Recurring Nightmare

“SURPRISE!”

Zero Volt stood dumbstruck in the doorway of Sugarcube Corner. He had just entered the bakery when his friends appeared and shouted.

“Are you surprised, Zero?” Pinkie Pie said as she jumped in front of him. “You are, huh? Are you? Are you?”

“Yeah, I’m surprised,” he said, “but I’m not really sure what I’m surprised at. What is all this?”

“Guess!”

Zero Volt scanned the room. Along with all his friends, he saw decorations, various games, a table full of refreshments, some wrapped gifts, and a cake. “This is a party,” he said.

“Uh-huh.”

“For me?”

“Uh-huh!” Pinkie said as she leaned closer, putting more weight on her front hooves.

Zero Volt searched the room for any other clues he could find. “That’s all I got.” Pinkie’s hooves slipped from under her and she fell to the floor.

“I’ll give you a hint, Volt,” Rainbow Dash said. “Think of this as a birthday party.”

“I don’t technically have a birthday,” Zero Volt said, “unless being separated from Blitzkrieg counts. No, that would’ve been a year and two months… Wait, this is…”

“Took yah long enough to figure it out,” Applejack said. “Today is a whole year after yah first wandered into Ponyville.”

“And you’re all throwing me a party to celebrate it?” he said. “Wow, I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Pinkie Pie said, standing back up and hugging him. “Everypony has a birthday, and we thought you deserved one too.”

“Actually, we had the most trouble picking the date,” Rainbow said. “We figured you didn’t want to share a birthday with Blitzkrieg, and it just didn’t feel right celebrating the day you were mauled by dogs.”

“So we decided to celebrate the day that you were treated like garbage and broke your leg,” Rarity chimed in.

“Rarity, don’t ever change,” Zero Volt said. “If you did, I might start feeling guilty for all the things I do to you.”

“You can open your presents in a little bit, but right now you should definitely get some cake,” Pinkie said, leading him to the table. “I made it exactly like the one from last year.”

“Only this time you don’t have to worry about it being poisoned,” Fluttershy said.

The room went silent after what Fluttershy said, and Pinkie Pie stopped leading Zero Volt to the table. “What did she just say?” she asked.

“I didn’t say anything!” Fluttershy said in panic, pulling on Pinkie’s foreleg. “Nope, not a thing. So everypony just forget what you think you heard and enjoy the party.”

Pinkie looked at Fluttershy, then at the cake, and then back to Zero Volt. “You thought I tried to poison you?” she said, tears forming in her eyes. Zero Volt looked back at her without answering. Pinkie Pie turned and galloped toward the door, crying as she left the house.

Zero Volt ran after and stopped in the doorway. “Pinkie, wait!” he shouted, holding his hoof out in her direction. Pinkie didn’t stop, and when she disappeared from view, Zero Volt put his hoof down and lowered his head.

“What was that all about?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Zero Volt sighed “You all remember my first day in Ponyville, when you all visited me in the hospital?”

“Zero, are you sure you want to tell them?” Fluttershy said.

“I might as well. You already said it, so you can't unsay it,” he said. “Anyway, when Pinkie Pie brought that cake, I thought that she might have drugged or poisoned it. That’s why I got all of you to taste it before I did.”

“Uh, paranoid much?” Spike said while sprinkling sapphire dust on a slice of Zero Volt’s ‘birthday’ cake.

Zero Volt went toward the door again. “Volt, where do yah think you’re goin’?” Applejack said. “We saw how hurt Pinkie Pie was, and Ah don’t blame her!”

“That’s exactly why I’m going, damage control,” Zero Volt said. He turned to the door again and ran outside.

“What in Equestria could make him think Pinkie Pie was tryin’ to poison him?” Applejack said.

“You have to remember that there was a lot of tension between us back then,” Fluttershy said. “He didn’t trust us, and I don’t think any of us trusted him.”

“If the cake was tainted, it would’ve served us right for feeding it to him in the first place, so it kind of makes sense,” Rainbow said. “But since it was safe, we didn’t have any problem trying some. It could’ve even smoothed things over between us. Still, Pinkie Pie would never put anything like that in her baked goods, unlike Applejack.”

“Hey, you try goin’ a whole week without sleep and see how many ponies you put in the hospital,” Applejack said. “Still, what do we do ‘bout all this now?”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Pinkie Pie, are you in here?” Fluttershy said as she opened the door to the Apple family’s barn. She looked around the barn and saw Pinkie petting Winona at the other end. Her colors were darker than usual and her mane and tail were completely straight.

