feeding all the unicorns some sorta plant, and now they cain’t use their magic.”

The blue earth pony walked up to the other earth pony, saying, “Now’s a good time to bring him here.”

“You know, it’s strange,” the other earth pony said. This one had a black coat and a white mane and tail. His cutie mark depicted a galloping horse. He wasn’t as large as the blue stallion in front of him, but he was clearly the leader of the four. “You’d think he’d have noticed us by now.”

“That’s funny, you’d think they’d have noticed me following them.”

The two earth ponies turned and saw their mare accomplices lying beaten on the ground in front of them. At the other end of the clearing, Rainbow Dash was also lying on the ground, having been abruptly released from the unicorn’s grasp. She stood up and saw the same green pony from before, now standing next to her and confronting the other four.

“Well, what do you know, he can talk.” Rarity said.

“Alright, let these ponies go, and leave this town alone,” the green pony said.

“That’s a rude way to make an entrance,” the black earth pony said. “You attack two of us and now you’re ordering us to leave. You don’t even know why we’re here.”

“I know who you are, and what you do,” the green stallion shot back. “What I don’t understand is this whole setup. Normally you just keep a low profile until you find the most valuable thing in town.”

“Like I said, you don’t even know why we’re here. You see, we have found the most valuable thing in this town: you.”

“That’s what this is all about? You’re still trying to recruit me?”

“No, not just that,” the pegasus said. “I mean, we want you to join us, but afterward, we’re definitely looting this place. Serves them right for what they’ve put you through today.”

“And you’ve taken it upon yourselves to punish them,” the green pony said. “Who gave you that right?”

“You misunderstand,” the unicorn started to explain. “We’re offering you the chance to punish them. You can join the looting, you can break things, nothing too valuable of course, and if you still want to cause some damage, we have all these ponies lined up just for you.” She was now pointing to the imprisoned Ponyville ponies.

“And what makes you think you’re gonna get away with this?” Rainbow Dash said. She was getting angrier by the second, and was eager to put them all in the hospital, but she also wanted to get the whole story. “You think nopony’s gonna notice what you’re doing or wonder where everypony is?”

“Well, that’s just it, look at who we’ve captured,” the black pony said. “We have a few ponies that could’ve actually stopped us.” He motioned toward some of town’s more athletic or magically skilled ponies. “And we have a few that nopony’s going to miss.” He pointed to Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, Doctor Whooves and several other background ponies that the town, in all honesty, could’ve gone a whole day without noticing their absence. “More importantly, we’ve captured every pony that has had any contact with our little friend today.” He turned to speak to the green pony. “You see, we have been keeping a low profile. You, not so much.”

“So a few ponies that saw me today have vanished,” the green pony said. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“I think you’ll find that it does,” the pegasus said. “You, rainbow girl! When you were out looking for your friends today, how many ponies did you describe him to, seventy maybe?”

“Yeah, about that many, so what?” Rainbow Dash responded. “And don’t call me ‘rainbow girl’!”

“Think about it,” The blue stallion said. “Who is everypony in town going to look for, the four ponies they’ve never seen or heard of, or him?”

‘Uh-oh, they’re right,’ Rainbow Dash thought, ‘I’ve been pointing at him this whole time, and if he goes back into town now…’

“Do you understand now?” The black earth pony said. “This town doesn’t care what you do or what happens to you. A few of them were even ready to hurt you today, maybe even kill you. That rainbow pegasus standing next to you, she’s the worst one, isn’t she? Why would you possibly side with them? Join us, have fun, cause some damage, maybe you’ll even learn something about yourself. What’ll it be?”

Rainbow Dash looked at the green stallion out of the corner of her eye. He was getting visibly angrier with each word the black earth pony said. ‘This is bad. I’m all for beating up those four, but this guy hasn’t done anything wrong, and now I’ll have to pummel him too to protect my friends.’ She felt guilty for what she had done, and what she would have to do, until…

“I told you to let these ponies go and leave this town alone.”

“Think about what you’re doing,” the pegasus said. “You’re really going to choose them over your friends?”

“Friends, huh?” The green pony countered. “From the moment I met you, you’ve done nothing but try to manipulate me. You turned an entire town against me just to get me to join your club. I don't need friends like you.”

“Hey, look,” Rainbow Dash started before the green pony interrupted her.

“Save it,” he said with the same calm yet harsh tone he used to reject the group of thieves. “Just because I’m siding against them doesn’t mean I’m siding with you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The green pony looked at Rainbow Dash and simply said, “It means I’m not going out of my way to help you out if those guys overwhelm you.”

“What makes you think I can’t take them?”

“Because you’re three inches off the ground right now, and it’s not because of your wings,” he pointed out.

Rainbow Dash looked down and realized that that unicorn was using magic on her again. She had just enough time to tell the green stallion, “This wouldn’t be happening if you hadn’t distracted me,” before being flung into the last empty cage. The cage toppled back and landed upside-down when she was thrown into it. In the middle of its roll, the cage's door swung shut and locked itself.

“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” Twilight shouted.

“I’m fine, and that’s not what I’m worried about right now.”

“You sure he can do this?” Applejack asked.

“Not really. I’m not even sure he’ll set us free afterward,” Rainbow Dash answered.

The green pony lowered his head and charged at his enemies. The pegasus took flight and dove at him. The green pony ducked to dodge her and skidded to a halt on his hooves. He frantically dodged the pegasus as she tried to tackle him several times, but she was a fast flier and eventually tackled him. The green pony was thrown off his hooves and bounced as he landed on his back, but he quickly recovered by reaching for the ground with his right foreleg and sliding to a stop.

“I thought this was going to be harder,” The pegasus said. “You should’ve joined us while you had- wait. Why are you smiling like that?”

Every pony looked at him and saw that she was right, he was smiling. “Well I don’t know about you,” the green pony said, “but this is actually pretty fun. Kind of like a game of tag. But can’t you do any better than that. If you don’t pick up the pace, I might just fall asleep.”

Every pony who heard this was shocked. He was clearly at a disadvantage, but not only was he talking as if this wasn’t a challenge, he was actually enjoying himself. “We’re all being held prisoner, our town is in danger, and you’re having fun?!” Twilight shouted.

“Hey, could you maybe get us out of here today?” Rainbow Dash added.

“Sure, no problem,” the green pony replied while dodging the pegasus again, this time more gracefully. The pegasus flew at him at high speeds from every direction possible, but he avoided every attack, even when she was attacking from directly behind him. He avoided her attacks by ducking, rolling to the side, hopping backward, or even jumping right over her as she flew low. Each evasive stunt brought him closer to the caged ponies, which were now behind him.

The pegasus charged in front of him, but this time, he leapt over her, grabbed her tail with his teeth, and flipped in mid-air. In doing so, he pulled her out of her flight path and released her 360° into his flip, throwing her onto the ground. The green pony absorbed the force of the pegasus’ charge and used it to land safely on top of one of the cages. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” he said as he jumped off of the cages. “You can attack me as much as you want, but don’t go crashing into the spectators. I mean that’s just rude.” That smile was still on his face, and it was going to stay there for much of the fight.

“We are NOT your spectators!” Applejack shouted.

“Speak for yourself, Applejack,” Pinkie Pie said, holding a bucket of popcorn and drinking a soda through a straw.

The pegasus, now bruised and angry, started attacking again, but the green pony kept dodging her like before. “Why won’t you stay still?” she said, pausing on each word to charge at him. He hopped onto her back and jumped off as she flew at him, doing another flip at the peak of his jump. The pegasus was shoved downward when he jumped off of her, and she almost slid on the ground as a result.

“Let me see if I understand this,” the green pony said, “You’re asking me to stand perfectly still so that you can beat me half to death… How stupid are you?”

The pegasus screamed in rage as she charged him again, only to fail miserably and hit the ground, sliding in front of her associates. She was bruised, sweating and panting, clearly exhausted from the fight. “I can’t do it,” she said. “He’s too fast.”

“Oh come on,” the green pony mocked, “it can’t be that I’m too fast. You know what, maybe you’re too slow.”

“You take that back!” she yelled. “I am not too slow!” She flew at him again, this time faster than ever. The green pony jumped aside, spun around, and kicked her with his hind legs. She spun out of control and crashed into a puddle of mud.

“Yeah, too slow,” the green pony remarked, a final jeer at the defeated pegasus. As soon as he said this, his green irises flashed for a split second, and he turned his head to see the blue earth pony charging at him. He jumped aside again and kept his left hind leg in place as he pushed to the side with his other legs. This caused his hind legs to spin around him in a sweeping motion, tripping the blue stallion when they made contact with his legs. “Do you know how loud you are when you gallop? I could’ve heard you from a mile away.”

The blue stallion stood back up and turned to face his opponent. The green pony galloped toward him, and when he was a few feet away, he hopped, spun around and kicked the blue earth pony with his hind legs. He then jumped onto the blue stallion’s back and stood on his head with his forelegs and jumped off, trying to shove the blue earth pony’s head downward. When he landed on the ground, the green pony kicked his opponent in the side with both hind legs. He then bent his forelegs, doing a forward roll to get away from the other pony.

The blue stallion, completely unfazed by the green pony’s assault, asked, “Was that supposed to do anything?”

The green pony just stared at his opponent with his mouth slightly open before saying, “On anypony else it would’ve.”

The blue earth pony found a stone in front of his hooves and stomped it with his foreleg. He swept away at the dust in front of him, showing that the stone had been completely pulverized. “How right you are, because this is going to be you in about a minute.”

“Nah, I’m not worried,” the green pony replied. “I mean sure, you're built like a castle, but you move like one too.”

“What’s your point?” the blue stallion asked. He had already started attacking the annoying green pony.

“My point is that you’re going to have the same problem that she did,” the green pony said, dodging with many of the moves he had used earlier. “It doesn’t matter how powerful you are if you can’t actually hit me.”

“Yeah, I saw that fight, and I also noticed how quickly you tired her out. Maybe I’ll use that same tactic on you. After all those fancy acrobatics, you’ll tire yourself out, and then I’ll finish you off.” The blue stallion had a point. All of his attacks were powerful, yet reserved. In contrast, the green pony had just fought another pony earlier, and all of his movements used a lot more energy.

“You know, I like that plan! It does sound like something that would work on me,” The green pony mused out loud. “But I think my plan is better; it has something that yours doesn’t.”

“What, you being incredibly annoying?” the blue stallion retorted.

“Hey what can I say? I love being the center of attention,” the green pony replied, having come to a stop in front of some trees at the edge of the clearing. “It distracts my opponents from more important things.” Every pony in the clearing was stunned. A few of them mouthed the word “What?” after hearing that. “But no, my secret? I’m not dumb enough to tell my opponent how I’m going to beat him.”

The blue earth pony punched twice, then kicked with his hind legs, but he only succeeded in tearing into the trunks of four trees behind the green pony. The green pony hopped onto his back, jumped in front of him and galloped a short distance before stopping and turning around. Both stallions charged toward each other briefly, but the blue one stopped when the green one ran onto an outcropping and jumped onto a tree branch. He jumped from one tree to another before aligning his body parallel to a branch on one of them and running along it. The green pony turned to his opponent and shouted, “Hey, I’m over here! Come and get me!”

Both stallions charged toward each other again, but just before they could collide, the green one rolled aside as the four trees that were damaged by the blue stallion fell in front of him. The blue stallion hadn't noticed the trees falling behind him, and was pinned underneath two of them. He struggling to get onto his hooves and push them off while the green pony stood in front of him. “You see these trees on top of you? I’d say they were more important than the pony who couldn’t even lay a scratch on you.” The blue stallion stopped struggling and looked up at the green pony mocking him. “What, over already? Oh well… uh-oh.” The green pony looked down and realized that he was being lifted off the ground.

The unicorn whose magic was holding him threw him against the ground, then lifted him again and flipped him by his hind legs to smash his body against one of the fallen trees. She then tossed him to his right, his body rolling on the ground until he stopped in front of her. “Never send a pegasus and an earth pony to do a unicorn’s job,” she said as she telekinetically lifted the green pony one more time. “If I had done this sooner, we’d have moved on to the rest of the town by now. Oh well, better late than never to teach this little colt a lesson, and to take this treasure off his hooves. I just need to figure out how to remove it.”

“What, this thing?” the green pony asked, holding up his right foreleg to show the piece of jewelry on it. “It’s not that hard to get it off. If you ask nicely, it’ll come off on its own.”

The unicorn’s magic visibly constricted around the green pony’s body, causing him to struggle painfully against it. “You really don’t know when to shut up, do you? With my magic I can do whatever I want with you. You can’t break free.”

The green pony continued to struggle against the unicorn’s telekinetic grip. He then stopped, relaxed, and after closing his eyes, instantly vanished in a green flash. The unicorn’s concentration broke, and she began to wonder what just happened. “Eh, not a bad toy,” the green pony’s voice rang out in its cocky tone before switching to a more serious one. “But playtime’s over!” The unicorn turned to her left, she saw the pony giving her an angry look.

“Wh-what did you, how is that even…”

“So you’re a teleporter,” the black stallion said. “I guess this explains that Baltimare incident, but I’m not sure why you’re getting so worked up about it.”

“Teleporter or not, you still can’t win,” the unicorn said. She prepared her magic, but her concentration broke when the green pony teleported again.

“I don’t know much about unicorn magic, but I’m pretty sure you have to focus on whatever it is you’re trying to change with it,” the green pony said.

“What could something like you know about unicorn magic?” the unicorn stated, still trying to trap him.

“I know that it takes longer for you to put a spell together than it does for me to change locations. I know that I can escape any spell you cast by teleporting. And I know that you can’t tell where I’m going when I disappear.” The green pony teleported at the end of each sentence to evade the unicorn’s magic. “As powerful as you think you are, you can’t touch me.” He teleported right next to her and spoke into her right ear on his last sentence. “I don’t have that problem.” He teleported to the unicorn’s left side and kicked her with his hind legs. The unicorn hit a tree and landed on the ground, defeated in only one hit.

“Alright everypony,” the green pony shouted to the captive townsponies, “I’m almost done! Just got one last thing to-” he was interrupted when the black earth pony tackled him. The leader of this group galloped underneath the green pony at triple-digit speeds and kicked him in the other direction. The green pony stayed airborne as the black earth pony kept running past to intercept him with another attack.

Eventually, the green pony teleported to another part of the clearing to avoid any more blows and landed on the ground. He was about to try to stand up when the other pony appeared in front of him and stomped on his right knee, making a barely audible cracking sound. The green pony heard and felt the crack and clenched his teeth, trying his best not to scream.

“You know,” the black pony said, before he sped off to the other side of the clearing, “I am very disappointed in you. I was really hoping you could be a part of our family. Do you know what we could have accomplished with somepony like you? But no, you had to throw our offer back at us. You attacked us, humiliated us, and for what? This town? Your personal revenge? Well that’s a shame, because that was your last chance. Go on, try to find help. These ponies can’t help you, and even if you crawled back into town you wouldn’t fare much better. You’re all alone, and I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”

The green pony breathed heavily as he struggled to get up during this speech. He managed to reach a sitting position and checked his right foreleg. His knee was clearly broken, and he did his best to adjust his leg so that it wouldn’t get in his way. He looked up when the black earth pony finished his speech and make his own remark. “You know, that’s too bad. I was gonna do a little victory dance after all this.” He smiled at the end, just like he had for half of the entire fight, but from the sound of his voice, he was clearly in pain.

“You can’t be serious,” the black pony said angrily, “I broke your leg and your still cracking jokes?”

“Well let’s face it, you are a joke,” the green pony said before teleporting to the edge of the clearing. “But I’m a nice pony, so I’m gonna let you hit me. Come on, free shot.” The black earth pony charged at him, not thinking about his offer, but apparently taking it anyway. The green pony teleported at the last second, causing the other pony to crash into a tree. “I’m right here!” he said, having only teleported five feet to his right. “Where are you running?” He teleported again and was now sitting at the center of the clearing.

“You think this is funny, don’t you?” the black pony seethed. “I going to break every bone in your body, and they’re all going to watch. We’ll see how funny it is then.” He charged again, but came to a stop when the green pony teleported away.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” The green pony stood behind the black stallion, with their backs facing each other. He looked up past the trees and studied the sky above him. “But now,” he said, teleporting in front of the black stallion and lifting his left hoof to his opponent’s muzzle, “my turn.” They both vanished, but the green pony reappeared a split second later. He spent the next few seconds tending to his injured leg as best as he could, while most of the ponies looked on in confusion.

“What did you do with him?” Twilight asked.

“There’s a saying about things that go up, and-” the green pony started to explain, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie.

“Ooh, I know this one!” She was about to continue when the black earth pony slammed into the ground.

“Turns out it applies to him too,” the green pony said.

The black earth pony stood up with some difficulty, now as angry as any of his cohorts had been when they each fought the green stallion. “It’s not over yet,” he said. “Just because you’ve-”

“Actually, it is,” the green pony interrupted. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s been fun fighting the four of you. But I’ve got better things to with the rest of my day, so I think I’m ready to wrap this up now.”

The black earth pony fumed. “You arrogant little-”

“Shut up,” the green pony interrupted again. “I’m not done talking. You were wrong when you said that I was alone. I just showed that I can bring anything I want with me when I teleport. If I wanted to, I could have gone back into town and brought any number of ponies here. Alternatively...” He pointed to the caged ponies. “I could’ve had my pick from any of them. That reminds me.” The green pony teleported next to Rainbow Dash’s cage, touched her shoulder with his left foreleg, and teleported both of them back to where he stood before. “You should keep a closer eye on your prisoners. One of them just sprung loose.”

“Really, her?” the black pony said. “That’s the best you can come up with?”

“Don’t think that I’m a pushover,” Rainbow Dash said as her wings flared. “I’ll show you what happens when you mess with Ponyville.” She was about to take flight, but stopped when the green pony held his foreleg out in front of her. “Wait, I thought you needed backup.”

“If I wanted your help, I’d have let you out sooner,” the green pony responded. “In fact, the only reason you’re out now is because I needed an empty cage. After all...” He teleported in front of the black earth pony, touched his muzzle, and teleported twice. The first time, he teleported right in front of the empty cage, bringing the black pony with him. The second time, he returned to Rainbow’s side, leaving the earth pony inside the cage. “What else am I gonna do with him?”

“When I get out of here...” the black pony said before being interrupted a third time by the green pony.

“Is anypony really gonna listen to this?” He turned to Rainbow Dash. “His crimes were against your town, so I’ll let you figure out what to do with him. As for the rest of you...” He appeared in front of both the blue stallion and the unicorn to teleport them next to the pegasus. “Get out. I’m letting the three of you go for now, but if I find out that any of you are doing something I don’t like, I’ll come after you. When that happens, you’re gonna look back on this day and realize that I went easy on you.”

The unicorn was the first to leave, but the earth pony glared at him. The green pony glared back, and after they stared at each other for a few seconds, the blue stallion walked off. The pegasus gave him a seemingly remorseful look before she too finally left. The green pony sighed before turning to the imprisoned townsponies. “Is everypony okay? Did any of you get hurt in all of this?”

“We’re all fine!” Twilight answered. “We still can’t use our magic, but that plant’s effects should wear off in a few hours, and none of us really need any medical attention.”

“Good, only one thing left to do,” the green pony whispered. Within the next two seconds, he teleported each pony out of his or her cage, leaving behind only the black stallion. Many of the freed ponies took a minute to mingle among one another, but eventually they all turned to look at the green pony. “Look, I appreciate the gratitude or whatever, but you’ve all been here for at least an hour. I’m pretty sure you’ve all got stuff in town that needs your attention.” Many of the ponies realized that they each had their own tasks, and little by little, they went back into town. After a while, all of the townsponies had left, leaving the green pony alone in the clearing. He sighed in relief and turned his attention to his injured leg.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” The green pony recognized the voice of the rainbow maned pegasus and turned his head to see the six mares he’d met today standing behind him, along with a baby dragon. He teleported to a spot several feet further from them and stared at them, prepared for another fight.

“Take it easy,” Applejack said, “We’re not here to hurt you.”

“Wait, we’re not?” Rarity asked.

“We just wanted to welcome you back into town and throw you a big party!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Her sentence was punctuated with an explosion of confetti as she stood on her hind legs and spread out her forelegs.

“Really,” he said bitterly before teleporting behind them with his head facing away from them. “I didn’t feel very welcome earlier this afternoon.”

“Look, I know we all got off on the wrong hoof,” Twilight said, approaching him. “We just want to make it up to you. Besides, you’re in no condition to go anywhere on that leg. At least come with us to the hospital to get it looked at.”

The green pony sat there silently for a few seconds. “All right, fine. I guess I can stay in Ponyville until my leg heals, but not a minute longer. As soon as I can walk again, I’m leaving.”

“Good enough,” Spike said. “Now we just have to figure out how to get you to the hospital.”

Author's Note

Okay, so it’s pretty obvious that I didn’t give names for any of the five new characters I used, especially since I keep referring to them as ‘the green pony’, ‘the pegasus’, ‘the unicorn’, ‘the blue stallion’ and ‘the black earth pony’. Well, to tell you the truth, I hate coming up with names, mainly because I suck at coming up with names. It took me forever to come up with the story title, the chapter title, and even my own damn username on this site. It’s not really a big deal for now, because I’m not really going to use the four antagonists from this chapter again, except for the inevitable prequel chapter. The green one gets a name in the next chapter. Other than that, feel free to comment. Criticism, both positive and negative, is strongly encouraged.

At the Hospital

Later that afternoon, Twilight and her friends went to Ponyville Hospital. Each of the young mares had finished most of what they had to do for the day and they all agreed to go there together. The pony they had met earlier that day was there recovering, and they all had some questions to ask him. They entered his room and saw him lying in bed listening to music through a pair of earbuds. His injured foreleg was in a sling placed across his chest. “Oh it’s you,” he said, pulling out the earbuds when he saw them enter.

“Yeah, it’s us. So how’s that leg?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It should be fine now that he’s here.” A unicorn doctor entered the room and showed an x-ray image of his injured foreleg. “His knee was severely fractured today, but we can facilitate his recovery with a few healing spells. His leg should be good as new in about a month. However, we noticed a lot more when we first admitted him. He has several smaller injuries, some from today, some days or even weeks old, and the older ones don’t seem to be healing properly.” The doctor turned to the green pony with a concerned look. “What exactly have you been doing to yourself?”

“Okay, in my defense,” the green pony answered, “I didn’t start any of the fights I’ve been in the last two months.”

“So you’ve been in fights.”

“But I didn’t start any of them.”

“For the last two months.”

“But I didn’t start any of them.”

“And you’re saying that you didn’t start any of them?”

“Yeah, like this afternoon. Although I suppose you’re right. I could have avoided them by simply walking away.”

“I guess you could put it that way, but that’s not going to win you any friends. I have another patient to check on, but feel free to ask if you need anything. Girls, visiting hours end in 45 minutes, so don’t stay too long.” The doctor left, leaving the other ponies in the room.

“So, what brings you here?” the green pony asked casually.

“We were curious about a few things, and we want to ask you some questions.” Twilight said.

“I think I’ll start,” Rarity said angrily. “I had a talk with the leader of those thugs, and he told me that you’re the type of pony that’s not to be trusted.” She stepped onto the bed and stood over him. “Now tell me, what are you doing here in Ponyville? How do you know those scoundrels? And how could you let three of them go?” Rarity felt her hooves lose their footing. The green pony was lifting her with his hind legs, and was about to toss her off the bed.

“Hey, put her down now!” Applejack said. “Just because she was outta line don’t mean you can go throwin’ her like that! And Rarity, get off the bed and leave him alone.”

After Applejack scolded them, the green pony bent his knees to let Rarity down and Rarity climbed off the bed. “Look I’ll answer whatever questions you have,” the green pony said, “but could the next one come from somepony with a little more respect for my personal space?”

Out of nowhere, Pinkie appeared next to the bed and shouted, “Hi there! Want some cake?” The green pony stared at her, then at the rectangular cake she was holding before accepting a slice. Pinkie placed the rest of the cake on a table next to the bed.

The green pony was about to take a bite, but looked at Pinkie and said, “You know, you can have some too if you want. I don’t think I’d be able to eat the whole thing anyway.” Pinkie gladly took his offer and swallowed half of the cake, which had already been cut into slices. The green pony just stared blankly at her, surprised that she ate half the cake in one bite. “I’ll think I’ll get another slice while there’s still some left. If any of you want any, you should too.” Fluttershy was the first to take a slice, and after a minute, Spike and the other ponies each took one of the five remaining slices.

“You never did tell me what your name is,” Pinkie said. The green pony looked up at her. “Remember when we first met and I asked you what you’re name is, but you didn’t say anything and you just kept looking at me with that look on your face, like the one you’re giving me now? I didn’t think to ask you again because I went to throw you that party at Sugarcube Corner, but now that we’re here, what’s your name?”

“Zero Volt,” he answered. “Wait, why were you throwing me a party?”

“Well, you look kinda sad when I saw you, so I wanted to cheer you up by throwing you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party. I even made this cake, but then I got kidnapped and you got hurt, so there was no party, but I didn’t want to let the cake go to waste, so I brought it here.”

“Y’know, as rude as she was, Rarity raised a good question before.” Applejack said. “How do yah know those other ponies? Mah name’s Applejack, by the way.”

“I met them in Hoofington about two months ago,” he explained. “They’ve been trying to get me to join them ever since, but I never took the offer. I even tried to hide my abilities from them because I didn’t really trust them. It’s just as well, they never told me what they did anyway. I only found out when I saw them running from one of their heists.”

“Now that I think about it, they were pretty interested in your teleportation ability,” Twilight recalled. “They even mentioned an incident in Baltimare?”

“That was about a week before I even met them,” Zero Volt said. “I was being chased out of that city by a pack of dogs and a few other ponies. I barely managed to escape from them. The strange thing is, after I got away, I realized that I didn’t know what I was doing there or even why they were chasing me. In fact, I can’t remember anything from before that day. I’ve been traveling around Equestria ever since, trying to find out what and where my old life is. I figure that if I never remember it, it should at least remember me.”

“Well Ah don’t remember ever seein’ yah before and Ah’ve been in Ponyville mah whole life,” Applejack said.

“Yeah, nothing about this town looks familiar to me,” he agreed.

“Now I’ve got a question,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “Why didn’t you let us help you? I mean aside from getting your leg broken, you did a pretty good job back there. But I could’ve taken any of those guys, and you still let me get caught like that.”

“Well that one’s complicated,” Zero Volt said. “You’re right though, those guys weren’t that tough. I think they only got as far as they did because they tend to sneak up on others. At least that’s when I had trouble with them, and you look like you could’ve taken all of them.”

