Recurring Nightmare

by Phazon

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Slice of Life
Length: 80297

Sequel to Forest Green. Nightmare Moon returns, and Zero Volt helps the Mane Six on an on-and-off mission to vanquish her.

Zero Volt has been living in Ponyville for almost a year, and despite some tension, both initial and lingering, he has managed to get along with a close-knit circle of friends. But since this circle of friends just happens to wield the Elements of Harmony, he finds himself wandering haphazardly into conflicts between forces far greater than him. In this case, Nightmare Moon has returned, ready to bring terror and calamity to Equestria. Wait, that's nothing to worry about. The Mane Six will just use the Elements and vanquish her again, right? Right?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-11 18:22:21 UTC

Nightmare's Rampage

Nightmare looked at the seven defeated ponies surrounding her. Behind her were Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. In front of her was Twilight Sparkle, who had her horn broken, Rainbow Dash, lying in a claw-shaped depression in the ground, and Zero Volt. Still taking on Twilight’s appearance, Nightmare slowly walked toward the latter three. Spike stepped in front of them, trying to block her path, but Nightmare swept him aside using her magic without breaking her stride.

“I’ve been waiting a very long time for this day,” she said. “You have all been such a thorn in my side.” She used her magic to lift Zero Volt’s unconscious body in front of her. “Especially you. To think that a little pony like you was once able to wound me. Now look at you, brought down by a little bit of voltage. I’m going to enjoy this.” But before she could do anything, a gust of wind circled around them, colored in blue and yellow. Seconds later, the wind subsided and Nightmare was alone in the field. “Impertinent mares, you never could do more than delay the inevitable.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Celestia and Luna stood in the chamber that once housed the Elements of Harmony. Using their magic, they teleported the bearers of the Elements in front of them, along with Zero Volt and Spike. Using their magic, the two sisters lifted Twilight Sparkle and Zero Volt and cast the unicorn healing spell, Celestia using her magic on Twilight and Luna on Zero Volt. As Celestia’s magic concentrated on the stub of Twilight’s horn, it changed from yellow to magenta. Twilight’s horn repaired itself within seconds, and she and Zero Volt slowly woke up as they were lowered back on the ground.

“What happened?” Twilight groaned. “Why does my skull feel like a cracked walnut?”

“If it’s the same feeling I have, you probably had you horn broken,” Zero Volt said. He looked at her and saw that her horn was perfectly intact, now looking better than it had in a long time. “The feeling should go away in a bit, but you’re right, it’s not something you ever want to go through.”

Seconds later, Rainbow Dash started to regain consciousness. ‘Argh, did I crash through somepony’s roof of something?’ As she opened her eyes, she realized where she was and remembered what she had been doing earlier. She began moving parts of her body, making sure she wasn’t injured. ‘Wings, okay. Head and neck, okay. Forelegs, okay. Hind legs, ow, not okay! Not okay!’ Her right hind leg was in severe pain, pain that only worsened when she tried to move it.

Meanwhile, the others had finally woken up and gotten back on their hooves. “I take it you all know why we’re here,” Celestia said. “After the Elements of Harmony failed, Luna and I tried our best to extract you. As you can see, it took much longer than we had hoped. Are you all okay?”

“Ah think Rainbow’s got a broken leg,” Applejack said.

“It’s fine,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood up on her other three legs. She used her wings to lift off of the ground and hover in place. “I still have my wings. I can still fight.”

“Rainbow Dash, that is the last thing you should be thinking about,” Luna said. “If Nightmare can overcome the Elements of Harmony, there is no way to directly engage her.”

“I don’t care! We can’t just let Nightmare run loose like she is right now. We have to stop her no matter what, right Volt?” Rainbow Dash looked around and realized that Zero Volt wasn’t nearby. “Uh, Volt?” She searched the chamber and found him walking alongside the walls. “What are you doing?” she asked as she flew over to him.

“I’m not sure, but it feels like something’s here,” he said as he scanned the walls of the chamber.

“It’s just a bunch of stained glass windows,” Rainbow said. She followed Zero Volt as he examined each stained glass window. The other ponies watched them, only stepping close enough to see and hear them.

“I notice the six of you are on some of these,” he said distractedly as they went past two particular windows.

“Yeah, we had to use the Elements of Harmony a couple times, and the princess wanted to make a big deal out of it,” Rainbow said.

“After that, there’s one of Luna, Celestia, and some failed biology experiment,” he said. No one in the room wanted to explain to him who the 'failed biology experiment' actually was. Some of them wondered if he was still aware of the horrible monstrosity that was still at large that night. He finally stopped at a different stained glass window. This one was a depiction of Equestria, but it was centuries old, perhaps even older than the royal pony sisters. At the bottom of it was an image symbolizing the Elements of Harmony.

“Princess Celestia, I’ve been meaning to ask, when did they mess up that old symbol for the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight said. “That jewel to the side is always green, but there is nothing green on any of the actual Elements.”

“I’m not sure,” Celestia said. “That particular image predates our reign.”

Zero Volt stared at the window for several seconds. He lifted his right foreleg, and the wings on his bracelet extended. As he pointed his hoof at the image of the Elements, the horn on his bracelet extended forward, reaching several inches past his hoof. Zero Volt thrust his foreleg against the glass, piercing the image and sending cracks throughout the entire window.

“Whoa, what did you do that for?” Rainbow yelled, using her wings to move away from the window. The entire window shattered, but Zero Volt stood still as shards of glass fell out of place and harmlessly passed through him and the floor. When the shards were all gone, the image created by the window was still there.

Zero Volt pulled his hoof back, producing a ripple through the image, as if it were the surface of a pond. He placed his hoof back on the ground as the bracelet returned to its normal shape. He paused for a second before walking through the image.

“Celestia, did you know that was there?” Luna asked.

“There shouldn’t be anything there. That window should lead outside,” Celestia said. One by one, they all passed through the opening and found themselves in a stone hallway lined with torches. Moments later, they caught up with Zero Volt, who was steadily walking down the hallway. “You do know we’re facing a national crisis, don’t you, Zero Volt?”

“There’s something here, I can feel it,” he said. For a few seconds, no one said anything as they followed him.

“So,” Twilight started, “you and Nightmare have met before?”

“Yeah, I fought her about a year ago,” he answered. “I can’t believe she survived; I thought I destroyed her.”

“That makes seven of us,” Applejack said. “But if the Elements don’t work and the Shinespark didn’t work, what do we do now?”

“If the Shinespark really is anti-magic, then it should be the perfect weapon against a magical entity like Nightmare,” Twilight said. “Now if only you could get your two-second warning working consistently.”

“I’m certain that his two-second warning was disabled at the time,” Celestia said. “From what I’ve seen, the Shinespark inhibits any magic that goes near it, including his own.”

“That would explain why I’ve never been able to teleport during an active Shinespark,” Zero Volt said.

“And that’s how Nightmare got you with those thunderclouds,” Rainbow Dash said, feeling guilty. “She got everything she needed to beat you when she copied me.”

“She did say that she learned my attack patterns from you, so that does put us in an awkward position,” he said. “I mean, if I knew you were checking me out all these months-”

“Shut up!” Rainbow said, trying not to laugh. They reached the end of the passage and found themselves in an enormous chamber. The columns that supported the chamber radiated a soft white light that reflected off of the glasslike walls and floor. “Whoa, where are we?”

“I don’t know, but there’s something back there,” Celestia said. They approached the end of the chamber and found a pedestal with a rusted sword placed into it.

“We followed Zero all the way here for this?” Rarity said. “That sword is little more than a piece of rust.”

“Considering how long this has been here, I’m not surprised,” Twilight said.

Zero Volt walked closer to the pedestal. He was ten feet away when a gust of wind started blowing from it. Suddenly, the white outlines of a horn and wings started glowing on his head and sides, and seconds later, seven spheres of light emerged from them: cyan and green from his right side, white and orange from his left, and yellow, pink, and blue from his head. The spheres of light floated away from Zero Volt and passed into the hilt of the sword. Once the final sphere passed into the sword, the blade crumbled, causing the hilt to fall to the ground. Zero Volt picked it up by the handle and examined it. The hilt was no longer rusted, but was now changing colors to blue and yellow. Seconds later, a new blade emerged from it, emitting a bright white glow.

“This keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Pinkie Pie said. “What’s a sword doing in here anyway?”

“Back when Equestria maintained a standing army, swords were frequently issued to pegasi, and sometimes a few unicorns,” Luna said. “They were never issued to earth ponies though.” As she said this, Zero Volt gripped the sword with his right hoof and extended it away from his body. He held the blade too far to his side, and after flailing his foreleg for a second, he fell over. “That’s why.”

“I get it, an earth pony would have to hold a sword with a hoof, thus throwing off his or her balance,” Twilight said. “Pegasi can stay in the air while unicorns would hold a sword using their magic, so it’s not an issue for them.”

“I know how we can defeat Nightmare,” Zero Volt said as he picked up the sword again. “I can feel the Shinespark’s energy coming from the blade.” Everyone looked at the sword, then back at Zero Volt. Not only were the outlines gone from his head and sides, but so were his white streaks and bangs, leaving his mane completely black and his coat completely green. “We can use this.”

“I was wondering where you all went.” Everyone turned around and saw Nightmare at the chamber entrance, mimicking Rainbow Dash’s appearance. “Was this going to be your panic room? You left the door open on your way in.”

“We’re ready for you this time, so let’s finish this,” Twilight said. She used her magic to grab the sword from Zero Volt and threw it at Nightmare. Nightmare easily dodged the sword and used Rainbow’s flight speed to charge at Twilight. Twilight jumped out of the way, but dropped the sword. Nightmare turned around and tried to grab the sword, but had to swerve out of the way to avoid being impaled when it suddenly changed direction.

Rarity appeared next to Twilight, holding the sword with her magic. “Twilight, I’ll control the sword. You find a way to slow her down,” she said. Rarity guided the sword toward Nightmare while Twilight tried to use her magic on their target. But Nightmare was taking advantage of Rainbow Dash’s agility by flying around them and weaving around the columns. She was too fast for Twilight to focus on, and Rarity struggled to keep the sword anywhere near her.

Meanwhile, winds circled around the chamber while carrying thunderclouds with them. A few clouds were thrown at Rarity and Twilight, who were too busy trying to track Nightmare, but Zero Volt teleported both of them away before they could get hit. Rarity lost her telekinetic grip of the sword after being teleported, giving Nightmare to opportunity to seize it. Nightmare turned around and flew toward it, but before she could grab the sword, a rainbow streak snatched it out of the air and slashed through her neck with it.

“You should be careful flying at those speeds,” Rainbow Dash said, gripping the sword in her hoof. “An amateur like you could get sliced to pieces.” Nightmare turned around and glowered at her before flying off. “How did that not finish her off?” Rainbow said before flying after her. Several thunderclouds were tossed at her but she dodged each of them as she maintained pursuit. Nightmare’s grabbed a cloud, balled it up with her hooves, and tossed it at Rainbow. Rainbow Dash saw the cloud and spiked it at Nightmare with her left hoof. The cloud hit Nightmare, stunning her as electricity coursed through her body. Taking the opportunity, Rainbow Dash flew downward and bisected Nightmare with the sword. “You’re pretty good for a copy,” Rainbow said, twirling the hilt around her hoof, “but nopony’s as good as the one and only Rainbow Dash.” She blew sharply on the blade, clearing away several wisps of black fog.

With her ‘Rainbow Dash’ form ruined, Nightmare turned into a black fog. The fog swelled in size, quickly dwarfing Rainbow Dash and casting a shadow over her. Rainbow turned around, and her jaw dropped as the fog materialized into the form of a dragon. Nightmare inhaled deeply, but Zero Volt teleported Rainbow Dash away before she could be burnt by dragon fire.

Zero Volt and Rainbow Dash reappeared near the ground. “Thanks, Volt,” Rainbow said. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, her wings were feeling tired and her hind leg was in pain again. “I think I have to sit the this one out.” Rarity used her magic to take the sword from her. Rainbow Dash gently touched the ground with three of her hooves before carefully rolling onto her back. “It was stupid of me to try to fight like this in the first place.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Dash,” Zero Volt said, tending to her leg. “You took down Nightmare Dash after we all struggled against her, and you made it look easy, even with a broken leg.”

“Wait, Nightmare Dash?” she said.

“Her naming system, remember?” he said. “Or would you prefer Rainbow Nightmare?”

“Hm… how about Nightmare Rainbow?”

“That could work.”

“Zero, I can take care of Rainbow Dash’s leg,” Fluttershy said, “so, it might be better if you, um, if you don’t mind…”

“You think I should help the others out with Nightmare?” he asked. Fluttershy nodded, and Zero Volt turned his attention to Twilight, Rarity and Nightmare. Pinkie Pie walked over to Rainbow Dash and started talking to her. She was ready to help Fluttershy if asked, but for now she was trying to make Rainbow feel better by taking her mind off of her injured leg.

Meanwhile, Rarity was trying to attack Nightmare, but no matter how much strength she used, the sword bounced off of Nightmare’s spiked black carapace. Nightmare shrugged off the repeated blows and breathed fire at Rarity, but Twilight created a barrier to protect both of them. Undeterred, Nightmare lifted her arm and slammed her claw into the barrier, shattering it in one hit.

“Rarity, go for the underbelly!” Spike shouted. Rarity heard his advice and looked back at Nightmare. Using her magic, she reoriented the sword in front of Nightmare’s chest and stabbed her as she was preparing her fire breath. Nightmare stumbled back as the blade embedded itself halfway into her chest, with cracks spreading from the point of entry. Rarity pulled the sword out and prepared to stab again, but Nightmare quickly recovered and bent down, taking a quadrupedal position to protect her underbelly.

“How’s it coming along?” Zero Volt asked, having returned from helping Rainbow Dash.

“Her underbelly is the only weak point on her,” Twilight said, “but we can’t reach it while she’s on all fours and her spikes are too tough to cut through.”

“Not a problem.” Zero Volt teleported onto Nightmare’s head. As soon as he could keep his balance, a green light enveloped his body and quickly spread across Nightmare’s body. Before the light could envelop Nightmare, she grabbed him with her claw. The green light quickly vanished from Nightmare as she tried to crush Zero Volt in her claw, but he teleported away before she could tighten her grip. Zero Volt teleported back to Twilight and Rarity, grunting as he hit the ground.