“Go away, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, still crying. “I don’t wanna talk to anypony right now.”

“Pinkie, nopony’s seen you in hours,” Fluttershy said. “We’re all very worried about you, including Zero.”

“Don’t ever mention that pony’s name around me!” Pinkie yelled, causing Fluttershy to wince. “A whole year. I spent a whole year trying to get that big, mean scaredy-pony to like me.”

“But Pinkie, you’ve got it all wrong,” Fluttershy said. “That was all a year ago and, we all got off on the wrong hoof with him.”

“No, you’ve got it all wrong!” Pinkie Pie said. “Even after everything that happened that day, he’s friends with everypony else. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and even you didn’t like him at first.” As she spoke, Pinkie Pie stood up and advanced toward Fluttershy, who started backing away. “But me? He’s still scared of me! He still stays away from me, no matter how much I reach out to him.” At this point, Fluttershy was backed into a corner, cowering behind her mane and front hooves. Pinkie Pie stood over her and seethed at her. “Do you know what the worst part is? You! You knew I was wasting my time, but you didn’t say anything! Some friend you are!” Pinkie ran across the barn and dove into a haystack.

Fluttershy stayed in the corner of the barn. She knew that Pinkie wasn’t here anymore, even though she had only jumped into a nearby haystack. ‘I-I ruined everything,’ she thought. ‘Zero blames me for telling everypony about our secret and now Pinkie hates me too.’ Tears welled up in Fluttershy’s eyes, and seconds later, she started sobbing. ‘This was supposed to be a good day, and now I’m about to lose two of my friends.’

Fluttershy kept sobbing, so she didn’t notice another pony walk into the barn and approach her. “Fluttershy?” She looked up and saw Zero Volt standing in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

Fluttershy sniffled. “I talked to Pinkie Pie today and…”

“She’s not in a forgiving mood, is she?” Zero Volt said. He sat next to Fluttershy and placed his foreleg over her shoulder. “It’s okay, she’ll come around.”

Fluttershy convulsed slightly as she drew closer to Zero Volt. “Zero, can you forgive me?” she asked.

“Forgive you for what?”

“I promised that I wouldn’t tell anypony about that cake, remember?” Fluttershy sniffled. “But now everypony knows and Pinkie’s mad at us.”

“Oh that?” he asked. “Nah, that’s no big deal.”

“It-it’s not?”

“Flutteshy, you’re clearly sorry about what happened, and you tried to make it up to me by talking to Pinkie Pie,” he said. “Besides, it’s not like this is going to cause any lasting damage. Sure, Pinkie’s mad at us, but we can fix that.”

“Thanks,” she said. By now, Fluttershy had stopped sobbing, and she nestled closer to Zero Volt. “Zero, I’m curious. What would you have done if no one agreed to have any cake? I mean what if none of us was hungry… or what if we were actually trying to poison you?”

“Well, I would’ve placed the cake on the table and told everyone that I wanted to save it for dessert, since it looked so much better than the hospital’s food,” he said. “The wording isn’t a hundred percent, but I think I could’ve nailed it by being nonchalant about it.”

“Not bad, it’s definitely better than almost any lie our friends have ever told,” Fluttershy said. “You know, Rainbow Dash and I once told Pinkie Pie that we were house-sitting for a bear.” After telling him about it, she chuckled at the memory.

“What were you doing instead?”

“Planning her surprise birthday party.”

“Weird, this all started because of a surprise party,” Zero Volt said. The two of them sat silently for several moments. Eventually, Zero Volt was the one who broke the silence. “Hey, you want to go find Pinkie Pie now?” Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “Okay then, let’s get out of here before Applejack shows up and we have to tell her that it’s not what it looks like.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, and she looked around them. “I guess this does look like something out of one of Rarity’s romance stories,” she said, slightly blushing.

“Yeah, the only thing we need now is a bad thunderstorm and…” Zero Volt looked between them and moved his hoof over his chest. “Wait a minute, we’re already undressed!”

“Come on, Zero, let’s go,” Fluttershy said, rolling her eyes. “Where do you think Pinkie Pie is going to be right now?”

“I have no idea,” he said. “She always finds me, not the other way around.”

“Well let’s see,” Fluttershy said. “She lives above and works at Sugarcube Corner, and she watches over the Cake twins.”

“Twins? I thought they were husband and wife.”

“What? No, no, they have twins,” Fluttershy explained. “A pegasus colt and a unicorn filly.”