“You’re an idiot!” Twilight said as she walked over to the side of the bed. “I didn’t want to say this before, but I have to now. It’s not just that you fought them by yourself. Remember how you finished that fight, by teleporting that last one into one of the cages? You could have done that from the beginning! To all four of them! But instead you toyed with them. You chose not to use your teleportation ability for half the fight. Look, I’m sorry that you got hurt, but this,” she pointed at his injured leg, “was completely avoidable!”

“I guess you have a point there,” Zero Volt said. “But I was more interested in getting revenge at the time. It wasn’t just about beating them; I wanted to annoy them as much as possible. And I think I was also trying to annoy you as much as possible.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“I mean the way I handled that fight. You’re right, I could’ve finished them off more quickly than I did, but that also means that you would have all been freed sooner. Don’t get me wrong, I was going to let you out of those cages, and I did eventually, but after you all mistreated me, I just didn’t see the rush.”

“So yah left us in there and stalled the fight jus' to get back at us?” Applejack said.

“Pretty much,” he said. He looked down at his injured leg. “Guess it kind of backfired on me, didn’t it?”

Applejack gave him a disapproving look. She looked back at her friends, and then turned back to him. “Ah s’pose we could jus’ let that slide for now.”

“Hey, could we get a look at that thing around your leg?” Spike interjected.

“What, this?” Zero Volt said, lifting his left foreleg, which had the jeweled greave around it. He had to remove it from his other leg to allow the doctors to treat it. “Sure, go ahead.” Spike hopped onto the bed and examined the item. Zero Volt was tempted to ask Spike not to eat it, knowing that he might like the emerald embedded in it, but he was already on thin ice with the young mares, and decided against it.

Spike took a minute to admire the item, the emerald in particular, and noticed something about it. “How do you take this off your leg? I don’t see a switch or anything.”

“Like I said before, if you ask nicely, it’ll come off on its own.” As Zero Volt said this, the wings, being wrapped around his leg, spread out. Underneath the wings was a gold bracelet, still holding the item in place. He pressed a button on it and the bracelet opened, releasing the item from his leg. “It comes on and off whenever you want it to, so you don’t have to ask out loud. Try it if you want, but that thing’s really important to me, so don’t forget to give it back.”

“Really, this is how you treat an object that’s important to you?” Rarity said as she magically brought the jewel in front of her. “Look at the dreadful condition that it’s in! The wings and horn on it are badly scratched and there’s dirt all over it, although the emerald in the center is surprisingly unscathed.”

“Okay, so I haven’t had a chance to clean or polish it today,” Zero Volt said. “And of course it has scratches on it. It’s both a piece of jewelry and a greave.”

“Look, if this really is a treasured possession of yours, you need to take better care of it,” Rarity said as she wiped the item with a towelette. She placed it around her foreleg and secured the gold bracelet, but was surprised when the wings did not wrap around it. “I thought you said that this would secure itself if you wanted it to.”

“It usually does,” he said. "Maybe it doesn’t like you.” Rarity glared at him. “I wasn’t joking about that, at least not entirely.”

“And why would it choose to let you wear it and not me?”

“Let me try it,” Rainbow Dash said. Rarity removed the jewel and levitated it toward Rainbow Dash. “So we’ve seen your fighting moves and we’ve seen you teleport. What else can you do?”

“Well, I can also stand on clouds, just like a pegasus,” Zero Volt replied. “I can’t imagine doing that as frequently as my other abilities, but it’s still kind of cool.”

Rainbow Dash had already closed the gold bracelet around her foreleg, and a second later, the wings on the item started to wrap around it. “Hey it really does move when you want it to!” She looked at him, spread her wings and flew toward the window. “Be right back.”

“Are you sure you’re not controlling that thing?” Rarity asked.

“She just flew out the window with it,” Zero Volt answered. “If I could control it from here, it would’ve fallen off her leg before she left.”

“You said that you’re going to leave Ponyville as soon as your leg heals, right?” Twilight interjected. “At first I thought it was because of us, but…”

“I still have to find out who I am and where I’m supposed to be,” he said. “Even if we do all get along, I can’t stay here.”

“Well, there’s still a lot of friction between us, but I guess it was nice meeting you,” Twilight said. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and that’s Spike, my personal assistant.”

Zero Volt nodded at both of them. A moment later, Rainbow Dash returned, carrying a cloud through the window. “You said you could stand on clouds, so I want to see you do that. Not that I don’t believe you or anything. Oh, forgot to take this off.” Rainbow Dash removed the jeweled greave and placed it next to him. “This thing does look nice, but it’s not really my style.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea for him to climb onto a cloud right now?” Twilight asked.

Zero Volt sat on his haunches and looked up at the cloud. He then teleported onto it, sat there for a few seconds and teleported back onto his bed. “See, no problem. Does this town let pegasi move the clouds wherever they want?”

“Not exactly, but I’m in charge of controlling Ponyville’s weather,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood on the edge of the bed. “My name’s Rainbow Dash: the fastest flying pegasus in Equestria and future member of the Wonderbolts.”

“Huh, never heard of you,” Zero Volt said, “but I’ve noticed you flying today, so I’ll take your word for it. That makes you a local hero, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess I’m a hero in Ponyville, and Cloudsdale. Oh, and Canterlot, if that’s what you mean by local,” Rainbow Dash said. “And what you’ve seen today, that’s nothing.”

“You said you had other abilities aside from cloudwalking,” Twilight said, eager to cut off Rainbow’s gloating. "Are there any that you haven't yet mentioned?"

“Well…” Zero Volt hesitated to answer her. He had one other ability, but this was the one he tried the hardest to keep secret. Even if he did feel comfortable telling them, this one would be difficult to demonstrate to them. “Did any of you notice that I dodged a few attacks today that I shouldn’t have known about?”

“We all noticed,” Pinkie Pie said. They kept coming at you and you kept jumping out of the way even though they went really, really fast! You shouldn’t have even seen some of them. It’s like you had your own Pinkie Sense or- wait! Do you have your own Pinkie Sense? I thought I was the only one, but if you have one, that would be so amazing!”

Zero Volt had no idea what a Pinkie Sense was, but decided that if it was anything like his ability, he would ask her to explain later. “Well, whenever something’s about to hurt me, I always get this sort of ‘two-second warning’ telling me what it is and where it’s coming from.”

“That doesn’t make much sense,” Rainbow Dash said. “You’re saying you can see any attack before it hits you, but you still got hit a lot. Are you sure it works?”

“It’s complicated, but yeah, sometimes it doesn’t work,” he answered. “Still, part of the reason I’m trying to find my old life is because I want to know where these abilities came from. Cloud-walking is supposed to be a pegasus ability, and I’m sure there are teleportation spells that unicorns can learn, but I’ve never heard of an earth pony having precognitive powers.”

At that moment, Pinkie’s tail started twitching, which everypony noticed. Soon after, Zero Volt’s irises flashed. He immediately teleported off the bed and sat on the floor next to it, just before Derpy Hooves crashed through the ceiling, broke apart the cloud Rainbow Dash had brought in, and crashed into the bed. A nurse heard everything from the hallway and ran into the room. “What happened? Is everypony alright?” she asked.

“Most of us,” Zero Volt said, “but I need another bed and I’m pretty sure she needs medical attention.”

“You can use the one on the other side of the room,” the nurse said as she walked over to the destroyed bed. Derpy was okay, or at least as okay as Derpy could possibly be, and after apologizing for the damage, she left through the door with the nurse.

Zero Volt teleported to the other bed. He waited for the others to follow him there before asking, “Pinkie, why was your tail twitching like that?”

“That’s just my Pinkie Sense. Parts of my body shake or twitch whenever something’s about to fall, or whenever a rainbow appears, or if there’s an alligator in the bathtub.”

“Alligator in the bathtub?” Zero Volt said. “That’s… oddly specific. How many things does your Pinkie Sense tell you about?”

“Hundreds of things, and I’m sure there’s plenty more that I don’t know about,” Pinkie said. “And every time I get a new twitch or a new combo, I have to figure out what it means. What about you, I didn’t see you shake or anything.

“I don’t think they’re the same thing,” Zero Volt said. He then looked at Fluttershy, who had been silent throughout the entire visit. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t bring herself to. “You’ve been awfully quiet today. Is there anything you want to say?” Fluttershy squeaked and took a step back. After seeing her reaction, Zero Volt decided to speak with a softer tone. “You’re a little timid, aren’t you?” Fluttershy looked away from him. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Look, you don’t have to say anything until you feel more comfortable around me. Is that okay with you?”

“Actually… I came here to apologize.” Fluttershy hesitated again, and took a deep breath before continuing. “When you first came by my cottage, Twilight and Applejack went to get rid of you, and when they disappeared, I’m the one who told Rainbow Dash about you. This was all my fault. None of this would’ve happened if I had just walked up to you from the beginning.”

Zero Volt looked at Fluttershy, who was still looking away from him at the time. “None of that was your fault.” Fluttershy looked up, surprised that he wasn’t blaming her for anything. “Maybe you did let those two confront me, but Applejack is responsible for what she said to me, not you. And maybe you did tell Rainbow Dash about me, but given what you knew at the time, I can understand why you both did what you did. Besides, Rarity didn’t say anything about you when I first met her, so whatever problems she has with me are not because of you.”

“So you don’t blame me for what happened today?”

“Nah, not at all.”

Twilight looked at her friends to see if they had anything left to ask. “I think that’s everything we wanted to know.” After they said goodbye to him, they all left the room and walked down the hallway. “So what does everypony think of him?”

“He’s still a jerk,” Rainbow Dash said, “but he’s not as bad as we though he was.”

“Um, if it’s okay with everypony,” Fluttershy said, “could you all go on without me? There’s something else I have to talk to him about.”

“I don’t know what you could possibly want to say to him,” Rarity said,” but if you really want to, I won’t stop you.”

Fluttershy’s friends wished her good luck before leaving. When she entered his room again, Zero Volt had half a slice of the cake Pinkie Pie brought and was about to put his earbuds in his ears again. He put the earbuds away when he saw her. “Hey, you’re back.”

“Yes, uh, there’s one other thing I needed to talk to you about.” Zero Volt was about to wait for Fluttershy to start talking again, and was surprised when she spoke again soon afterward. “You see, I take care of a lot of animals at my cottage, and sometimes the newer ones don’t trust me right away. So the first few times I try to give them food, some of them won’t eat unless I or one of the other animals eat some first, to make sure it’s safe. It’s actually happened enough that I know the behavior when I see it… even if you were subtle about it.”

Zero Volt stared at Fluttershy in disbelief and placed the plate with the last slice of cake on the table next to the bed. “You’re not going to tell anypony, are you?”

“No, I’m not going to tell anypony. Pinkie Promise,” Fluttershy said as she placed a hoof over one of her eyes.

“Pinkie Promise?”

“That’s something Pinkie Pie thought of to make sure nopony breaks a promise,” Fluttershy said. “Cross my heart,” she recited, placing her forelegs across her chest, “hope to fly,” flapping her wings twice, “stick a cupcake in my eye,” and placing her hoof over her eye again.

“I don’t know,” he said. “That sounds like a waste of a perfectly good cupcake.” Fluttershy laughed. She was worried he would call the act childish, and did not expect that response from him. “And aren’t you a pegasus? You can already fly.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s Pinkie Pie, you get used to her eventually,” she said. They were both silent for a moment. “We’re good ponies, you know, or at least I think we all are. Rarity’s actually one of my closest friends, even though the two of you can’t seem to get along. I know today was just a huge misunderstanding, but if it’s not too much trouble… maybe you could learn to trust us.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he said, thinking about it. “By the way, I didn’t get your name before.”

“It’s Fluttershy,” she said.

“Great meeting you, Fluttershy,”

“Yeah, great meeting you, too,” she said as she left the room.

* * * * * * * * * *

Twilight and her friends occasionally visited Zero Volt at the hospital over the next month, but only two or three of them ever visited at the same time. Pinkie visited almost every day, but only stayed long enough to say hi. Twlight and Fluttershy visited every two or three days to keep him company. The doctors allowed him to teleport around the hospital, but never outside it, and they found several places to hang out inside the hospital. Applejack rarely visited because she was busy at Sweet Apple Acres, and Rarity never visited. Rainbow Dash only visited once after the first day, but he told her that the hospital was too big for its staff to keep track of him all the time. From then on, he teleported outside the hospital to hang out with her, usually at her practice field to watch her practice her stunt flying.

When a month passed and Zero Volt had fully recovered, Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy went to the hospital at noon to say goodbye to him, only to find out he had already left. “He was already discharged?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes, several hours ago,” the doctor said. “He insisted on leaving as soon as possible. He said he had something he needed to do.”

“I can’t believe he didn’t stay long enough to say goodbye,” Twilight said. “I know he said that he’d leave as soon as his leg healed, but I thought we’d gotten through to him a little.”

“Me, too,” Pinkie Pie said, visibly upset. “I was even going to throw him a farewell party. I tried to throw him two parties, and he missed both of them. Oh well, I guess I’ll just head back to Sugarcube Corner.”

* * * * * * * * * *

At 12:30, Rainbow Dash was relaxing on top of a cloud. She had already said goodbye to Zero Volt the day before, expecting that she wouldn’t wake up early enough to catch him before he left. There wouldn’t be any weather changes to make until later that evening, and she didn’t feel like practicing any stunts yet, so there wasn’t much to do.

She wondered what to do about lunch when she heard somepony galloping below. She looked down, and to her surprise she saw Zero Volt running somewhere. “I thought he’d have left by now.” She wondered what he might still be doing in Ponyville when she looked at the cloud she was lying on and had an idea.

Zero Volt had a few things to take care of in Ponyville today, but he decided that he had time for a quick gallop before finishing everything. As he was running, he felt raindrops falling on him. ‘That’s weird, it wasn’t supposed to rain today… and why is it only raining on me?’ He noticed that the rainfall seemed to be following him while leaving everything else dry, and when he looked up, he saw Rainbow Dash holding a raincloud ahead of him as she flew above. She grinned and waved at him. ‘Alright, Dash, I’ll play along,’ he thought as he started running faster.

Rainbow Dash kept flying over Zero Volt with the cloud, trying to soak him as they went into town. Several ponies noticed the spectacle, but didn’t give it much concern. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both played pranks around Ponyville, but nopony was ever hurt in any way by them. They were worried that the stallion she was chasing might crash into somepony, but he was able to either sidestep or leap over everything in his way.

This game was slightly more difficult than Rainbow thought it was. While she had to predict Zero Volt’s movements, he always knew where she was by the rainfall and the shadow cast by the cloud. She did manage to soak him seven times in one minute, five of which were because the crowds and obstacles in Zero Volt’s way made it easier to predict where he would be. After the seventh drenching, Zero Volt slid on his hooves to decelerate, causing Rainbow Dash to fly past him. When Rainbow Dash stopped, she noticed him taking a left turn into an alleyway. ‘I love it when that happens,’ she thought. ‘Didn’t think it would happen to me, though.’

Rainbow Dash followed Zero Volt into the alleyway, and both of them realized that he made a mistake running in this direction. The alleyway was too narrow for any maneuverability and too long for him to gallop across before Rainbow Dash reached him, and before long she was able to keep the raincloud above him, drenching him as he went.

Suddenly, Zero Volt teleported, leaving Rainbow Dash wondering where he went. She finally noticed hoofbeats next to her. She had been flying just above the rooftops this whole time, and when she looked, she saw Zero Volt running across the rooftops next to her. He smiled at her before jumping off the roof and darting toward Sweet Apple Acres.

Rainbow Dash followed Zero Volt into the orchard, determined to continue their game. Unlike the alleyway, this detour gave Zero Volt an advantage over her. He was forced to sidestep the trees as he ran through, but the ‘two-second warning’, as he called it, told him where the trees were ahead of him before he could crash into any. As for Rainbow Dash, she was forced to fly around both the tree trunks and their branches to keep up. She could have flown above the trees, but the canopy would have blocked the rainwater.

The two of them raced toward the Apple family’s barn, where Applejack was bringing a cart full of apples. Applejack watched as Zero Volt slid to a halt in front of another cart she used to bring apples to market. Zero Volt jumped into the cart and stood up in it, making sure his head reached up to the cloth that covered it. He smirked at Rainbow Dash when she arrived, thinking that she couldn’t hold the raincloud above his head now. Rainbow Dash had another idea. She balled up the cloud with her hoofs and tossed it at him.

The cloud expanded over Zero Volt’s body and around his head when it hit him. Rainwater was trickling down his body and all four legs. Suddenly, he started shaking his head and body, much like a dog would to dry off. The cloud broke apart, and after a few seconds he was relatively dry, apart from the water flooding the vending cart. He looked at Rainbow Dash, who he had managed to drench when he shook off the cloud and rainwater. She gave him an annoyed look for a few seconds, but neither of them could keep a straight face, and before long, they both burst into laughter.

“Are y’all done horsin' ‘round now?" Applejack said, slightly amused, but very annoyed by their antics.

Zero Volt teleported out of the cart, water splashing on the ground around him when he brought it with him. “Sorry, AJ, didn’t mean to bother you,” Rainbow Dash said, “I was just having a little fun with Volt before asking why he’s still here.”

“Oh, right, weren’t yah leavin’ today?” Applejack said.

“I had some other things to take care of. I’ll explain over lunch if anypony’s interested,” Zero Volt said.

“Sure, how about Sugarcube Corner?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“That’s not much of a place for lunch, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said. “It’s a bakery, not a restaurant.”

“Come on, Applejack, I’m sure you’ll find something,” Rainbow Dash said. She walked up to Applejack and whispered, “Besides, Pinkie Pie’s gonna be there.”

“Pinkie Pie?” Zero Volt asked, looking uneasy.

“She’s works at Sugarcube Corner,” Applejack explained. “Why, are you scared of her?”

“Well…” he started. “She seems like kind of a nutcase."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing after hearing that. “Relax,” Rainbow Dash said, “she’s harmless. Come on, you remember the place I showed you that looks like a gingerbread house? Teleport us there.”

Zero Volt sighed, and walked up to the two of them. He touched each of them with one of his hooves and teleported all three of them. This was only the second time Zero Volt teleported Applejack anywhere, and she noticed that it was different from Twilight’s teleportation spell. The entire thing happened in a split second, starting with a faint green glow around all of their bodies. The green glow disappeared, and the world around them was replaced by a green flash, which was then replaced by the street that Sugarcube Corner was on.

When the three of them entered Sugarcube Corner, Zero Volt walked up to the counter and looked at several pies on display, not noticing Pinkie behind the counter. “These all look delicious. I almost wish I could eat them all.” He continued looking at them, trying to pick one. Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged glances, both expecting this to be entertaining.

Zero Volt started examining a pie directly in front of Pinkie, still not noticing her grinning behind the counter. “Hi there!” she said, causing him to jump back about five feet.

“Hi, Pinkie,” he said anxiously.

“I thought you left already. I was going to throw you a party as a big sendoff.”

“Well, I’m here now… do you have a cherry pie?”

Pinkie picked up one of the pies and put it in front of him. “Two bits,” she said.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack each bought something for themselves, and the three of them sat down at a table just outside the bakery. Zero Volt just sat there for a few seconds before saying, “Did I just ask her if she had a cherry pie?”

Rainbow Dash fell out of her chair and rolled on the floor in laughter. “Yah did, but don’t worry,” Applejack assured him. “I don’t think she knows what it means.” She pointed at Rainbow Dash. “She does, and she’s gonna remember this for a very long time.”

“I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life,” he said.

Rainbow Dash had finally settled down enough to climb back into her chair. “I am so glad we came here for lunch,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. “I can’t even remember what we came here to talk about.”

Pinkie Pie trotted out of the bakery and toward their table. “Mrs. Cake said that I could go on my break now, which means I’m back on party planning mode. You missed the first party I was going to throw you, and I don’t want you missing this one, so promise me you’ll stay for it. And that cupcake goes in your eye if you break that promise; you only get to eat it if you keep it.”

Zero Volt placed his hoof over his eye, wondering how Pinkie knew about that. At that moment, Twilight and Rarity were walking by and saw the three of them. “Hello, everypony. Zero Volt, I thought you’d left without saying goodbye,” Twilight said.

“Had a few things to do here today,” he replied. “Plus, she’s planning a farewell party.”

“Now that you’re putting this town behind you, where are you going next?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Still not sure,” he said, taking a bite out of his pie. “I’ve covered a lot of ground in the last three months, but I haven’t found anything. You’d think by now somepony would’ve started looking for me or at least filed a missing pony report.” He looked around at the streets surrounding Sugarcube Corner. “At this point, if I can’t find my old life soon, I’m just going to pick a town and start a new one, as long as the locals don’t mind having me around.”

“Maybe you could stay in Ponyville,” Twilight suggested.

“Yeah, it’d be fun having you around,” Rainbow Dash said. “Plus, you’re not as much of a jerk as you were a month ago.”

Pinkie Pie gasped and grinned widely. “Ooh, can we keep him? Can we? Can we? Can we?”

“He’s not a puppy, sugarcube,” Applejack said to Pinkie Pie while trying to calm her down.

“I’m sure he appreciates the offer, but like he said, he’s leaving today,” Rarity said as she pulled Zero Volt out of his chair. “Now if you’ll excuse him, he clearly needs to prepare some supplies for the journey ahead of him.” Rarity tried the push him away from the table, but he wouldn’t budge. She tapped his flank to force him to move in reflex, but he only took two steps forward. As a last resort, she picked him up using her magic, but he quickly teleported out of her telekinetic grip.

“Rarity, I know how much he irks you,” Twilight said, trying to appeal to her, “but it’s not fair to make him leave because of that.”

“Cheer up, Rarity! I’m sure you’ll like him sooner or later,” Pinkie Pie said. She then walked up to Zero Volt and whispered, “Even if you’re a little too forward.” Pinkie bounced away from them, leaving Zero Volt frozen in place. She still had a party to plan, but with a different theme in mind.

“So, what do you think?” Twilight asked. “Are you going to stay here?”

“Well, I did find a place to rent earlier today, and the hospital offered me a job as an EMT, so… yeah, I guess I can stay here,” he said.

“Earlier today?” Rarity said. “So you’ve been planning this?”

“Let’s just say that I’ve had a very long time to think while at the hospital,” he said, before finishing his pie. “Anyway, got stuff to do. See you all at the party, if that’s still happening.” He teleported away soon afterward.

“Well, I still don’t approve of this, not that I can do much about it,” Rarity said as she started to leave.

“Ah don’t think he’s tryin’ to win yah over either, Rare,” Applejack said. “Ah gotta head back to the farm. Thanks for invitin’ me, Rainbow Dash. This is the best idea Ah’ve ever seen yah come up with.” She stood up and headed back to her family's orchard, leaving Twilight and Rainbow alone together.

“This should be interesting,” Twilight said. “Rainbow Dash, do you want to come back to the library with me?”

Rainbow Dash had just finished her lunch. “Alright, sure. Maybe I’ll find something else to read, or I could reread one of the Daring Do books.”

Author's Note

Alright, here’s the second chapter. First, I am aware that teleportation and a precognitive ability are a very unbalanced combination for one character to have, so you don't have to tell me. Also, the precognitive ability is going to be called ‘two-second warning’, for lack of a better name.

Search and Rescue

Zero Volt galloped through the snow-covered streets of Ponyville. He had been living in this town for two months, not counting the one he spent in the hospital. Many of the townsponies had come to accept him, or at least tolerate him, and he was now on very good terms with a circle of friends consisting of six young mares and a baby dragon. Or rather, he was on very good terms with most of them. Rarity still loathed him, and whenever they were near each other, they would either ignore each other or trade insults. As for Pinkie Pie, Zero Volt did not find her eccentric behavior any less intimidating than he did when she first greeted him. Not that this stopped her from trying to hang out with him, nor was it stopping her from chasing him on this snowy day.

Zero Volt was running as fast as he could, but he couldn’t go very fast through the snow, which had not yet been shoveled. Fortunately, Pinkie was having just as much trouble bouncing through the snow. Zero Volt ran by several houses before picking one to hide behind. He took a moment to try to catch his breath as quietly as possible, but a nearby window opened and Pinkie poked her head out of it. “Hi, Zero!” she shouted. Zero Volt started running again until he stopped in front of another group of houses, certain that he had lost her this time. He was wrong, and Pinkie poked her head out of a nearby mailbox and asked, “Where are you going?”

Zero Volt darted off again, with Pinkie in cheerful pursuit. This time, he ran faster and farther than he had earlier. After looking behind him and all around for any sign of Pinkie, he decided to skid to a halt on his hooves. As he slowed, the snow in front of his legs was sprayed ahead of him, piling up in the form of a snowpony. Zero Volt looked at the face of the snowmare he had somehow made and saw that it had eyes… very real and very blue eyes… and a very wide grin. Zero Volt turned around and ran away again, kicking up another fresh layer of snow onto Pinkie Pie. Moments later, Pinkie shook off the snow covering her. “Why does everypony I wanna talk to run away from me?” she asked before bouncing after him again.

Zero Volt kept running, checking behind him to see where Pinkie was. ‘I don’t get it. How is she doing that?’ he thought. ‘Whatever, there’s only one way to get away from her.’ While he was still running, Zero Volt teleported to the other side of town, right by Fluttershy’s cottage. He skidded to a halt on his hooves again, and took a moment to catch his breath. In front of him was another snowmare. He examined this snowmare and saw that it also had blue eyes, as well as a pair of outstretched wings. Realizing who it was, Zero Volt placed his hoof on her foreleg and teleported her out of the snow piled over her. “Sorry about that, Fluttershy. I was trying to get away from Pinkie Pie and I didn’t see you there.” He noticed her shivering slightly. “Are you cold?”

“A-A little bit, but mostly just startled,” she said. She looked at the spot she was standing in before and saw that the pile of snow remained intact, aside from the patch where Zero Volt had touched her foreleg. “I suppose that’s one way to build a snowpony. Where did you leave Pinkie Pie?”

“Hopefully on the other side of Ponyville,” he said. At that moment, Pinkie Pie was looking for Zero Volt on the other side of town, wondering how he could have possibly disappeared like this. “So what are you doing out here?”

“I’m just taking care of the animals,” Fluttershy said. “Some of them are active during the winter, and I have to get them ready for tonight.”

“Want some help?”

“Well, I can manage everything on my own, but I guess I could use the company. We can start over there.” Fluttershy and Zero Volt spent the afternoon working with the animals. It had already been snowing the entire day, but there was a blizzard scheduled for the early evening up until the next morning. As a result, very few ponies were outside, and nopony bothered to shovel the snow that had been piling up. “You said that you were working as an EMT?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, at first the hospital was just going to teach me a few useful things for my travels,” Zero Volt said, “but when I considered living in Ponyville, they offered to train me for the position.”