“What the hay were yah tryin’ to do,” Applejack said.

“Trying to flip her over,” he said. “I’ll explain later.”

“Get me up onto her head,” Applejack said. “Ah got an idea.” Zero Volt teleported her onto Nightmare’s head and watched as Applejack walked over to one of her eyes. “Yah might wanna bring us back down, now!” At the end of her sentence, Applejack spun around and kicked with her hind legs. Zero Volt managed to teleport both of them back to the ground only milliseconds before Nightmare whipped backward onto her legs, clutching her eye with both claws. “Just like buckin’ for apples,” Applejack said proudly, “though Ah may have to wash mah back hooves after this.”

Now that Nightmare’s underbelly was exposed, Rarity aimed the sword and hurled it back at her, piercing the same spot she had hit earlier. With the blade embedded deeper in Nightmare’s chest, Rarity pulled it down. The sword sliced through Nightmare’s chest and abdomen, spreading cracks throughout her underbelly. Nightmare growled in pain before transforming into a black fog again. The fog condensed itself and collected near the ground, taking on the size and appearance of Nightmare's next form, Zero Volt.

Rarity aimed the sword at Nightmare when Zero Volt suddenly teleported her away, preventing Nightmare from teleporting in front of her and kicking her in the head. Twilight tried to retrieve the sword with her magic, but Nightmare teleported behind her and grabbed her tail. Nightmare jumped, teleported both of them into the air, and flipped in midair before throwing Twilight at the ground. Twilight looked in the direction she was thrown and locked eyes with Pinkie Pie. She tried to cover her head with her hooves, realizing that this would end badly for one of them.

Suddenly, Zero Volt teleported under her and wrapped her forelegs around his neck before teleporting both of them away. The second teleportation reoriented their position, allowing Zero Volt to land with all four hooves and slide to a stop. When he had come to a stop, Twilight was lying safely on his back. He waited for her to get off before teleporting the sword away from Nightmare.

“Hey, what is your problem?!” Zero Volt said angrily. “The way you threw Twilight, she could’ve either gored Pinkie or shattered her horn against the floor.”

“You really don’t understand how my endgame works, do you?” Nightmare said. “I’m out to destroy every living thing, so why would I regret the suffering of those two mares. In fact, I was looking forward to it.”

“Yeah, I know that, but I don’t like you using my body to do it,” he said half-seriously. “I have a reputation to keep.”

“Reputation as what, the pony who will help me destroy all of Equestria?” she asked. Zero Volt stared back with a confused look. “Actually no, you’ve already helped me destroy Equestria by letting me mimic you. Your teleportation and two-second warning abilities make me virtually untouchable.” The horn and wing outlines appeared on her, producing four black spheres that took the forms of Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity. “And with a few personal tweaks to your already destructive Shinespark, entire cities will crumble at my hooves.” The four copies rushed at them, and Zero Volt scrambled to teleport his friends and the princesses to safety. “You never should have found me, Zero Volt, but thanks to you, this world is doomed.”

Before Nightmare’s words could sink in, they all heard a sharp, high-pitched sound. The sound echoed throughout the chamber and even through the passageway they had entered through, and it took a while to find its source. Eventually they all looked at Fluttershy, who had placed her hoof to her mouth and was whistling. After whistling for about half a minute, she lowered her hoof and maintained a cold gaze at Nightmare. Everyone else in the room looked at Fluttershy with confused expressions, unsure of what they were waiting for.

“Okay fine, I’ll ask,” Nightmare said. “What was that supposed to accomplish?” Fluttershy said nothing as she continued to glare back. After a while, they started hearing sounds coming from the passageway, and before long a horde of animals rushed into the chamber. The animals gathered around Fluttershy, starting with squirrels, chipmunks, small birds and other small critters. They were followed by larger, deadlier animals, including venomous snakes, some predatory birds and even a few grizzly bears.

“Wow, I didn’t know that Fluttershy’s hoof doubled as a rape whistle,” Twilight said quietly.

“Unfortunately it triples as a dog whistle,” Rainbow Dash said, still lying on the ground with Pinkie Pie tending to her. She pointed at Zero Volt, whose face went pale at the sight of a pack of wolves that gathered with all of the other animals.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was utterly perplexed by what they were witnessing. “Where did they even come from?” she asked. “How did they know where to find us, and how did they get here so quickly?”

“Uh, Fluttershy,” Zero Volt said anxiously, “did you really have to call the canines here too?”

Fluttershy wasn’t listening to Zero Volt as he maintained her glare. “Animal friends, if it’s not too much trouble,” she said, starting with a quiet, friendly tone, “then tear her limb from limb!” Many of the animals rushed toward their target. Nightmare, quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught, was forced to use all of Zero Volt’s abilities to fend them off. She used his two-second warning to avoid snake bites and bird attacks, his teleportation ability to fight the wolves, and the altered Shinespark to attack the grizzlies.

After a while, Nightmare had finally fought off most of the attacking animals. She was about to fight off the rest of them when Fluttershy flew at her and stabbed her through the side, impaling her with the sword. Struggling through the pain, Nightmare teleported away Fluttershy could do anymore damage.

Fluttershy quickly found Nightmare and flew at her again, but before she could close the gap, she suddenly found herself hovering somewhere else. Fluttershy looked around, trying to process what had just happened. She saw Nightmare on the other side of the chamber along with phantoms of four of her friends. She turned her head a little more to see her friends nearby, including Zero Volt, who had just teleported her across the chamber. “What did you that for?” she asked.

“Nightmare was about to use her version of the Shinespark,” he said. “She would’ve hit you first.”

“Oh… thanks.”

Meanwhile, Nightmare was still recovering from Fluttershy’s successful attack. ‘This doesn’t make any sense,’ she thought. ‘Zero Volt’s powers are supposed to warn me of any impending threat. It worked perfectly against all those other creatures, so how did such a harmless little…’ As she tried to piece together what had happened, something clicked in her mind. “You idiot!” Nightmare shouted across the chamber. “You let that filly past your defenses because she wasn’t a threat to you?!”

“What does she mean by that?” Twilight asked.

“She must have figured out how Fluttershy got past my two-second warning,” Zero Volt said. Everyone turned to him and waited for him to explain. “My ability is supposed to warn me about anything that’s potentially harmful to me. But Fluttershy is usually so gentle, so harmless, except for a minute ago.”

“And because of that, you’re ability doesn’t tell you if Fluttershy’s about to hit you?” Twilight said.

“More or less,” he said. “It’s not a voluntary process, but it does adjust itself based on what I consider a threat. No offense, Fluttershy.”

“None taken,” Fluttershy said. She was tending to the animals that had been injured during the assault on Nightmare. The smaller critters, who hadn’t taken part in the attack, were helping her care for the injured.

“Since Nightmare was copying Zero Volt’s abilities and experiences, she also copied his personal settings for the two-second warning,” Celestia said, barely holding back an amused smile. “She must have forgotten to calibrate his ability to her liking, and that’s why Fluttershy was able to attack her.”

“Well not anymore!” Nightmare said angrily. “I’ve readjusted it for any attacks from that pegasus filly. Now nopony can stop Nightmare Volt!”

“Really, Nightmare Volt?” Zero Volt said.

“What, you think ‘Nightmare Zero’ sounds better?” Nightmare retorted.

“No, it’s the ‘mare’ part that I have an issue with. You seem to have my gender confused.”

“Yah want her to go by ‘Night-stallion’ instead?” Applejack asked.

“Actually, I think ‘Night-colt Zero’ sounds more appropriate,” Rarity said.

“Wait, if his doesn’t have to be called ‘mare’, then mine shouldn’t either,” Spike said.

“So what, you want that form to be called ‘Night-dragon Spike’?” Twilight said. “That doesn’t make much sense.”

“This is why they’re all called ‘Nightmare’!” Nightmare shouted in frustration. “I can’t believe you made us quibble over nomenclature!”

“She’s right,” Zero Volt said, stepping in front of the others. “Let’s finish this.”

“Wait, you’re fighting her now?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Now that she’s coping my abilities, I’m the only one who can go anywhere near her to do any damage,” he said.

“But how are yah gonna fight her?” Applejack said. “You’re not exactly a swordspony.”

“I’ve already thought of that,” he said. “Spike, grab that sword and hop on.”

“Absolutely not!” Twilight said. “It is too dangerous for him.”

“Relax, Twilight, my two-second warning will keep him from getting hurt,” Zero Volt said. “Trust me, he’ll be perfectly safe.”

“Does that mean I get to be part of this?” Spike said excitedly.

Twilight hesitated to answer. She was still worried about Spike’s safety, and Zero Volt had a habit of taking a dangerous situation too lightly. “Alright, fine,” she finally said. “You get to be a hero for two minutes. Just be careful out there, especially you, Volt.”

Zero Volt, lowered himself to the ground, allowing Spike to climb up. “He’s demoted himself to being a mount for a baby with a knife,” Nightmare mused. “This should be interesting.” She turned around and galloped around the chamber. Zero Volt followed her in pursuit while Spike stood on his back, the sword in his right claw while his left held onto the back of his head for support. While running, Nightmare used her version of the Shinespark. Once they took their forms, the four phantom mares rushed back, but Zero Volt teleported next to Nightmare to evade them. Now that they were next to Nightmare, Spike swung at her, but Nightmare teleported ahead of them.

Both ponies continued their chase. Before long, Nightmare created four more phantoms and sent them at Zero Volt. This time the phantoms flew slightly higher, allowing Zero Volt to lower his head and gallop under them. Spike stumbled forward, bringing his sword arm up and slicing through the Fluttershy phantom’s chest and barrel. At the same time, Nightmare momentarily stumbled and her body flashed white underneath her coat.

“Hey Spike, you saw that?”

“Saw what?” Spike said as he stood back up.

“Try to hit those copies when they fly by us,” Zero Volt said. Nightmare activated the altered Shinespark, but this time, only three phantoms appeared. The phantoms flew at Zero Volt, but since the Fluttershy phantom was gone, there was a gap large enough for him to run through. As Zero Volt ran past them, Spike jumped off of his back and spun in the air, swinging the sword around him. His spin attack slashed through the bodies of the Applejack and Pinkie Pie phantoms, causing them to disappear. He landed on Zero Volt, who had to teleport several feet back to catch him. “Spike, please don’t do that,” Zero Volt said in an annoyed tone. “The girls will kill me if something happens to you.”

Nightmare used the altered Shinespark one last time, creating only one phantom mare. After the other three phantoms were destroyed, Nightmare realized that Spike and Zero Volt were attacking them to weaken her. She teleported behind them, planning to attack them from behind to let the phantom hit its target. However, Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect, and he teleported behind Nightmare. The Rarity phantom passed by Nightmare, and Spike slashed through it with the sword. Nightmare started stumbling again, and Zero Volt caught up to her quickly enough for Spike to slice through her as well.

Zero Volt slid on his hooves to come to a stop. He turned around, allowing him and Spike to look back at Nightmare, who had collapsed after being slashed. Wisps of black fog rose from her wounds, and floated away as she slowly disappeared. Spike and Zero Volt eyed the fog cautiously as it swirled around them before gathering in one spot on taking on the form of Twilight Sparkle.

“Spike, are you feeling okay about this?” Zero Volt asked, “I know Twilight’s like a sister to you.”

“You said it yourself, don’t confuse the real think with a cheap copy,” Spike said. Suddenly, Nightmare’s horn gave off a black glow, and it started pulling out of her head. Seconds later, a large sword emerged from Nightmare’s head, twice the size of the Shinespark-infused sword. Another horn emerged from Nightmare’s head to replace the first one, which formed the sword’s pommel. “On second thought, I might need therapy after this.”

“Twilight knows a good therapist,” Zero Volt said.

Using her magic, Nightmare tilted her blade down and created an energy field. Zero Volt felt a strange sensation as the energy field expanded over them, though Spike didn’t feel any different. Seconds later, Nightmare swung her sword up, creating a wave as the blade slashed through the air. The wave shot at Zero Volt, lifting him off of his hooves and throwing him across the room. Spike and Zero Volt were about the hit the wall on the other side of the chamber when Twilight caught both of them with her magic. The two of them floated in midair as Twilight carefully lowered Spike. As soon as Spike touched the ground, Twilight let go of Zero Volt, letting him fall and hit the ground.

“That’s for letting Spike get hurt,” Twilight said. “Spike, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Spike said.

“You did a great job back there,” she said, holding the sword next to her with her magic, “but I’m taking over now.” Twilight teleported herself and the sword across the chamber.

“As long as we’re all here, what should we name this form?” Rainbow Dash said. “I vote for ‘Nightmare Sparkle’, just to mess with Twilight.”

“I don’t think we should be discussing this while she’s fighting Nightmare,” Celestia said.

“I think you should cut her some slack, Princess,” Pinkie Pie said. “She’s got a broken leg and she still beat Nightmare Dashie. You on the other hoof haven’t moved an inch since the fight started.”

“I suppose you’re right, Pinkie Pie,” Celestia said. “We could call her ‘Twilight Nightmare’, or ‘Nightmare Twilight’. Zero Volt, since this distraction was your idea, do you have any input? Zero Volt?” Zero Volt said nothing as he watched the fight with an angry look on his face. “Okay then…”

Nightmare fired three magical energy beams from her horn, but Twilight blocked them with the sword and fired three energy beams of her own. Nightmare blocked those beams and slashed downward with her sword to fire a wave at Twilight. The wave knocked Twilight off of her hooves and pushed her into the ground, causing her to let go of the Shinespark-infused sword.

Nightmare picked up both swords using her magic and lifted them over Twilight’s head, but before she could finish her off, Twilight teleported herself and the Shinespark-infused sword away. With the sword teleported out of Nightmare’s telekinetic grip, Twilight levitated it with her magic. Both unicorns charged at each other while holding their own swords above them. Both blades clashed together over their heads while they clashed their horns together.

“It doesn’t matter how many ponies you copy, Nightmare,” Twilight said. “You’ve declared war on all life, and every living creature in the world will oppose you now. You can’t win.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Twilight. Harmony is a delicate balance to maintain, and this world is far more helpful in reaching my goal than you realize,” Nightmare said. “Your dampening spell is a great example. Imagine my surprise when I took on your form and found out that you were working on a spell to inhibit Zero Volt’s two-second warning. You only had the basic framework of the spell, but my experience with his form allowed me to perfect it. I thought that his powers would bring ruin to this land, but you’re not such a bad candidate yourself.”