“Oh… those are the Cakes’ foals?”

“You’re an idiot,” she said. “Fortunately, the Cakes are out of town, so Pinkie Pie should be foalsitting tonight.” They stood up and left the barn, heading for Sugarcube Corner. At the other end of the barn, Winona was digging through the haystack Pinkie had jumped into, wondering where she had gone.

* * * * * * * * * *

Back at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie was taking care of the Cake twins. Or rather, the twins seemed to be taking care of her. “We should’ve never let him into the group. He was a jerk back then, and he’s still a jerk now.” Pound Cake entered the room while pulling a sack of flour. “Thanks, Pound Cake. Maybe later.” Moments later, Pinkie heard a knock at the door. She stood up and left Pound and Pumpkin alone to answer it. “Oh, it’s you,” she said upon seeing Zero Volt and Fluttershy.

Zero Volt couldn’t help but notice how different Pinkie was, from her bitter mood to her straightened mane and tail. “Somepony’s not sleeping well,” he said.

Pinkie Pie slapped Zero Volt across the face with her hoof. “Shut up, Zero!” she said. “I don’t know why you even came here in the first place. I thought you were too scared to be around me.”

“Could we come in?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, if you don’t mind.” Pinkie rolled her eyes and stepped away from the door, allowing Zero Volt and Fluttershy to walk in. On their way in, they noticed Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake glowering at them. “Those are the Cake twins,” Fluttershy whispered to Zero Volt. “They’re a little under two years old.”

“You hurt Pinkie Pie,” Pound Cake said.

“You’re a bad pony,” Pumpkin Cake added.

“They seem nice,” Zero Volt said, rubbing his muzzle where Pinkie had slapped him.

“Oh, by the way, I baked some gingerbread ponies,” Pinkie Pie said, holding up a cookie. The cookie was made in Zero Volt’s likeness with color and detail added, from the green body down to the white streaks along its sides. “They’re not for you. They’re for ponies who don’t think I put poison in my treats.” She clenched her teeth around the gingerbread pony’s neck and violently bit its head off.

“Pinkie, that was a year ago,” Zero Volt said. “Things are different now.”

“No they’re not!” Pinkie said, throwing the headless cookie at him. “Maybe things are different for everypony else, but not with me. You’re still afraid of me, and you never want to be around me.”

“What are you talking about?” he said. “We hang out all the time.”

“No, you always hang out with Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy or somepony else.” Pinkie Pie turned away from him and sat down next to the Cake twins. “You don’t hang out with me,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. “You just put up with me to be around them.”

“Pinkie, if that were true, then I’d just wait for you to leave before hanging out with them,” Zero Volt said. He walked over to her and placed his hoof on her withers. “Look, if I were trying to avoid you, then why would I put up with you for hours at a time just to be around the others? Why would I spend half of my birthday or whatever this was trying to find you?”

Pinkie wiped a tear from her eye and looked up at him. “Do you really mean that?” she asked.

“Of course,” he said. “Pinkie, you scare me a lot, and you’re occasionally annoying, but I still like you just as much as anypony in the group, aside from one or two favorites.”

Almost immediately, Pinkie Pie knocked Zero Volt to the ground and wrapped her hooves around him. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that,” she said, giving him a bear hug. She released him and looked up at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, I’m sorry about the mean things I said to you earlier.”

“It’s alright, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said, wrapping one foreleg around her in a hug. “You weren’t yourself.”

Zero Volt noticed that Pinkie had returned to normal. Her mane and tail had inflated back to their curly, chaotic state, and her coat regained its vibrant color. “Hey look, that maelstrom you call a manecut is back,” he said.

“And my tail. Don’t forget my tail!” Pinkie chirped. “So tell me, how did your party go?”

“Actually, we had to cancel it,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, nothing says ‘party’s over’ like the hostess running out the door crying her eyes out,” Zero Volt said.

“Especially if the hostess is Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy added.

“Oh, I’m really sorry, Zero,” Pinkie said, her ears drooping. “Today was supposed to be about you, and I completely ruined it.”

“That’s alright, I know how we can make it up to each other,” he said. He sat up and whispered something into her ear. Pinkie Pie’s ears slowly perked up, and when he was done, she grinned and nodded at him.

* * * * * * * * * *

Eventually, Zero Volt and Fluttershy had to leave. As much as Pinkie Pie wanted to have them over, she still had to foalsit the Cake twins. After everything had been resolved, Pinkie, Pound and Pumpkin each said “bye,” and Zero Volt teleported Fluttershy back to her cottage.