“What do you think of Ponyville so far?”

“I like it here, but it gets kind of boring sometimes. I’m starting to see why Rainbow Dash spends so much time napping.”

“There are a lot of reasons for her naps, but yes, she says that’s one of them,” Fluttershy said. She picked up a harvesting scythe and brought it to Zero Volt. “That should be everything. Thanks for helping out. Could you do me one more favor and return this to Applejack for me?”

Zero Volt took the scythe in his hoof, wondering why one of these would be needed on an apple orchard, or an animal refuge for that matter. He looked back at Fluttershy, who stared back at him, looking a little pale. “Something wrong, Fluttershy?” He looked around to find what was scaring her until he saw his reflection in a window. He was wearing a black jacket today. The jacket obscured his face and forelegs well enough, and when he held the harvesting scythe, the resemblance was uncanny. Zero Volt quickly pulled off his hood down. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Though I think I know what to go as for the next Nightmare Night. Just a heads-up.”

“Thanks, I think,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe if you and Rarity stop hating each other, you can ask her to design the costume.”

“Yeah… and then I’ll use it to scare her!” Fluttershy gave him a dirty look. “Look, I know that she’s one of your best friends, but it has to be done. Anyway, I’ll take this to Applejack, and then I might do some snowboarding afterward. Later, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy said a quick bye before Zero Volt teleported to Sweet Apple Acres. Zero Volt knocked on the door holding the scythe in his mouth. “Howdy, Volt, come on in.” Applejack recognized the scythe and told him to place it by the door on his way in. Winona walked into the room and Applejack started playing with her. “Yah haven’t met Winona yet, have yah, Volt… yah still there, Volt?” Applejack looked up Zero Volt, who stood there frozen in place, looking very pale. “You alright, sugarcube? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of dogs, too.”

“It’s a long story,” he said. “Thanks for letting me in, but I think I’m gonna head out now. I saw this mountain off in the distance, and I thought I might try snowboarding down it.”

“Bad idea, sugarcube. This storm’s ‘bout to get nasty soon and Ah wouldn’t get caught in it if Ah were you. Actually, Ah remember Pinkie Pie goin’ off that way a few hours back. She shoulda come back by now.” Applejack started to look worried.

“Maybe you just didn’t notice her when she came back.”

“Not likely, she’da went through this farm on the way back, and she’da definitely dropped by. Come on, Volt, the three of us’re goin’ to look for Pinkie Pie!”

“The three of us?”

“Yeah, you, me and Winona.”

“Uh…” Zero Volt looked anxiously at Applejack before saying, “Give me a minute,” and teleporting away.

“Oh, come on!” she shouted angrily. After a moment, she decided to get her jacket and a few other things and search for Pinkie herself. She still thought about Zero Volt as she was getting ready. ‘The nerve of him. Ah know he gets all antsy around Pinkie Pie and Winona, but that’s no excuse to take off like that, what with Pinkie in danger.’ Once she was ready, Applejack headed for the door with Winona when she noticed Zero Volt teleporting into her home again. He was holding an oven mitt in his mouth. “Decided to make yourself useful?”

“I was checking a few places in Ponyville, mostly Sugarcube Corner,” he said. “You’re right, she hasn’t come back. I also asked the Cakes if I could borrow something that Pinkie’s touched recently.” He placed the oven mitt in his hoof and offered it to Applejack. “If we’re bringing Winona with us, she might be able to track her scent.”

“Ah don’ think she’s that kind of dog, but it’s worth a shot Ah s’pose.” Applejack placed the oven mitt in front of Winona’s nose.

“Uh, Applejack, since I was just holding that thing,” Zero Volt said. Winona had already sniffed the oven mitt for a few seconds before running up to him. Zero Volt backed up against a wall as Winona approached him and started barking, too terrified to finish telling Applejack that she had just asked Winona to track him.

“Well then why’d yah have to touch the whole thing when yah brought it here?” Applejack said.

“B-because Pinkie would have had her hoof inside the mitt, so…”

Applejack sighed, then called Winona back. She partially turned the oven mitt inside-out and allowed Winona to sniff it again. “At least now we know she can track Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said. “Sorry for snappin’ at yah like that, but this is an emergency, and you bein’ all skittish ain’t makin’ this any easier.” Winona picked up Pinkie’s scent, and Applejack went with her to track down her friend. Zero Volt took a deep breath and followed them out the door.

* * * * * * * * * *

Applejack, Winona and Zero Volt arrived at the foot of the mountain. Winona was still tracking Pinkie Pie’s scent, and the two ponies knew that Pinkie had to be somewhere on this mountain. “I’m starting to see how Pinkie could’ve gotten lost up here,” Zero Volt said as they made their way up. “It’s almost impossible to make out anything with all this snow.”

Applejack looked at the mountain and the area around it, and then looked back at Ponyville. Everything around them seemed to blend in because of all the snow. Ponyville was impossible to see now that the blizzard had started. Things weren't much better as she trudged through the cold snow. It was already knee-deep, making it virtually impossible to see the edge of the path they were following. She tried to follow Winona as closely as possible, only deviating to say away from the edge and avoid falling down the mountain.

“With all this snow, she mighta taken a wrong step and gotten hurt,” Applejack said. She looked back at Zero Volt and saw how far behind he was, probably to keep a comfortable distance from Winona. “That might happen to us, too, so get your flank over here. You’re the one with that two-second thing or whatever yah call it.”

Zero Volt trotted up next to Applejack. He didn’t want to be anywhere near Winona, or any dog for that matter, but his two-second warning would tell him where not to step, and Applejack could follow close by.

After a while, they were already halfway up the mountain. “I’m surprised this is even working,” Zero Volt said. “I wouldn’t have thought there’d still be a trail to follow underneath all this snow.”

“The important thing is that we find her,” Applejack said. “She said she was goin’ up this mountain, so we’re goin’ the right way.” The wind picked up speed, and it was getting even colder, causing Applejack to worry even more. “We’ve gotta find her soon. The weather’s only gettin’ worse, and however long we’ve been out here, Pinkie’s been here longer.” Winona picked up the pace, apparently responding to her master. “Why’d the weather team even schedule this snowstorm anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Zero Volt said, “I think they’re trying to break a record.” He continued to look around him for any sign of movement or anything pink, but all he saw around him was white. Winona would have to track Pinkie down, but none of them were sure how far behind Pinkie they still were.

Suddenly, Zero Volt’s two-second warning acted up. He studied the details of this one, but this time he chose not to respond to it. Two seconds later Pinkie Pie landed on his back, having jumped onto him from a higher ledge. “Applejack, Zero Volt, I’m so glad to see you!” she said. Her voice showed no indication that she was worried about her situation when she cried out loudly. Perhaps a little too loudly. They all heard the sound of snow rushing down from the top of the mountain. “Oops,” she said after hearing the avalanche that she had triggered.

“Yah know, when Ah signed us up to look for Pinkie, Ah didn’t think we’d need to be rescued,” Applejack said.

“Got it covered,” Zero Volt said in a strained voice. Pinkie Pie was still lying on his back when he teleported both of them away. He came back a second later and teleported Applejack and Winona off the mountain just before the avalanche could reach them. The next thing they knew, the four of them were standing in the library.

“Ah knew there was a reason to bring you along,” Applejack said to him, “but why’d yah bring us here?”

“When I left your place to get Pinkie’s oven mitt, I also asked Twilight if she could put something together to warm us all up when we came back.”

“Hello everypony,” Twilight said as she walked into the room. “Spike is in the kitchen serving hot chocolate.” She walked over to a door and opened it, showing them a sauna with Rarity and Fluttershy already inside. “The three of us put this sauna together, if you’re interested. Are you okay, Pinkie Pie?”

“Super!” Pinkie Pie said she stashed her oven mitt in her mane. She then trotted to the kitchen.

“Why is he here?” Rarity asked. “I was hoping to relax here since the spa was closed today.”

“Actually, he’s making me a little uncomfortable, too so…” Fluttershy said.

“Is that because you’re only wearing a towel?” Zero Volt asked. Fluttershy nodded. “That’s more than any of us usually wear on any given day. Doesn’t matter, wasn’t going to stick around anyway. Spike, hot chocolate to go!” Spike breathed fire on a container of hot chocolate to heat it up and tossed it to Zero Volt. Zero Volt caught it and walked to the front door just as Rainbow Dash was entering. “Hey, Dash, glad you could make it, hot chocolate’s in the kitchen, there’s a sauna over there.”

“And where are you going?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Snowboarding!”

“In this weather?”

Zero Volt looked at Rainbow Dash and took a long drink of his hot chocolate. “You know what, you’re right. I should do all my snowboarding in the warm autumn months.” Rainbow Dash stared at him as he walked out the door and closed it behind him. The weather had gotten even worse in the last few minutes, and at that point, no earth pony should’ve been out there. Rainbow shrugged it off and was about to walk away from the door when she heard something hit it from the outside. She opened it and saw a large block of ice with Zero Volt trapped inside slide in through the doorway. After a few seconds, Zero Volt teleported outside of the block of ice, shook himself off, and pushed it back out the door. He then slammed the door with enough force to shake the walls of the library, and sighed in disappointment. “The one thing I wanted to do today.”

“You want to talk about it?” Rainbow Dash asked as they walked toward the sauna.

“No thanks, the door’s a good listener.”

“Yeah, don’t slam my doors,” Twilight said.

Before long, the seven of them made themselves comfortable in the sauna. They spent a few minutes talking about their day. Rainbow Dash had spent the whole day regulating the snowstorm, and most of them reprimanded her when she said that today’s extreme weather was an attempt to break several records. “Don’t look at me like that,” she told Zero Volt. “If you wanted to go snowboarding, you should’ve gone earlier in the afternoon.”

“I was going to,” he said, “but stuff got in the way. Mostly Pinkie Pie.”

“Don’t put this on me,” Pinkie said. “I would’ve gone with you if you would’ve stopped running away from me. Why do you think I was on that mountain in the first place?” Zero Volt was speechless when he heard that. He wasn’t sure what troubled him more, that he would’ve ultimately failed to escape from his stalker-for-a-day, or that he had unknowingly endangered her.

“Wait a minute, what happened to you today?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Pinkie Pie got lost on a mountain today, so Ah had to take him and Winona to find her,” Applejack explained. “Who’da thought he’d be so scared of a dog.”

“Wait, first Pinkie Pie, and now dogs?” Rainbow Dash said before she started laughing. “When you were gonna tell us about this one?”

“I didn’t know any of you owned a dog, so… never.” Zero Volt said.

“I have two puppies at my cottage, and now that I think about it, you always avoid them whenever you come by,” Fluttershy added.

“And did Rainbow say that you’re afraid of Pinkie Pie, too?” Twilight giggled.

Zero Volt could feel his emotions boiling over. It was bad enough that Pinkie and Winona were in the room with him. Now his friends were mocking him about it. Rarity didn’t even say anything; she didn’t have to. She was just savoring the moment. “Alright, fine! I’m terrified of both of them,” Zero Volt snapped. “But what do you think would’ve happened to Pinkie Pie if I hadn’t gone with Applejack? And you, what would’ve happened to you and your dog if I hadn’t teleported you out of there when I did? As ridiculous as you think my fears are, I had to deal with them today when it really mattered, and I have to deal with this one every single day!” He breathed heavily and erratically as he pointed at Pinkie at the end of his outburst. He looked down at the floor. “What gives you the right to make fun of me? How many of you have had to deal with your worst fears?”

“Take it easy, sugarcube. We’re not makin’ fun of yah,” Applejack said. “Your right, you did help us out back there. Ah’m sorry for spillin’ your secret to everypony, and Ah’m sorry for givin’ yah such a hard time when we were lookin’ for her. You okay now?” Applejack was able to calm him down a little, and he nodded. Winona walked up to Zero Volt and gently licked one side of his face. “See, she don’t bite. She even likes you. No hard feelin’s, okay?”

Zero Volt smiled weakly at Applejack and nodded. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie licked the other side of his face, causing him to wince. He looked at Pinkie Pie, who was grinning at him. “I’m never going to live this down, am I?” he said. His tone sounded resigned, but it wasn’t as angry and agitated as it was before.

Pinkie simply shook her head and said, “Nope,” and the other five laughed along with her.

“I suppose it was brave of you to go through all that and the bitter cold, and I do appreciate you saving Pinkie Pie and Applejack,” Rarity said. “In fact, I’m starting to think I was wrong about you.”

“Really, that’s it?” Zero Volt said.

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’? Don’t you want our feud to come to an end?”

“Well yeah, but by this point I think everypony realizes that our quarreling hasn’t actually hurt anypony," he said. “If anything, I think Applejack finds it entertaining. The last time we traded insults, she had a soda, a bag of popcorn, and for some reason, a pair of 3D glasses. And besides, you’re a pretty easy target to insult.”

“I’m an easy target?” Rarity said. “You’re unkempt, you’re colors are all wrong, you’re easily distracted, your obnoxious, immature, deceitful, and you have two ridiculous phobias.”

Zero Volt gave her a dirty look before firing back. “Rarity, you’re shallow, you’re stuck up, you’re whiny and you’re such a drama queen. Not only that, but I have never met a pony whose priorities in life were as skewed as yours.” The two of them glared at each other before looking at Applejack. “Again with the 3D glasses?”

“Are you kiddin’? With these, you can see the insults comin’ right at yah,” Applejack said. Zero Volt looked at Pinkie for a few seconds, wondering if she had actually traded places with Applejack. Pinkie Pie looked back at him and grinned.

‘Well, Pinkie is still Pinkie,’ he thought. ‘I just hope her personality’s not contagious. The last thing I need is a town full of Pinkie Pies.’

The seven of them stayed at the library for the rest of the evening. The blizzard was too intense for any of them to attempt to walk or fly home, but Zero Volt knew where each of them lived and agreed to teleport each of them to their respective homes. He chose to teleport Rarity back to the Carousel Boutique first.

A minute later, Zero Volt came back to take Applejack and Winona back to Sweet Apple Acres. While he was gone, Rainbow Dash started to walk out of the room. “I’ll be right back,” she said. “If Volt asks, tell him I had to use the bathroom or something.”

Zero Volt returned a few seconds after Rainbow Dash left. “Alright Pinkie, you’re next. Hey, where’s Dash?”

“She had to use the bathroom,” Fluttershy said.

“Or something,” Pinkie Pie added.

“Uh-huh. Pinkie?” he said. He teleported Pinkie Pie to Sugarcube Corner and came back a minute later to teleport Fluttershy to her cottage. When he came back, Rainbow Dash still wasn’t there. Twilight Sparkle and Spike were in the room cleaning up. “Do either of you know where Dash is?” he asked.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash flew into the room wearing a dog costume. She jumped right in front of Zero Volt and made loud barking noises. Eventually she stopped barking and fell on the floor laughing while Zero Volt stood there horrified by the prank she had just pulled. He took a minute to regain some composure, while Rainbow Dash was still on the floor laughing. Eventually, he teleported Rainbow to her cloud house. “You should’ve seen the look on your face," she said, finally calming down from her fit of laughter. "That was almost as funny as watching you try to talk to Pinkie Pie.” After taking off the costume and putting it away, she noticed that he hadn’t said anything. “Volt, you still there?”

She looked around and saw that she was alone in her home. “Guess he had to go home,” she said to herself. “Maybe he’ll tell us why he’s afraid of dogs eventually. Unless it’s something from his past that he can’t remember. If it is, it might be a helpful clue.” As she walked to her bed, a thought crossed her mind. “Hold on, didn’t he say something about…”

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt was lying on his bed trying to fall asleep. He had been lying in bed for almost fifteen minutes, but he couldn’t stop thinking about everything that happened today. Pinkie was manageable; if anything she was a distraction today, but spending an entire evening around that dog was still affecting him. Today was rough, and after Rainbow’s recent prank, things wouldn’t be getting easier anytime soon.

Zero Volt got up when he heard a knock on his door. ‘Is somepony really outside right now,’ he thought. Something started banging repeatedly on his door, this time louder. He teleported to the front door and opened it. “Rainbow Dash?”

“Hey, can I talk to you inside for a minute?” Rainbow said. “It is really cold out here!” Zero Volt let her in quickly and closed the door. She was trembling because of the cold, and sheets of snow and ice were covering parts of her fur and mane.

“Come on, let’s get you warmed up,” Zero Volt said. A minute later, Rainbow Dash was lying by his fireplace and wrapped in towels. Zero Volt teleported in front of her holding a container. “There was some hot chocolate left, so I asked Spike to heat it up. Feeling better?”

Rainbow Dash took the container and started drinking from it. “Yeah, thanks.” The snow and ice that had covered her had already thawed, so she got up from underneath the towels and lied down closer to the fireplace.

“So, what did you want to talk about that couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

Rainbow Dash looked at him and started to explain. “I want to know why you’re scared of dogs. Does it have anything to do with that day you were chased out of Baltimare?”

Zero Volt’s smile disappeared, and he fell silent. After a moment, he walked in front of Rainbow Dash and lied down on his right side, his stomach facing her. “I almost got away. I was faster than them, the dogs and the ponies chasing me,” he said, “If I had a few more seconds, I would’ve lost them, but then my legs stopped. Some unicorn was holding me down with her magic. I tried to break free, but then the dogs showed up and…” Rainbow Dash stood up and walked closer. She brushed away some of his fur and saw stitches on his left side. “Most of their bite wounds healed up completely, except for that one and…” He was also moving his left hind leg. She looked closely and saw two scars forming circles around it. “I thought I was going to die that day. I tried to think of some other place I’d have rather been. Just closed by eyes and thought of some other place to take my mind off of them, while they tore into me. The next thing I knew, I was there, about thirty miles away.”

‘That must be the first time he ever teleported,’ Rainbow thought. ‘He would’ve done it sooner if he knew he could.’

“I tried to keep it together today,” he continued. He was starting to shed tears, and he brought his legs closer to his body, going into the fetal position. “But I still see them. Every time I see a dog, or hear barking, or whenever something touches my side, I can hear them barking, I remember how much pain I was in, and I think how much worse it could’ve been if…”

‘He must’ve been on edge the whole day,’ Rainbow thought. ‘And that stupid costume! How could I have thought that was a good idea?’ She placed her hoof on his shoulder. “Hey Volt, how about I stay here tonight? To keep you company.”

“Well I don’t really have a guest room set up, but...” he said.

“I’m comfortable by the fireplace,” she said. “And besides, the point is to keep you company, so you’re staying here too.” Zero Volt nodded to her and slowly stood back up. After regaining a bit of his composure, he teleported away. ‘Wait a minute,’ Rainbow Dash thought. ‘I just agreed to sleep at another stallion’s house, and my only way out is through the coldest winter since Hearth’s Warming Day. How long have I known this guy again?’

Zero Volt teleported back into the living room with a blanket and a pillow. “You sure you want to stay over?” he asked. “I can teleport you back to your place if you’d rather be there.”

‘This could be my only chance to get out of this… no, he shouldn’t be alone tonight. Besides, if he tries anything, I can take him.’ After thinking about it for a second, Rainbow Dash replied to him. “No thanks, but could you get my stuff from my bed back home?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said. A minute later he came back with her pillow and blanket. He then found a place on the floor in front of her and lied down on his left side. They both heard the wind howling outside and shifted underneath their blankets.

“Does Applejack know yet?” she asked. “About you and dogs?”

“No, so far I’ve only told you,” he said. “You think I should tell her?”

“Not just her,” she said. “You need to tell all of us. You should’ve told all of us.”

“Well Fluttershy already knows. Apparently, she does some veterinary work, including stitches, and she actually noticed my stitches through my coat the day I came here. She put two and two together after Applejack told everypony.”

“I still can’t believe it took this long for us to notice any of this,” Rainbow Dash said. “Do you really have to cover them up with your coat?”

“Like I said, if anything touches me there,” he said. “Even if it’s just a slight breeze. I can’t even look at those stitches without remembering everything.”

“But you’re lying down on that side right now,” she said.

“This is different,” he explained. “It’s easier to sleep when it’s not exposed or out in the open. Otherwise I end up having nightmares. You know, Rarity keeps saying that I don’t do any sort of grooming, but she has no idea how much I have to brush my coat just to cover these up. It’s actually kind of funny.”

“About that,” Rainbow said. “As funny as it is watching you go at each other’s throats, we were all hoping you two would stop arguing. Why did you set her off like that?”

Zero Volt gave a little smirk before he started explaining. “I don’t know what happened. One minute I’m telling her that everypony enjoys watching us argue, the next minute we’re arguing.”

“That was an act? I can’t believe I didn’t see through that.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. The whole point is to make it as convincing as possible.”

“So the two of you are going to be friends behind our backs?”

“Something like that. When I brought her to her house, she agreed we’d put on a performance whenever anypony’s around,” he said. “As for today’s exchange, I told her she was overacting, she told me I was underacting, and then we said goodnight.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. What about Pinkie Pie? What does she think about you being scared of her?”

“She thinks it’s cute,” he said. “Apparently, she enjoys watching me squirm whenever I’m around her. She also suggested that I’d feel better if I try laughing at the things that scare me.”

“I guess that would work on Pinkie Pie, but I don’t think you can laugh off a near-death experience like that,” Rainbow said. “And we all love watching you squirm around her. I’ve spent so much time putting you two together just to see what you’d do.”

“I noticed!” he said in an annoyed tone, causing Rainbow Dash to laugh. “You not going to do this with all my fears, are you?”

“How many you got?” she said, causing Zero Volt to scowl at her. “Hey, I’m kidding. Just Pinkie Pie, okay? And no more dog costume, I promise.”

“Thanks, Dash.”

Rainbow Dash got up and went to the kitchen. She had finished the hot chocolate and placed the empty container on the counter. When she came back, Zero Volt had already fallen asleep. She looked at him as he lay fast asleep and smiled. ‘Good, after everything he’s been through today, he could use the rest. I should get some sleep, too. I need to fix up the weather tomorrow morning.’ She returned to her blanket and pillow and quickly fell asleep.

Cutie Mark Crusaders on Ice

Zero Volt woke up the next day at 6:30 and looked around the living room. The room was still dark, but he could hear Rainbow Dash lightly snoring nearby. He stood up quietly and teleported to the window, making sure not to disturb her in her sleep. A thick layer of snow covered the window, making it impossible to see anything outside. Not that it mattered. Celestia wouldn’t be raising the sun for at least half-an-hour, so it was still dark outside. Zero Volt teleported next to Rainbow Dash and started nudging her. “Wake up, Dash.”

Rainbow Dash groaned as she opened her eyes. “What time is it?” she asked, still half-asleep.

“Six-thirty in the morning.”

Rainbow Dash looked around the living room. “You call this morning? It’s still dark out.”

“The sun’s going to be up soon,” he said. “Don’t you have to clear up some of yesterday’s clouds?”

“Give me fifteen minutes. And make breakfast while you’re at it.”

“Sure thing, Dash.” He was about to walk away, but he looked back at her. “No offense, but you look cute in your sleep.”

“Shut up,” she yawned.

Zero Volt teleported into the kitchen and started to prepare some oatmeal. Meanwhile, he started to think about everything that had happened the day before, as well as the past three months. ‘Applejack’s the one with the dog, so I should probably tell her first. What about Pinkie Pie? I don’t see any value in her knowing, so maybe I should tell her last. Maybe I shouldn’t tell her in the first place. Maybe I shouldn’t tell any of them.’ He tasted a spoonful of the oatmeal to see how far along it was. He decided it could cook a little longer before going back to his thoughts. Zero Volt had more-or-less settled in Ponyville, and whatever his old life could’ve been, he was thinking about it less with each passing day. ‘A few more months and those girls will know as much about me as I do, and I don’t know anything about me. Do they really deserve to know this much?’

Rainbow Dash had spent the last few minutes slowly waking up. She stood up, stretched her wings and legs, and walked into the kitchen. “How did you sleep?”

“Surprisingly well,” Zero Volt said. “Thanks for staying over.”

“No problem,” she said. “Thanks for not taking advantage of me in my sleep.”

Zero Volt stared at her, unsure of how to respond to that. “I can teleport into your houses, you know. If I was going to take advantage of any of you, I would’ve started a long time ago.”

“That’s, um… I don’t think I needed to know that.”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

Zero Volt placed two bowls of oatmeal on the table, and the two of them sat down. “So how are you going to tell everypony about, you know?” Rainbow Dash asked after taking a spoonful.

“We didn’t do anything last night,” Zero Volt said, earning an annoyed expression from Rainbow Dash. “Anyway, I think it’ll be easier to tell them one at a time. So far, I’m thinking Applejack first, Pinkie Pie last.”

“If you told Twilight, she’d probably give you the name of a therapist you could talk to,” Rainbow said. “Hey, maybe Rarity will lay off any dog stuff during your act if you tell her.”

“Not going to happen,” he said. “We’re pretending to hate each other, so nothing’s off the table.” As soon as they were done with breakfast, Rainbow Dash took her things and Zero Volt teleported her back to her cloud house. As the sun rose, Zero Volt decided to go on a morning canter above the clouds. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had to thin the clouds to allow the sun to at least somewhat warm up Ponyville.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Anyway, there’s something I didn’t tell you two about the whole fear of dogs thing.” At 11:30, Zero Volt was at the library. He had already finished telling Applejack and Rarity, and both of those talks went as expected. Applejack decided that she would keep him away from Winona whenever he visited the farm, and Rarity was left wondering if she would have used the full knowledge of Zero Volt’s fear against him if she still hated him.

“Are you taking my advice?” Pinkie Pie said. “Oh, I know! Maybe Applejack can let you play with Winona until you feel better about dogs. That’s perfect!”

“No, Pinkie, that’s not perfect,” Zero Volt said. “Do you remember what I told you about that dog attack in Baltimare? I didn’t exactly get away from that unharmed.” He brushed his hoof along his left side, revealing the stitches underneath his coat. “Since then, I’ve been getting flashbacks whenever anything reminds me about that day, including this.” He brushed his fur back into place to obscure his stitches again.

“Oh… well that’s okay. You don’t have to think about it if you don’t want to,” Pinkie said. “And remember that if you get scared of me, you can still try to laugh it off.”

“This is the name of a psychologist in Ponyville you can visit,” Twilight said as she levitated a business card in Zero Volt’s direction. “You should have told us about this sooner.”

“Thanks, both of you. I’ve already told the others, so don’t worry about them,” he said. He read the business card briefly before putting it away. “Why do you have the name of a psychologist readily available?”

“I’ve been toying with the idea of visiting one,” Twilight said, “either to vent my frustrations or learn some coping techniques.” Twilight felt that her friends sometimes made terrible decisions, and she found herself even more frustrated when her friends ignored her advice while making those decisions. She would have explained that to him, but Pinkie was still in the library. Not to mention some of the decisions that Zero Volt had made in the last three months.