As they spoke, cracks formed in her blade as it pressed against the Shinespark-infused sword. With one last push, Nightmare’s sword was shattered, causing her to stumble back. Twilight quickly lowered the sword and slashed Nighmare across the chest and muzzle. She repositioned the sword in midair and thrust it through Nightmare’s horn, skull and body.

Nightmare stood frozen in place with the blade embedded in her head. Light shone from the stab wound, and the black veins across her ‘Twilight’ form started to flash white. The light from Nightmare’s wounds and body grew brighter before her body was finally destroyed. “And this time, stay dead,” Twilight said, bringing the sword closer to her and walking back to her friends.

“Is it over?” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, it’s over,” Zero Volt said.

“Now we just need to deal with the aftermath of Nightmare’s attack,” Celestia said. “We can start by securing the Elements of Harmony, as well as that sword.”

“Wait,” Zero Volt said. He placed his hoof over the sword’s crossguard. Over the next few seconds, his hoof glowed in seven different colors, and the sword’s blade stopped glowing and rapidly rusted. Once the Shinespark’s energy returned to Zero Volt, the outlines of a horn and wings briefly appeared on his head and sides, and his white streaks and bangs returned. The sword’s rusted blade crumbled, leaving behind the ornate blue and yellow hilt. “Okay, all yours.”

“Zero Volt, are you sure that that's the best idea?” Celestia said sternly, “The Shinespark should be kept well protected so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hooves.”

“Yeah, and I think the Shinespark is perfectly safe with me,” he said. “It was given to me, wasn't it.”

“It doesn’t look like it's possible for anypony to remove this Shinespark ability from him, much less contain its power within their own bodies,” Luna said. “If it's kept with you, then it will be under the protection of all seven of you.”

“Very well then,” Celestia said. “You may hold on to the Shinespark for the time being, but the sword, or what's left of it, should remain in Canterlot for further study. Now let’s bring Rainbow Dash to the infirmary.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt opened Twilight’s front door and entered the library. “Oh hello, Volt,” Twilight said. “I just got a letter from the princess. Rainbow Dash is still in the castle’s infirmary, but she should make a full recovery and come back in a week or two.”

“Thanks, but that’s not what I came here for,” he said accusingly. “Twilight, I want you to tell me what happened yesterday, when Spike and I fought Nightmare.”

“If I remember correctly, you promised to keep Spike safe, and then you let him get hurt,” she said. “You should have been more careful back there.”

“I was careful, but this funny thing happened. Nightmare attacked us, and my two-second warning didn’t respond.”

“Your two-second warning sometimes doesn’t work. You said it yourself, so maybe you should have thought of that last night.”

“No Twilight, this was different. I felt Nightmare suppressing my two-second warning, but she didn’t do that until she mimicked you.” Twilight blinked, finally realizing what he was accusing her of. Zero Volt teleported in front of her. “You invented that spell, didn’t you?”

“Look, it’s not what it looks like,” Twilight stammered. “I created that spell so that I could replicate your two-second warning.”

“What?”

“Whenever another unicorn casts a spell I’ve never seen before, I can usually learn it just by watching what they do,” Twilight said. “But since you don’t have a horn, I have no way of observing what you’re doing. It’s so frustrating because your two-second warning uses unicorn magic, which means that I would be able to use it if I only knew how!”

“So you tried to reverse-engineer my ability by creating a spell that inhibits it?”

“Yes, but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to,” Twilight said. “I keep looking at the parts of that spell that are based on your ability, and I have no idea what I’m looking at. I think if I had some more time and your cooperation, I could figure it out, but-”

“No,” Zero Volt interrupted. “I’m not helping with this little project of yours. In fact, I want you to stop studying me altogether.”

“What?”

“Twilight, it’s bad enough that you’re using me in a research experiment without my knowledge, let alone my consent,” he said. “But you created a spell specifically designed to disable one of my abilities.”

“That spell was only for research purposes,” she stammered. “I never meant for it to be used against you.”

“And yet look what happened,” he said, turning to leave.

Twilight lowered her head and stared at the ground, her ears resting on either side.  “Volt, I-I’m sorry,” she said.

“No you’re not,” he said. “If you were sorry, you’d have told me everything as soon as it happened. You wouldn’t have waited until now to apologize, and you certainly wouldn’t have pinned the blame on me because Spike almost got hurt by your spell.” He turned around and glared at her. “You’re not sorry at all, are you?” Zero Volt teleported away, leaving Twilight alone in the library.

One Year Later

“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.

The Inevitable Prequel Chapter (1/2)

A light snowfall blanketed the mountain outside of Ponyville. After a few days of this weather, the town and the areas surrounding it were all covered in snow. At the same time, Zero Volt was now standing at the top of a mountain with a snowboard at his hooves. On his right, Fluttershy was anxiously looking down the side of the mountain. On his left, Rainbow Dash was impatiently waiting for Zero Volt. “Are you going to go down already?” she said. “I don’t have all day.”

“Easy, Dash,” Zero Volt said. “I’ve been waiting for this for about a year. You’ve been waiting only two minutes.” A second later, he pushed forward and started snowboarding down the mountain. The two pegasi flew down after him, flying just above him with one on either side. Zero Volt boarded down the mountain, turning to avoid snow banks and various obstacles while gaining speed. He loved every second of it, the acceleration, the wind blowing past him as he swerved past rocks and trees. He almost dared to mountain to try and throw him off the board.

Zero Volt leapt off of a snow bank and flipped in midair. At the end of his flip, he landed and continued down the mountain with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash on either side. He kept a steady speed at this point, though he felt himself wanting to go faster, maybe even going into a Shinespark. ‘No, that wouldn’t work. I need to be running to pull off one of those,’ he thought. ‘Besides, even if I can use gravity to trigger a Shinespark, I couldn’t reach those speeds right now. Too much friction against the board. Besides, this is awesome enough as it is.’

Zero Volt leapt off of another snow bank and grabbed the snowboard with his right foreleg. He spun 360° before repositioning the board under his hooves and landing on the ground. “Woohoo!” Zero Volt’s shout echoed throughout the mountainside, and seconds later, the three of them heard a loud rumbling above them. “Uh-oh,” he said, realizing that he had just triggered an avalanche. He swerved away from more obstacles, hoping to gain more speed. Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were still flying next to him. “Girls, you do realize that you can fly up, right?”

“Not yet, Volt,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re not leaving you here to get buried under an avalanche.”

“If that happens, I can just teleport out,” he said. “I’ll be fine, so you two just fly up.”

Fluttershy tried to say “If you insist,” but her muted voice was drowned out by the roar of the avalanche overhead. Both pegasi flew far above to escape the rushing snow. Zero Volt continued down the mountain, but the avalanche was quickly gaining on him. Noticing a tree in his path, he jumped toward it, caught one of its branches with his board, and catapulted over the rushing snow. He spun wildly in the air before landing on top of the snow. Zero Volt rode the avalanche with his snowboard, trying to slow himself down so that he wouldn’t go over the edge.

Eventually, the avalanche reached the bottom of the mountain, tossing Zero Volt into the air and sending him crashing into the snow without his board. He stood up and shook the snow off of him, then looked up to see Rainbow Dash holding up a sign with 6.3 written on it. “Did I really do that poorly?” he asked.

“You could’ve done a few more tricks,” Rainbow Dash said. “You let a lot of hang time go to waste back there.”

“I don’t know about that,” Fluttershy said, holding a sign with 7.8 written on it. “I thought you did a great job, Zero… until you crashed in the end.”

“Yeah, too bad you didn’t stick the landing,” Rainbow said, “but I did give you a few points for surfing that avalanche. I surprised you didn’t just sink through it. That snow should’ve been too loose to support you.”

After a while, the three of them agreed to return to Ponyville, and Zero Volt teleported them to Sugarcube Corner. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were also in the bakery when they arrived. Applejack looked up and noticed Zero Volt’s snowboard. “So yah finally got around to that, huh?” she said.

“Yeah, and I can see you’re, well, not doing much at all,” Zero Volt said.

“That’s ‘cause it’s winter,” Applejack said. “Too cold to grow anythin’, so there’s a mite less work on the farm. It does give a pony lots of time to think ‘bout stuff, like everythin’ you’ve been tellin’ us.” Applejack walked toward Zero Volt, meeting his confused look with a stern, confrontational expression. “Ever since that party a couple months back, Ah’ve noticed all the secrets yah keep and all the lies yah tell us. Ah don’t like it when anypony lies to me, and Ah want to know what you’re hidin’.”

“He doesn’t keep everything from us,” Fluttershy said. “He told us about his fear of dogs, and I’m sure he didn’t want us to know about that.”

“That’s mah point,” Applejack said. “Everythin’ we do know ‘bout ‘em had to be forced out. He never woulda told us ‘bout Baltimare if we didn’t make ‘em and the same goes for his fear of dogs.” She angrily turned back to Zero Volt. “Tell me, Zero Volt, what else have yah been keepin’ from us?”

“Okay, but first let me ask you something,” Zero Volt said. “What took you so long to bring this up? You’d think that with a job as repetitive as yours, you would’ve started thinking about this sooner.”

“Quit dodgin’ the question and give me a straight answer!” Applejack said.

“AJ, you’re dealing with Zero Volt,” Twilight said. “He’ll give you a straight answer only after distracting everypony, himself included, with some shiny object.”

“Nopony move!” Pinkie Pie said. She ran toward Twilight and stopped right in front of her. “You said something about a shiny, now where is it? Actually, your eyes are kinda shiny.” Pinkie lost herself in Twilight’s eyes as she continued talking. “More like sparkly. Is that how you got your name?”

Twilight pressed her hoof onto Pinkie’s head and shoved her back. “And then there’s Pinkie Pie, who will give a nonsensical answer before getting distracted by every shiny object in the room,” she said. At that moment, Spike belched out a scroll along with some green flames. Using her magic, Twilight took the letter and read it quietly. “Princess Celestia is inviting us to the castle. She says that she has some information about Zero Volt that we might want to know.”

“Alright then, you, take us there,” Applejack said, pointing at Zero Volt. “Ah want to know what she’s found out.”

Zero Volt sighed, and as soon as the others gathered around him, he teleported all of them in front of the castle. They turned toward the castle entrance and started walking toward it. “The clouds are still there,” Zero Volt said, looking up at the sky.

“What clouds?” Twilight said. She looked up in the same direction that he was gazing. Among the gray clouds that hung above Canterlot was a patch of thunderclouds. “Oh, those clouds.” These clouds were similar to the ones they saw above the castle when Nightmare returned. They may have even been the same clouds. ‘Why did the princess put them up there?’ Twilight thought.

They entered the castle and found Celestia waiting for them. “Evenin’ Princess Celestia,” Applejack said. “Yah said yah had somethin’ to show us ‘bout Zero Volt?”

“Yes, I did,” Celestia said. “Follow me. I’ll explain everything along the way.” She led them up a set of stairs and through a hallway.

“So, what did you find out about Volt?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“A lot, actually,” Celestia said. “I don’t have to explain how embarrassing the changeling invasion was for us. In particular, the fact that their queen was able to infiltrate Canterlot so easily. With that in mind, Luna and I have been using our connection to the sun and moon to establish a surveillance system over Equestria. They are like eyes watching over Equestria, and in case one of us needs to look back at a certain day, they record everything that they see.”

“Do you hear that, everypony?” Pinkie Pie whispered. “Big Sister is watching!” Though the others were confused by her comment, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt laughed at it.

“Anyway, after Nightmare’s most recent attack, Luna and I decided to look over the footage of the two months before Zero Volt’s arrival in Ponyville,” Celestia said. “I asked you to come here to look at what we’ve found.”

“Wait a minute, I’m actually getting my own movie?” Zero Volt said. “Huh, and I thought the Cutie Mark Crusaders got too much attention.”

Celestia led them in to a large windowless room in the castle. Luna was already in the room, and there was a row of pillows on the floor for them to lie on. Zero Volt lied down on the pillow in the center, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash on either side of him. To Fluttershy’s left were Rarity and Applejack. Pinkie Pie sat at the far right, with Twilight lying between her and Rainbow Dash.

“Alright everypony, it’s about to start,” Luna said. “We shall pause it if any of you wish to add commentary.” The movie was projected onto a wall in front of them. Everyone started to watch as the first scene appeared.

Zero Volt woke up and slowly opened his eyes. As soon as his vision cleared up, he looked at his surroundings. He was in a room, dull, white, yet very clean. He looked down around him and realized that he was lying in a bed. His right foreleg had a tube in it that extended to a red bag. A blood transfusion and an IV line…

‘I’m in a hospital,’ Zero Volt thought. ‘I remember now. Those dogs… did I escape?’ He looked down at the rest of his body. He was covered in small scratches and bite wounds. Those would probably heal in a few days, but then he noticed a row of stitches on his left side. This must have been his most severe wound; none of the others were quite as large or received any stitches. As he stared at them, he vividly remembered the attack. Too vividly. The sound of dogs barking, the sight of blood, his blood, the pain as his flesh was torn apart.

Zero Volt shook his head, trying to wrench his mind for those flashbacks. Sweat poured down his face, and he found himself breathing heaving. There was a button on the wall nearby. Zero Volt pushed it. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but after a while, he heard hoofsteps out in the hallway. The hoofsteps reached the doorway to his room, and a doctor, a unicorn mare walked in.

“Oh, you’re finally awake,” she said. “We found you out in the woods a few hours ago. You were in pretty bad shape, with all the lost blood and everything. How are you feeling now?”

“Okay, I guess,” Zero Volt said.

“That’s good,” the doctor said. “It looked like you were attacked by an animal, so we sutured you up and gave you a small blood transfusion. We even gave you a rabies vaccination, just in case. While we’re on the subject, can you tell me who you are? We need to notify any loved ones that you’re here, and it would help if we had your medical records.”

Zero Volt hadn’t thought about it yet, but that was a very good question. “I don’t know,” he said.

“You don’t know?” the doctor asked. “You can’t give a name or anything?” Zero Volt shook his head.

“You didn’t know what your name was?” Twilight said.

“Course not, his “parents” didn’t give ‘em one before tryin’ to kill ‘em,” Applejack said. “Makes me wonder how yah came up with your name to begin with.”