“Huh, today was a weird day, wasn’t it?” Fluttershy said.

“I know,” Zero Volt said. “Who would’ve thought that Pinkie Pie could handle a foalsitting job?”

“It was actually much harder when she started,” Fluttershy said. “Pinkie Pie told us that they were impossible to control when they started flying and using magic.”

“Wait, I thought pegasus flight and unicorn magic were learned skills,” he said.

“They are, but at that age, pegasi and unicorns start using those skills intermittently,” she said. “They grow out of it after a few months, and then they have to learn those skills when they’re older. Um, Zero, if you don’t mind you asking, what did you whisper to Pinkie Pie?”

“I think you know,” Zero Volt said with a smirk. Without bothering to explain, he teleported away, leaving Fluttershy alone at the door to her cottage. Zero Volt teleported to a group of clouds above Ponyville.

“So, how did it go?” Rainbow Dash asked, lying on her back on an adjacent cloud. “Did you run into Pinkie Pie yet?”

“Yeah, we managed to talk it out,” Zero Volt said. “Though she was pretty upset at first. Her coat was darker than usual, and her mane was completely straightened out.”

“Wait, her mane was straightened out?” Rainbow Dash said with a disturbed expression. “She didn’t have a sack of flour or a pile of rocks lying around, did she?”

“No, not that I can remember,” he said, thinking back.

“What about a bucket of turnips, or a pile of lint?”

“A pile of lint? Where is this coming from?”

“Oh thank Celestia! I thought we had a disaster on our hooves,” she said.

“Dash, is there something you’re not telling me?” he said.

“There’s a lot I’m not telling you,” Rainbow said to a confused looking Zero Volt. “Trust me, you don’t want to know. So what do you plan on doing the rest of the evening?”

“I was hoping to do some Shinesparking.”

“Shinesparking?”

“You know, go into a Shinespark and fly around for about an hour.”

“Volt, you're holding onto it so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hooves, and now you’re taking it for a joyride?”

“Pretty much,” Zero Volt said. “Want to come with?” Rainbow Dash gave him a smirk and answered him by standing up and stretching her wings. Zero Volt started running, jumping from cloud to cloud and trying to pick up speed while Rainbow Dash flew alongside him. “Oh by the way, I brought Pinkie in on our plan.”

“Our plan?” she said. “Oh right! What did you have in mind for her?”

“I think she’s going to be the bait for our trap,” he said. The two of them discussed their plan together as they picked up speed. A minute later, a ball of green and white light illuminated the night sky as it flew above Ponyville with a rainbow streak next to it.

* * * * * * * * * *

Two weeks had passed since Zero Volt reconciled with Pinkie Pie. Spike, Pinkie, and Twilight Sparkle were in the library, preparing for Nightmare Night. “I’m still confused,” Twilight said. “What are you supposed to be?”

“I’m an angel, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie said. Her costume included a tunic, a laurel crown, a small pair of wings on her back, and a blue and yellow bow attached to her foreleg. “With my heavenly bow, I fight the forces of the underworld to protect the heavens!”

“Cloudsdale?” Twilight said, still perplexed.

Before Pinkie could answer, there was a knock at the door. “I’ll get it!” she chirped. Pinkie opened the door and found Fluttershy and Rarity waiting at the door. Rarity’s costume was made to look like Celestia, and when Pinkie Pie saw her, she gasped and bowed before her. “Goddess of light, I am at your service.”

Yes, that’s nice, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said. “May we come in?” Pinkie backed away from the door, allowing Rarity and Fluttershy to walk in.”

“Your costume looks great, Rarity,” Twilight said. “You look almost exactly like the princess.”

“Why thank you, Twilight,” Rarity said. “It took me months just to create the wings.” She used her magic to flex the costume’s wings, which had been hoofcrafted using real feathers. Her mane flowed with the same movement, colors and luster as Celestia’s. “I just hope I can keep my mane like this for the rest of the night. The spell is actually a bit taxing.”

“I know exactly what you need,” Pinkie Pie said. “Come with me.” Pinkie Pie bounced toward the exit with Rarity reluctantly following behind.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was staring at the costume that Spike was wearing. When Spike noticed her, she turned away, looking embarrassed. “Oh sorry, Spike,” she said, “but what are you supposed to be dressed as?”

“I’m a hedgehog,” Spike said.

“I’ve never seen a hedgehog with black and red coloring before,” Fluttershy said. “They don’t wear gloves either. Maybe you should’ve asked for my help for your costume. I wouldn’t have minded.”