The door opened and Rainbow Dash stepped in. “Hey guys. Volt, did you tell everypony?”

“Yeah, I just finished telling these two,” he said. “You finished fixing the weather?”

“I did that hours ago,” she said. “I went back to sleep after that.” She flew toward one of the bookshelves and looked for a book to read.

The door opened again and Rarity walked in followed by Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “Oh good, you’re here, Pinkie Pie,” she said. “Sweetie Belle and her friends want to go ice skating and I was wondering if you could go with them.”

“Sure!” Pinkie Pie said.

“Awesome,” Scootaloo said. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Ice Hockey Players!”

“I thought we were Cutie Mark Crusaders Figure Skaters,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Either or, we could try both at the same time,” Apple Bloom said. She was less enthusiastic about either activity than her two friends. “Hi, Zero Volt.” She turned to her friends and said, “He’s a friend of Applejack’s.”

“I think my sister knows you, too,” Sweetie Belle said. “Aren’t you the sickly green vagrant who won’t leave Ponyville alone?”

Zero Volt looked at Rainbow Dash and pointed at Rarity with his hoof. Rainbow Dash nodded. “Probably,” he said. “So, Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“We’re tryin’ all sorts of things to get our cutie marks,” Apple Bloom said.

“Oh, kind of like a journey of self-discovery,” he said. “That’s an unusual approach. From what I’ve seen, most ponies get their cutie marks in a moment of serendipity.”

“Sara-what?” Scootaloo said.

“Serendipity,” he repeated, making sure to enunciate. “It means getting something that you like when you’re not actually looking for it. How long have you been going at it?”

“They’ve been trying various activities together ever since they met two years ago,” Twilight said.

“Two years?”

“Don’t judge them, Zero,” Rarity said. “As I recall, you spent two months on your own ‘journey of self-discovery’ and found nothing. Compared to you, these three have been much more successful and much more persistent. Now Pinkie Pie, I must thank you for watching them for me. I have three separate orders to complete and one of my other clients has been badgering me because she refuses to accept that I only do mare’s fashion. I do not have the inspiration to design anything for stallions. I don’t even have an appropriate model. Ugh, I just know that I’m going to be swamped for the next few days.”

Zero Volt sighed. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can’t stand to see Rarity stressed out like this.” He teleported next to Rainbow Dash, who was sitting on a couch reading a book. He placed one of his earbuds in his right ear. Rainbow took the other earbud and the two them searched his music player for something to listen to.

“For a second there, I thought he was going to do something useful for once,” Rarity chuckled as she started leaving the library. “I must return to the boutique. Have fun with Pinkie Pie, girls.”

Soon after Rarity left, Pinkie led the Cutie Mark Crusaders out of the library and toward the lake, leaving Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt in the library. “I have to take inventory and reorganize the books,” Twilight said, “so could the two of you go with Pinkie Pie to the lake. Sometimes I worry that those fillies will destroy Ponyville on one of their crusades, and having Pinkie Pie as their only supervision isn’t very reassuring.”

Uh, yeah whatever, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. She and Zero Volt stood up and walked out of the library.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt were sitting near the frozen lake. They were watching Pinkie Pie help the Cutie Mark Crusaders with their ice skating.

“I’m starting to see why Apple Bloom wasn’t so eager to go ice skating,” Zero Volt said. The two of them looked at Apple Bloom, who was struggling to stand up on her skates. She placed her front hooves on the ice to support herself, but when she tried one of her hind legs, her forelegs slipped out from under her. “She’s definitely not meant for the ice.”

“I don’t think she’s very coordinated to begin with,” Rainbow Dash said. “Scoot looks like she’s got the hang of those ice skates.” Scootaloo shot past Apple Bloom while pushing a hockey puck with her front hooves. She gracefully swerved past orange cones and various other obstacles on her way to the goal, which did not have a goalie in front of it. Scootaloo stopped about ten feet from the goal and tried to make the shot. Rainbow Dash ducked to avoid the puck, which flew at her head instead of going anywhere near the goal. “Too bad she’s a terrible shot.”

“Sorry Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted.

“At least this time, she didn’t lose the puck halfway to the goal,” Zero Volt said. “Rarity’s sister is doing okay over there.” Sweetie Belle was skating alongside Pinkie Pie on the other side of the lake.

“Yeah, but she’s not exactly a natural at this,” Rainbow Dash said. Sweetie Belle looked behind her to check her flank, and was disappointed that a cutie mark wasn’t there. “As long as we’re on the subject, how did you get your cutie mark?”

“Can’t remember,” he said.

“Oh right, the amnesia thing,” Rainbow Dash said. “Do you at least know what it’s for?”

“Not important.”

“Okay…” Rainbow Dash was confused by his dismissal of his cutie mark. A cutie mark represents the ability or trait that makes each individual pony unique, and now matter what it was, ponies were always proud of what their marks symbolized. “You want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

‘He’s hiding something from me,’ she thought. ‘Actually, he’s hiding a lot from me. It took us three months just to learn about his fear of dogs, and that’s after we forced it out of him. There’s so much we still don’t know about him, and it’s not just the things he doesn’t remember.’

“Hey Dash, is that normal?” Zero Volt asked. Rainbow Dash looked up and saw Pinkie and Sweetie Belle singing. Apparently, Pinkie Pie started singing to cheer up Sweetie Belle. Before long, Sweetie Belle had turned the song into a duet.

“Yes, sometimes we break into song,” Rainbow said. “Usually Pinkie Pie. I’m surprised you haven’t already noticed. How long have you been here, three months?”

The two of them watched as Pinkie Pie and Sweetie Belle continued their song. “You know, Rarity’s sister has a great singing voice.”

“Her name is Sweetie Belle, I think,” Rainbow Dash said. “Speaking of Rarity, I don’t suppose you’d agree to be her model for stallion’s designs.”

“Maybe if I could do it behind everypony’s back, but I don’t see it happening.”

After the song was over, Pinkie Pie picked up Apple Bloom and skated off of the lake with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “Did everypony have fun today?” Pinkie Pie said.

“No,” Apple Bloom said while taking off her ice skates. “This didn’t get us any closer to gettin’ our cutie marks. Ah knew we shoulda tried somethin’ else.”

“Too bad,” Rainbow Dash said while opening a book she had brought with her. “Better luck next time.”

“Hey, maybe we could get our cutie marks by writing a book,” Sweetie Belle said.

“That could work,” Apple Bloom said. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Storywriters!” The three of them said a quick goodbye to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt before running off.

“Rarity was right about one thing,” Zero Volt said. “Those three are persistent. Well, see you two later.” Zero Volt teleported away, leaving Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash alone. The two of them exchanged glances and thought the same thing: they were going to pull some pranks today.

* * * * * * * * * *

Two days later, Zero Volt and Rainbow Dash were walking through Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow was pressing the issue of his cutie mark. “Come on, Volt, you can’t just say that your cutie mark isn’t important to you. It’s a part of who you are, and it might tell us something about who you were before you lost your memories.”

Zero Volt stayed silent for a moment. “Actually, I do remember getting it, but there’s nothing in that memory that tells me anything about my old life,” he said. “Besides, I didn’t notice it until hours later, and it’s not really the best special talent to have.”

Rainbow Dash looked at his mark and thought about what he said. “You’re special talent is getting drunk? Actually no, holding your liquor might make an interesting special talent.” Zero Volt glared at her. “What, your cutie mark looks like something that could be on a liquor bottle.”

“Well maybe if my job at the hospital doesn’t work, I can open a distillery,” he said sarcastically.

“Retreat!” The two of them looked around after hearing that scream, and they found Pinkie Pie ducking behind a tree to take cover from a barrage of snowballs. She noticed Rainbow and Zero Volt while she was hiding behind the tree. “Hi, you two! I’m having a snowball fight with Apple Bloom and her friends. Want to help me storm the castle?”

The two of them looked up and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders throwing snowballs from their clubhouse. “I’ve got this one,” Rainbow Dash said. She spread her wings and flew toward the clubhouse. As soon as the three fillies saw Rainbow Dash, they made her their target. Rainbow Dash was pelted by the barrage of snowballs and crash-landed before she could reach them.

Zero Volt teleported Rainbow Dash back to where Pinkie Pie was taking cover. “I don’t think the direct approach will work,” he said. "I’ll teleport up there and take out their suppressive fire. Then we can split them up and go after them individually.”

“Volt, it’s a snowball fight. We’re not actually storming a castle,” Rainbow said. “Besides, I think Pinkie Pie beat you to it.” They looked back at the clubhouse and saw Pinkie up there throwing snowballs at the three fillies. Apple Bloom threw snowballs back at Pinkie to cover her friends’ retreat as they climbed down the ladder.

“Oh that’s right, Pinkie randomly pops in sometimes,” he said. “Why does she need our help again?”

“Who cares? It’s payback time.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran in different directions after they reached the bottom of the ladder. Rainbow Dash’s wings flared and she flew in pursuit of Scootaloo.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom had gotten down from her clubhouse and Pinkie Pie chased after her. “I guess that leaves me with Sweetie Belle,” Zero Volt said. He followed her hoofprints through the barren orchard.

Apple Bloom ran past the trees to escape Pinkie Pie. She looked behind her to see where Pinkie was, but didn’t see her. “Hi, Apple Bloom!” Apple Bloom turned around and stopped just before she could run into Pinkie Pie, and then ran in the other direction. She stopped behind a tree and turned around to look for Pinkie. Without warning, she was hit by a snowball from above, and when she looked up, she saw Pinkie sitting on a tree branch. Apple Bloom found a snow bank nearby and ducked behind it. She took some snow from it and balled it up. When she took some more snow from it, she saw Pinkie Pie’s face in the snow bank. Apple Bloom screamed, tossed her snowball at Pinkie and ran off again. “You can run, but nopony can hide from Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie shouted cheerfully. “Except for Zero, but that’s only because he teleports a lot,” she said to herself. “Even Twilight doesn’t teleport that much. Sometimes it’s like she forgets that she can.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were taking turns throwing snowballs at each other while hiding behind trees. “Good to know that you’ve got your A-game, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “You went down way too easily back at the clubhouse.”

“That’s why I’m here to get back at you,” Rainbow Dash said. “Not that this is the first time you brought me down like that.”

“What do you mean by that?” Scootaloo said. “Wait, are you still mad about that Gabby Gums column?” By that point, she had stopped throwing snowballs.

“I’m not really mad, Scoot, just a little confused,” Rainbow Dash said. “I thought you looked up to me. Most of my fans don’t try to hurt my reputation.” When she noticed that Scootaloo wasn’t throwing snowballs anymore, she came out from behind the tree and started walking toward Scootaloo.

“I guess I haven’t really been much of a fan lately… do you really get hooficures?”

Rainbow Dash was already in front of Scootaloo. “Scoot, look at how scuffed up my hooves are. Does it look like I get hooficures? And don’t say that. You’ll always be my number one fan.”

“Thanks, Rainbow Dash.”

“No problem, squirt. One more thing, though.” Scootaloo looked up and saw Rainbow Dash picking up some snow. “You didn’t forget that we were having a snowball fight, did you?”

Elsewhere, Zero Volt was standing on top of a tree branch. He teleported from one tree to another, following Sweetie Belle’s hoofprints. “It figures that I’d be going after Rarity’s sister,” he said. “Where is she anyway?” His question was answered when he saw a snowball thrown up at him fall back down before it could reach the branch he was on.

“You’re too high up,” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Get down here and play fair.”

“If you have a problem with it, then throw higher,” he said, throwing a snowball at her. Sweetie Belle sidestepped the snowball and started to make another one. “Besides, you’re a smaller target and your coat blends in with all this snow. Who says I can’t have a few advantages?”

The six of them continued their snowball fight, but eventually Pinkie had to go back to work and each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders went back to their own homes. Rainbow Dash followed Zero Volt back to his house.

While the two of them hung out, the door opened and Rarity stepped. “Zero, I heard that you’ve been watching over Sweetie Belle for the last few days and…” Rarity noticed Rainbow Dash in the room halfway into her sentence. “I was just about to give Twilight and Pinkie a piece of my mind for trusting you with those three fillies.”

“You can drop the act, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said. “I already know.”

Rarity looked at Zero Volt, who nodded back. “Oh, well I just wanted to say thanks.”

“By the way, you said that you can’t really get into designing for stallions,” Rainbow said, “but if you did, do you think he’d make a good model?”

“Hm… I don’t really see it,” Rarity said. “Maybe if he removed the bracelet… and the white parts of his coat and mane.”

“This isn’t leaving my sight, Rarity,” Zero Volt said, lifting his right foreleg.

“It doesn’t matter,” Rarity said. “My business is doing just fine anyway.”

“I’m surprised those white parts are still there,” Rainbow said. “It starts off black, but once they reach your bangs, the same hairs change to white. I can’t believe that’s your natural color.”

“Dash, I can’t believe that’s your natural color,” Zero Volt said while pointing at her mane.

“Good point.”

“Anyway, while I was watching those three,” Zero Volt said, “I noticed that Sweetie Belle is a pretty good singer, and Scootaloo seemed to be good at anything involving balance, rhythm and coordination.”

“Did you also see their clubhouse?” Rarity asked. “I heard that Apple Bloom renovated it by herself. She certainly has a flair for construction and interior design.”

“So there’s a good chance that those are their special talents,” Zero Volt said. “Shouldn’t we tell them?”

“You said it yourself, Zero, those three are on a journey of self-discovery,” Rarity said. “It defeats the purpose if we do the discovering for them.”

“But they’ve been at it for two years, and the answers are right in front of them. It’s like they’re having trouble finding water in the ocean.”

“Zero, I do not appreciate you talking about my sister and her friends like that,” Rarity said as she opened the door to leave.

“Yeah, sorry,” Zero Volt said. “Just tell me one more thing before you go. Did you just break into my house?”

“Darling, a mechanical lock is nothing to a unicorn’s magic,” Rarity said. She began using her magic to telekinetically pick the lock. “You just need to get a feel for the mechanism and… voila!” The lock opened and she turned the door handle. “Farewell, you two.” She walked out of the house and closed the door behind her, leaving Zero Volt looking perplexed.

“I’m not sure what to worry about more,” he said, “that any unicorn in town can break into my house or that she may have misinterpreted this.” At the end of his sentence, he waved his hoof back and forth between the two of them.

“The funny thing is that you can just teleport in without that door,” Rainbow Dash said. “And to be fair, half this town thinks I’m a lesbian. They misinterpret it no matter who I hang out with.”

“Oh, well okay.”

The two of them sat silently in the living room for a minute. “You’re not gonna ask which way I go?” she asked.

“I don’t like you that much.”

Storms and Bruised Egos

A small crowd had gathered in front of a stage in Ponyville. This stage had been set up a few hours earlier, and the townsponies were curious about whatever event was going to take place this evening. Meanwhile, a certain blue unicorn was peeking through the curtains. When she decided that the crowd had grown large enough, she lifted the curtains with her magic and started her demonstration.

“Greetings, citizens of Ponyville. You have been given the privilege of witnessing the unparalleled talents of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Using her magic, she illuminated the stage and generated a fireworks display above. “Watch and be amazed as…” Trixie was interrupted by a drop of water splashing on her face. She looked up and saw raindrops falling from the clouds above. “How dare there be rain during the Great and Powerful Trixie’s performance? Do you know who I am?”

“Didn’t you already do this two years ago?” Rainbow Dash asked. She was relaxing in the rain on a low-floating cloud near Trixie’s show. “What’s with the lame encore?”

“You! You’re this town’s weather filly, aren’t you?” Trixie said. “Clear the skies immediately!”

“Trixie, my orders to change the weather come from Cloudsale and the mayor of Ponyville, or on rare occasions, Princess Celestia, but not from you,” Rainbow Dash said. “Besides, the weather in Ponyville is planned out at least two weeks in advance. If you didn’t know it was going to rain today, that’s your problem, not mine.”

Trixie looked up at the clouds far above the one that Rainbow Dash was lying on. Using her magic, she triggered a lightning strike that hit Rainbow Dash. Rainbow fell off the cloud after getting struck and grunted when she hit the ground. “Fine, if you won’t clear the skies, then the Great and Powerful Trixie will,” Trixie said. A minute later, Trixie had stopped the rain and pushed the clouds away from her stage, creating a circular hole in the cloud cover above.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt was trotting in between the crowds and the stage, not caring about the show that was happening. “Huh, I thought it was supposed to rain much longer than that.”

“That was all my doing,” Trixie said. “Do you see now, Ponyville? With my magic, I have power over the weather itself. Before long, you will be astounded by what the Great and Powerful Trixie is capable of!”

Zero Volt stared at her for a few seconds. “Oh, you’re actually serious, aren’t you?” he said.

“You doubt Trixie's power and greatness?” Trixie said as he lifted him with her magic. She then threw his body into the sky. “Begone, you nonbeliever! Maybe next time you will know better than to underestimate the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

Before Zero Volt reached the peak of his ascent, he teleported back to the ground, in front of the stage. His hooves met the ground and he slid to a stop on them. “Did you just throw me into the air?” Trixie was speechless after seeing him reappear on the ground unharmed. Zero Volt teleported onto the stage and touched her muzzle saying, “My turn.” He teleported Trixie into the air and returned to the ground to watch her fall.

Trixie plummeted toward the ground, but before she could crash through her stage, she caught herself with her magic and hovered above the stage. “I seem to have slightly underestimated you, but did you really think you could defeat the Great and Powerful Trixie so easily?”

“That’s enough, Trixie.”

The two of them looked in the direction that the voice had come from. “We meet again,” Trixie said. “Tell me, what was your name again? I think it was Starlight Twinkle”

“That’s Twilight Sparkle to you, and didn’t you learn your lesson the last time you were here?”

“The last time Trixie was here, you bested her against the Ursa Minor,” Trixie said. “But be warned, the Great and Powerful Trixie is far stronger than she was two years ago, and she is stronger than you. But enough of this, there have been too many distractions. Trixie will show you her true power tomorrow evening at six.” As she left, she turned to Rainbow Dash. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall control Ponyville’s weather from now on since you can’t be counted on to do so.”

When Trixie left, Twilight and Zero Volt offered to help Rainbow up, but she stood up on her own. “You okay, RD?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rainbow muttered.

“You don’t want to get checked out or anything?” Zero Volt asked, placing his hoof on Rainbow’s chest to check her heartbeat.

“I said I’m fine!” she said, swatting his hoof away. With that, she flew away, leaving Twilight and Zero Volt looking at each other.

“What was that all about?” Zero Volt asked.

“Walk with me to the library,” Twilight said, “I’ll explain everything on the way.”

* * * * * * * * * *

The following morning, Applejack went into town to look for Rainbow Dash. She found her in the library with Twilight, Rarity, and Zero Volt. “There y’are, Rainbow Dash. What happened to that rain we were s’posed to have? Get up there and move those clouds, yah lazy bum.”

“I’m working on it,” Rainbow said.

“Trixie’s stroking her ego again, just like she was two years ago,” Twilight said. “Not only that, but she’s also hijacked Ponyville’s weather. None of the weather ponies have been able to get any work done.”

“Poor Rainbow Dash has been trying to find a way to beat Trixie at her own game,” Rarity said. “But unicorns can be challenging opponents and Trixie is no exception.”

“They’re not that difficult,” Zero Volt countered. The four young mares in the library all looked at him. “I have plenty of experience fighting against unicorns. If they catch you in a telekinetic grip, they don’t have to let you go, and they can do a lot more with their magic. That means that if they capture you, it’s over. That is, if they capture you.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I mean that the outcome of the battle depends on whether or not they can hold onto you with their magic,” he said. “Most of the unicorns that I’ve fought rely heavily on their magic, so if you can get past any defensive spells and magical attacks, they won’t put up much of a fight.”

“That’s easy for you to say!” Rainbow said. “I can’t just teleport right next to her like you.”

Zero Volt approached Rainbow Dash until the two of them were face to face. “You’re telling me that the Rainbow Dash, the pegasus who can break the sound barrier, is having trouble outmaneuvering a few simple spells?”

“That sounds like a challenge. What do you have in mind?”

Zero Volt turned to the other ponies in the room. “Twilight, Rarity, come with me. We’re also going to need Pinkie Pie for this.” He walked to the front door with the two unicorns. “As for you, Dash,” he said, looking back to her, “meet us at your practice field in an hour. I’m going to teach you how to fight unicorns.”

* * * * * * * * * *

An hour later, Rainbow Dash arrived at her practice field. She saw Zero Volt, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity waiting for her. She also noticed Pinkie Pie standing next to a pile of water balloons. A line was drawn halfway across the field from them, and an X was drawn on the ground in front of her friends. “So, you said you were going to teach me about fighting unicorns?” she said.

“Yes, but before we begin, I want to ask you something,” Zero Volt said. “The first day I was in Ponyville, do you remember what I said about powerful enemies?”

Rainbow Dash thought about it for a few seconds. She was trying to remember everything he had said that day, but she couldn’t recall anything about powerful enemies. It didn’t help that Pinkie Pie was hopping around with her hoof raised, trying to get his attention. “Oh right!” Rainbow said. “You said that if they can’t hit you with anything, it doesn’t matter how powerful they are.”

“Exactly. Before I came to Ponyville, I fought a lot of enemies. Some of them could do a lot more damage than me, and some could take more punishment than me. A few of them could even do both. The key to defeating those enemies is to avoid all of their attacks while finding time to land your own hits. Rather than fighting offensively or defensively, this is about fighting evasively.”

“And if I learn how to do that, I can stop Trixie?”

“That’s the plan. Trixie’s probably going to rely entirely on her magic against you. There’s a lot that magic can do, but for it to work, she has to focus on the target or area that she wants to cast the spell on. With your speed and agility, you should be able to disrupt her focus and dodge any spells she casts. After all, you are the fastest flying pegasus in Equestria, right?”

“Right!” Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight and Rarity. “That means I’m going to practice against those two, but what’s with the water balloons?”

“Think of Twilight as the optional final challenge,” Zero Volt said. “You don’t have to go up against her, but if you can beat her, you’ll definitely beat Trixie.” He walked next to the pile of water balloons. “I’ll get to these later, but for now, here are the rules. Rarity will stand on that spot marked with an X, and Rainbow Dash will start at the other end of the field. Rarity, once Dash gets past that line drawn in the middle of the field, you can start using your magic on her, dealer’s choice. Dash, you goal is to make it over her and place your hoof on Rarity’s cutie mark. If you can do that without getting hit by any of Rarity’s spells, you win. If not, then start over.”

Rainbow Dash flew to the other end of the field and looked back to her friends. She took a few seconds to stretch her wings. “Alright, here we go!” She took off and flew toward Rarity on a straight path, leaving a rainbow in her wake. She quickly made it across the line and kept flying. While she was flying, she felt a little weighed down, but made it next to Rarity, stopped on a dime, and placed her hoof on Rarity’s cutie mark. “No sweat!” she said with a smirk.

“Well done Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said. “I tried my best to grab you, but I couldn’t stop you in midflight.”

“Yeah, you only slowed me down a little,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Start over!”

“What?!” Rainbow flew in front of Zero Volt. “Didn’t you see that? Rarity couldn’t stop me. That means I won.”

“You said she was able to slow you down a little. Maybe that’s good enough against Rarity, but a stronger unicorn would’ve been more successful,” Zero Volt said. “Your goal is to make sure your opponent can’t hit you with anything, so you’re going to have to do better than that.” Rainbow started to fly back to the other side of the field. “And don’t fly in a straight line either. If it was Trixie, she could’ve tossed a rock or a fireball in your path.”

Rainbow Dash made her way back to her starting position. “Fly faster and don’t go in a straight line,” she said to herself as she got ready. She started flying again, and when she reached the line, she abruptly ascended. In the next two seconds, she performed a barrel roll in her descent and landed right next to Rarity. “I definitely did better this time,” Rainbow said after touching Rarity’s cutie mark. “I don’t think she did anything to me.”

“I didn’t,” Rarity said. “You were too fast, and you completely threw me off when you changed direction like that.”

“Nice work, Dash,” Zero Volt said. “Now you can either move to the next level or keep practicing with Rarity.”

“I think I’ll move on,” Rainbow Dash said. “Alright, Twilight, let’s see what you’ve got!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “He’s your next opponent, not me.” Rainbow Dash looked at Zero Volt, who was standing on the X with a few water balloons at his hooves.”

“You? But I thought I was here to train against unicorns.”

“Trixie will be able to do more with her magic than put you in a telekinetic grip,” he said. “You’ll also have to deal with projectiles: rocks, energy blasts, basically anything that a unicorn can pick up or conjure up to throw at you.”

“So you’re going to stand here and… no, you’re going to teleport and throw those at me,” Rainbow said. “But aren’t you were supposed to stay on that X? And what about your two-second warning?”

“I’m going to teleport back here every time,” he said, “and that only warns me about anything that would hurt me… unless you’re going to smack my flank.”

“I don’t like you that much,” she said. She was about to turn around when another thought occurred to her. “I suppose this means that you and those water balloons are at a higher tier than Rarity and her magic.”

“Dash, the balloons themselves are at a higher tier than Rarity and her magic.” As soon as Zero Volt said that, he was pelted by three water balloons. He looked in Rarity’s direction and was hit in the face by a fourth one. He had already told her that Rainbow Dash knew about the act, and while neither of them expected Rainbow to play a role in it, he was glad for the setup. “Dash, one more thing before you go. Keep going even after you’re hit. That way, we can see how well you’re doing and if you’re improving.”

The four of them watched as Rainbow Dash flew back to her starting point. While they were waiting, Twilight asked, “What’s Pinkie going to do after Rainbow Dash is done with you?”

“What? Oh, no, Pinkie’s here because I needed help with the balloons,” Zero Volt said. “You’re next after me.”

Rainbow Dash was ready at the other end of the field, and when they looked back at her, she started flying. She was eager to ace this as well. She quickly flew toward the line in the middle of the field, but as soon as she passed the line, a water balloon struck her in the side of her face, sending her spinning off course. It took her a few seconds, but she managed to recover just in time to avoid another balloon thrown at her. She continued on path as Zero Volt was picking up another balloon. She descended when she saw him teleport, ready to dodge a balloon from either side, but was surprised when this one hit her from above. Zero Volt picked up another balloon and teleported, but Rainbow Dash saw him appear and swerved to avoid the fourth balloon. She landed right next to him as he returned to the X and placed her hoof on his cutie mark.

“Okay, two out of four,” Rainbow Dash said. “That could’ve gone better.”

“You did fine for now. You just need to remember to check your surroundings for oncoming projectiles,” Zero Volt said. “Now, let’s try that again.”