“That comes later, but I’m curious about something myself,” Zero Volt said. “How are you getting that camera angle?” If you’re using the sun and moon to get all this, shouldn’t you be getting a view of the hospital’s roof instead?”

“Reflected light, and some very powerful magic,” Celestia said.

“Can you at least tell me what happened?” the doctor said. “Do you know where you were attacked?”

“I think it was… Baltimare.”

“That’s impossible,” she said. “Baltimare is thirty miles away, and you’re wounds were fresh when we found you”

Zero Volt looked around the room, then back at his bed. “Do I still need this?” he asked, pointing to his IV line. “I want to try something.”

“No, we can take that out now,” the doctor said. She used her magic to pull the needle out of his foreleg. She then placed some cotton on his leg and wrapped a bandage around it. Zero Volt closed his eyes and thought of the bed on the side of the room. The doctor saw him disappear in a green flash and reappear on the other bed. “Whoa, that must how you escaped from that animal attack. I’ll check back on you tomorrow morning, so try to get some rest. Oh and don’t move around too much. You don’t want those sutures to tear open. You should also stay on you back until that wound heals.”

“Wait a minute, you always sleep on your left side,” Rainbow Dash said. “What about your nightmares?”

“What nightmares?” Fluttershy asked.

“At night, I always sleep so that my left side isn’t out in the open,” Zero Volt said. “Otherwise, I’ll have nightmares about that dog attack, which is exactly what happened that night, and the nights after that. I didn’t get very much sleep, maybe ten hours out of seven days.”

“Twelve, actually,” Luna said. “Since you’ve elaborated on that, we can move past the next scene.”

“Next scene?” Twilight said.

“You didn’t expect to sit through two months of this did you?” Celestia said. “We had to cut out a lot of scenes that we decided weren’t particularly important. You know, sleeping, bathroom breaks, et cetera. What was initially two months of material was cut down to about two hours.”

One week later, Zero Volt’s wounds had healed, and he was ready to be discharged. His doctor was walking with him toward the hospital’s entrance. “I’ve packed a few things for your journey,” she said, motioning toward a saddle pack on his back. “Write back to me once you’ve found your home, okay kid?” Zero Volt nodded absentmindedly. He hadn’t slept well during that entire week, and it was almost impossible to him to focus on anything around him. The doctor gave him a quick hug. “Be safe out there, and good luck.”

“Hold on just a second,” Rarity said. “Look at his flank. He doesn’t have a cutie mark.”

“It looks like he doesn’t have his Shinespark either,” Fluttershy added. “He doesn’t have any white in his mane or coat.”

“Those also come later,” Zero Volt said.

Throughout the afternoon, Zero Volt sluggishly stumbled through the forest. He stopped to place his hoof over his mouth and yawn. Putting his hoof back on the ground, he held an unsteady gait and glanced up at the sky. Though he couldn’t see the sun through the trees, the orange sky told him that it was already dusk. It was going to be dark soon, and he needed a place to rest for the night, or at least try to rest.

He looked ahead and saw a stone building up ahead. Vines and other vegetation grew around the aged edifice, giving it the look of an ancient temple. Nevertheless, the structure looked stable enough, and Zero Volt decided to take shelter inside for the night. Despite the dilapidated exterior, the building’s interior showed no signs of decay. On either side there were three lit torches, and at the other end there was a limestone carving with a green jewel embedded in it.

Zero Volt yawned and removed his saddle pack. He placed it in the middle of the floor to use as a pillow and lied down on his back. He closed his eyes and tried to ease into his sleep, only to hear the gnashing of teeth and see the dogs again. His eyes popped open and he felt his heartbeat rise. “Looks like it’s going to be another one of those nights,” Zero Volt said wearily. The building was drafty, and before long, a cold wind blew through it and brushed against his left side. The feeling against his side made him wince, and he rolled onto it to protect it against the wind. As soon as the floor covered his stitches and side, the painful, uncomfortable feeling left that part of his body. “That feels… better,” he yawned, quickly falling asleep.

The hard stone floor didn’t bother him, nor did the cold air inside the structure, or the fact that he hadn’t eaten since he left the hospital. Zero Volt was getting some much needed rest, and at that moment, not even a powerful earthquake could wake him up, much less the grinding sound of a stone block moving into place over the entrance.

“That doesn’t look good,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I’m not surprised,” Twilight said. “You should’ve known that an abandoned building with lit torches clearly isn’t abandoned.”

“That’s not quite as obvious after a whole week of sleep deprivation,” Zero Volt retorted. “And how are you seeing what’s inside if the building has been sealed off?”

“It wasn’t easy, but we found a few sections of the walls and ceiling that had crumbled,” Luna said.

Zero Volt slept peacefully inside the aged building for hours. After the stone door had fallen into place, nothing else happened inside. But minutes before dawn, the green jewel at the end of the room started glowing. The light from the six torches only illuminated part of the room, and from the shadows emerged six wolves. The wolves growled hungrily as they surrounded Zero Volt. One wolf lunged at him, ready to tear into his body. It was mere inches from Zero Volt’s body, but collided with the ground instead. It stood up and shook itself off, but saw that its prey wasn’t there anymore.

The six wolves were confused, but eventually they found Zero Volt lying in a corner of the room. Two wolves ran toward him, only to slam into the walls when he teleported away. The two wolves were knocked out by their impact, and two of the torches on the walls changed from yellow-orange flames to green flames.

“That is classic Volt right there,” Rainbow Dash said in laughter.

“My two-second warning may have its problems, Zero Volt said, “but it keeps me well protected in my sleep, and I take pride in that.”

At another corner of the room, Zero Volt woke up. “That’s it, I need to see a therapist,” he said. “First the flashbacks to that dog attack, now I’m dreaming about…” Zero Volt stopped when he noticed the eight wolves that were slowly closing in on him. “Oh… uh-oh.”

One wolf leapt at him, but hit the wall when Zero Volt teleported. Zero Volt teleported only two few feet away and kicked the wolf into the wall with both hind legs, knocking it out. He then teleported across the room, kicked another wolf to the ground, and slammed his hoof into its throat. Two more torches lit up with green flames. Zero Volt turned to face the rest of them, but found that there were now ten. He started hyperventilating, and tried to back away from them. He was getting flashbacks to that day again: the two dogs that tore into his side, the one that chewed on his left hind leg, the feeling of helplessness as he was held down by unicorn magic. The wolves attacked him, but Zero Volt’s two-second warning allowed him to teleport away. He grabbed one wolf by the tail, jumped and threw it at the ground. He then grabbed another wolf by its tail and flailed it around, slamming it into the ground twice.

After the fifth and sixth wolves were knocked out, green flames lit up on the last two torches. “Wait, why’s everything so green now?” Zero Volt said, noticing the green light flickering across the walls. He turned his attention back to the wolves, but found that there were now twelve of them surrounding him. He fearfully tried to step away from them, but they were all closing in on him. “Where are these things coming from?”

Zero Volt eyed each of the wolves anxiously as they advanced on him. Once they were all about five feet away, he teleported behind one of them and grabbed its tail with his teeth. Lifting it in the air, he slammed its body down on one wolf, and then lifted its body in the air to slam it into another one. Then he tossed its body into a nearby wall. As he knocked out each wolf, one of the torches went out, and only three torches remained lit.

Another wolf tried to bite Zero Volt, but he teleported and kicked it into yet another wolf, knocking both out and extinguishing two more torches. “Is it getting darker in here too?” Zero Volt said quietly. If he looked up, he would have noticed that there was only one lit torch remaining, but there was still enough light to see. He teleported to one of the seven remaining wolves, knocked it down and stomped its neck with his hoof. Suddenly, the last torch went out and the entire room was dark. “Hey, who turned out the lights?!” Zero Volt tried to find the six remaining wolves, but he couldn’t see them. The wolves advanced quietly toward him. They didn’t bark, snarl or even take loud steps, making sure that their prey wouldn’t be able to hear them.

“It doesn’t look that dark in there.” Rainbow Dash said. “I can see everything just fine.”

“That’s because we adjusted the brightness of the video,” Celestia said. “For Zero Volt, this stage of the fight was in total darkness.”

“But those wolves could hear and smell him,” Fluttershy said. “They knew exactly where he was while Zero was a sitting duck.”

“He still had his two-second warning, right?” Twilight said. “He could’ve used that to locate them and counterattack.”

“Ah reckon that’s what he’s doin’ here,” Applejack said. Looking back at the picture, the saw Zero Volt teleporting to dodge the wolves and then fighting back. “This is pretty nasty, even for a trap.”

“You don’t read a lot of Daring Do, do you?” Rainbow said. “Daring gets past worse traps than this in almost every book.”

“I do not think that this was a trap,” Luna said. “Look upon the once lit torches on the walls.” They looked back at the walls in the video and noticed that three torches each had a sphere of light above them. None of the spheres radiated enough light to illuminate the chamber, maintaining the difficulty of Zero Volt’s ordeal. Another sphere appeared over a fourth torch after another wolf was knocked out. “This was a test for Zero Volt, a trial perhaps.”

“Well of course you know that, you’ve already seen this movie,” Zero Volt said.

“And you’ve lived through it, so stop talking before you mention any spoilers,” Spike said.

Zero Volt knocked out the last of the wolves, causing a sphere of light to appear over the last torch. Suddenly, all six spheres glowed more brightly, illuminating the entire chamber. The unconscious wolves vanished once the light shone over them. Zero Volt was now alone in the chamber, but his heart was still racing and he was panting heavily. Despite how well he had apparently done, this wasn’t easy for him. The wolves reminded him of the dogs that had nearly killed him, and they would’ve been just as vicious if he hadn’t been able to fight back.

Zero Volt looked toward the green jewel at the end of the chamber. Cracks formed in the carving it had been embedded in, and a beam of bright green light shone on him from the jewel. Zero Volt held up his right foreleg to shield his face, only to find that the beam was aiming itself at his foreleg. The light was somehow molding itself around his foreleg and transformed into a gold bracelet with an emerald in the center. Black wings sprouted on either side of the emerald and wrapped securely around the bracelet. A horn materialized above the emerald, and the green light faded away. The jewel at the end of the chamber decayed into a dull, brittle rock, and the entire carving it was embedded in crumbled onto the ground.

“Whoa,” Zero Volt said, admiring the bracelet that had just formed around his leg. He had finally calmed down now that the fight was over. “What is this?” Behind him, the stone slab that sealed the entrance crumbled, and the spheres of light floating above him vanished. “Huh, I didn’t realize I was under lockdown.” Zero Volt walked toward the entrance and looked outside. It was now dawn, and Celestia’s sun was rising in the sky. “Sunrise,” Zero Volt yawned, “perfect time to go to sleep. I’ll sort through everything when I wake up.” He found his saddle pack and brought it to a corner of the chamber that the daylight had not reached. He lied down on his left side, remembering how well that worked before, and placed his head on his makeshift pillow.

“So that’s when you got that bracelet,” Twilight said.

“I’d prefer to call it a decorative greave,” Zero Volt said.

“Whatever makes you feel more masculine, darling,” Rarity snarked.

“Yah know, this is when Ah normally wake up, and you’re goin’ right to sleep,” Applejack said.

“Hey, I managed to get a ton of rest, so that was a good morning for me,” Zero Volt said. “What about you? How was your morning that day?”

“Daylight is overrated,” Rainbow Dash said. “Any time of day is a good time to take a nap. Uh, no offense, Princess Celestia.”

Zero Volt woke up again hours later. He rubbed his eyes, stretched out his legs and walked over to the entrance of the building. “Noon… that was a good seven and a half hours,” he said.

“Actually, that was thirty-one and a half hours,” Celestia said. “You slept through an entire day and then some.”

“I did?” Zero Volt said. “Huh, that really was a good sleep.”

Zero Volt brought his saddle pack to the entrance and opened it. “Now let’s see what’s in here.” He pulled out several sandwiches, pieces of fruit and two bottles of water. “There’s enough food in here to last me two days,” he said. He then picked up and ate all of the food at once. “Or five seconds.” He drank half of the water in one bottle and placed both bottles back in the bag.

Zero Volt opened the other bag and found a note inside it. The note was from the doctor, and it simply reiterated what she told him when he left, in case he was too dazed to hear her. She had also left him bits for his journey. A lot of bits.

“Oh my, there must have been a few hundred bits in that bag,” Rarity said.

Yeah, I’ve actually been writing letters to her and paying her back ever since I started living here,” Zero Volt said. “I even told her about you girls.”

“Really, did you say anything nice?” she asked.

“About you?” he said, pointing at Rarity. “Not a chance.”

“Didn’t I expose your façade months ago?” Celestia said. “Why are you two still trading snide remarks?”

“We’ve must have grown accustomed to it after so many months,” Rarity said.

“Celestia, my relationships with these girls each have their own nuances,” Zero Volt said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Zero Volt pulled one last item out of the bag, a map. “Let’s see,” he said staring at the map, “I’m somewhere… over here and I’m going… I’m not exactly sure. How can I find out where I used to be if I don’t even know where to start?” He looked over the names of certain towns and cities. “Wait, some of these places seem familiar.” He was starting to remember places, but not memories or ponies. ‘If I remember anything about these places, then they’re a good place to start looking,’ he thought. He used a marker to draw circles around those towns. The last one that he circled was Baltimare, but even though he felt most familiar with that city, he had no intention of setting hoof there again. “Let’s see, the closest town that I’m familiar with is… Hoofington. Sounds like as good a place to start as any.”

Zero Volt shifted the contents of his saddle pack to even out the weight of both bags and placed it on his back. He left the ancient building and headed toward Hoofington. He started at a walking pace, but he was feeling energetic and impatient. His gait quickly shifted to a trot, then a canter, and eventually reached a gallop. He was enjoying this run, and a smile spread across his face as he ran through the forest, sidestepping rocks and tree trunks in his path. Minutes later, Zero Volt found a ravine in his path. Noticing a rock wall extending across the ravine, he continued his pace. Once he reached the ravine, he leapt halfway across it and performed a wall run to reach the other end. Having made it across, Zero Volt continued running through the forest.

As he ran, Zero Volt noticed that he was heading for the edge of a cliff. He slid his hooves to try to stop, but when he reached the edge, the ground collapsed around his hooves. “Whoa!” he shouted as he fell, but he didn’t fall very far before his hooves touched something solid. Zero Volt looked down and saw that his hooves were sliding on two parallel tree branches. The branches were long, straight, sturdy, and supported on top of other tree branches that ran perpendicular to them. The branches that his hooves slid on were also very smooth, and were on just enough of an incline to compensate for friction. “Huh, this could work,” Zero Volt said as he let the branches carry him.