Suddenly a lightning strike flashed outside, and they all heard a loud scream. “What was that?” Twilight said.

“Oh nothing,” Fluttershy said. “Zero was just playing a prank on Rarity.”

“This is what you asked me to make for you?!” Rarity said, shouting over the sound of hysterical laughter.

“I need to see this,” Twilight said. The three of them ran outside and found Zero Volt, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie rolling on the ground laughing. Rarity stood in the center of them, looking outraged. Now that she wasn’t using her magic anymore, her mane returned to its normal purple color and hung messily around her head instead of flowing behind her.

“I’m sorry, but you should’ve seen the look on your face,” Pinkie said. “It was priceless!”

“I did, and I’m not sorry at all,” Rainbow Dash said, just managing to stand up. “That was so worth waiting half a year for.” As soon as she stood up, she glanced at the costumes her friends were wearing. Even though the mask was pulled off, she gave a look of disgust at Twilight’s Mare-Do-Well costume before turning to Fluttershy. “Really, you’re going out as a butterfly?” she said. “Real original, Fluttershy.”

“Excuse me, but you’re the one wearing the same costume you had a few years ago,” Fluttershy said.

“No, that was a Shadowbolt costume,” Rainbow said. “This year I’m dressed as a Wonderbolt. Big difference.”

“Uh-huh,” Fluttershy said, not convinced.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt caught up to Rarity, who was walking back into the library. “What do you want, Zero?” Rarity said.

“Weren’t you using a spell on your mane earlier?” Zero Volt said.

“Oh, of course.” Rarity channeled her magic, causing her mane and tail to glow in several colors while flowing behind her. “I will get you back for this.”

“Looking forward to it.” After Rarity walked into the library, Zero Volt started to walk back to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

“Volt, can I have a word with you?” Twilight asked. “In private?”

Zero Volt stopped before they could get within earshot of the others. “Uh, sure what’s up?”

“We never got a chance to talk about that dampening spell,” she said. “The one designed against you. I wanted to say something at the party two weeks ago, but…”

“What about it?”

“I wanted to apologize,” she said. “I never meant for Nightmare to discover that spell. I really am sorry about everything.”

Zero Volt sighed. “I don’t really care that you lost control of that spell. The problem is that you abused your magic in the first place, but I guess neither one of those things is my responsibility,” he said. “Twilight, you betrayed my trust by creating that spell, and that’s why I was angry with you. Still, I may have been a bit too hard on you, so I’m willing to partially forgive you.”

“Partially?”

“I still don’t want you experimenting with me, or even researching me,” he said, “but other than that, I’m willing to look past what you did. Friends?”

“Yeah, friends,” Twilight said, feeling relieved. “By the way, Rainbow Dash is waiting for you. Apparently, she wants to bring you along to scare the rest of Ponyville.”

“Oh yeah, we were going to do that too,” he said. He started to walk away but turned back to say one more thing. “For the record, your dampening spell probably doesn’t work on me anymore. Now that I know it exists, my two-second warning has probably adjusted itself to watch out for that. And now…” He pulled his hood over his head and held a prop harvesting scythe in his hoof before switching to a low, menacing voice. “…To descend upon this town and harvest the souls of its inhabitants.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Twilight snarked. As Zero Volt trotted back to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy gave him a sullen look.

“What’s wrong, Fluttershy?” Pinkie Pie said, popping in next to her.

“I just wish that Zero hadn’t pulled that mean prank on Rarity,” Fluttershy said. “Why couldn’t he just listen to me and leave her alone?”

“Wait, you knew about it?” Pinkie asked.

“I gave him the idea,” Fluttershy said, “but I did everything I could to stop him.”

“Did you try telling Rarity what he was going to do?”

“No.”

“Did you try to ruin his costume before he could wear it?”

“No.”

“Did you try threatening him with puppies?”

“That would’ve worked?”

“Oh yeah, that would’ve worked, but that’s not my point,” Pinkie said. She pulled a photo out of her tunic and gave it to Fluttershy. “I snapped this picture of Rarity right when she started screaming. Look at it and ask yourself whether you really disapprove of Zero’s prank.”

Fluttershy held the photo and watched Pinkie Pie bounce away. Checking to see that no one was around, she looked at the photo. A smile formed on her face, and before long she started giggling at the picture. “I’m sorry, Rarity, but I have to keep this.” She carefully put the picture away before going back to her cottage.