Rainbow Dash returned to the other side of the field and tried again. As she passed the line, she saw Zero Volt teleport nearby. She ascended to dodge the first balloon and veered left to dodge the next one. It took her three seconds to get from the starting point to the X, and she dodged seven more balloons along the way. As she approached, Zero Volt picked up the next balloon and threw it from where he stood instead of teleporting. Rainbow ascended to dodge the last balloon, landed next to him and touched his cutie mark. “Ten out of ten! In your face, Zero!” she shouted.

Suddenly, a water balloon hit Zero Volt in the face. They all turned around and saw that Pinkie Pie had thrown this one. “Too literal, Pinkie Pie,” Zero Volt said. He turned back to Rainbow Dash. “You win again, Dash. Twilight is next, if you’re ready.”

“Yeah, I’m ready!” Rainbow Dash flew back to the other end of the practice field while Twilight stood on the spot with the X on it. “Alright Twilight, let’s do this,” she said before taking off. She flew past the line in the middle and raced toward Twilight. ‘That’s weird. She’s just standing there watching me,’ Rainbow thought as she approached Twilight.

When Rainbow Dash was only a few feet away, Twilight caught her in a telekinetic grip, instantly stopping her. “You’ll have to do better than that, RD,” she said before releasing Rainbow Dash. “Remember that you have to make it as difficult as possible for Trixie to keep track of your location and flight path. Aerial maneuvers should help, but if you can fly fast enough, maybe she’ll lose track of you completely.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Rainbow Dash said, “fly really fast and don’t go in the same direction for too long.”

“Why don’t we take a break?” Zero Volt said. He teleported away and reappeared a second later with a basket and a picnic blanket. “I think we could all use a snack, and Dash could definitely use some rest.”

The five of them each chose a few things from the sandwiches, apples, water, soda and cupcakes he had packed. In particular, Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to lie on the blanket and take a nap after two sandwiches and a soda.

“Zero, this must be the first good idea you’ve had in months,” Rarity said. “Although it’s certainly a step down from helping Applejack save Pinkie Pie. Not only that, but we could certainly do without the apparent racism. Trixie definitely deserves our contempt, but you seem to take issue with unicorns in general.”

“Twilight and I don’t have any problems, or at least none that I’m aware of, and I don’t hate you any more than I would if you were an earth pony or a pegasus,” Zero Volt said. “As for Trixie, she’s a conceited unicorn who abuses her powers. I don’t see why I shouldn’t hate her.”

“I just hope she gets what’s coming to her from Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie Pie said while munching on a cupcake. “Dashie’s just been amazing so far today. Sometimes she flies so fast that I can’t even see where she is anymore.” Then I see that rainbow trail she always leaves behind when she flies fast and I find her right after. But that mean old Trixie might do the same thing, so that might be a bad thing.”

“Pinkie has a point there,” Twilight said. “That rainbow contrail is a nice visual effect, but in this case, it might be a liability. I guess we’ll just have to work with it.”

An hour later, they finished their picnic and Rainbow Dash continued practicing against Twilight. In addition to trying to catch Rainbow in her telekinetic grasp, Twilight was also using the water balloons, which were the safest projectiles she had available.

Rainbow Dash flew close to transonic speeds as she passed the line in the middle of the field. Once she passed it, she went into a series of aerial maneuvers, partly to avoid the water balloons, but mainly to make her flight path as difficult to follow as possible. By this point, Twilight was throwing the remaining balloons en masse while trying to predict where Rainbow Dash would be. Two seconds later, Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight and placed her hoof on her friend’s cutie mark.

“That’s it, Twilight, I won,” she said right before she collapsed. She was panting and covered in sweat, and she gladly took a bottle of water that Zero Volt offered her.

“Good job, Dash,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

“A little tired,” she said, “but I think I’m ready for Trixie.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that afternoon, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and Zero Volt were walking toward Trixie’s stage. The crowd in front of her stage was larger than it was the day before, though it included Ponyville’s farm ponies, who were outraged that Trixie was preventing the rain from falling.

“Hey Dash, there’s one thing I forgot to mention earlier,” Zero Volt said. Rainbow Dash looked at him. “Unlike us, Trixie is not going to wait for anything before attacking you. She’s going after you the moment she feels like it. That being said, how fast can you accelerate on takeoff?”

“Zero to six hundred in less than a second,” Rainbow said proudly.

“Oh, wow…” he said. “If that’s not impressive, I don’t know what is.”

“Zero Volt, you can wait until after she defeats Trixie to praise her,” Twilight said. “Remember what he said before, RD, once she has you, it’s over, so don’t get overconfident.”

The curtain on Trixie’s stage rose and a strong gust of wind blew from the stage. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle braced themselves against the wind. When it stopped, Rainbow glanced at Zero Volt, who was holding his right foreleg in front of his face with the wings on his jeweled greave extended. “Volt, it’s just wind, but it’s nice to know that that thing works like a shield.” The wings folded back into place when he put his hoof back on the ground.

“Welcome back, Ponyville,” Trixie said. “I see that you’ve returned for a display of the breathtaking magical power of the Great and Powerful Trixie, and you will not be disappointed.”

“We’re here ‘cause yah stopped the rain yesterday,” Applejack said. "We need that rain for our crops.”

“Trixie also sees that the three of you are back again,” Trixie said. "This works perfectly, because now you all get to see the Great and Powerful Trixie’s triumph over your weather filly, that Sparkle unicorn and…” She looked at Zero Volt for a few seconds before saying, “whoever you’re supposed to be.”

“You don’t realize how much trouble you’re in, do you, Trixie?” Twilight said. “You’re not authorized to manipulate Ponyville’s weather. Not only that, but Rainbow Dash is the captain of Ponyville’s weather pegasi, and you committed a felony when you attacked her yesterday. Not to mention that you built that stage here without a permit from city hall.”

“Wait a minute, you’re telling us this now?” Zero Volt said. “The other two are just fines she’ll have to pay, but that felony assault could put Trixie away for a couple of years.”

“Forget it, Volt. I’m not pressing charges,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll handle this myself.”

“Well then, I think I’ll start with you first,” Trixie said. She prepared her magic to use against Rainbow Dash, only to be surprised when Rainbow disappeared after taking flight. She noticed the trail of colors left behind and followed it with her eyes. She eventually found Rainbow Dash, but was unable to keep her eyes on Rainbow long enough to magically grab her.

A second later, Rainbow Dash landed right next to Trixie and placed her hoof on Trixie’s flank. Trixie gave Rainbow a confused look, and the two of them stared at each other for a while. “Oh right,” Rainbow Dash said before beating her wings again and tackling Trixie into a tree. She landed on the ground, turned around, and kicked Trixie in the chest with both hind legs.

As Trixie reached a sitting position, Twilight and Zero Volt walked up to her. “Have you had enough, or does Rainbow Dash have to keep going?” Twilight asked. “Or maybe I should uproot this tree and show you what my magic can do.”

“Twilight please, easy on the plant life,” Zero Volt said. “Why don’t I just use my teleportation ability to drop that stage on her?” Suddenly, a cloud of smoke appeared in front of them, and when it subsided, they saw Trixie galloping away. “You think she learned her lesson?”

“She didn’t learn anything the last time we let her get away,” Rainbow Dash said. She flew at Trixie and stopped just in front of her, cutting off her escape. “Is there anything you want to say before running off?”

“Like how sorry you are for causing this entire town so much trouble?” Zero Volt said after teleporting right behind Trixie.

“Or that you promise not to do anything like this again?” Twilight said after teleporting right next to her.

“Alright, I’m sorry and I won’t do this again! Just let me go!” Trixie said before running off again.

“Okay, now she’s learned her lesson,” Rainbow Dash said. “And thanks for showing me how to put Trixie in her place. That might come in handy later.”

"Hey, any excuse to lob water balloons at Pinkie Pie," Zero Volt said.

"When did that happen?"

"That was a very long hour," he said, "and we had a lot of water balloons."

“That sure was somethin’, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said, finally catching up to her friends. “Now don’t yah think there’s one more thing yah oughta be doin’ right now?”

“You got it, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said. She flew off to prepare another storm over Ponyville.

Author's Note

Let’s see, we have the recycled scheme of a recycled minor antagonist, a chapter that feels like 90% filler, and any sort of action that happens here feels a bit weak. Yeah, this is definitely the weakest chapter in the entire story… Okay, be sure to read the remaining chapters. I promise that the rest of the story won’t have any filler.

UPDATE: This chapter was put up before Magic Duel. Yes, I've seen the episode, and no, I haven't yet figured out how to change this to accommodate it. I don't want to make this AU because that would be lazy. Then again, the line between AU and fanfiction is a bit blurred, and I might be able to use that technicality to avoid doing anything with it, but I'm not sure if the situation is flexible enough to do that. I could simply delete the chapter, since the only plot-relevant part of this is Rainbow Dash using her speed and agility to evade magic fire, but that's last resort.

Stranded

‘Okay, just a little further up,’ Fluttershy thought. She hadn’t been on this mountain in over two years, but this time it was easier to climb. In fact, she was actually able to fly up the mountain this time because there was no dragon at the top; there was only Zero Volt. ‘This time, he’s taking it too far. I’m going to make him stop this senseless feud with Rarity… hopefully before the storm starts.’ The weather pegasi had scheduled a thunderstorm for today, and Zero Volt had chosen to go up this mountain right before it was supposed to start. ‘Oh, maybe I should do this later when the skies are clear and he’s not up here… no, I have to do this now, to show him that I mean business.’

It had already started raining by the time she found Zero Volt, who was relaxing near the cave that the dragon had chosen to sleep in. He was lying on his back with his forelegs behind his head when he noticed her. “Hey Fluttershy, nice weather we’re… something wrong?” He sat up on his haunches when she saw the look on her face.

“Zero Volt, you are going to apologize to Rarity, and the two of you are going to start being friends with each other. You are going to stop making everypony deal with your stupid arguing, and you are going to do so this instant!” In the last seven months, she had done everything else to convince him to make peace with Rarity. She had tried begging, and pleading, and beseeching, and asking politely. Now she was left with no choice. This situation called for something drastic. This situation called for The Stare.

Zero Volt looked at her with his mouth wide open. Fluttershy had always been so gentle, so docile. Now he was looking into her blue eyes, and he could feel her gaze pierce through him and instill a sense of dread within his very soul. A moment later, he raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why are you glaring at me like that?”

Fluttershy’s jawed dropped, and her confidence and assertiveness were completely shattered. ‘Is he immune to The Stare? How is that even possible? Nothing’s immune to The Stare.’ Moments later, a bolt of lightning struck close by and signaled the beginning of the storm. Fluttershy squeaked and ran into the cave nearby, hiding inside as thunder continued to sound. “Wh-what happened back there? First The Stare doesn’t work on Zero, and now that storm,” Fluttereshy said to herself. “Okay, calm down, it’s only a storm, and it’s only Zero.” Fluttershy flinched after hearing another bolt of lightning struck nearby. “He can teleport us back to Ponyville, we can talk it all out, and it will all be okay. It will all be okay.”

Fluttershy lifted her head and looked outside the cave, and when she did, every bit of composure she had regained vanished. Zero Volt lying motionless on the ground several feet outside the cave. Parts of his fur were charred, suggesting that he had been struck by lightning. Fluttershy ran toward him, but stopped after a lightning bolt struck near the entrance of the cave. She squeaked and back up a bit, preferring to stay inside rather than risk being out in the storm. However, she also remembered that Zero Volt was still outside. After hesitating a little longer, Fluttershy ran outside to him. She lifted Zero Volt’s foreleg over her back and dragged him into the cave as quickly as she could.

Once they were safely inside the cave, Fluttershy lowered Zero Volt onto the ground and prodded him with her hoof. “Zero? Zero, please wake up.”

Zero Volt let out a pained grunt and clutched his head with his hooves. “Fluttershy?” he groaned.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“My head… what happened?”

“I think you were struck by lightning,” Fluttershy said. She placed a hoof on his shoulder. “You need to see a doctor. Teleport us to the hospital now.” Neither of them did anything for several seconds. Zero Volt opened his eyes and stared at Fluttershy. “Zero, what are you waiting for? Let’s go, now!”

“I can’t,” Zero Volt said. “It’s not working.”

“What? Y-You’re joking, right?”

“I’m afraid not. I think that lightning strike knocked out my teleportation ability.” He started looking around the cave. “I’m also having some double vision, unless there are two of you now. Either way, we’ll have to go on hoof.”

“You mean we have to go through-” The crack of thunder interrupted Fluttershy in mid-sentence. Her wings were already folded at her sides, but now she could feel them locking in place. “I’m sorry, Zero. I’m too scared to go out there.”

“Alright then,” he said. With some difficulty, he managed to stand up on his hooves, but his gait wasn't as steady as it normally was. “I’ll go by myself. If you’re still here after I get treated, I’ll come back and teleport you back to Ponyville.” He tried to walk out of the cave, but he stumbled with almost every step he took. Before long, he bumped into the cave’s wall and groaned as he fell back down.

Fluttershy trotted over to him and placed her hoof on his head. “Zero, what’s wrong?”

“Between the double vision and this pain, I don’t think I can make it back on my own,” he said as he pressed his hoof on his head. “Are you sure you can’t just fly us down?”

“I… I can’t. My wings lock up when I get really scared.”

“Okay then. I guess we'll just have to wait this storm out.”

Fluttershy watched him clutch his head and writhed in pain. “How are you feeling? I mean, how bad is it?”

“It’s hard to focus on anything because of the pain, but I don’t think it’s getting any worse. At least that’s something, right?”

Fluttershy gazed outside at the thunderstorm. She would have liked nothing more than to stay in the cave until the storm ended, aside from not being on this mountain in the first place. But with Zero Volt in so much pain, she felt herself torn between staying in the relative safety of the cave and helping her friend.

Eventually she made up her mind and lifted his foreleg over her back. “Come on, Zero, walk with me. We can’t just leave you here like this.” She hesitated after hearing the crack of thunder again, but before long, the two of them left the cave.

“Thanks, Fluttershy.” With Zero Volt’s foreleg over Fluttershy’s shoulder, the two of them walked down the mountain. “So, why were you glaring at me like that?”

“Huh? Oh, um… can it wait until after we’re off the mountain?” Fluttershy said.

“Sure, I guess.”

The two of them walked silently for a few moments. Thunder could be heard above them, but as Fluttershy remembered why she came up here and why she was mad at him, the storm only registered as background noise. “Actually, no. it can’t wait,” she said. “I have let this stupid fighting between you and Rarity go on for too long, and now you’ve taken it too far. This is the worst thing you’ve ever done!”

“Okay, first of all, Rarity and I are not fighting,” Zero Volt said. “It’s only a fight if there’s physical violence. Rarity and I are arguing.”

“What difference does that make?!” The sky lit up with lightning, and they both heard the deafening sound of thunder.

“Well, for starters, this is distracting me from a little bit of the pain,” he said. “And I’ll bet this talk is taking your mind off of the storm.”

Fluttershy heard the sound of thunder again, but she barely flinched at it this time. ‘He’s right. We’re both soaked from the rain, and this storm isn’t getting any better, but I haven’t thought about it much.’ She looked back at his cutie mark. “Is that you’re special talent? Distracting other ponies?”

“You’d think so, but no,” he said. “But back to me and Rarity. You know, the worst thing I’ve ever done, whatever that is.”

“Oh, um…” Fluttershy tried to think back to what made her so angry at Zero Volt, but he had somehow managed to distract her from both her fear of the storm and her anger at him. “I went to talk to Rarity earlier this afternoon and…”

“Oh hello, Fluttershy,” Rarity said as she answered the door to the boutique. “I just have to tie up a few loose ends before our spa date, so please come in and make yourself at home.”

Fluttershy walked in and looked around the boutique. Rarity used her magic to put away rolls of fabric, spools of thread, and a few marequins with unfinished dresses on them. As Fluttershy looked around, she glanced at another unfinished project that Rarity had put to the side. ‘That one doesn’t look like something Rarity would make,’ she thought. She went closer to examine it. It appeared to be a large black cloak with sleeves for a pony’s forelegs. She saw a clipboard with a list of measurements and a vague description of what the cloak was supposed to be. At the top of the clipboard were the letters ‘ZV’.

“Oh, that’s nothing important,” Rarity said. She used her magic to hastily put the cloak and clipboard away. “It’s just a little side project for a personal acquaintance.”

“Those letters at the top,” Fluttershy asked, “are they the pony’s initials?” As soon as she said it out loud, she remembered a fleeting conversation from four months earlier and realized whose initials they were. “Rarity, did Zero ask you to make something for him?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Fluttershy,” Rarity said. “I would never design anything for that miserable fiend.”

“Rarity,” Fluttershy said with more assertiveness. “Did he ask you to make that cloak for him?”

“Yes, Zero asked me to make that cloak for him,” Rarity said with a sigh. “I honestly can’t imagine why he would ask me to make that. The whole thing is so faded, so oversized, so monochrome. That colt truly has no sense of fashion. At the very least he was polite and civil with me while we talked about it. You know, in spite of everything that’s happened between us, he and I might actually get along with each other.”

Fluttershy’s eye twitched as she stared back at Rarity. “I hope you don't mind, but I won’t be going to our spa appointment.”

“That is not the worst thing I’ve ever done,” Zero Volt said. The two of them reached a narrow ledge along the mountainside. They walked alongside it with Zero Volt walking closer to the mountainside and Fluttershy walking closer to the edge. “In the nine months of my life that I can remember, I can think of two other things that are worse than that.”

“Zero, how could you?” Fluttershy said, her anger finally returning to her. “I don’t mind you giving Rarity a heart attack to get a laugh. Rainbow Dash does that to her friends all the time. But it’s bad enough that she’s making the costume you’re using to terrify her. Now you’re tricking her into thinking that you two are becoming friends. This isn’t some harmless practical joke. This is just cruel!”

“It’s funny that you should mention that,” Zero Volt said. “We actually are becoming friends.”

“What? Since when?”

“Remember the night of that blizzard when we were all at Twilight’s place? We actually made up then, but since some ponies enjoy the spectacle that she and I put on, we decided to fake it in front of everypony.”

“The two of you are doing this for fun?” Fluttershy said. “This isn’t fun for me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Suddenly, the ground beneath one of Fluttershy’s hooves crumbled, causing her to fall off the ledge. With his foreleg supported on her shoulder, Zero Volt fell with her and they both rolled down the mountain. Fluttershy's felt her body scrape against the rock as she tumbled down the mountain. At the end of her fall, the right side of her body bounced off the rock wall before she finally made a hard landing.

Fluttershy lay on the ground for a few moments before confirming that she was on solid ground again. “Ow,” she groaned almost inaudibly before trying to stand up. After a while, she had managed to get to her hooves. Blood oozed along her yellow coat from several scrapes on her legs and body. She lifted her foreleg to place a hoof over another shallow cut on the left side of her face. “Zero!” she gasped, remembering that her friend was still hurt. Fluttershy looked around frantically for a moment and found Zero Volt lying on the ground with small cuts all over his body as well. She ran to him and shook him with her hoof.

Zero Volt looked up and saw Fluttershy giving him a concerned look. “Fluttershy?”

“Zero?”

Zero Volt glanced at Fluttershy’s right side. “Your wing.”

Fluttershy looked at her right wing, which was still folded at her side. With its plumage disheveled and stained with blood, her wing was in worse condition than the rest of her body. “It’s… it’s fine,” she said. “What about you? Are you hurt?”

“Hard to say,” Zero Volt said. “This headache is almost bad enough to drown out my thoughts, so it’s hard to feel any other pain. But you’re definitely not fine. Come on, we both need to get to the hospital.”

With some difficulty, Fluttershy lifted his right foreleg over her shoulder and started to carry him again. “Your two-second warning picked a really bad time to not work,” she said.

“Actually, I think that lightning strike knocked that out too.”

“What?” Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck near the two of them. Fluttershy squeaked and rushed the two of them underneath an overhang. “I can’t do this,” she said, pulling a pack filled with medical supplies from behind Zero Volt’s mane. “Maybe we should stay here until the storm ends.”

“Fluttershy, calm down,” Zero Volt said. “I know this looks bad, but we’re almost down the mountain. As soon as we get back to Ponyville, it will all be okay.”

“How can you say that? Aren’t you scared?” she squeaked.

Fluttershy, we’re all alone on a mountain in the middle of a fierce thunderstorm with all of my abilities knocked out. Of course I’m scared. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Fluttershy stared at him in disbelief. On the surface, Zero Volt had maintained his composure throughout this entire ordeal, and now he was telling her that he was scared too. “Y-You don’t look scared.”

“I guess I just respond to fear differently,” he said. “I mean, usually I wind up going after the things that scare me. Then again, I often end up with cuts and bruises, so that might not always be the best way to deal with fear.”

“So then there are times when you get scared, but you don’t look or act scared?”

“Lots of times,” he said. “Remember that look you gave me before that storm started?”

Fluttershy nodded when she realized that he was talking about The Stare. It was nice to know that he was affected by it, but she still couldn’t believe he could shrug it off like that. “What about those four thieves that you had to fight when you first came here? Were you scared to fight them?”

“Those four? Oh no, they were never a threat to begin with.”

“The four ponies who threw you all over that clearing and broke your leg weren’t a threat,” Fluttershy said incredulously.

“Okay fine, so I went a little easier on them than I should have,” Zero Volt said. “Besides, they weren’t nearly as tough as this one dragon I went up against.”

“You’ve fought a dragon before?” she asked. Zero Volt nodded. “And you won?” He nodded again. “I find this all very hard to believe.”

“Alright fine, if you’re not going to believe me, then I guess I won’t tell you about it.”

“Oh come on, you can’t just bring it up and not tell me about it,” Fluttershy said. “I’m sure it’s a good story.”

“Well… okay,” he said. “We should stay here and get a look at your wing, so I might as well.” Zero Volt tried to open the bag of medical supplies, but he was having some difficulty with the zipper, so Fluttershy opened it for him. “Sorry, it’s hard to do this sort of thing with double vision. Can you move your wing?”

Fluttershy winced as she slowly spread her right wing. “It doesn’t feel broken. How does it look?”

“Uh… it’s hard to see, but I don’t think it’s much worse than a flesh wound,” he said. “We should be able to clean it and put some bandages, but if I were you, I wouldn’t try to fly with it for a day or two.”

“Can you treat it in your condition? How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked.

“I think so, but between the headache and the double vision, it’ll take a while,” he said. “Neither one is getting better, but at least they’re not getting any worse.”

“So, do you still want to tell me that story?”

“Right, uh, about six weeks into my travels, I was walking through the forest,” Zero Volt started. “I was a few days away from Fillydelphia when I met this dragon. He was definitely older than Spike, but he was still just a juvenile. Anyway, he and I got to talking, and when he noticed the greave around my foreleg, he decided that he wanted it for himself.”

“So you fought a young dragon because he wanted to eat your bracelet,” Fluttershy said. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but this isn’t a very- ow!”

“Sorry Fluttershy, but isopropyl alcohol doesn’t come in a sting-free form,” he said. “But yeah, at the time, he was only about my size, and while he could breathe fire, his wings weren’t strong enough for sustained flight. So he eventually realized that he was outmatched, and that’s when he decided to cry for his mommy. That’s when things really got ugly…”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Looks like your wing’s going to be okay, Fluttershy,” Zero Volt said. By the time he had finished his story, he had already disinfected Fluttershy’s wing and wrapped it in bandages. “How does it feel?”

“It feels better,” Fluttershy said. “It wasn’t as bad as it looked before, but I’ll keep it bandaged for a few days.”

"Yeah, you did wind up scraping most of your outer wing, but luckily it didn't reach any bone or major blood vessels. So, you think you’re ready to head back?”

“Uh, yeah, we can try to go to Ponyville now.” The storm had not yet ended, but it was less severe than it had been earlier. Fluttershy pulled Zero Volt’s right foreleg over her shoulder and the two of them walked out from beneath the overhang. “Zero, I’d like to hear the rest of that story, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh yeah. Anyway, once that dragon triggered the avalanche, I started teleporting those rocks above her. It only took four or five rocks to take out her wings, but by the time I realized that, I had already teleported most of the avalanche above her. I’ll admit, gravity did most of the work, but that’s one way to take out an adult dragon.”

“I suppose damaging her wings in midflight and sending her plummeting to the ground would work,” Fluttershy said, “but I still find your story a little hard to believe.”

“Either way, we’re finally off the mountain,” Zero Volt said. Fluttershy looked back and saw that they were now at the bottom of the mountain. “We were attracting too much lightning at that altitude, so that’s a relief, right?”

“Yeah, now we just have to walk back to Ponyville,” she said. “You know, there used to be a dragon living up there in that cave.”

“Really, what happened to it?”

“He went there to go to sleep, but his snoring was starting to blow smoke all over Equestria’s skies, so we had to ask it to leave.”

“So you asked a dragon to go sleep somewhere else, and he agreed?”

“Actually, I asked him to sleep somewhere else.”

“Fluttershy, that’s even less believable than my story,” Zero Volt said. “It’s one thing to spring a trap on a dragon, but those things are too sociopathic for your methods of persuasion.”

“Well, I sort of used The Stare on him.”

“The Stare?”

“The one I gave you at the top of the mountain,” Fluttershy said, “before the storm started.”

“Oh that one,” he said. “I can see how that might work.”

Fluttershy and Zero Volt continued their journey back to Ponyville. As they came closer to the town, the storm grew weaker in intensity. “Hey Fluttershy,” Zero Volt said. “You grew up in Cloudsdale, right? How much do you know about the weather?”

“Not too much. You’d probably be better off asking Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you want to know?”

“I was wondering about thunderstorms,” he said. “I’ve noticed that pegasi can trigger a single lightning strike by hitting a thundercloud with their hooves, but what about thunderstorms?”

“Well, if kicking a cloud once causes one bolt of lightning, then I suppose the entire storm would be caused by kicking the clouds lots of times.”

“Like dancing maybe?”

“You don’t think the weather pegasi are having a party up there, do you?”

“That’s what I want to know.”

Fluttershy and Zero Volt looked up at the sky as they walked toward Ponyville. The rain had finally stopped, and the clouds were now breaking apart rapidly. As the clouds disappeared, a rainbow was left behind in their wake.

“It looks like Rainbow Dash is clearing the skies today,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, it figures that the storm would end only after we make it back to Ponyville,” Zero Volt said.

As the rainbow streak made its way across the sky, it took a sharp turn and shot in their direction. Rainbow Dash landed in front of them seconds later. “Volt, Fluttershy, what happened to you?” she asked.

“Zero got struck by lightning and now he’s really hurt,” Fluttershy said. “He needs to see a doctor now.”