“I’ve never seen you do that before,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That’s because there aren’t any grind rails in Ponyville,” Zero Volt said. “Believe me, I’ve checked… thoroughly.”

“Sounds like you want to do that again,” Pinkie Pie said. “Actually, I want to do that too. Is it anything like ice skating or sliding on a soapy road?”

“Maybe a little, but you’re restricted in where you can go when you’re rail grinding,” he said.

Zero Volt grinded along the rail-like branches until he reached the tree that they were attached to. Seeing another pair of parallel branches next to him, he hopped onto them and continued along. He saw several pairs of branches suitable for grinding that were going in the same direction and decided that he could switch between them when necessary. “Hah, I’ll just let gravity do the work for me,” he said. “At least now I have a chance to think about everything that’s happened.” He looked at the bracelet he had recently acquired. “I went through way too much trouble to get this thing, but it feels like I was meant to have it. Good thing I have these weird powers, especially that teleportation ability.” There were various hazards in his path, but Zero Volt absentmindedly switched rails to avoid them. “And then there are these visions I keep having whenever something’s about to attack me. Those are really going to come in handy, but I wish they didn’t have to be so detailed.”

“What did you mean by that, Volt?” Twilight said.

Zero Volt sighed. This was one of those things that he didn’t want anyone to ever know about. He had never told anyone about it, but his friends were asking about it and they wouldn’t appreciate him being less than honest with them now, least of all Applejack. He stalled for a few seconds before opening his mouth. “My two-second warning doesn’t just tell me if something's about to hurt me,” he said. “Whenever it activates, it forces me to experience whatever it is that it’s alerting me to. I have to see myself getting hurt and actually feel that pain right before it’s about to happen.”

“So even though you have a chance to avoid something harmful, you still have to go through it?” Twilight said. Zero Volt looked back at her without giving a response. “Still, without your ability, all of those things would have actually hit you and caused real, lasting damage.”

“The worst experience I’ve ever had with it is that dog attack in Baltimare,” he said. “My two-second warning activated for every single bite from those dogs. Every time, I saw those dogs tear into my flesh, I saw my blood all over the ground, I felt them ripping into me, and I went through all that a second time when it actually happened.”

Fluttershy placed a hoof on Zero Volt’s withers. “It’s okay, Zero,” she said. “Let’s just keep watching.”

Zero Volt was still grinding on the rail-like branches through the forest. Eventually the other sets of branches disappeared, leaving him with only one pair of branches. He looked ahead and saw that the branches bent upward and formed a large loop-the-loop. “These are easily the most bizarre and most awesome trees I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Still, I have to do this just right.” Zero Volt bent his legs and braced himself as he approached the loop. He reached the bottom of the loop and hopped to the left, jumping through the loop and landing on the end of it. He continued to grind along the branches, having never gone around the loop-the-loop.

“Aw, come on!” Rainbow Dash protested. “Missed opportunity!”

“You need at least a certain amount of speed to go around a loop-the-loop,” Zero Volt said. “If I had tried to go around, I would’ve fallen off at the top and fallen down into the forest.”

Shortly afterward the branches dipped downward, producing a steep incline. Zero Volt saw another loop-the-loop at the bottom of them, and at the rate he was accelerating, he would have enough speed for this one. The branches tilted up and terminated at the end of the loop, allowing him to use them as a ramp. He reached the bottom of the loop, went around it, and flew off at the ends of the branches. The jump carried him to the edge of another cliff, and when he touched the ground, he slid on his hooves until he came to a stop.

“That was fun!” Zero Volt said as he broke into a gallop. “Now how close am I to Hoofington? Let’s see, it’s one in the afternoon, the sun is up there in the sky, and Equestria doesn’t have any sort of global positioning system.” Moments later, the trees cleared up and Zero Volt started to see buildings. He came to a stop when he found himself on a street near the edge of a town. “Oh wait, here it is.” He started walking aimlessly through the street, looking at the buildings and ponies as he passed them. Eventually he broke into a gallop again while still looking around.

“Volt, if you were familiar with any of these towns, why didn’t you teleport to them?” Twilight asked. “What’s the point of getting lost in the woods?”

“Because parkour and rail grinding are awesome,” Zero Volt said, “and nopony with 20/20 hindsight is going to take that away from me.”

“Zero, what were you doing here?” Rarity said. “What exactly was your plan when you arrived at each town?”

“Mostly to run around town until somepony that I passed recognized me,” he said. “Needless to say, it never worked.”

“Hey, haven’t I seen you before?” Zero Volt’s ears perked and he turned to the direction the voice had come from. He saw two earth pony stallions in front of him. One was blue with a white mane and the other one was black with a white mane.

“You know who I am?” Zero Volt said enthusiastically. He had only been in town for an hour, and it looked like he had already found somepony who recognized him.

“Oh yes, I know who you are,” the black pony said. “You’re that kid who pulled off that Baltimare escape.”

Zero Volt’s ears drooped slightly, and he stopped smiling. “Wait, you heard about that?”

“Of course we did,” the black pony said. “It happened over a week ago, and news travels fast. They say that you were being chased by a couple of ponies and a pack of dogs when you just vanished. My associate and I are very interested in your abilities, and we are very curious to know how you managed that escape.”

“Uh, thanks I guess.”

“Oh wait, I forgot about introductions,” the black pony said. “My name is Bruiser, and this is my associate, Glacier. I’d be very interested in putting your abilities to good use, if you’re willing to join us.”

“Uh… maybe later,” Zero Volt said. “I’ve got something I need to do first.”

“I can live with that, for now,” Bruiser said. “Just let us know eventually.”

“Volt, those were…” Rainbow Dash started.

“Yeah, they were,” Zero Volt said, “and the other two must have been somewhere close by.”

Zero Volt was still wandering through town a half hour later. A unicorn that passed by him glanced back and took another look at him. “Aren’t you the pony who escaped from an attack in Baltimare a week ago?”

Zero Volt looked back at her. “Yeah, that’s me,” he said. “Apparently, I’m famous for it too.”

“Of course you are,” she said. “From what I’ve heard, that sort of escape puts you significantly above all the other earth pony cretins.”

“What did she just say?” Applejack said angrily.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You must realize that most earth ponies aren’t particularly useful or competent, especially compared to us magic-wielding unicorns,” she said. “Although I can tell that you’re something else entirely.”

“I wouldn’t agree with that,” Zero Volt said. “All ponies have something to offer, regardless of race.”

“Look, you can drop the ridiculous cutie mark lecture they give to all the schoolfoals,” she said. “Only the strong and smart survive in this world, and earth ponies just don’t make the cut.”

“That’s not true, earth ponies are responsible for maintaining the land and growing all the food in Equestria, and we’d starve without them,” he said. “A lot of unicorns can’t even cook their own food, much less grow it.”

“That’s not to say we can’t simply enslave them,” the unicorn said.

“I’m not sure about that,” he said. “That sounds like the fastest way to get hemlock in your apple juice and nightshade in your salad.”

“Are you sure that’s Zero Volt we’re looking at?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Isn’t he supposed to be a lot more sarcastic?”

“See the whole movie for yourself, and then ask what he is supposed to be like,” Luna said.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” the unicorn asked.

“I’m not interested in talking social Darwhinnism with anypony, so I’m leaving,” Zero Volt said as he walked away. He spent the next few hours exploring Hoofington, but found nothing. He decided to move on to the next town, but first he went to the marketplace to buy supplies that he would need for his journey. The sun was starting to set by the time he was done when a pegasus started walking next to him.

“Hey,” the pegasus said, smiling at him.

“Uh, hey,” he said, smiling back at her.

“Haven’t seen you in town before,” she said. “Are you new here?”

“Just passing by. You live here?”

“Nah, I’m also passing by. My name’s Silver Wind.” She offered a hoof to him. Zero Volt said nothing, but accepted her hoof. “Don’t you have a name too?”

“Uh… not that I can think of,” Zero Volt said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hoof.

“You don’t have a cutie mark either.” The two of them walked through the market together. Silver Wind picked up a newspaper and skimmed through it. “Hold on” she said, “green coat, black mane. Aren’t you the pony from Baltimare?”

“I guess so,” he said. “You know, you’re the fourth pony who’s asked me that today. Well, technically third; the second one didn’t talk much.”

“I know the type,” Silver Wind said. “You’re getting a lot of attention because of it aren’t you?”

“I wish I wasn’t,” he said. “The first one seemed like a shady salesman with a bodyguard next to him. I had to tune out the other one because she wouldn’t shut up about her unicorn supremacy message.”

“Sorry about that,” she said, putting a hoof on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s getting kind of late, and I’d better get going. Next time we run into each other, maybe you can tell me how you escaped.” Silver Wind turned and walked in a different direction. Zero Volt smiled as he watched her leave.

“You like her, don’t you?” Pinkie Pie said teasingly.

“I liked her,” Zero Volt said bitterly. “Past tense.”

Zero Volt had just left the marketplace after buying one last item, a brush for his coat. He was definitely going to need this from now on. It was already too dark for him to leave town, so he went to find the nearest hotel. “Hey,” he said, looking down a different street, “is that Silver Wind?” He trotted toward her, only to stop when he found three other ponies with her. “Wait, what’s she doing with them?” He hid in an alleyway close enough to hear the four of them.

“So how did it go?” Bruiser asked.

“Pretty well, the guy really opened up to me,” Silver Wind said. “Turns out he doesn’t even know his own name.”

“No name, no cutie mark, that kid must be all alone and lost in this world,” Bruiser said.

“Then it’ll be that much easier to recruit him,” Glacier said.

“You’d better let me handle him for now,” Silver Wind said. “You guys really put him off when you talked to him. You especially, Glass. You’ve really got to tone down the racism.” Even though the four of them didn’t see him, Zero Volt glowered at them and walked away.

“And now you hate her,” Rainbow Dash said.

Half an hour later, Zero Volt had checked in to a hotel for the night and was almost ready to go to sleep. He placed his saddle pack on a table and jumped onto the bed. Lying in bed, he looked at the mysterious bracelet on his foreleg. “I don’t see any sort of clamp or switch or anything on this,” he said. “How do I take this off?” As if to answer his question, the wings started to open on their own. Before long, the wings were completely outstretched, and the button on the gold bracelet was revealed. He pressed the button and the bracelet opened. “Whoa, so that’s how. Still, it feels like I shouldn’t be taking this off.” He closed the gold bracelet again and looked at the wings, wondering if they would also close on their own. Immediately after, the wings folded around his foreleg again. The wings opened up again and then closed a second time.

“Having fun with your little toy, Zero?” Rarity said.

“So this thing opens and closes whenever I want it too? Cool, maybe I can play around with it tomorrow.” Zero Volt stretched his forelegs and lied down on the bed, quickly falling asleep.

Bright Lights, Colors All Around (1/3)

The Inevitable Prequel Chapter (2/2)

Five weeks into his journey, Zero Volt was walking through the forest. He had gone through several towns and cities that he seemed to remember, but he hadn’t found anything.

“Now wait just a doggone minute here,” Applejack protested. “Why’d yah skip over an entire month of his life?”

“During that entire month, Zero Volt explored several towns that were either indifferent or hostile to him,” Celestia said. “Aside from a hoofful of fights and snubbing those four thieves whenever he found them, that month was relatively uneventful and repetitive. Like I said, we cut out a lot.”

As Zero Volt walked through the forest, a young blue dragon appeared next to him. The dragon, only being a juvenile, was roughly the size of an adult pony and had underdeveloped wings. “This is a dangerous place for ponies,” the dragon said. “What are you doing around here?”

“Just traveling from town to town,” Zero Volt said. “There’s one in this direction, and I’m hoping to reach it in a couple of days.”

“Aren’t there roads in between pony towns?”

“There are, but this looked like a shorter route on the map.”

“I’m sure there’s a reason for that,” the dragon said. “Like I said, this place can get dangerous.” They walked in silence for several seconds. The dragon eyed Zero Volt’s bracelet and licked his lips. “That’s a nice looking bracelet you have.” He held out his claw toward it. “Especially that emerald.”

“I prefer to call it a decorative greave,” Zero Volt said. “And see with your eyes, not with your claws.”

“You misunderstand, I wasn’t asking to see it,” the dragon said. “In fact, I wasn’t asking.” He shot a fireball at Zero Volt, who quickly rolled away from it.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Zero Volt said. “You really want to fight me over this?”

“It’ll be easier for both of us if you just give it to me,” the dragon said. “Especially for you.” He leapt at Zero Volt, and extended his claw. His wings weren’t strong enough to maintain flight, but they gave him enough lift to augment his jump. Zero Volt jumped away, causing the dragon’s claw to punch through a tree. The dragon turned and breathed another fireball, but Zero Volt teleported behind him and kicked his head with both hind legs.

“Sure about that?” Zero Volt said. “It looks like you’re the one having trouble.” The dragon pulled his claw out of the tree and breathed yet another fireball, but Zero Volt decided to get creative by teleporting the dragon into the path of his own fireball. The dragon stumbled back after the blast hit him, and Zero Volt went behind him and grabbed his tail with his mouth. He teleported both of them into the air, flipped, and threw the dragon into an outcropping on the ground.

The dragon slowly stood back up and faced Zero Volt. They stood for a moment, several feet away from each other, before the dragon craned his neck and roared. His roar echoed throughout the forest, and when he was done, he looked back at Zero Volt and gave a smug smile. “You’re gonna get it now,” he said.

“What did you do,” Zero Volt taunted, “cry for your mommy?” Suddenly, he heard the sound of large, powerful wings beating. “Oh wait, that’s actually a bad thing.” The sound became louder until he saw and adult blue dragon flying above the forest canopy. The mother dragon reached their location in the forest, and Zero Volt back away in a mixture of awe and fear. As she landed in front of Zero Volt, the mother dragon knocked down several trees in her path. She used her arms to tear down even more trees to make room. After finding Zero Volt, she bent down and roared at him. Zero Volt’s hooves slid back a few feet and stared at the dragon for a few seconds. “Why does this sort of thing keep happening to me?” he whined.

“Mom, good thing you’re here,” the young dragon said. “This pony won’t let me have his jewel.”

“Lady, you’re kid’s trying to steal it off of my leg,” Zero Volt said.