“On it!” Rainbow Dash grabbed Zero Volt with her forelegs and lifted him off the ground. “What about you?” she said to Fluttershy.

“I’ll be fine,” Fluttershy said. “I’ll meet you two at the hospital.” With that, Rainbow Dash flew off toward the hospital holding Zero Volt with her forelegs.

* * * * * * * * * *

Fluttershy knocked at the door of the Carousel Boutique and Rarity appeared at the door a few seconds later. “Good heavens, Fluttershy, what happened to you?” Rarity asked.

“Zero Volt is at the hospital right now,” Fluttershy said. “We were on that mountain during the storm, and now he’s really hurt.”

“Oh dear… shouldn’t you be with him?”

“He’s with Rainbow Dash right now, so he should be okay,” Fluttershy said. “Rarity, I know about your act with Zero.”

“Oh, he told you about that?” Rarity said. She turned around and scanned the inside of the boutique. She then poked her head outside to look around. “Let’s talk about this inside.” Fluttershy walked into the shop and closed the door behind her.

“Rarity, why didn’t you tell me? You know that I don’t like watching you two fight.”

“I’m terribly sorry, Fluttershy. I was hoping to tell you today at the spa. I would have told you sooner, but I was worried that the performance wouldn’t look authentic without your genuine reaction.”

“Come with me to the hospital,” Fluttershy said. “If you two are friends now, you should visit him too.

“That won’t be possible,” Rarity said. “If it were just the four of us, it wouldn’t be an issue. In public, I would have to pester him as part of the act, and it is unbecoming of a lady to show scorn to the sick and injured.”

“Four of us? Rainbow Dash knows, too? Why would he tell her and not me?”

“Zero agreed to let me tell you when the time was right. I have no idea why he told Rainbow Dash, but to her credit, she has been playing the role of instigator during our façade.” Rarity approached Fluttershy and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. We can reschedule our spa date for tomorrow, my treat. We’ll talk about it then, but right now you must go to the hospital. Zero will want you there with him.”

“Okay, thanks Rarity,” Fluttershy said, still feeling dejected. She left Rarity’s house and started going to the hospital.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt were sitting in an exam room in the hospital, waiting for a doctor to see them. Zero Volt was lying on the examination table on his stomach while Rainbow stood next to him. “Hey, Volt,” Rainbow said, “How are you holding up?”

“About the same as I was a few hours ago,” Zero Volt said. “Hey Dash, can I ask you something about the weather?”

“Shoot.”

“How do weather pegasi start thunderstorms?”

“We just bring the storm clouds together,” she said. “If you hit one of the clouds just right, it starts a chain reaction.”

“Oh. For a while I thought the weather ponies were having some sort of party above the clouds.”

“A party above the clouds,” she mused. “That sound like fun.”

“No, you are not doing that,” he said. Rainbow Dash stared blankly at him. “Dash, do you have any idea what Fluttershy and I went through during that storm? How would it look if you were partying in the middle of all that?”

“Okay fine, no party above the storm clouds,” Rainbow Dash said.

At that moment, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle walked in with the doctor. “Zero Volt, what a surprise,” the doctor said. “Usually our EMTs aren’t the ones who need medical attention. What seems to be the problem?”

“I got struck by lightning, and now my head really hurts,” Zero Volt said.

“How painful is it, on a scale of one to ten,” the doctor asked.

Zero Volt paused for a moment and looked up at the doctor. “It only goes up to ten?”

“He’s also experiencing double vision, and his teleportation and two-second warning aren’t working,” Fluttershy said. “Oh, did I interrupt?”

The doctor’s face lit up, and he looked at Zero Volt with greater curiosity. “Are you sure this was caused by a lightning strike? Was there any head trauma involved?”

“No, it was just a lightning strike,” Zero Volt said. “It happened a few hours ago, but it hasn’t gotten any better.”

The doctor brushed Zero Volt’s hoof away and stared at his head. “Well this is certainly strange,” he said. “There is one condition that matches your symptoms almost perfectly, but it shouldn’t be possible for you to have it. Although…”

“What do you think it is?” Fluttershy asked.

“These symptoms usually occur in a unicorn with a broken horn,” the doctor said.

“That’s it, we’re getting a second opinion,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Wait a minute, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “Let’s hear him out.”

“Normally I wouldn’t even consider such a diagnosis on an earth pony, but given his abilities and illness, it seems possible,” the doctor said. “Unicorns channel their magic powers through their horns, so if they get cracked or broken, they can’t use magic.

“How do you fix it?” Fluttershy asked.

“Why are we even talking about this?” Rainbow Dash said. “You should be figuring out what’s wrong with Zero Volt.”

“Even if the horn is damaged, a unicorn's magical energies still flow through it, or whatever's left of it," the doctor said. "That magic is always redirected to repair damage to the horn, but depending on how severe the damage is, the process can take months or even a year. But there is a spell that speeds up the process, if you’re willing to let me try it.”

“Yeah sure, but what happens if it’s something else?” Zero Volt said.

“If I’m wrong, than it should have no effect on you,” the doctor said. He approached Zero Volt and placed the tip of his horn on Zero Volt’s forehead. A stream of orange sparks spiraled around the groove of his horn and reached the tip. Once it reached Zero Volt’s forehead, the spell’s magic pulsed around his body and returned to his forehead before disappearing. When the spell ended, the pained expression on Zero Volt’s face slowly disappeared. “So, how do you feel?”

Zero Volt teleported off of the examination table and landed on his hoofs. “Better,” he said. “Hey Dash, thanks for waiting here with me.”

“No sweat,” Rainbow Dash said. “So what does this all mean? What are you?”

“I have no idea,” he said. Zero Volt teleported next to her and whispered in her ear. “I need your help with a prank I’m going to pull on Nightmare Night. Don’t tell anypony about it.” He turned around and looked at Fluttershy. “Hey, how are you feeling?” he said to her in a softer tone.

“I’m okay, and I’m glad you’re okay, too,” Fluttershy said.

“Want me to take you home?” he asked. Fluttershy walked toward him and placed her hoof on his foreleg. Seconds later, the two of them vanished with a green flash.

“Wow, this has definitely been enlightening,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, now we know that Volt shouldn’t be near electricity,” Rainbow Dash said. “Who would’ve thought that unicorns would lose their magic if their horns broke?”

“I know,” Twilight said. “Everypony in Canterlot is told to be careful with their horns, but I was never told why.”

“Unicorn horns are usually very tough, so it’s rare to have one of them crack or break,” the doctor said. “It does happen though, usually by accident, so that particular healing spell is taught to every unicorn that goes through medical school. Now there are other patients in the ER, so if you’re done here.”

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle left the hospital. Rainbow flew back to her cloud house while Twilight trotted back to her library.

* * * * * * * * * *

Angel Bunny stood in front of the door to Fluttershy’s cottage tapping his foot. Fluttershy never took this long to return from her spa dates with Rarity, and even if she was frightened by the storm, it ended almost an hour ago. ‘Maybe she went out of her way to buy me something as an apology for being late,’ he thought. Moments later, he saw Fluttershy and Zero Volt appear in front of the cottage in a green flash. Angel saw Fluttershy’s bandaged wing and the blood stains on her coat. ‘You! What did you do to her?!’ he thought. Neither pony noticed Angel as he scurried toward Zero Volt and leapt at him.

Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect. The wings on his bracelet spread out, and he held up his right foreleg to shield against the attacking bunny. Angel tried to climb over the black piece of jewelry, but Zero Volt teleported a few feet away, causing Angel to fall. “He’s funny,” Zero Volt said with a grin. “I’m sure Pinkie Pie would make a rhyme out of that.”

“She once asked me if Mister Funny Bunny wanted some honey. He didn’t like that at all,” Fluttershy said. “I still have to feed all the animals, but if it’s not too much trouble, if you want to...”

“You want me to stay and help you feed them all?” he said. Fluttershy nodded, and the two of them went to work bringing food to the animals under her care. Before long, they had fed almost all of the animals, and only the birds still had to be fed. Zero Volt brought berries and seeds to one group of birds while Fluttershy brought fish and insects to another group of birds.

“You know, sometimes I feel a little sorry for the little bugs when they get eaten up,” Fluttershy said.

“Well, these birds are just as vicious with their food, but you can’t really feel sympathy for seeds and berries,” Zero Volt said. "Hey Fluttershy, I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me today.” Fluttershy looked back at him. “If it weren’t for you, I would’ve never made it off that mountain, and I’m really sorry you got hurt in the process.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” she said. "You helped me down that mountain just as much as I helped you. Just please stay away from lightning from now on.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Fluttershy looked around her cottage. “Okay, I think that’s all of them,” she said. “Um, this is just a thought but… would you like to stay for dinner?”

“Yeah, I think I’d like that,” he said. The two of them walked into Fluttershy’s cottage and closed the door behind them.

* * * * * * * * * *

Twilight opened the door and entered her library. “Spike, are you in here?” she called out.

“Up here,” Spike said. He was standing on the top rung of a ladder dusting the books on the bookshelves. “I don’t know why I’m always the one dusting up here when you’re the one with magic.”

“Spike, if you’re having trouble reaching up there, all you have to do is grow wings,” she teased.

“That’s not what I- ah, ah…” Some of the dust that he was dislodging from the books had made its way to Spike’s nose. Spike sneezed, charring five books on the shelf in front of him.

Twilight sighed and pulled out a checklist and a quill. She added a new task, Replace the books burned by Spike, and after giving it some thought, added a second task, Make Spike learn to control his flames when he sneezes, coughs, or laughs.

“Spike, take a letter,” Twilight said. Spike jumped from the top rung of the ladder and landed on a nearby couch. He found a quill and some parchment and began writing as Twilight spoke.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today Fluttershy helped our new friend, Zero Volt climb down a mountain after he was injured by a lightning strike. This isn’t much of a friendship report; we’ve already seen how strong Fluttershy can be at times. Nevertheless, I still find myself amazed by what she’s capable of, and it’s comforting to see Volt grow so close to us, especially considering how little we trusted each other when he first came here.

At the same time, today’s events have provided some new clues about Zero Volt. The lightning strike caused a condition in him that was identical in both symptoms and treatment to that of a unicorn with a broken horn. This new finding supports my initial hypothesis that Zero Volt is some type of pegasus-unicorn hybrid.

Despite this breakthrough, several questions remain unanswered, and a few new questions are raised. If he really is a pegasus-unicorn hybrid, then why doesn’t he present the full range of abilities of either subspecies? Why does he look like an earth pony while possessing cloudwalking, teleportation, and limited precognitive powers? Finally, why would electrocution of all things be analogous to him having his horn broken? I will continue my research. As usual, any collaboration on your part would be greatly appreciated. In fact, I’ve decided to send you a sample of his mane with this letter, in case you want to conduct some genetic tests.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

“Twilight, I don’t think Zero Volt is going to be happy if he finds out that you’re treating him like a science experiment,” Spike said after he finished writing.

“Spike, for the last time, you’re my personal assistant, not my moral compass,” Twilight said. She used her magic to levitate a bag with a lock of Zero Volt’s mane to Spike. “Besides, if it makes you feel better, I have no intention of vivisecting him.”

“If you say so.” Spike rolled up the piece of parchment with the bag placed in the center of the scroll. He blew fire on it, sending the letter to the princess.

Super Smash Sisters: Scuffle

It was another typical sunny afternoon in Ponyville. Birds were singing, Celestia’s sun was shining overhead, and Zero Volt was in the park keeping his distance from Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was cheerfully bouncing from side to side while Zero Volt stood in front of her, eyeing her apprehensively. The two of them maintained their standoff for almost a minute before Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect. He performed a dodge-roll to the side to avoid a wooden crate that was tossed at him. He hopped to the side to dodge a battleaxe, spun his body around his forelegs to avoid a javelin, and leapt backward to avoid an apple cart.

The apple cart smashed to pieces when it hit the ground, and after the pieces settled, Zero Volt looked upon his assailant, Rarity. Rarity lifted herself up in the air with her magic and floated away, grabbing several more objects to throw. Zero Volt galloped toward her, dodging several more javelins, two more wooden crates, and a kitchen sink along the way. Rarity lifted another wooden crate, an empty apple cart, and a large rock in front of her. As Rarity hovered past with those floating objects, she looked for more projectiles to toss at her opponent.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt managed to jump onto the wooden crate that Rarity was lifting. He hopped from the crate to the cart and then onto the rock. By the time Rarity noticed the additional weight she was holding up, Zero Volt leapt at her, grabbed her tail, and landed on a tree branch. The other objects fell back to the ground now that Rarity’s magic was disrupted, and Zero Volt tied her tail around the tree branch. Rarity scowled as she hung upside-down from the tree branch while Zero Volt looked down to admire his work.

“Zero Volt! What are you doing?” Twilight Sparkle shouted. She was walking by when she saw Rarity and Zero Volt fighting each other.

“Relax, Twilight,” he said as he teleported in front of her. “Rarity and I are just sparring.”

“AJ and I wanted to see what Volt could do, so we talked him into it,” Rainbow Dash said as she and Applejack walked up to them. Meanwhile, Fluttershy flew up and held Rarity in her forelegs while Rarity used her magic to untie herself from the tree branch. It had been a week since she helped Zero Volt down the mountain in his injured state, and her wounds had completely healed since then. “He also wanted to spar against a unicorn, and Rarity wanted to throw stuff at him, so she agreed.”

“Applebloom and her friends’re keepin’ score for us,” Applejack said while pointing to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies were sitting at a table with a scoreboard behind them. Sweetie Belle looked disappointed as she used a green marker to give Zero Volt a point next to a picture of Rarity’s cutie mark on the scoreboard.

“Pinkie Pie is here to, well, I have no idea why she’s here,” Zero Volt said, “and Fluttershy is cheering as a spectator.”

“This does not deserve a ‘yay’,” Fluttershy said softly as she gently lowered Rarity back to the ground.

“Well, as exciting as this has been, I’m afraid I can’t stay for too long,” Rarity said. “I need plenty of gems for some dresses that a client wants me to make. Spike, would you mind accompanying me?”

Spike hopped off of Twilight’s back and scurried toward Rarity. “Well that’s unfortunate,” Zero Volt said. “Hey Twilight, can you take over for Rarity?”

“Wait, if Twilight’s going to be in this, can we watch her spar against him before we go?” Spike asked Rarity.

“Alright Spike, I suppose this can wait a little longer,” Rarity said.

“I guess I can take Rarity’s place,” Twilight said anxiously. “What are the rules?”

“The three of you will take turns fighting me,” Zero Volt said, “and whichever pony gets knocked down for five seconds straight loses that round. As for the intensity of the fight, try not to send anypony to the hospital, but at the same time, please don’t go easy on anypony. It defeats the purpose of the whole thing.”

“Wait a minute,” Twilight said, “are those battleaxes, flails and javelins?” She pointed at a large collection of weapons nearby.

“Rarity wanted to throw stuff at me,” he said, “so she picked those out herself.”

“I think you missed the whole point of not sending anypony to the hospital. What are the pillows for?” Twilight pointed to several piles of pillows placed around the area.

“That’s so that everypony has a soft place to land if your opponent wants to throw you or something,” he said. “Okay, I think Dash is up next.” Rainbow Dash started the fight by flying at him at high speeds. Because of Rainbow’s speed, Zero Volt relied entirely on his two-second warning to dodge her. Eventually he thought of an idea, and when Rainbow Dash came flying back, he teleported above and landed on her. As Rainbow Dash flew off, Zero Volt held onto her and covered her eyes with his hooves.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Rainbow shouted. “Get off of me!”

“Sorry, Dash, but I’m piloting now,” he said. He placed his hind legs on her back and twisted her head to steer her. “Now let’s start with a corkscrew, move into a loop-the-loop,” he said as he forced Rainbow Dash to perform those maneuvers, “and we’ll wrap it up with a nosedive into that pile of pillows.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow Dash said. She quickly regained control of her body and stopped in midair. Zero Volt hung on with his hooves, still covering her eyes with them while she stayed in an upright position in the air. Rainbow Dash rapidly spun herself on a vertical axis while in the air. When she stopped, Zero Volt was too dizzy to hold on to her and fell onto the pile of pillows below. While they waited for him to get back up, Scootaloo gleefully used a blue marker to add a point next to a picture of Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark on the scoreboard. “He’s all yours, Applejack,” Rainbow said. “But if you beat him, it’s only because I softened him up for you.”

“If yah say so,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes. Zero Volt stood back up, and he and Applejack charged at each other. At first, the two of them just dodged punches from one another. After a while, Applejack turned around and kicked him with both hind legs. Zero Volt tried to block with his bracelet, but it did little to absorb the impact of Applejack’s powerful kick. Zero Volt was thrown into the air, but he landed on his hooves several feet away, completely unharmed.

Applejack pulled some rope out of her Stetson hat and swung it over her head before trying to lasso him. Zero Volt jumped back, though he managed to get his right foreleg caught in the lasso. He pulled on the rope to knock Applejack off her hooves, but she didn’t budge. Still holding the rope with her teeth, Applejack pulled on her end of the rope, lifting Zero Volt off of the ground. She spun him in a circle over her head before tossing him into another pile of pillows. Apple Bloom used an orange marker to add a point next to Applejack’s cutie mark on the score board.

“I think that colt has gotten soft since he started living here,” Rarity said. “He put up a much better fight against those scoundrels seven months ago.”

“He’s still tough and agile, but I don’t think that’s the problem,” Twilight said. “Trying to hijack Rainbow Dash and playing tug-of-war with Applejack just aren’t good ideas.” She stepped forward just as Zero Volt recovered from his second defeat. She picked up a flail and two battleaxes with her magic and held them in front of her. “Okay, here goes nothing.”

Twilight brought the weapons in front of Zero Volt and sluggishly swung them at him. Zero Volt had no trouble dodging the halfhearted attacks from Twilight's weapons. “When you said ‘here goes nothing,’ you weren’t kidding,” he said. “Come on, can you at least try to hit me with something?” Twilight said nothing as she continued to ineffectually swing the three weapons at him. “Some star pupil you are.”

“What did you say?” Twilight asked, noticeably taken aback by his comment.

“I said that Celestia must have made a mistake when she took you under her wing,” he said.

‘What does he mean by that? Have I failed her as a student?’ Twilight thought. ‘Wait a minute, how would he know if I fell short of the Princess Celestia’s expectations? What gives him the right to judge me on my magical studies?’ Twilight became angry at Zero Volt, and as her anger grew, a visible aura surrounded her. With her magic, she lifted half of the remaining weapons in the nearby arsenal.

“Finally, something interesting,” Zero Volt said to himself. He galloped toward Twilight, who started throwing the weapons she had at him. As he ran, Zero Volt sidestepped the javelins and battleaxes thrown at him and hopped over several flails that Twilight sent spinning at him. When Twilight ran out of weapons, she enchanted the trees around her, causing their roots and branches to grow toward him in an attempt to ensnare him. Zero Volt dodged the spreading roots and branches with ease, but when he came close to Twilight, she captured him with her magic. He briefly struggled against her telekinetic grip before looking at Twilight, who was leering back at him. “Uh-oh,” he said before being violently thrown into another pile of pillows.

“Hey Zero, what did you say about Twilight, because she just showed you,” Spike shouted. Apple Bloom had just finished placing a picture of Twilight’s cutie mark to the scoreboard, and she added a point next to it using a violet marker.

“Oh gosh, are you okay?” Twilight asked. “I didn’t mean to lose control like that.”

“Actually I’m glad you did,” Zero Volt said as he got up. “Like I said before, it defeats the purpose of having a sparring match if you go too easy on me. I’m just glad you remembered to throw me into these pillows, though I was expecting a softer landing.”

“I think it’s about time for me to take my leave,” Rarity said. “I must say, it’s about time you girls gave him a good beating. This was worth waiting seven months for.”

“You never could do your own dirty work, could you Rarity?” Zero Volt said as Rarity and Spike left.

“That’s tough talk coming from somepony who’s losing three-nothing to us,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Dash, if you’re ready to go again, I’m right here-” Zero Volt stopped in midsentence to jump over Rainbow Dash, who took his invitation and flew at him. Zero Volt continued evading Rainbow Dash, just as he did in their first round. He soon decided to teleport by her as she flew at him, graze her with his hoof, and teleport her in front of a pile of pillows. Rainbow Dash barreled through the pile and slid across the ground. “Now why didn’t I think of that before?” Zero Volt said. At the scoreboard, Scootaloo anxiously waited for her idol to get up before adding a point next to Rainbow’s cutie mark using the green marker.

“Maybe Ah shoulda gone before yah, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack taunted as she walked next to Rainbow. “Yah know, to soften ‘em up for yah.” Applejack gripped her lasso with her teeth and threw it at Zero Volt again. Zero Volt caught the lasso with his right foreleg, closing the loop around it. ‘What is that boy thinkin’ doing this again?’ Applejack thought. ‘Oh well, time to toss ‘em like a candy wrapper.’

Applejack pulled on her end of the rope, lifting Zero Volt off of the ground and over her head. She was planning to toss him around the park again, but he brought his end of the rope to his mouth and pulled on it, bringing himself down. Instead of flying over Applejack’s head, Zero Volt was now falling toward her with hooves extended. He collided with Applejack’s side, knocking her down and landing on the ground with his hooves. Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom the green marker, and after hesitating, Apple Bloom gave Zero Volt one point against Applejack.

"Alright, Twilight, don’t go easy on me this time,” Zero Volt said. He started running toward Twilight, who levitated the entire arsenal of weapons available to her. She tossed them at him while he dodged them just as before. As Zero Volt approached her, Twilight dropped her remaining weapons and caught him with her magic again. She prepared to throw him, but this time he teleported out of her telekinetic grip and appeared right behind her. Zero Volt grabbed Twilight’s tail with his teeth and pulled, yanking her off of her hooves. Gripping her tail, he picked her up and spun her body in the air. Twilight was spinning in the air like a helicopter blade, and after a while, Zero Volt was lifted off of his hooves. Once he had floated high enough to reach a tree branch, he stepped onto it and stopped twirling Twilight over his head. He lowered her back to the ground and released her tail.

Zero Volt teleported in front of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Now let’s see, each of you has scored against me once and I’ve scored against each of you once,” Zero Volt said. “So, what do we do for a tiebreaker?”

“Ah don’t see why we cain’t each have a round three against yah,” Applejack said. “What about Twilight?”

The three of them looked back at Twilight. She stood up, but she was too dizzy to stay on her hooves and eventually stumbled into a pile of pillows. “We can ask her when she wakes up,” Rainbow Dash said. “Now everypony clear out! It’s my turn again.” She found a spot in the park and started flying around in a circle. Before long, she generated a twister, and the other ponies tried to stay on the ground as fruit carts, wooden crates, and carriages were pulled into it.

As Zero Volt stared at the twister, he noticed a sedan being pulled into it. “That tornado’s carrying a… what is that anyway?” he thought out loud. His hooves slid across the ground as the twister began to pull him toward it. “Ah, never mind. I’ve always wanted to try this!” He galloped toward the tornado and jumped into it. As the tornado carried him, he landed on a carriage that was caught in it. He jumped off of the carriage, let the twister carry him, and then landed on the sedan. Rainbow Dash was busy maintaining the tornado and trying not to get hit by the objects it was carrying, so she did not notice Zero Volt leaping from one object to another to get to her.

Before long, Zero Volt leapt off of a crate and landed on Rainbow’s side. He bounded off, making her lose control and putting her at the mercy of the twister while he landed harmlessly on a fruit cart. The twister had also picked up all of the pillows in the field and scattered them around, and Rainbow Dash was lucky enough to crash into a newly formed pile of them when the twister spat her out. As the tornado subsided, Zero Volt continued leaping from object to object until he safely jumped out and landed on solid ground. He found Rainbow Dash lying on her back among the pillows and teleported to her. “You okay, Dash?” he asked, holding out his hoof.

“Yeah,” she said, grabbing his hoof and letting him lift her to her hooves. “I just wish I could solve more of my problems by kicking up a tornado.”

Zero Volt turned around to face Applejack. They both charged at each other, but Zero Volt stopped on his forelegs and attempted to sweep kick Applejack with his hind legs. Applejack jumped over him before the sweep kick could hit her, landed right behind him, and kicked him with her hind legs. The force of Applejack’s kick sent him flying through two piles of pillows and crashing into a tree that stood to the left of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched as Zero Volt slowly stood up and shook himself off. “I thought we agreed not to send each other to the hospital,” he groaned.

“Y’alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “Twilight’s up next if she’s ready.”

“Actually, I think I’m done for today,” Twilight said.

“Are you sure, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s four-up right now. All you have to do is break the tie.”

“Yes I’m sure,” Twilight said. “I’m not in the mood anymore.”

“It’s just as well,” Zero Volt said. “You’re the least difficult opponent here. I have to get creative with Dash and AJ, but with you, all I have to do is teleport right next to you and attack.”

Twilight stared at him for a few seconds. “I’m not falling for that again,” she said before walking off to the side.

“While we’re on the subject, which one of us do yah find the most challengin’?” Applejack asked.

“Rainbow Dash,” Zero Volt said.

“What?! How is she tougher than me?” she said. “Ah’m beatin’ yah two-to-one, and she’s losin’ two-to-one.”

“Yeah, but I actually have to go all out against her,” Zero Volt explained. “With you, I’ve been holding back on my teleportation just to keep things fair.”

“You hear that, AJ?” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m the only one he’s not going easy on.”

“Oh, hush up, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said. “And you, why don’t we settle this by makin’ me the tiebreaker? It’ll even settle the score between us, if yah win.”

“Alright, Applejack, let’s do this!” Zero Volt said. Rainbow Dash flew back several yards to give them some space. Zero Volt moved aside to dodge a punch from Applejack and threw a punch at her. Applejack ducked to avoid the punch, spun around and kicked with her hind legs. Zero Volt ducked and knocked Applejack off of her front hooves with a sweep kick, causing her to fall down. He then grabbed her tail with his teeth, jumped in the air, did a midair flip and threw Applejack into a pile of pillows. “Hah, and I still didn’t have to teleport!”

“Alright, Volt, yah win,” Applejack said.

“That’s it?” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m his toughest opponent, and all he had to do to win was beat you? Come on, Volt. You and me, one more round.”

“Well how could I say no to you?” Zero Volt said with a smirk. “Sure, why not?” He teleported above Rainbow Dash while she was in midflight. When Rainbow saw him disappear, she rolled left and kicked him with both hind legs as he came down. After being kicked, Zero Volt teleported again, hoping to turn the force of Rainbow Dash’s kick against her. Rainbow Dash saw him teleport again, so she ascended to dodge him and grabbed his tail just as he appeared under her. She flipped in midair and threw him into some pillows beneath them.

“You’re getting a little too predictable, Volt,” she said. She flew back down and helped Zero Volt to his hooves. “It looks like we’re all tied up again."

"Wait, what?"

"I said we have a tie again," Rainbow said. "So how are we going to settle it this time?” The two of them turned to stare at Twilight Sparkle.

“For the last time, no!” Twilight said.

“Well Twilight’s still on the sidelines,” Zero Volt said. “Why don’t the three of us have a free-for-all to decide the winner?”

“Ah don’t like that idea,” Applejack said. “With only three of us, either somepony’s gonna let the other two wear each other out or the other two are gonna gang up on the third one.”

“Alright, alright, you want to settle this fairly and honestly,” Rainbow said. “How about the three of us have a race? We’ll get a clear winner, and we can make sure everypony plays fair.”

Twilight made a fake coughing sound to catch their attention. “Remember the first time you two competed in the Running of the Leaves, when you cheated each other into last place?” she said. “Or last year, when you tied for first and spent the next five weeks racing each other to see who would keep the trophy?”

“I don’t remember that,” Zero Volt said.

“You were in the hospital,” Rainbow Dash said. “And don’t worry about it, Twilight, we’ll play nice.”

“Remember, Rainbow Dash, no wings,” Applejack said. “And Volt, yah’d better not do any teleportin’, yah hear? In fact, Twilight, do yah have a spell that can stop 'em from doin' that?”

“Actually, I do,” Twilight said. “Incidentally, I also have a spell that can keep Rainbow Dash’s wings at her sides.”

“Use that one too,” Applejack said. “Ah wanna make sure this stays a hoof-race.”

“Time out!” Zero Volt interjected. “You created a spell just to disable my teleportation ability?”

“I invented a spell that arrests a specified target within its location in space-time, excluding manual locomotion of course,” Twilight explained. As she cast the spell on him, a magenta light momentarily surrounded him before quickly fading away. “That would prevent any sort of teleportation, whether it's a unicorn’s spell or your ability. Now Rainbow Dash, are you okay with me magically holding your wings in place?”

“Not really,” Rainbow Dash said, “but as long as it’s more comfortable than having them tied down by Applejack.”

Twilight finished casting the second spell on Rainbow Dash. There was no visual effect, but Rainbow noticed her wings become numb. “Now let’s try to map out a path for this race,” Twilight said. She revealed a map of Ponyville and the surrounding areas. “From here, you can head through Whitetail Wood,” she said as she drew a line on the map, “then head this way outside Ponyville. Rarity should be out here gathering gems, so you can say hello to her, take a U-turn, and head back to Ponyville. The finish line will be right in front of my library, so both spells are set to wear off when you get there. Because of that, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt should both cross the finish line, even if you don’t win the race.”

“Are we supposed to follow the path precisely or do we get some room for maneuverability?” Zero Volt asked.

Twilight applied her magic to the map. The line she drew on the path was replicated with a magenta path across Ponyville. “I’ve made the entire track twenty feet wide, so you should have plenty of room to run around each other and obstacles,” she said. “If any section of the path extends over something that’s not traversable, feel free to take a detour. Keep it brief, though, and no using this to take shortcuts.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Rainbow Dash said. She, Applejack and Zero Volt moved to the beginning of the magenta path.

“Alright everypony!” Pinkie Pie shouted, pushing her party cannon near the start line. She aimed the cannon straight up. “On your mark… get set…” When Pinkie reached the word “go,” she fired her cannon, which shot confetti and balloons into the air. The three ponies galloped forward, though none of them ran at their top speed.

As they raced in the direction of Whitetail Wood, the magenta path behind them started vanishing. Since those sections of the path were already behind them, it made no sense for Twilight’s magic to sustain them. Ahead of them, the path went along some of Ponyville’s streets. The townsponies had mixed reactions to the path. Some of them stared curiously at it, but cautiously stayed off of it. Others had no problem walking over the trail that was in their way, while some foals ignored it and even played on it. Once the three racing ponies showed up, most ponies stayed clear of them, though five foals obliviously continued playing. The racers ran around the foals in their path and kept going.

The three of them eventually made it to the woods. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were neck and neck. Zero Volt was galloping at the same speed as they were, but he was about fifteen feet behind. “Hey, Zero, is this too much for you?” Rainbow Dash taunted. “You’re falling behind!”

“What’s the rush?” Zero Volt shouted back. “I just felt like hanging back and enjoying the scenery.”

After hearing that, the two young mares quickly realized the implications of him being behind them. They both looked at each other as if to ask, ‘What does he mean by scenery?’

While they contemplated what he said, Zero Volt quickly darted ahead of them. He then hopped, spun around and started running backwards. “Oh come on, girls,” he said. “If that’s all it takes to distract you, I can win this race with mind games alone.” He did another 180° spin and continued galloping ahead of them. Rainbow Dash and Applejack turned their attention back to the race and ran faster. Within moments, they both overtook him and were now fighting each other for the lead.

About halfway through the forest, the path that they ran along descended in between two ledges. Applejack took the lead when they entered the trench, which was too narrow to let any of them run around their opponents to get ahead. “Move over, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said. “You’re in the way.”

“Sorry Rainbow Dash, but y’all are staying back there for a while,” Applejack said.

“Maybe she is, but I’m not,” Zero Volt said. Neither Applejack nor Rainbow Dash noticed him performing a wall run behind them, which allowed him to reach the top of the ledge. They did notice him take the lead while running above them and then jump back into the trench ahead of them. “You girls should really learn parkour. It’s the next best thing to flying or teleporting.”

“You just wait until we get past this trench, Volt!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt ran out of the trench and eventually made it back into Ponyville. They passed through the town uneventfully and raced through the area Rarity normally searched for gems in. They ran past several small holes in the ground, which indicated that Rarity had been digging there earlier.

“Hey, is that Spike over there?” Rainbow Dash said while looking to the left of the magenta path. Spike was lying on the ground, and his scales were partially covered in ash. The three of them ran off of their race track to get to him.

“Spike, what happened to yah?” Applejack asked. “Where’s Rarity?”

Spike struggled to get up when the three of them reached him. “Some dragon got to her,” he said. “He saw that she could locate gems and decided to take her for himself.”

“Why does a dragon need help looking for jewels?” Rainbow Dash said. “Can’t you guys smell them?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think he has sinus problems or something.”

“Help me!” The four of them looked off in the distance and saw Rarity in the grip of a purple dragon’s left claw. The dragon, which was not quite an adult, was roughly twenty times the size of a pony. He was relatively thin, but had a considerable wingspan, razor-sharp claws, and a long tail that ended with a sharp tip.

“Rarity is a damsel in distress,” Zero Volt deadpanned. “Why am I not surprised?”

“It does happen an awful lot,” Applejack said. “Funny thing is, she don’t make a good damsel in distress.”

“Why not?”

“You know how you’re always complaining about how shrill and whiny Rarity is?” Rainbow Dash said. “Imagine what it’s like when she does it on purpose.”

Off in the distance, the dragon was discovering firsthand how annoying Rarity could be. “Will you shut up, you insufferable nag?” he growled at her.

“Did you just call me a nag?” Rarity whimpered. “You think I’m just some old, worn out horse?”

“No, I told you to shut up!”

“And what if I don’t?” Rarity asked. The dragon responded by growling at her again, only this time his mouth filled with fire, some of which was blown in Rarity’s direction. “N-now you wouldn’t do that. You need me to find gemstones for you.”

“If you cooperate,” the dragon said, flames still sputtering from his mouth. “If not, I can always have roasted pony as an appetizer.”

“I’ll be quiet now,” Rarity squeaked, now realizing that she was in no position to bargain with or manipulate her captor.

“So, do we help her or not?” Zero Volt asked.

“Now ain’t the time to joke ‘round, Volt,” Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash was already charging ahead. The dragon noticed her galloping toward him and spit a fireball at her. Rainbow tried to sidestep the fireball, but it exploded when it hit the ground. She was caught by the blast, which threw her to the side, but didn’t burn her. The dragon was about to fly off with his prize when he felt something tug on his left claw. When he looked, he saw that Applejack had lassoed his left claw and was tugging on the rope to pull him down. Unimpressed, the dragon pulled back, lifting her off the ground and slamming her next to Rainbow Dash. He then shredded the rope with his right claw.

“Hey, buddy!” The dragon looked in the direction of the shout and saw Zero Volt. “Let the unicorn go, and I promise that a certain overgrown reptile around here won’t get hurt.”

“I am not a reptile,” the dragon snarled. “I’m a dragon!”

“You know, I don’t really see the difference,” Zero Volt taunted. The dragon, now enraged, started spitting a barrage of fireballs at Zero Volt. Zero Volt charged forward, dodging the fireballs with a series of sidesteps. Even without his teleportation ability, his two-second warning allowed him to avoid oncoming fireballs and predict where the next ones would be. When Zero Volt was a short distance away, the dragon swung his tail around to hit him. Zero Volt leaped over the dragon’s tail, and sweep kicked the dragon’s face when he landed.

The dragon jerked his head in response to the kick and felt a sharp sting on his face. Further enraged, he roared at Zero Volt, causing him to slide backward on his hooves. The dragon then flapped his wings, creating a powerful gust of wind that tossed Zero Volt back several feet. Preferring not to waste any more time with the ponies, the dragon beat his wings again, flying off with Rarity in his grasp.

As Zero Volt sat up on his haunches, Rainbow Dash and Applejack headed over to him. “That dragon’s flyin’ off with Rarity,” Applejack said. “We’ll never catch up to ‘em on hoof."

“That wouldn’t be a problem if somepony hadn’t told Twilight to use all that magic,” Rainbow Dash shot back, gesturing toward her wings.

“If you want to go back and get the spell reversed, then go ahead,” Zero Volt said as he stood up. “I’m going after them before we lose them.” Soon after, the three of them galloped after the dragon. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were running as fast as they could, but the dragon was flying further ahead of them. Zero Volt was trying to keep up with the two young mares, but he was quickly falling behind. ‘Wow, those two are fast,’ he thought. ‘I guess I was going to lose that race in the end. No, wait…’ As Zero Volt ran, his body started feeling lighter and his legs became more nimble. ‘It feels like I can go faster.’

As this sensation swept over him, the white streaks on his sides and his white bangs started to glow. Zero Volt accelerated, but the closer he came to his top speed, the more his top speed increased. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were too busy looking ahead to notice Zero Volt quickly catching up to them. Tiny sparks flowed from the glowing sections of his mane and coat, and as he ran faster, more sparks flowed from them. He soon reached speeds that nopony had ever galloped at: 70 miles per hour… 80 miles per hour… 90 miles per hour, 95, 99…

A fireball of green and white shot past Rainbow Dash and Applejack, and the two of them skid to a halt on their hooves. Rainbow Dash gazed ahead, wondering what it was, but Applejack directed her attention to Rainbow’s sides. When Rainbow Dash noticed her friend’s gaze, she saw that her wings were fully outstretched. She moved her wings around, and realized that they were completely free of Twilight’s spell. The two of them looked back toward the fireball, which lifted off of the ground and slammed into the dragon as it went along, causing him to let go of Rarity.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and quickly took to the air. She flew after her falling friend, and within moments, she rescued Rarity before she could fall too far. “I take it this is the third time you’ve caught me skydiving without a parachute,” Rarity said. “You’d think that I would have learned to catch myself with my magic by now.”

“Rarity, you know you like this just as much as I do,” Rainbow Dash teased. She lowered them to the ground where Applejack was standing. “Hey, I got Rarity back.”

“Ah can see that, but what just happened?” Applejack said. “What was that thing that went past us, and how'd yah get your wings workin’ again?”

The three of them were interrupted when the dragon landed right in front of them. Blood dripped from his mouth from the impact with the green and white fireball, and he roared angrily at the three mares. Suddenly, Zero Volt teleported onto the dragon’s head and prepared to teleport it away. A green light spread from his body to the dragon’s, and though there seemed to be a delay in the teleportation, they both quickly vanished. Zero Volt returned a split second later. “Hey girls!” he said. “Rarity, why do you smell like you were bathing in dragon’s sweat?”

“Where did you send that dragon?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Over there,” he said. The dragon was standing roughly half a mile away in the direction he was pointing in.

“Volt, that ball of light that went past us,” Applejack said. “Was that you?”

The four of them heard a loud roar, and saw the dragon flying toward them. “We’ll deal with that later,” Rainbow Dash said. “We have a bigger problem headed right for us.”

“Wouldn’t it just be easier to teleport back to Ponyville?” Rarity asked.

“Ponyville is right there, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “It’s the first place he’s gonna look when he finds out we’re gone, and we cain’t let that thing rampage into town.”

“Alright, Dash, AJ, you can hit that thing a lot harder than I can, so wait for an opening to strike,” Zero Volt said. “I’ll go in first and distract him by being my usual, charming self.”

“You’re going to annoy him, aren’t you?” Rarity said.

“More than he’s ever been annoyed in his entire life,” he said before galloping toward their foe. The dragon landed on the ground and fired another barrage of fireballs, which Zero Volt maneuvered around just as before. Not intending to repeat their last fight, the dragon beat his wings to rise above the ground and spit a fireball at the ground, creating a shockwave of flames. Zero Volt leaped over the shockwave and sweep kicked the dragon in the face. His rage now returning to him, the dragon tried to breathe fire over Zero Volt, who teleported to escape. When Zero Volt reappeared he landed on the dragon’s head with his hooves before jumping off.

The dragon tried to find Zero Volt again, until he noticed a lasso close around his neck. Applejack was trying to pull the dragon down again. Seconds later, Rainbow Dash collided with the dragon’s head with her front hooves extended. As she continued tackling his head at high speeds, the dragon decided to shoot her out of the sky with a fireball. He inhaled deeply, but before he could aim at her, Zero Volt jumped at him, landed on his stomach with all four hooves, and kicked off. Instead of a fireball, smoke emerged from the dragon’s mouth as he coughed and sputtered. With one final tug from Applejack, the dragon fell over on his side, and Rarity used her magic to tie the dragon’s limbs with the rest of the rope.

Once they subdued the dragon, the four ponies cheered. Rainbow Dash hoof-bumped each of her friends as she flew over them, and Zero Volt hoof-bumped Applejack. Zero Volt and Rarity turned to each other, but they only stared at each other before turning away awkwardly. Meanwhile, the dragon burned through the rope with his flames. After freeing himself, he stood up and roared at them.

“Great, now we only have to do that like fifty more times,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Okay, Plan B,” Zero Volt said. “I need Applejack to tie his wings down so that I can drop him from a thousand feet up.”

“Uh Volt, that was mah last rope,” Applejack said.

“Well then, unless one of you can fire plasma shots from your hooves, we’re running out of options,” Zero Volt said. He started thinking about other solutions, ‘That ball of light thing that Applejack mentioned could work, but I’m not even sure how I did that. I might be able to teleport something massive over his head. Or maybe I could just teleport him somewhere else. Of all the places I traveled to in Equestria, there has to be someplace where I can dump an angry dragon.’

As the dragon loomed over them, Fluttershy flew toward him and hovered in front of him. “Leave them alone!” she said, Staring directly into the dragon’s eyes. The dragon stepped back, overcome by the effect of The Stare.

“Would yah look at that,” Applejack said. “Ah s’pose Fluttershy’s gonna save our flanks from this one.”

“I must admit that this happens surprising often,” Rarity said. “In fact, hasn’t Zero had some recent experience being rescued by that sweet, little pegasus?”

“That might just be one of the few things you and I can agree on,” Zero Volt said. “What’s Fluttershy doing out here anyway?”

“She came here with us,” Twilight said. She was standing behind them with Pinkie Pie and Spike.

“I ran back to Ponyville as fast as I could,” Spike said. “When I told them what happened, Twilight teleported us here to save time. She also said something about Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt not being able to fly or teleport.”

Meanwhile, Fluttershy had finished talking down the dragon, who was now flying away. “That dragon shouldn’t be bothering anypony now,” she said. “He was having trouble finding food because of a cold. I told him that it was wrong to kidnap Rarity when he should have negotiated with her, or at least looked for a remedy for his cold. I also advised him that fighting all of you to try to take Rarity was more trouble than it was worth… no offense, Rarity.”

“Anyway, we only managed to find you when we saw this ball of white and green in the sky,” Twilight said.

“Whatever it was, it even got rid of your spells,” Rainbow Dash said, opening her wings. “You never told us you could do that, Volt.”

“I didn’t even know I could do that,” Zero Volt said. “I just kept running faster and faster until I just took off. I’m not even sure what that was.”

“If you’ve never done that before, then we’ve gotta come up with a name for it,” Pinkie Pie said. “Ooh, I’ve got it! We can call it the Shinespark!”

“Hm… It sounds good, but I think that name’s already taken,” he said.

“Shinespark or not, Ah’m surprised yah went through all that trouble to help Rarity,” Applejack said. “Ah though y’all hated each other.”

“We do, but if something happened to her, I would’ve had a hard time explaining to everypony why I didn’t do anything to help,” Zero Volt said. “Like it or not, I’m stuck with her.”

“That’s not even the best part, Zero,” Rarity said. “I’m certain that these girls would be far less reprimanding of me should anything happen to you.”

“Aw, that’s not true,” Pinkie Pie said. “We all love this guy, don’t we? Who’s a good boy?” Pinkie started petting Zero Volt, much to his annoyance.

“He’s not a puppy, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said. “If anything, I’ve seen him flinch at puppies.”

“Isn’t there a race we still have to finish?” Zero Volt said irritably.

“No way, Ah ain’t lettin’ either of yah finish this race anymore,” Applejack said.

“Oh come on Applejack, this can still be a hoof-race even without Twilight’s spells,” Rainbow Dash said.

“What about his Shinespark thing?” Applejack said. “You saw how fast he went. He broke right through Twilight’s magic and flew almost as fast as you.”

“You can still have a fair race with Rainbow Dash, but I agree, this does disqualify him,” Twilight said. “Now Zero Volt, I would like to study this ability of yours, so could you come with me and allow me to run some tests?”

“I might as well,” he said. “The more I know about what it is, the better I can use it.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Twilight Sparkle opened the door to her library. As she entered, she scrutinized a list of data that she had gathered on Zero Volt this evening. Even though she had learned nothing about the nature and origin of his new ability, she was delighted at how much data she had gathered about how it worked and what it was capable of. “The Shinespark, as Pinkie Pie keeps calling it, must be another manifestation of Zero Volt’s latent unicorn powers,” she thought out loud. “Then again, he is able to fly with it, so there may be some overlap with his pegasus physiology.”

Spike was lounging on Twilight’s back the entire time when he belched, producing a scroll from the princess. “There’s a letter for you,” he said.

“Read it out loud,” Twilight said. Spike unfurled the scroll and started reading it.

My faithful student Twilight Sparkle,

Though I’ve been very busy with my royal duties over the months, I have been following your letters about this new friend very closely. I was especially fascinated by last week’s letter, and I did conduct tests on the sample you gave me. First and foremost, Zero Volt is not a descendant of me or my sister. In fact, he isn’t even close to royalty, in case you were wondering.

You were right about him being part-unicorn and part-pegasus, which is strange. Normally, the foal of a pegasus and a unicorn would be one or the other, not an imperfect combination of the two. I’ve decided to come to Ponyville tomorrow to meet him myself. Maybe we’ll discover more about him.

“Wait, Princess Celestia’s coming here tomorrow? This is so sudden,” Twilight said. “I’m going out to meet Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Tomorrow’s going to be a very busy day, and I need their help to make sure everything runs smoothly.” Spike jumped off her back as she went back out the door.

Author's Note

I’ve got to be honest here, I have no idea how this chapter got to 7000+ words. Also, if the video game shout outs didn’t already make you realize this, I had Ridley on my mind for a while when I though up the dragon in this chapter.

On a side note, Forest Green has finally surpassed 200 views. After seven chapters and about six weeks I’d like to take a brief moment to celebrate a milestone that most FlutterDash fics reach after their first chapter. Wait, why am I celebrating again?

Lightning War

“When we get inside, we have to keep quiet,” Twilight said. She used her magic to unlock the door and quietly opened it. It was 3:00 a.m., and Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were sneaking into Zero Volt’s house. “Rainbow Dash, you’ve been in here more than any of us, so you should know where to look.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember the plan,” Rainbow Dash whispered. They reached the stairs and climbed up to the second floor. “Why is Pinkie Pie with us? She’s not the best pony to bring when you’re sneaking around.”

“She’s here to take the fall in case Zero Volt wakes up,” Twilight said.

“Are you crazy?” Rainbow hissed. “What do you think he’s going to do when he finds her in his room while he’s asleep?”

“If he wakes up and finds us here, he’ll start asking questions,” Twilight said. “If he wakes up and finds her here, he’ll think that Pinkie’s just being Pinkie.” They opened the door to the master bedroom and walked in. Zero Volt was lying in bed on his left side, fast asleep.

Pinkie Pie was the last to enter the room, and on the way in, she turned on the light switch. Rainbow and Twilight were momentarily blinded when light filled the entire room, but they both turned back toward Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie, what are you doing?” Rainbow said as she hurried to the light switch and turned it back off. The room was now dark again, expect for the flashlight spell that Twilight was using.

“Sorry,” Pinkie said while backing away. As she moved back, she bumped into the door, causing it to slam shut. Twilight and Rainbow both panicked, and Twilight turned off her spell. They all stood still in the dark room, waiting for Zero Volt to react. After a few moments of silence, Twilight reactivated her spell at a lower brightness and shone it on him. Zero Volt was still asleep, and after breathing a sigh of relief, Rainbow Dash and Twilight both glared at Pinkie Pie. “I said sorry.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned to Rainbow Dash. “Do you know what to look for?”

“Yeah, his stuff should be in here somewhere,” Rainbow said as she searched the room. She looked through the drawers with the help of Twilight’s flashlight spell and pulled out a saddle pack. “Found it. This is everything that Volt had on him when he was traveling around Equestria. I can’t believe we barely noticed him wearing it when he first came here.”

“I can’t believe he left all of these things in here when he moved in,” Twilight said after opening it.

“I can’t believe he’s such a heavy sleeper,” Pinkie Pie said. She stood next to Zero Volt’s bedside making faces at him. Zero Volt had his right foreleg between the two pillows he was resting on. With one quick motion, he took one pillow from beneath his head and struck Pinkie in the face with it. Still in his sleep, he lifted the pillow over Pinkie’s head and slammed it down on her.

“Uh-oh, let’s get out of here!” Rainbow Dash whispered. She grabbed Twilight, and flew out the bedroom door, which Twilight had quickly opened with her magic.

Pinkie Pie got back on her hooves with the pillow lying on her head. “You want a pillow fight? You’ve got one!” she shouted. Before she could slam the pillow down on him, Rainbow Dash swooped back in and pulled her out of the room, leaving the pillow behind. After the three young mares were gone, Zero Volt shifted his body slightly and continued to sleep peacefully.

* * * * * * * * * *

“So, what is it that you wanted to show me?” Zero Volt asked.

“You’ll find out in a minute, Zero Volt,” Twilight said. She and Applejack were leading him to the library. At noon, they arrived at the door and Twilight started to open it. “Your surprise is right behind his door. Dum-da-da-dun!” When Zero Volt entered, he saw Princess Celestia standing in the library, along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike.

“No no no! You did it all wrong, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie said. She pulled out a trumpet and played it for several seconds. “That’s how you do a royal fanfare.”

“Don’t just stand there, Zero,” Rarity said. “You’re supposed to bow before the princess.”

“That’s quite alright, Rarity,” Celestia said as she approached Zero Volt. “I can do without the formalities. So you must be Zero Volt. Twilight’s told me all about you, and I’m glad that we could finally meet face to face.”

“Uh, thanks I guess,” he said.

“Twilight, I’m surprised that you didn’t see it sooner,” Celestia said. “He is definitely the product of a pegasus and a unicorn. I can see it very clearly in his bone structure.”

“Twilight, what’s she talking about?”

“Well, I’ve spent the last few months wondering about what you are and where you might have come from,” Twilight said. “I’ve been studying you since you first came here. Don’t you see it? The teleportation, the cloud walking, the two-second warning, last Friday’s lightning strike. You might look like an earth pony, but you’re not. You’re not an earth pony at all.”

“Remember what I said about his bone structure?” Celestia said. “If you look closely, he doesn’t look like an earth pony.”

“Well excuse us for not knowing anything about equine anatomy,” Rainbow Dash said. “And this doesn’t add up right. If a pegasus and a unicorn get together, their kid is always either a pegasus or a unicorn. You don’t see any other Zero Volts walking around.”

“I agree, which is why you should try to uncover his past,” Celestia said. “I don’t think there’s anything else we can learn about him without finding out where he came from.”

“Way ahead of you,” Rainbow Dash said, holding up Zero Volt’s saddle pack.

“Wait, did you break into my house and steal that?” he said. He stood there for a second before he teleported away. He quickly returned holding a pillow that had several pink hairs in it. “I suppose that explains why Pinkie’s hairs are all over my pillow. At least I hope it explains why her hairs are all over it.”

Pinkie Pie took the pillow out of his hooves. She examined it for a moment before burying her face in it. “Yup, I definitely remember this pillow,” she chirped, handing it back to him.

Zero Volt looked at Pinkie and the pillow uncomfortably. “You can keep it,” he said. “You’re clearly more fond of it than I am.” He turned away from Pinkie Pie, who started hugging the pillow. Zero Volt took his saddle pack and pulled a map of Equestria out of it. “This map shows everywhere I’ve been in Equestria. These are all of the places I’ve already looked.”

Fluttershy saw the line extending across part of the map. “It looks like this line ends here in Ponyville,” she said. “Have you done any searching after you started living here?”

“No,” he said, “because I already know where I came from.”

“Hold on now,” Applejack said. “If yah already where to look, why haven’t yah been lookin’?”

“Do you see the towns and cities that have circles on them?” he said, pointing to the map. “When I first started looking for my old life, I looked at this map. For these places, I knew about what was there: street names, stores, restaurants, schools, you name it. But I didn’t remember having ever set hoof in those towns, and I didn’t recognize any of the ponies that lived there.”

“And those are the first places you looked?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, but there’s one town on this map that I was most familiar with. It’s also the one town on this line that I haven’t checked.”

“Baltimare,” Rainbow Dash said. “That’s why you stopped looking.”

“Zero, I know you don’t want to go back there,” Fluttershy said as she approached him, “but think about what you might find: family, friends, answers, the life you used to have.”

“I already have a life here,” he said.

“I still think you should take the chance,” Twilight said. “We all do, and aren’t you a little bit curious about who or what you might have left behind?”