“I don’t think my son did anything wrong,” the mother said. “It’s in your best interest to just give it to him before we have to do something unpleasant.”

“Ah, bad parenting at its finest,” Zero Volt said.

“So it is true,” Fluttershy said. “You did fight a dragon.”

“Fluttershy, you knew about this?” Rainbow Dash said.

“He told me that he once fought and beat a fully grown dragon, but I didn’t believe him at first,” she said.

“Hey, spoiler alert!” Pinkie Pie said.

“It’s not much of a spoiler, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “He’s here right now, so he must have won.”

“Either that or he ran like a coward,” Rarity said. “I’m sure Zero just told Fluttershy that he won just to impress her.”

The adult dragon swiped at Zero Volt with her claw. Zero Volt sidestepped the claw, but was forced to duck to also avoid a fireball from her son. Her son lunged at Zero Volt, who jumped over him to dodge. Zero Volt’s two-second warning activated, and he teleported to avoid the mother’s fire breath. Seeing Zero Volt in the corner of her vision, she whipped around to hit him with her tail. Zero Volt jumped to avoid it, but had to teleport to dodge another fireball from the son.

The two dragons continued their coordinated attack on Zero Volt, who struggled to dodge their attacks. “Hey… your mother and I…are trying to… have a grownup… conversation,” Zero Volt said, his statement interrupted by their attacks. “Run along… and play somewhere else.” The mother dragon inhaled deeply, getting ready for another fire attack. Zero Volt had an idea, and just as the mother exhaled, he teleported her son in the path of her attack. By the time the mother stopped her exhale, her son was unconscious, his scales scorched by the attack. “Sorry kid, but you had your chance earlier,” Zero Volt said. “Next time, wait your turn at the back of the line.” Suddenly, the mother dragon roared in outrage, spraying fire into the air above them. “Uh-oh, I think I just made a bad situation even worse.”

The dragon breathed a continuous stream of fire at Zero Volt, who tried to run around her to avoid it. She turned around to try to reach him with her flames, but soon stopped and blew another stream ahead of him, blocking his path. Zero Volt slid to a stop and looked around him. He was trapped on both sides by burning vegetation, and an adult dragon was ahead of him. Looking behind him, he noticed a cave at the base of a mountain and ran into it.

Zero Volt reached the end of the cave and found numerous ledges spiraling up the rock wall. These would have allowed him to climb up, but he noticed the dragon poking her head into the mouth of the cave, ready to breathe fire into the cave. “Some other time,” he sighed as he looked up to see how far up the ledges reached. He found the top ledge and teleported to it just before the dragon’s flames could reach him.

Zero Volt looked down and saw the flames rising up and filling the cave. The ledge he was on included a tunnel, and he galloped into it. In front of him, light shone from the end of the tunnel. Behind him, the flames had climbed up the cave and roared toward him. With one final push, he darted toward the exit and rolled to the left just in time to avoid the flames.

Zero Volt was hyperventilating as he looked back at the cave. “I’ve got to get rid of this dragon,” he said. “Watching yourself get burned alive is not fun!”

“What a surprise,” the dragon said as she fell up to Zero Volt’s altitude. “You survived and you can stand on top of clouds.”

Zero Volt’s eyes widened. “Wait, these are clouds?” he said. He looked down at his hooves and saw the familiar, puffy white substance, now up close. This day was cloudy enough that the clouds completely covered the sky at this altitude. He swept his hoof across the cloud cover, dislodging wisps of cloud from its surface. “Huh, so they are.”

Suddenly, Zero Volt’s two-second took effect, and he galloped to avoid a stream of the dragon’s fire breath. The dragon rotated herself to keep her flames on him as he ran around her. Zero Volt realized that the stream of fire was closing in on him, so he decelerated and leapt, allowing it to pass underneath him. He brought his hooves under him to land on the clouds, but fell through a hole in the cloud cover. The dragon’s flames had been close enough to the clouds to dissipate them on contact. Zero Volt quickly teleported back up and landed on the field of clouds again.

“She’s trying to make me fall out of the sky,” Zero Volt said to himself. He stared at her as she hovered in flight and turned his attention to her wings. “Bet I can do the same thing.” He teleported above her and tried to land on one of her wings, but he was struck by it in the middle of its flapping motion. The wing knocked him away, but the impact upset the dragon’s flight, causing that side of her to dip. Despite the initial shock, the dragon managed to stabilize her flight again.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt teleported in midair and managed to land on the dragon’s back. He stood back up and tried to injure the dragon’s wing with stomps and bites, but to no effect. He had to teleport onto the mountain when she tried to brush him off with her claw. “Okay, that didn’t work the way I hoped it would,” he said. “If only I had something stronger or heavier.” He looked around and noticed a sign. “Danger: Avalanche Zone,” he read aloud. With those three words, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

“Oh, that jewel of yours will make a great dessert after we roast you,” the dragon said, having found Zero Volt again.

“You mean the same way you roasted your kid back there?” Zero Volt taunted. “Seriously, what kind of mother cooks her child like that?” His comment pushed the dragon over the edge, and after a deep inhale, she shot a white-hot fireball at him. Zero Volt teleported to a lower point on the mountain, and the fireball hit the mountainside, almost melting the rock and causing the mountain to shake. Zero Volt took a deep breath to calm himself and nodded to himself. The rockslide had started, and he rolled away from every rock that fell toward him. Eventually, he found some rocks that he liked and started teleporting.

Timing and placement were crucial for what he needed to do, and if he wasn’t careful, the tumbling rocks would pull him into the avalanche and break his bones. His two-second warning told him what not to do and where not to go as he teleported the rocks above the dragon’s head and wings. The first two landed on her wings, destabilizing her flight again. Before she could correct herself, a third one landed right on her head, dazing her. The next two rocks hit her wings, and she started to plummet back to the ground. The trees that snapped beneath her weight didn’t break her fall as she hit the ground, causing a tremor in the earth beneath her. Within the next few moments, all of the other rocks that Zero Volt teleported above her piled on top of her.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt teleported back onto the mountain, but when he landed, the ledge crumbled beneath him. He held out his right foreleg and managed to grab the edge with his hoof. Holding onto the edge of the mountainside, he noticed the younger dragon appear above him. The young dragon reached out to push him off, but Zero Volt let go on his own. Seconds later, Zero Volt vanished, but before the young dragon could wonder where he went, something pushed him off of the ledge. Zero Volt stood behind him with his hind legs outstretched, and he turned around to watch the young dragon tumble down the mountainside. The dragon eventually reached the bottom and lay next to his mother. Zero Volt panted as he looked down at the dragons, both unconscious. Moments later, he started cheering and jumping around.

“Ah don’t believe it,” Applejack said. “Yah really did beat a fully grown dragon.”

“Well, gravity did most of the work, and I almost got killed about twenty times, but yeah, that was awesome,” Zero Volt said proudly.

“Yet it never once occurred to you to teleport away and take a safer route,” Twilight said.

Zero Volt stepped back onto the clouds and looked around him. “Whoa, check out the view. From up here, it almost looks like everything’s covered in snow.” He looked at the forest through the gap in the clouds, then at the clear sky above him. “I’ve got to make a habit of getting up here more often. In fact…” Zero Volt broke into a gallop. Since this was a particularly cloudy day, he decided to run above the clouds to the next city. Up ahead, he saw that there were some large gaps in the cloud cover, but he could jump across them. Eventually, he noticed a small, round cloud ahead of him, followed by a much larger one. He jumped onto the small cloud, expecting to use it as a platform to the next one, but was surprised when it bounced him high into the air. He landed on the larger cloud and slid to a halt, dislodging small pieces of cloud as he skidded. “Huh, I didn’t know that clouds were so springy.”

“Ooh, I want to try that too!” Pinkie Pie said. “Why didn’t anypony tell me I could bounce on a cloud like that?”

“It has to do with our pegasus magic,” Fluttershy said, “which lets us, well…”

“Pretty much do whatever we want with clouds,” Rainbow Dash finished. “We don’t really need to bounce off of them once we learn to fly, but Volt seems to be enjoying himself up there.”

“Yeah, this is why I spend a lot of time up in the clouds or on that mountain near Ponyville,” Zero Volt said. “You know, I don’t mind being some imperfect hybrid of two different races, but if I had to choose between one of them, I would definitely pick pegasus over unicorn.”

“Actually, I’d much rather stay on the ground,” Fluttershy said.

“Oh yeah, you don’t really like heights, do you?” he said. "That’s kind of weird. Didn’t you spend your foalhood living up in Cloudsdale.” Fluttershy’s expression changed, and she hid her face behind her mane. “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “It’s just that I couldn’t fly very well back then, and I guess I was always worried about falling.”

Zero Volt noticed three small clouds lined up, leading to another large cloud. He bounced off of each cloud to get to the next one, doing a 360° spin on the second bounce and a flip on the third bounce. Once he landed, he looked up and smiled at what he saw. A single thundercloud floated above him with a few regular clouds leading up to it.

“As long as I’m here, maybe I can take a few minutes to learn how to work a thundercloud,” he said. He jumped from cloud to cloud until he was one jump away. He bent his legs and made the leap, only for his two-second warning to take effect in midair. Zero Volt panicked and teleported back down, hitting the large cloud beneath him. “What just happened back there? Th-that cloud almost electrocuted me, and then I would’ve fallen through the clouds and…” He recalled what the two-second warning had shown him. He saw himself getting injured by the thundercloud and he saw himself plummet through the cloud barrier. However, even though he knew he would’ve crashed, he didn’t see himself hit the ground. “I looked away,” he said. “I can look away. If I can learn to control my ability, then maybe I can see what’s attacking me without having to see what it does to me.”

“Biggest mistake of my entire life,” Zero Volt said.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“From that day on, whenever my two-second warning activated, I tried to isolate the threats that it told me about and ignore the unpleasant parts of those visions,” he said. “But whenever I do that, I might overlook certain details or suppress the two-second warning entirely. When that happens, I end up getting hurt.”

“So when you said that this ability sometimes doesn’t work,” Twilight said, “that was because you couldn’t get it to work the way you wanted to.”

“Exactly,” he said. “I stopped doing that right around the time I got struck by lightning near Ponyville.”

“So when we had to walk off that mountain in the middle of that storm,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, that… that was entirely my fault.”

“Yah see, this is what Ah was askin’ for,” Applejack said. “We’re finally getting’ answers from yah, and you’re even explainin’ stuff along the way.”

“Perhaps we should skip ahead to Fillydelphia,” Luna said. “The next two minutes are just Zero Volt trying to safely touch that thundercloud.”

A few days later, Zero Volt arrived in Fillydelphia at nighttime. As with every other town before it, he galloped through the streets, exploring the city and hoping to run into somepony he recognized. He spent the next half hour running through the city, but didn’t find anything. Zero Volt slowed his pace and yawned. ‘I should find a hotel or something,’ he thought. ‘I’m can explore tomorrow.’

Suddenly, he heard an alarm ringing from several blocks away. Moments later, he saw four familiar ponies galloping away from the sound of the alarm. All four of them were dressed in black, but he recognized Silver Wind flying alongside them. He also noticed that they each wore saddle bags. Zero Volt decided to pursue them, but thought that they might notice him if he followed on the ground. He looked up at the buildings around him and teleported to the roof of one. He ran from rooftop to rooftop before finally catching up to them.

“Alright, change of plans,” Zero Volt said to himself. He leapt off of the roof, teleported in midair to correct himself, and fell toward Silver Wind with hooves extended. He landed on the side of her body and kicked off, throwing her into the ground. Jewelry spilled from her bag when she hit the ground. Zero Volt noticed the spilled contents and redirected his attention to the other three ponies. He leapt toward Glacier, spun around and kicked as hard as he could, only to find that his hind legs were still supported against Glacier’s side. Glacier just stared at Zero Volt, completely unaffected by the kick to his side. Eventually, Glass used her magic to lift Zero Volt off the ground and hold him in place. “Want to explain to me what you’re doing with all those?” he asked.

“You’re lucky we’re in a hurry,” Bruiser said, “but if you get in our way again, we will put you in your place, you little punk. That bracelet of yours will even go nicely with the rest of our loot.” Glass threw Zero Volt across the street and used her magic to return the stolen valuables to Silver Wind’s bags. The four thieves ran in another direction as Zero Volt struggled to stand back up, and when he looked the four of them were already gone.

* * * * * * * * * *

At noon the next day, Zero Volt walked out of a sporting goods store in Fillydelphia. He was still upset after what happened the night before, but he had other things to do today. He still had to search for any sign of his previous life, but he had a lot of ground to cover, and he wanted to keep it interesting. So he spent the morning buying a skate board and an MP3 player. After putting in his earbuds and picking an appropriate song, he got on his skateboard and started exploring. Zero Volt picked up speed as he maneuvered through the busy streets.

A minute later, the street dipped downward. The route that Zero Volt chose was mostly downhill, and it included some of the steepest roads in the city. He skateboarded down the hill, picking up speed as he went. He turned left into another street, which also went downhill, and picked up even more speed. At his speed, it was becoming increasingly difficult to swerve past the other ponies, so he started to jump over them. Nopony seemed to recognize him as he passed by, but he was enjoying this too much to care. Eventually, he arrived at a long, winding staircase with a rail in the middle of it. He jumped onto the rail and staring grinding along it. “Huh, why is this rail here?” Zero Volt said. “I’ve never seen anypony use these when climbing stairs. Oh well, since it’s here.”

Suddenly, Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect, and he jumped to dodge a pegasus that flew at him. He landed on the ground and braked on his skateboard, only to find that he was surrounded by police, consisting of two pegasi and two earth ponies. “Freeze! We have you surrounded.”

“What’s this all about?” Zero Volt asked.

“You’re under arrest for the theft at the museum last night,” one of the officers said. “We have witnesses that saw you there last night.”

“Museum? Those jewels were part of an exhibit?” Zero Volt said. Only a second later did he realize that he may have said the wrong thing. “Look, I’m not the one you’re looking for. There were four other ponies there-”

“Down on the ground and hooves where we can see them,” the officer said. Zero Volt realized that they weren’t going to listen to him right now. “I said get down on the ground!” Zero Volt picked up his skateboard and threw it at one of the officers. That officer ducked, and Zero Volt used the distraction to jump over him, land on his board and escape. The other ponies chased after him, but because he was going downhill, the earth ponies couldn’t catch up. However, the pegasi easily caught up to him and flew on either side of him.