Zero Volt looked away and stood silent for a few seconds. “Okay fine,” he finally said. “If you want, I’ll teleport us there.” Spike hopped on to Twilight, who held onto Zero Volt along with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

“I’m coming along as well,” Rarity said, holding onto Fluttershy. “This is the perfect opportunity to find out how to get rid of you.”

“They used a pack of hungry dogs,” Zero Volt said. “Didn’t you pay attention to anything in the last seven months?”

“They don’t like each other,” Twilight said to the princess as she held onto her. Before long, all of them were holding onto either Zero Volt or another pony who was touching him, and he teleported all of them to the edge of a forest. “Where are we?”

“We’re just outside Baltimare,” Zero Volt said. He turned away and walked over to a spot on the ground. The closest tree was about twelve feet from it, and aside from a few patches of grass, it was mostly just dirt. There didn't seem to be anything special about it, but Zero Volt looked at it for a few seconds before he finally cringed.

“Volt,” Rainbow said, “is this where you…”

“Yeah, this is where it happened.” After so many months, the blood had been washed away by rain, but he remembered this spot vividly, from the trees nearby, the patch of ground where he was held down. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

He started walking away when he heard a small click nearby. When he turned around, he saw Rarity holding a camera in front of her. “Souvenir photo?”

He teleported right in front of her and glared at her. “Too far, Rarity, too far!” he whispered angrily. He turned around and walked toward the city. “While we’re here, nopony goes anywhere alone. We don’t know what to expect in there, so keep your guard up.”

“Are yah sayin’ that for your sake or ours?” Applejack said.

“Both, now let’s go.”

“Wait, we just brought Princess Celestia here without any royal guard ponies,” Twilight said.

“You don’t have to worry about my safety, Twilight,” Celestia said. “Under the circumstances, any hostile presence is more likely to target Zero Volt, and leaving the royal guard behind is the best way to flush them out. Although, an impromptu visit from Equestria’s sovereign ruler might make the perfect distraction. Zero Volt will be able to explore the city without attracting too much attention. Twilight Sparkle and Spike will accompany me in Baltimare to make sure that the royal visit goes smoothly.”

“I will form a separate group to explore Baltimare, away from Zero,” Rarity said. “Pinkie dear, would you come along with me?” Pinkie cheerfully trotted toward Rarity.

“Don’t worry, Volt, I’ve got your back,” Rainbow Dash said.

Ah’ll go with Rarity and Pinkie Pie to make sure they don’t get into any trouble,” Applejack said. “Fluttershy, you go with Volt and Rainbow Dash.” Once the nine of them formed their groups, they went in separate directions toward Baltimare.

* * * * * * * * * *

Twilight Sparkle and Celestia were walking through the streets. They had only entered the town half-an-hour ago, but a large crowd had already gathered around them, eager to meet the princess. Celestia was busy greeting Baltimare’s citizens while Twilight was planning an itinerary for the royal visit.

“The first place we want to visit is city hall to have a chat with the mayor,” she said. “After that, the princess should visit the schoolhouse. I’ll bet the little foals would love to meet the princess face to face.”

“Twilight, it’s Saturday,” Spike said. “The schoolhouses aren’t open today.”

“Nevertheless, the mayor’s office sounds like a good place to start,” Celestia said. “Perhaps we can even ask him if he knows anything about you know who.”

“I’ll bet he’s going to have an easy time getting around here,” Spike said. “Look at the crowd we’ve got already.”

“We could get an even bigger crowd if Princess Celestia makes a speech or attends an event here,” Twilight said.

When they reached city hall, Baltimare’s mayor was in front of building waiting to greet them. “Princess Celestia, what an honor it is to have you,” he said. “I just wish you’d given us some notice, and don’t you think you should have arrived with the royal guard?”

“I singlehoofedly raise the sun on a daily basis, I think I will do fine without them,” Celestia said. “And you don’t need to put on a show just for my arrival. By the way, have you seen this young stallion before?” Twilight showed the mayor a picture of Zero Volt. “Do you know anything about him?”

“I can’t say that I have,” he said as he examined the picture. “though I insist that you go north of town to meet with Third Rail today. He is, of course one of Baltimare’s most influential ponies, so maybe the three of us can discuss the city together.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Rarity walked along Baltimare’s streets with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. “So what’re we doin’ ‘round here, Rarity?” Applejack asked.

“Zero is looking for his long lost family with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and Twilight is helping the princess keep the rest of the town busy,” Rarity said. “That means that we get to stay out their mess and hit the town, to put it bluntly.”

“But if we do that, we won’t see Zero’s family,” Pinkie said. “Just think about how happy everypony will be when he reunites with his family and… stays here with them.” Tears started forming in Pinkie’s eyes. “What if he doesn’t come back with us?”

“Ah don’t think Volt’s gonna leave us that easily for a bunch of ponies he don’t even know anymore,” Applejack said, trying to reassure her. “Don’t forget, this town mighta tried to kill ‘em last time he was here. You’re right though, if he does get a warm welcome here, Ah don’t think anypony’s gonna be happy about what happens after.”

“Girls, look over there and tell me if that’s what it looks like,” Rarity said. Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked and saw a black alicorn stallion with an electric blue mane and tail. He had a cutie mark of a gold crown with a lightning bolt running through it.

“Well Ah’ll be,” Applejack said. “Ah didn’t know an alicorn lived here. Yah think he’s a nephew of Princess Celestia or something?”

“I certainly hope so,” Rarity said. “Ladies, I may have just found my prince.” With that, Rarity ran off to introduce herself to the alicorn as he traveled north.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Rainbow Dash asked. She and Fluttershy were following Zero Volt as he wandered around northern Baltimare.

“Sort of,” he said. “I already recognize these streets almost as well as I recognize the scratches and dents in my greave, but I’m trying to narrow it down to a specific house. If I can remember the interior layout of any of these houses, chances are that’s the one I lived in.”

“It looks like Princess Celestia’s visit got the town’s attention,” Fluttershy said. “There’s almost nopony here. Zero, I saw how you reacted to Rarity earlier, and maybe you should tell everypony the truth about you two.”

“Just because we’re a bit vague about what we can and can’t do to each other doesn’t mean we should stop,” he said. “Besides, she pulled herself and Pinkie Pie into a separate group from us, so I think she’s trying to make it up to me.” Zero Volt stopped for a moment and looked around. “That way.”

The three of them went down the street for several minutes until they reached the front gates of a mansion. “This is where you used to live?” Rainbow said. “Nice place, but you still have to get through the door.”

“This all looks very familiar,” Zero Volt said. He teleported the three of them past the gate and started searching the grounds.

“Are you sure we should be breaking in like this?” Fluttershy said. “We might get caught.”

“At this point, if we get caught, it’ll be by somepony who knows him,” Rainbow Dash said. “Hey, what’s that over there?” She pointed to what appeared to be a small stadium. Small clouds were arranged in a grid-like pattern just above the stadium’s walls. “Do you remember anything yet?”

“Actually, that stadium is one of the few things here that doesn’t look familiar to me,” he said, “but I do feel like checking it out.” They headed for the stadium and walked into the center of it.

Once they reached the center of the stadium, they started to look around. “It doesn’t look like there's anything here,” Rainbow Dash said. Suddenly, Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect and he rolled to the side to avoid a magical energy beam. He turned around and saw a black alicorn stallion with a blue mane and tail.

“You have some nerve coming back, little brother,” the alicorn said.

“Brother? Zero Volt, do you know him?” Fluttershy said.

“Zero Volt? Is that what you named yourself?” the alicorn said.

“If his name isn’t Zero Volt then what is it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“He doesn’t have one,” the alicorn said. “I don’t give names to things before I throw them in the trash.”

“What do you mean ‘throw in the trash’?” Zero Volt shouted.

“I can explain that.” They turned and saw two ponies, a pegasus and a unicorn. “The alicorn standing before you is our son, Blitzkrieg, and… well I supposed you could be his brother,” the unicorn said. “Blitzkrieg is very special, you know. He is destined to overthrow the royal pony sisters and rule Equestria, which is why Third Rail and I used a little bit of magic in his conception.”

“Unfortunately, the spell went wrong, and he was born an earth pony, much like you,” Third Rail said. “Since then, he has been denied his birthright, until his fiancé, Eclipse discovered a way to perfect the spell we used.”

“It turns out that there was a certain… contaminant in our son,” the unicorn said. “With her magic, Eclipse was able to restore Blitzkrieg to his true glory by isolating that contaminant, a certain green earth pony. Since we didn’t need that pony for our plans, we decided to dispose of him.”

“I don’t get it, what are they talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“So that’s what I am to you, the byproduct of a scheme to usurp the throne?” Zero Volt said.

“Okay, now I get it,” Rainbow said. “Ow, that’s harsh. We just came here to learn about his past.”

“His past?” Blitzkrieg scoffed. “He has no past, and his future, well that doesn’t exist either.”

“Girls, let’s go,” Zero Volt said. “I knew this trip was a waste of time.” He turned to leave, but when we walked toward the exit, he saw another unicorn standing with a pack of dogs.

“Leaving so soon?” Eclipse said. “I have some old friends of yours that are just waiting to take a bite out of you again.”

Zero Volt started to walk back from them, but his legs slipped from under him and were held to the ground. “You’re the unicorn who held me down while those dogs attacked me,” he said.

“That’s right,” Eclipse said. “I’m not sure how you escaped before, but it’s time for me to finish the job.”

Suddenly Rainbow Dash attacked Eclipse, knocking her unconscious. Now that his legs were free of her magic, Zero Volt stood up. He turned to face the dogs, only to find that Fluttershy had pacified them and was busy playing with them. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked back at Zero Volt and smiled at him. He nodded to them and turned around to face Blitzkrieg.

“You will not interfere with our affairs,” Third Rail said, spreading his wings.

“No, you won’t threaten my kingdom or my subjects,” Celestia said as she flew down in front of Rainbow and Fluttershy. Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie appeared behind her as well, and Twilight created a barrier over them, leaving Zero Volt outside. “Since this is a family affair, I will allow you to handle this for now. However, I will intervene in their fate, especially if you fail.”

“Would you look at that, the byproduct had to call for backup,” Blitzkrieg said.

“So what? You sent somepony with a pack of dogs to do your dirty work,” Zero Volt said. “At least now it’s just you and me.”

“Alright, what if he is planning a coup d’état against the princess?” Rarity said. “We both wish to see Zero suffer, so there’s common ground. All I have to do is talk him out of treason.”

“Rarity, he’s taken,” Applejack said. She pointed at Eclipse, who was still unconscious beneath Rainbow Dash’s hooves.

“Poor Rarity, how many subpar princes does that make?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Too many, Pinkie Pie, too many,” Rarity said.

Zero Volt dodged a magical attack and charged at his opponent. Blitzkrieg flew above him to dodge and fired another blast of magic, which Zero Volt rolled out of the way of. He returned to the ground and fired a third attack from his horn. Zero Volt shielded himself using his bracelet, then struck Blitzkrieg across the face with its outstretched wing. He then turned around and kicked with both hind legs. Blitzkrieg was thrown back a few feet, but quickly recovered. He then galloped toward Zero Volt with his horn lowered.

At the last second, Zero Volt dodge-rolled as Blitzkrieg ran by. As Zero Volt turned around to face his opponent, a thought occurred to him. “Wait!” Blitzkrieg turned around and stood still, allowing the brief intermission. “Why are we fighting?”

Everypony watching the fight stood shocked at what he had just said. Applejack raised an eyebrow, Pinkie Pie froze before she could stuff a hoofful of popcorn in her mouth, Rainbow Dash facehoofed, and Celestia’s mouth dropped. “Did he really just ask that?” Twilight said.

“What do you mean ‘why are we fighting?’” Blitzkrieg asked.

“I mean I’m having a lot of trouble getting into this fight,” Zero Volt said. “I don’t know about you, but I need a reason to start beating up somepony, and right now the best I can come up with is ‘you started it.’”

“Really, the fact that we regarded you as a waste product and tried to kill you nine months ago isn’t good enough for you?” Blitzkrieg said. “How about my attempted ouster of the royal pony sisters, or the fact that I’m still trying to kill you?”

“Yeah, I’m angry about all of that, but I don’t really see the point in putting up with you for the next five minutes,” he said. “I’d much rather the two of us go our separate ways and get back to our own lives.”

“That’s exactly what I have in mind,” Blitzkrieg said as he flew up to the low floating clouds in the air. “I can think of no better way to move on with my life than by killing the one who’s denied me my birthright for so long.”

“That’s all I needed to hear,” Zero Volt muttered. Blitzkrieg landed on one of four thunderclouds close to each other above the stadium. He fired three more energy beams at Zero Volt, who dodged all of them. Blitzkrieg then struck the cloud he was standing on, sending a bolt of lightning at him. Despite his two-second warning, Zero Volt just barely avoided the lightning strike.

“I have you right where I want you,” Blitzkrieg said. He sent a volley of lightning strikes and magic energy blasts at Zero Volt. Zero Volt ran around the stadium, using his two-second warning to predict and dodge each attack. Eventually, Blitzkrieg became exhausted and decreased the intensity of his assault, giving Zero Volt the opportunity to perform a wall run on the stadium’s walls. Luckily, the clouds were floating low enough above the stadium that he could bound off of the wall and land on one of them. “You can stand on clouds?” Blitzkrieg asked. “I guess you’re not all earth pony, are you?”

“Too bad, now those thunderclouds won’t help you,” Zero Volt said. He jumped from cloud to cloud to close the gap between them.

“Is that so? I guess you’ve never heard of cloud-to-cloud lightning,” Blitzkrieg said as he struck the cloud again.

“Whoa!” Zero Volt shouted as he jumped to another cloud. Electricity arced from one cloud to the next as it made its way from the cloud Blitzkrieg stood on, and Zero Volt jumped away from its path just in time. ‘Let’s see, I can predict and avoid my opponents’ attacks, and I’m going up against somepony who can basically one-hit-kill me,’ he thought. ‘Not bad for a final boss fight. Too bad he’s standing on that thundercloud. If I touch him, the current will pass from the cloud through him to me. At least these other clouds are neutral charged, or I wouldn’t even have a place to stand.’

Blitzkrieg stomped the thundercloud several more times, and Zero Volt continued jumping to the next cloud to escape. “Enough playing around, little brother,” he said. As he lifted one of his forelegs, an electric blue glow surrounded his hoof. He brought his hoof down, sending a current across the clouds on an erratic path instead of a straight line. The current moved across the clouds in an instant, but Zero Volt was already standing on one of the few nearby clouds that the current didn’t pass through. “Lucky guess,” Blitzkrieg growled, “but you can’t escape this time.”

As Blitzkrieg lifted his hoof again, Zero Volt’s two-second warning signaled again, and he used it to locate the few safe clouds nearby. He quickly jumped to the nearest one, and stepped onto it just as all of the other clouds were momentarily electrified by Blitzkrieg’s attack. ‘Come on, you can’t stay on that cloud forever,’ Zero Volt thought in frustration. ‘This would be a lot easier if I had a ranged attack.’

“How are you doing that?!” Blitzkrieg said. “Never mind, it’s time to hit you with something that I know you can’t evade.” As Blitzkrieg’s front hooves struck the cloud he stood on, his magic passed into it. The thundercloud started generating cloud-to-cloud lightning on its own, sending multiple currents at Zero Volt.

Zero Volt ran from cloud to cloud to dodge each successive lightning bolt that traveled toward him. Blitzkrieg's plan was to put all four thunderclouds on continuous fire, so he eventually spread his wings and flew off of the one he stood on. “Just what I was waiting for,” Zero Volt whispered to himself as he watched his opponent lift off of the cloud. He teleported next to Blitzkrieg, grazed him, and teleported both of them next to Twilight’s magical barrier.

Blitzkrieg looked around, unsure of how he was back on the ground. But now that they were on the ground, Zero Volt was merciless. He grabbed Blitzkrieg by the tail, slammed his body into the ground twice and threw him into the barrier. He then turned around and kicked him with his hind legs, pinning Blitzkrieg in between his legs and the barrier. When Blitzkrieg fell back to the ground, Zero Volt slammed his front hoof into his wing, resulting in an audible crack. He then rolled Blitzkrieg over, hoping to break his other wing too. However, his two-second warning took effect, and he teleported several feet back to avoid being caught by an energy field created by Blitzkrieg’s magic.

“First you dodge all of my attacks, and now you somehow teleported me to the ground,” Blitzkrieg said. “Looks like you weren’t born powerless after all.”

“I still don’t get it, Blitzkrieg,” Zero Volt said angrily. “I know why I’m fighting you, but why are you fighting me? What’s the point of this coup d’état? Why are you trying to kill me in the first place?”

“My family’s ambitions are none of your business,” Blitzkrieg said, “but you keep interfering with them. You even brought the princess here to try and stop me. That’s why we’re trying to kill you.”

“I didn’t come here because I wanted to, and I don’t recall trying to stop you when you chased me out of Baltimare,” Zero Volt said. “But do you know what the worst part of this is? If you hadn’t tried to dispose of me, if you had just let me live here from the beginning, as your brother, I might have actually been okay with what all of you were planning.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” Blitzkrieg said. He used his magic to hover back up to the clouds. “You held me back my entire life, and if we let you live, you will oppose us no matter what we do with you.” Blitzkrieg landed on one of the thunderclouds and used his magic on it. When he struck the cloud with his hooves, lightning traveled continuously from cloud to cloud until every cloud that floated just above the stadium was electrified. Several bolts of lightning struck the ground below, and even though Zero Volt dodged to first few, he was forced to teleport to avoid all of them. “It doesn’t matter where you go, little brother. Those mares you brought with you, the princess, none of you will survive this.”

“Twilight, how are you doing? Do you need any help with the barrier?” Celestia asked. The barrier that Twilight created was taking damage from multiple lightning strikes.

“It’s holding up,” Twilight said in a strained voice, “but I’m having a little trouble.”

Zero Volt continued teleporting to avoid Blitzkrieg’s latest assault. ‘Great, now I can’t stand on any of those clouds, and it’s even less safe down here than it was before,’ he thought as he looked up at the electrified clouds above. He then looked past them and noticed some other clouds floating higher up in the sky. ‘On second thought…’ Zero Volt teleported high above the stadium and landed on one of the clouds. He found another cloud floating in front of him and grabbed it, breaking it into two smaller ones.

Meanwhile, Blitzkrieg stood above the stadium searching the ground below for Zero Volt. “Where did you go, little brother?” he thought out loud. “It doesn’t matter, now I can focus my attack on-” Blitzkrieg was interrupted by a cloud that was thrown at his head. The projectile interrupted his control of the thunderclouds, and while lightning arced from cloud to cloud, it did not strike the ground anymore. “Agh, what was that?” He looked up at the sky, but only found a hoofful of clouds floating above.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt was back on the ground holding one of the smaller clouds he found. He spun around and flung it at the cloud Blitzkrieg stood on. The two clouds broke apart on impact and Blitzkrieg fell through. As he fell, he was caught in the electrical currents that traveled across the clouds, causing further injury before he fell to the ground.

Zero Volt stepped in front of his opponent and lifted his front hoof. He intended to bring it down and shatter Blitzkrieg’s horn, but he hesitated. Part of him wanted to break Blitzkrieg’s horn out of revenge, revenge for trying to kill him so many times and for endangering him with so many electrical attacks. Another part of him believed that he had to do this to neutralize Blitzkrieg as a threat. But a third part of him remembered how painful the experience was for him. In the end, Zero Volt pulled his hoof back, realizing that he could not, in good conscience, put another pony through that ordeal.

Suddenly, Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect, and he jumped back before he could be caught by another energy field. “This isn’t over yet, little brother,” Blitzkrieg said. “I’ll destroy you with everything at my disposal!”

Before Blitzkrieg could unleash his magic, Zero Volt was teleported inside of Twilight’s barrier. Zero Volt looked around and found himself face to face with the princess. “I’ll take over now,” she said. “It’s far too dangerous for you, and it’s my duty to put down his revolt.”

“Tell you what,” Zero Volt said. “When I’m done with him, you can have what’s left.” Zero Volt teleported outside the barrier and started galloping. Using his magic, Blitzkrieg created large fissures in the ground and fired a multitude of energy beams, but Zero Volt evaded all of them and galloped faster.

“What is he doing?” Celestia said. “That field Blitzkrieg is generating will burn him alive if he touches it.”

“Wait, is he… yeah, he’s doing it,” Rainbow Dash said. They looked on and eventually saw tiny sparks being shed from his mane and coat. After a few more seconds, his body was surrounded by a green and white light and he flew toward Blitzkrieg, eliminating any magical blasts that went near him. He flew past Blitzkrieg, dissolved the energy field that surrounded him, and came to a complete stop. Now that he was standing still, everypony could see his appearance more clearly. Though his shape didn’t change, a green aura surrounded his body, and his mane, coat and tail glowed white. He quickly turned around and tackled Blitzkrieg, throwing him right into Twilight’s barrier again. Zero Volt shot up into the air, and when he came back down, he slammed into Blitzkrieg one more time, dissolving Twilight’s barrier once he got near it.

“You’re going to rule over Equestria and start a new dynasty?” Zero Volt said, placing his hoof over Blitzkrieg’s horn. “You’re the one who’s supposed to overthrow the royal pony sisters? Pathetic.” After a few seconds, the green aura disappeared, and his body returned to its normal color. However, the outline of a horn appeared on his head, and the streaks on his sides were each replaced with the outline of a wing. “We’re done here,” he said before walking away.

* * * * * * * * * *

“So what’s going to happen to them?” Rainbow Dash asked. They had stayed in Baltimare for a few more hours to sort out everything that had happened, and now they were finally leaving by train.

“Blitzkrieg and his family will be put on trial, but considering their crimes, they’re going to be in Canterlot’s dungeons for a very long time,” Celestia said. “As for the mayor, he’s being held for interrogation. I want to know how much he knew about Blitzkrieg when he sent me to him.”

“Looks like this trip worked out pretty well for you,” Zero Volt said.

“Not just me,” she said. “Now we know what you are and how you came to be.”

“I have a decent life and some good friends in Ponyville,” he said. “I didn’t need to know any of that stuff.”

“So this whole trip was a waste of your time?” Twilight said.

“Pretty much.” Zero Volt collapsed on the floor and rolled onto his left side. “I’m feeling a little tired,” he yawned. “Somepony wake me up when we get back.”

“Volt, it’s seven in the evening,” Rainbow Dash said. “How can you be tired?”

“You tell us, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said. “You’re always dozin’ off in the middle of the day.”

When he drifted off, the outlines of a horn and wings on his body faded away, and the white streaks that were normally on his sides returned. “I think I know why he’s tired,” Twilight said. “He’s been holding onto the Shinespark all day.”

“Shinespark?” Celestia said.

“Pinkie Pie thought of the name; we’re still not a hundred percent on it,” she said. “Normally he has to run until he reaches one hundred miles per hour to activate it, but he can also store it to activate at any time. You can tell if he’s storing one because of those markings he had a minute ago.”

“Yah think holdin’ onto it tired him out?” Applejack said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Twilight said. “He’s been storing it for several hours, and this is some very powerful magic.”

“This was not magic,” Celestia said. “When two ponies use their magic against each other, the stronger spell overwhelms the weaker spell. But rather than clashing with an opposing spell, this Shinespark seems to erase any magic that comes near it, almost as if it were some form of anti-magic. His other two abilities are based on unicorn magic, which I find very strange. Without a horn, he couldn’t channel enough magic to lift a pebble, yet his teleportation ability can transport all of us hundreds of miles away without much effort.”

“Ah guess they bet on the wrong pony when they tried to get rid of ‘em,” Applejack said.

“Not necessarily,” Celestia said. “Blitzkrieg has been an alicorn for only nine months, but he is already very powerful. If he had time to master his powers, he could have been a threat to me and Luna. As for Zero Volt, I don’t think he would have supported their ambitions.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“When ponies are fused together, no matter how unpredictable the outcome is, the product is always more powerful than the individuals,” she said. “But these two were in the same body for most of their lives, and Blitzkrieg didn’t have any abilities until after they were separated. Not his own, and certainly not Zero Volt’s.”

“He did say that Volt held him back his entire life,” Twilight said. “Do you think that Volt knew what they were planning and actively suppressed Blitzkrieg?”

“Bear in mind that Zero Volt did not know who he or anypony was at first, nor did he have any memories,” Celestia said. “He seems to have only gained some knowledge and skills from Blitzkrieg. Though on some level, he may have sensed their intentions while they were merged.”

“So then there’s no chance that he’d try to attack you or Princess Luna?” Rainbow asked.

“If he did, he wouldn’t get very far. Even with all of his powers, he is not unbeatable,” Celestia said. “So Rarity, is there anything you want to say, or are you two done with your façade.”

“How did you…” Rarity was taken aback. Not only did the princess see through their bickering, she casually spilled their secret to everyone who didn’t know yet.

“Oh, there were a few subtle hints here and there,” she said. “Let’s just say that you were a bit too nice to each other.”

“Hold on, you and Zero Volt?” Twilight said.

“He and I settled our differences months ago,” Rarity said. “Now we just exchange insults to keep up appearances.”

“So you two have been lyin’ to us this whole time?” Applejack said.

“It’s not a lie, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s more of a performance.”

“You knew about this too?” Applejack said. “Who else knows?”

“Not me,” Pinkie Pie said. “I had no idea this was going on.”

“Actually, I found out about it last week,” Fluttershy said. “In fact, I didn’t like it when they fought with each other, so thank Celestia that’s over.”

“Fluttershy, you need to work on your delivery,” Pinkie chided. “But let’s worry about that later. I have to plan Zero’s birthday party.”

“His birthday?”

“Since he and Blitzkrieg are technically twins, I asked them when his birthday was before we left. Turns out Zero Volt is two years younger than most of us.”

“I’m not sure he’ll appreciate the association with Blitzkrieg or his date of birth,” Celestia said. “Since he definitively came into this world when they were separated, you could celebrate that day.”

“If we counted from that day, it would make him less than a year old,” Twilight said. They all looked at Zero Volt, who was still asleep. “He doesn’t seem like an infant to me.”

“We say that about Spike all the time,” Rainbow Dash joked, not noticing Spike frowning at her. “Besides, he’s not going to want us celebrating the day he was almost torn apart by dogs.”

“Hm, this is going to need a little more thought,” Pinkie Pie said.

Author's Note

And here it is, the final chapter. Now some of you might still have a few questions. Why did I leave a handful of things unresolved? Why was the final villain of this story something that the princess could have easily handled by herself? Well I’ll tell you why; Forest Green is getting a sequel, which has already been out for quite some time, so check it out if you're interested. I've also got a ponified version of Kid Icarus: Uprising in the works, so feel free to check that out too.