Zero Volt jumped when one of them lunged at him, but the second pegasus flew toward him and pulled his board out from under his hooves. Not realizing that he didn’t have his board, Zero Volt scraped his legs and body against the ground when he landed. “Stay on the ground,” one of the officers said. Both pegasi hovered on either side of him, and the to earth ponies caught up.

The officers forced Zero Volt to stay on the ground when he tried to stand up. They were about to apprehend him when he suddenly disappeared from under them. They looked around, wondering where he could have possibly gone. Eventually, they saw him running from them, already several blocks away. The officers continued their pursuit, and the pegasi quickly caught up to him. One of them lunged at him, but Zero Volt teleported a hundred feet ahead of them and continued running.

They eventually reached the outskirts of the city, and Zero Volt reached the edge of a cliff. Looking down, he noticed several ledges that led down. He teleported from ledge to ledge, making his way down. Meanwhile, the two pegasi flew down after him while the earth ponies stayed behind. They flew after him faster than he could teleport down, and one of them dove right at him. However, Zero Volt teleported away, and the pegasus slammed into the ledge instead. The resulting impact triggered a rockslide. Zero Volt continued to teleport down the cliff, avoiding any rocks along the way. The pegasi weren’t as lucky, and they got caught by the falling rocks.

Once the rockslide was over and Zero Volt was safely on the ground, he looked at the two pegasi. The male one was lying motionless on the ground. The female one was still conscious, but she was trapped under a pile of rocks. Zero Volt walked over to the male and placed his hoof on his neck. ‘Good, he’s still alive, but unconscious,’ he thought. He looked back at the female pegasus. ‘But with both of them incapacitated like this, who knows what will find them out here.’ He teleported in front of her, but before he could pull her out, his mind backpedaled. She could still attack him once she’s free. He decided to knock her out first, and as he raised his hoof over her head, she shut her eyes and flinched. Zero Volt held his hoof up, but he hesitated to strike her. Eventually, he gently lowered his hoof and teleported her out from under the rocks. ‘I can’t do it,’ he though as he turned and walked away. ‘Besides, there’s no point in freeing her if I going to leave both of them unconscious.’

Suddenly, Zero Volt’s two second warning activated, and he dodge-rolled away when the pegasus attacked him. “You’re in a lot more trouble now,” she said. “Resisting arrest, attacking law enforcement officers.”

“So you’re still going after me,” Zero Volt said, “even if it means leaving your partner out here alone and defenseless?” The female pegasus looked back at her partner. “Why do you think I freed you in the first place?”

The mare wrestled with the decision in her mind, but ultimately went back to the other pegasus. “This doesn’t change anything,” she said. “A thief with a heart of gold is still a thief.”

“I’m not your thief, and I don’t have time to prove it to you,” Zero Volt said. He turned around and walked away while the pegasus stayed with her partner.

The other ponies looked at Zero Volt, who was visibly upset after having watched what happened in Fillydelphia. “Hey, at least you got those guys back when you came here, right Volt?” Rainbow Dash said. “Letting you take the heat for their heist was so not cool.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“I find it odd that we never found out about this,” Rarity said. “I would’ve expected news of this to spread from Fillydelphia to Ponyville.”

“It did,” Twilight said. Using her magic, she produced a scroll from thin air and unrolled it for everyone to read. It was a wanted poster with a composite sketch of Zero Volt. “This showed up in Ponyville while Zero Volt was in the hospital. After we talked to him, I thought that those four thieves might have set him up, so I hid this from everypony and did a little investigating. You’re lucky I’m the one who intercepted this, Volt.”

“Yeah, if Rarity found it, she would’ve turned me in almost immediately,” he said.

Hours after escaping Fillydelphia, Zero Volt was still bitter about what had happened. He hadn’t even bothered to check his map since then. Dusk had finally arrived, but because it was a cloudy day, the sun wasn’t visible as it set below the sky. It was going to be a rainy night. In fact, it was already starting to rain, and Zero Volt could feel the first few raindrops. “No shelter down here,” he said as he looked around for a cave or an overhang. “Doesn’t matter. I can sleep above the clouds tonight.” The sound of thunder rolled above him. “Or not.”

Minutes later, he found a mountain nearby with a cave dug into its base. It was already pouring, so he galloped into it as quickly as he could. After entering, Zero Volt walked into the cave as far as he could without it getting too dark. At this point, he didn’t care about Fillydelphia. He didn’t care about his journey. He didn’t even care that he was hungry and didn’t get the chance to restock on food. He just wanted to fall asleep to the sound of rain outside the cave and the soft gleam of the rocks inside the cave.

Zero Volt jolted up and looked at those gleaming rocks again. Those weren’t just rocks; they were gemstones, and considering the size of this cave… “This is a dragon’s den,” he said. “Maybe I should wait outside. Hopefully, this one will show me some hospitality.” He stood up and started to walk outside when he walked into the cave’s owner, an adult dragon with gray scales.

“Can I help you?” the dragon snarled.

Zero Volt sighed. He was still bitter about everything that had happened recently, and he did not want to deal with this. However, he had several reasons not to get this dragon angry. “Look, I’m having a rough day, and I have no place else to go,” he said, trying to sound as pathetic as possible, “so would it be too much trouble if I spent the night in here, out of the rain?” Seconds later, Zero Volt flew out of the cave and landed on the cold, muddy ground. He stood back up and glared back at the cave entrance. “A simple ‘no’ would have been enough! Why the hay do you dragons have to be complete jerks. None of you have earned those massive egos or your vile attitudes.”

The dragon walked out of his cave and stood on all fours in front of Zero Volt. “Believe me when I tell you that I am being nice to you,” he said. “You don’t want to know what vile is like.” His last word was accompanied by a burst of flames.

Zero Volt continued to glower at the dragon. “I just noticed something about you,” he said, looking up at the dragon. “You don’t have any wings!” Zero Volt placed his hoof on the dragon’s snout, and a green glow quickly spread from him. The dragon was too surprised by the green glow to react as it spread throughout his body, and after five seconds, they both vanished. Zero Volt teleported into the cave a split-second later and looked up at the sky. Seconds later, the dragon crashed into the ground, shaking the earth on impact.

“Why did it take so long for you to teleport him?” Twilight asked. “Your ability doesn’t normally have a delay.”

“It does, but it’s actually more of a charge-up time, depending on how much mass I bring with me,” Zero Volt said. “I usually don’t teleport anything heavier than two ponies, so it’s rarely an issue.”

“I think his ability is actually better than your spell, Twilight,” Spike said. “Your spell has a one second delay when you disappear and when you reappear.”

“Not necessarily,” Twilight said. “Both my spell and his ability have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, he can’t teleport anything unless he’s in direct contact with it, which can be a huge liability. I on the other hoof can teleport objects remotely.”

The dragon stood back up and roared at Zero Volt. “That’s it, now I’m angry.”

“I’m not in the mood to deal with you either, so suck it up!” Zero Volt said. “Unless you want to go skydiving again, because I can take you up higher. Much higher.”

“I don’t plan on going again, but since you were so polite before, you get to choose how you’ll end up: rare, medium or well-done.”

Twenty seconds later, Zero Volt stood at the entrance to the cave, looking up at the sky. He jumped off the ground right before the dragon crashed. The dragon’s crash caused the ground to shake violently, and several large rocks rolled down the mountain and buried him. “Thanks for changing your mind,” Zero Volt muttered bitterly as he walked back into the cave. Once inside, he tossed his saddle pack on the ground, lied down and rested his head on it. “Unbelievable, first I get chased out of Fillydelphia and now I can barely find a place to sleep. And even after all that, I haven’t found any sign of my past life. No memories, no familiar faces, not even somepony on the street recognizing me. It’s like they’re not even looking for me…” Those last words echoed in Zero Volt’s mind, and tears welled up in his eyes. “They’re not even looking for me. I’ve been to every town I recognize and nothing. Nopony searching for me, no missing pony report, not even my face on a milk carton. What if I don’t have a life to go back to? What if I’m all alone in the world?” He shook his head. “No, I’ll work through this tomorrow. Right now I need some sleep.”

“This movie’s depressing,” Pinkie Pie said dejectedly. “Why can’t we watch something else?”

“I spent those two months searching for something that didn’t even exist,” Zero Volt said bitterly. “What made you think it would be anything but depressing?” He looked at his watch. “And we’re only halfway through it.”

Zero Volt's Afternoon

Bright Lights, Colors All Around (1/3)

Author’s Note

You all remember what I said before (In a sneak preview 'chapter' that I've already taken down). The story of this chapter is based heavily on the plot of Sonic Colors. It’s not entirely a surprise considering that my other chapters have referenced video games more than anything else. In fact, you’re free to guess which games inspired a lot of the scenes in the previous chapter, but that’s not important. If this chapter seems too much like some sort of shameless copy/paste for you to enjoy, I won’t hold it against you.

In the meantime, I would really like to know what you think of these stories so far. Since no one’s commenting on this story, all I have to go on are my thoughts when I proofread and reread my chapters before posting them. I didn’t really like how One Year Later turned out. It felt like I didn’t express the characters’ emotions effectively due to poor storytelling/narration. Anyway, this is my last chapter before this story goes on hiatus and I work on other things. So enjoy the chapter, or at least try to, feel free to comment, and, if you feel that I forgot to add any category tags, please let me know.

Zero Volt woke up the following morning. In the last seven weeks, he had rarely woken up in the same place twice, so trying to remember where he was became a part of his morning routine. Today was no different as he rubbed his eyes and looked around. “Let’s see, dark cave and…” he trailed off as he noticed the lustrous rocks nearby. “Oh right, that dragon and… Fillydelphia.” He stood up, put his saddle pack on and walked out of the cave. On his way out, he noticed the dragon from last night sleeping underneath a pile of rocks.

“Looks like he decided to get comfortable out here,” Zero Volt said. He looked at the dragon then back at the cave. Eventually, he placed his hoof on the sleeping dragon’s snout and a green glow spread through their bodies. Seconds later, he teleported both of them back into the cave, pulling the dragon out from under the pile of rocks. “He’s got some cuts and bruises, but I don’t think I actually injured him last night.” The dragon stretched its limbs and rolled around, getting into a more comfortable position. He scratched his belly and continued sleeping. “Guess not,” Zero Volt said as he turned and walked back out. “Maybe he’ll just think I was part of some weird dream.”

“Did you think he was going to wake up and attack you?” Rainbow Dash said. She and the rest of her closest friends were still watching an abridged version of Zero Volt’s past before he reached Ponyville.

“Not really,” Zero Volt said. “I just felt sort of guilty back there. Kicking that dragon out of his own cave wasn’t one of my finest moments.”

Zero Volt moved sluggishly across the rocky terrain. Even though the skies had cleared up, the events of the previous day still took their toll on him, and he was feeling unusually lethargic. “What do I do now? Fillydelphia was the last town I recognized, and that one didn’t turn up any friends or family either.” He walked in silence for the next few seconds. “Maybe I should just pick a town, start over, and forget about my past life.”

“So at what point did you realize that you actually came from Baltimare?” Twilight asked.

“While I was recovering in Ponyville Hospital,” Zero Volt said. “That’s when I decided to stay in Ponyville.”

“And to this day, you still won’t leave us alone,” Rarity said.

“Shut up, Rarity,” Zero Volt muttered. “Just shut up.”

Nearly a week later, Zero Volt arrived at the edge of a forest. According to his map, this was known as the Everfree Forest. “Doesn’t look like the most inviting place in Equestria,” he said. His gaze shifted from the tangled forest canopy, which seemed to block out all sunlight, to the distorted tree trunks. The few shrubs and plants on the ground looked unappetizing, if not poisonous, and he didn’t know anything about the forest’s fauna. He looked back at the map, only to find that the forest was completely uncharted on it. “I guess the mapmakers of Equestria decided to stay far away from this place. Let’s hope it’s nicer on the inside than on the outside.”

Zero Volt stepped into the forest, making sure not to come into contact with any of the plants. At the same time, he wondered how his two-second warning would react if something threatened to poison or infect him. He considered the scenario in his mind, but figured that it wouldn’t show him something as innocuous as him touching a plant. It was more likely to alert him two seconds before he developed symptoms, by which point it would be too late.

Zero Volt hadn’t gone half a mile into the forest when it started to become foggy. The further he walked, the thicker the fog became, and after a minute, it became almost impossible to see in front of him. He could still discern the trunks of any trees in front of him, but he moved more cautiously. Before long, the fog started to become thinner, but something felt different to him. The trees surrounding him weren’t as contorted and sickly anymore. In fact, their trunks reached straight up, and they were more spread out. The underbrush also seemed different to him. The entire ground was covered in plant life that reached up to his chest, so he could no longer avoid touching it. However, these felt more like wild grasses than any harmful plants.

Eventually, the fog cleared up entirely, but when Zero Volt saw where he was, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Over the last ten minutes, Zero Volt had stepped out of a dark, creepy forest and into a grassy plain. “Whoa… look at this place.” Zero Volt walked slowly, completely stunned by the picturesque environment he had stumbled upon. Wild grasses grew all over, reaching heights that no pony town would ever allow. Flowers, trees and shrubs flourished around him as well, adding even more color and beauty to the landscape.

Each of Zero Volt’s friends looked on in awe. “Well Ah’ll be…” Applejack said.

“I know,” Fluttershy added. “I would’ve never imagined something like this in the Everfree Forest.”

“That’s because this isn’t the Everfree Forest,” Zero Volt said. “In fact, this isn’t even Equestria anymore, so how are we even seeing all of this?”

“It may be a different sun, but it’s still the sun,” Celestia said. “So I can see through it just as easily.”

“Your explanation is starting to make less and less sense as we go along,” he said.

“And yet the picture is no less visible than it was before,” Celestia said. “Maybe you should stop delaying the movie and let us keep watching.”

For the next half hour, Zero Volt wandered about this world he had discovered. Occasionally he would turn around and walk backward, taking in as much of the lush, verdant scenery as he could. Suddenly, a cyan blur brushed past his head. He turned to see what it was, only for two larger objects to rush on either side of him, chasing after the cyan blur. Zero Volt did a double take and looked in the direction all three had gone. He saw a small creature being chased by two larger objects. The objects were black, metallic in appearance, and about the size of a pony. Despite their rotund shape and bipedal movement, these robots were catching up to the cyan creature. One of them extended its arm toward the creature and fired a sphere at it. The sphere popped open in midair, but Zero Volt teleported the creature before it could be captured.

“Hey, either of you want to tell me why you’re both chasing this little guy?” Zero Volt said. The robots turned and saw him with the cyan creature floating next to him. Their right arms changed shape, each forming large cannons. Zero Volt moved his head left to dodge one cannonball and ducked to avoid another. “You don’t talk much, do you? Fine by me.” Zero Volt galloped toward the two robots, dodging another cannonball from each of them. He jumped onto one of them, knocking it down and smashing it into the ground before jumping off and kicking the other one. His hind legs punched through the second robot’s chest, destroying it as well. Zero Volt pulled his hind legs out of the robot’s chest and turned around. He watched as the remains of both robots vanished into a black fog. “Okay, that’s new,” he said. He turned toward the cyan creature, who flew right in front of him. “So, you mind telling me what that was all about?” The creature made a series of squeaks and chirps while moving its limbs around. “Uh, what?” The creature repeated its gestures and sounds. “Sorry, I don’t really understand… whatever it is you’re squeaking.”

“He’s asking you to help him,” Fluttershy said.

“You understood all that?” Zero Volt asked.

“He said that there’s a monster kidnapping his friends and draining their energy,” she said.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt was still trying to understand what the creature was telling him. “Maybe it’d be easier if you showed me what’s bothering you instead of telling me?” he said. The creature responded by pointing in one direction and flying off. “Alright, lead the way,” he said before cantering after the alien. Zero Volt followed the alien through the idyllic world he had stumbled across. Along the way, he took a closer look at the little creature. Its head was large compared to the rest of its body, with three appendages sprouting from the base of its head. The appendages were long and thin, and while the two of them acted as limbs, the third one seemed to double as its body. Zero Volt turned his attention back to the landscape. “This is a really nice place you’ve got here,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve ever slowed down just to check out the scenery.”

“I agree completely,” a voice behind him said. “This place is wonderful.” Zero Volt turned around and saw a yellow pegasus with a flowing pink mane flying next to him.

Zero Volt’s friends looked at the picture in complete shock. “Th-that’s not me,” Fluttershy said.

“Of course not,” Zero Volt said. “Take a closer look at her body.” They looked back at the picture. The mare looked almost identical to Fluttershy, but there were black veins along her coat and her hooves were also colored black. “This is where Nightmare shows up, or in this case, Nightmare Shy.”

“Are you going to name all of them?” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.

“I didn’t expect anypony to be living around here,” Zero Volt said.

“Well, I wouldn’t have normally approached you,” Nightmare said, “but um… you kind of hurt two of my friends earlier.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “Maybe you could take me to them so I could apol- wait, I don’t remember hurting anypony recently.” The cyan creature was tapping Zero Volt’s shoulder, but he was too busy talking to the pegasus to notice.

“Oh it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I have plenty more where they came from.” Nightmare landed on the ground, and when her hooves touched down, a black haze spread across the ground and surrounded them. Zero Volt watched as several more robots emerged from the haze. “Now play nice this time,” Nightmare said as she spread her wings and flew above them, allowing the robots to surround him.

One of the robots aimed at Zero Volt and fired a laser from its cannon. Zero Volt teleported behind that robot and placed his forelegs around it. He tried to rotate the robot’s body, but it stopped firing its weapon. “Come on,” Zero Volt said, smacking the robot’s head with his hoof, “Just let me borrow that laser for a few seconds.” Suddenly, the cyan creature started glowing and flew into Zero Volt’s body. A cyan light flashed across the field for a split-second, and all of the robots were destroyed. Nightmare’s body was also struck by the cyan light, and she collapsed on the ground before vanishing. Zero Volt appeared two hundred feet away, and the alien emerged from his body and struck a pose in midair. “Whoa, what just happened?” He looked back to where they were standing a second ago, but only saw a black fog. “Was that you?” he said, looking back at the alien. The cyan creature took a quick bow and pointed off in the distance, and Zero Volt started following him again.

“I can’t even tell what happened there,” Twilight said. “Couldn’t you have slowed down the video?”

“We tried to, but it seems that Zero Volt was still moving too quickly at the time,” Celestia said. “From what we can tell, he ricocheted off of all those robots and barreled through Nightmare at the speed of light.”

“Speed of light?” Twilight said. “No wonder you couldn’t slow it down enough.”

Minutes later, the cyan creature brought Zero Volt in a front of a building in the middle of the grassland. “Well this thing certainly looks out of place here,” Zero Volt said. The building was colored in white and orange and had a capsule on top of it. Suddenly, the ground started shaking, and something else emerged from behind the building. “A killer robot Ferris wheel?” Zero Volt said, staring incredulously at the massive machine that appeared. The robot consisted of a head and two arms, and it used its arms to hold onto the Ferris wheel. “I change my mind; that looks out of place here.” He teleported to the top of the robot’s head. His plan was to pull the robot off of the wheel and drop it on the ground, but before he could teleport both of them, the robot’s head started spinning wildly, throwing him off. Zero Volt teleported closer to the ground, preventing him from getting too hurt after being thrown off. “Okay, that didn’t work,” he said. He stood up and looked at the cyan alien. “You want to try that laser thing we-” Zero Volt was interrupted when the creature flew into him. A soft aura radiated from his body for a second, and his bangs changed to a cyan color. “Huh, I guess you’re more ready than I am.”

He eyed the robot carefully, hoping to be able to aim himself. A second later, he took off, piercing the robot’s claw, traveling up its arm, shooting out of the robot’s eye, and smashing through the building. Zero Volt returned to the ground and looked back up. That one attack severely damaged the robot, which fell backward and broke apart when it hit the ground. At the same time, a spherical container rolled away from the wreckage. The container was transparent, and when Zero Volt stared at it he noticed something moving around inside. He rolled the container around until he found a lock and stomped on it. The container broke open, and another creature emerged from it.

Meanwhile, the cyan alien sluggishly floated toward the destroyed building. The container at the top of it had shattered, and a cyan colored light rose from it. Despite showing some fatigue, the creature managed to reach the light, absorbing it in its body and recovering its strength. With renewed energy, it flew back to Zero Volt and started communicating with the other alien.

“So this one is your friend,” Zero Volt said. “Are there more of you?” The two creatures turned and nodded to him. “Then let’s go find them.” A second later, Zero Volt’s stomach growled. “Maybe I could get something to eat first.” The two creatures exchanged glances and flew in another direction, followed by Zero Volt.

“You do realize you were surrounded by food, right?” Pinkie Pie asked. “You know, grass, flowers, herbivore?”

“Huh, I hadn’t actually thought of that,” Zero Volt said.

“I certainly hope not,” Rarity said. “I would never eat my food off the ground like that.”

“I’d be a little worried about fecal contamination,” Twilight added.

“And with that lovely image, courtesy of Twilight Sparkle, let’s move on!” Zero Volt said.

Zero Volt followed the two creatures for another hour. It was already late afternoon when he entered their world, and the sun was now starting to set. In the meantime, Zero Volt examined the other creature he had found. This one had an orange body with an oblong shape to it, as opposed to the cyan one’s more spherical shape. It also had three round pods at its base instead of the cyan one’s long, slender limbs. ‘That one kind of looks like a…’ Zero Volt thought. ‘No, do not compare it to a sex toy. Do not compare it to a sex toy.’

“You think it looks like a sex toy, don’t you?” Rainbow Dash whispered.

Zero Volt stared at her, speechless for the first few seconds. “Apparently, so do you,” he whispered back. He turned back to the screen, leaving Rainbow somewhat stunned.

Eventually, the two creatures stopped and turned around, causing Zero Volt to stop in front of them. Zero Volt had been lost in thought for the last few minutes, but when they stopped, something felt different. Once he finally looked at his surroundings, he realized that the two creatures had taken him somewhere radically different. “Whoa, look at this place,” he said. “It’s all made of candy!” He ran from one object to the next, excitedly calling out what each one was. “Giant doughnuts! Cotton candy shrubs! Hard candy trees!” He gasped when he reached the last part f the environment, a flowing stream of liquid chocolate. “Chocolate… river!” Zero Volt noticed some moisture on his muzzle, and realized that he was drooling. He tried to wipe the excess saliva from his muzzle, only to realize that the ground he was standing on was actually an enormous cake with pink frosting. The frosting was coating his hooves, and he got some of it on his muzzle when he tried to wipe his saliva away.

“Um, Zero?” Fluttershy said. “You’re drooling again.” Zero Volt looked down and wiped the saliva away from his mouth, only somewhat glad that he didn’t have frosting on his hoof this time.

“Now Zero, I’ve been known to act less than ladylike around certain confections,” Rarity said, “but that is just vulgar.”

“I don’t know. I think it’s a perfectly acceptable way to react to sweets,” Zero Volt said. “Twilight and Pinkie agree with me, right?”

Twilight was about to respond, but she noticed liquid dripping from her hoof. She turned and saw a large puddle of saliva. “Pinkie Pie, that’s disgusting!” Twilight shrieked, but Pinkie was too enraptured by the candies and confections on the screen to respond.

Rainbow Dash burst into laughter at the spectacle next to her. “We’ve got to start doing a movie night from now on,” she said after regaining her composure.

“Perhaps we could create a blooper reel of your failed aerial stunts,” Luna chided.

“Uh, let’s hold off on that for at least another winter,” Rainbow said.

“Now now, Luna, leave her alone,” Celestia said. “In spite of her crashes, she has earned most of that tremendous ego of hers.”

“You guys don’t mind if we take a small break, do you?” Zero Volt asked. The two aliens shook their heads. Over the next two minutes, Zero Volt galloped across the candied landscape, engorging himself on as much as he could. He took a large bite out of one of the giant doughnuts, inhaled cotton candy off of the shrubs, took another bite out of the same doughnut, and kicked one of the trees with his hind legs. Hard candy pieces fell off the branches, and he teleported several times to catch all of them in his mouth. Zero Volt swallowed all of the candy pieces and licked his lips, but a sad expression appeared on his face when he looked at the ground. “Aw, I missed one,” he said, looking at a piece of candy that had landed on the ground. He shrugged it off seconds later and ate it off the ground, getting some cake frosting in the process.

Zero Volt turned around and bent his legs, preparing to break into a gallop. “Chocolate river!” He broke into a gallop, leapt when he reached the river, and dove right in. The river’s current carried him as he tried to drink as much of it as he could, and he was eventually thrown off of a chocolate-fall (chocolate waterfall?). Zero Volt was covered from head to hoof in chocolate, which started to dry all over his coat as he plummeted. He landed on a metal platform several feet away, the impact shattering the chocolate shell that had formed around his body. Zero Volt looked at his surroundings. He was standing on a platform above a lake formed at the end of the chocolate river. He walked toward the cascading chocolate and pushed his muzzle toward it, trying to drink more. The liquid flowed down his entire head as he drank, and when he stepped back, it quickly dried around him. Seconds later, he moved his neck in all directions and pulled off the large piece of dried chocolate. “I’m going to be on a huge sugar rush by the time I’m done here,” Zero Volt said, staring at the hollowed out bust he held in his hooves. “Then again, I have a lot of energy as it is. Oh well, if I’m going to act the part, I might as well play it too.” He crushed the chocolate bust between his hooves and stuffed the pieces in his mouth.

“So that’s why you smelled like chocolate,” Pinkie Pie said.

“What?”

“When you first came to Ponyville, you smelled like chocolate for the first two weeks,” she said.

“That stuff was hard to get out of my coat,” Zero Volt said. “Wait, is that why you took such a liking to me that first day.”

“Maybe. Wait, I have an idea! If you found a chocolate-scented cologne, you could smell like chocolate all the time!”

“Save that idea for your special somepony.”

“That’s a great idea!” she said. “Wait, even better idea! At night I could pour chocolate syrup on myself and my special somepony would lick me from my chest all the way down to-”

“TMI!” Twilight shouted, pressing her hooves on her ears. “TMI!”

The two creatures managed to catch up to Zero Volt again. The cyan one pointed at the cake, as if suggesting that Zero Volt could try it as well. “No thanks, I tried taking a bite out of it earlier,” he said. “Too much icing, not enough cake. I’d have to really dislocate my jaw to get the right amount. Maybe if I had a spoon… or a shovel.” Zero Volt turned his attention back to the orange creature. “Hey, do you have any special powers like your friend does?” The alien spun its body around and floated up in the air. “Actually, you’re starting to look like… a rocket?” The orange creature flew back to Zero Volt and entered his body. His bangs turned orange and an orange glow appeared around his hooves, pushing them off the ground. “Oh I get it. I can use your powers by saying certain words out loud.” He looked back at the cyan creature. “That must mean that yours was… laser?”

The cyan creature jumped into Zero Volt as well. A second later, a cyan-orange streak traced the skies above the candied landscape. There were only traces of orange when the streak traveled straight, but more orange was added when the streak made turns. The streak punched holes through several objects in its path and crashed into solid ground. Zero Volt groaned as he stood back up. “Ugh, I’m starting to think that these little cephalopod things are more dangerous than whatever’s attacking them,” he said. Looking around him, he realized that the two creatures had taken him a considerable distance. There were still sweets around him, but he was now standing on solid ground instead of a massive cake.

“Hey, are you the pony that’s been ruinin’ mah land?” Zero Volt turned around to see where the voice came from and saw an orange earth pony with a blonde mane standing nearby.

“That’s s’posed to be me up there?” Applejack said, noticing the black veins and a black-colored Stetson hat.

“Yeah, that’s Nightmare Applejack,” Zero Volt said. “Or Nightmare Apple? Nightmare Jack?”

“I don’t know,” Rainbow said. “AJ’s name isn’t as easy to work with.”

“What do you mean?” Zero Volt said.

“Ah mean have you been eatin’ all the food ‘round here?” Nightmare said angrily. “This is all mah farmland, and Ah put a lot of work into growin’ all this food!”

“Wait, you actually grow and cultivate sweets?” he said skeptically. “I’m surprised that’s even possible.”

“That’s why it’s such hard work!” she shouted.

“Does this make sense to any of you?” Zero Volt said to the two aliens, not noticing a lasso thrown at him. The lasso fell over his body and tightened around his legs, knocking him off his hooves. Nightmare stood over the hogtied Zero Volt and lifted her forelegs off the ground. She was about to bring them back down on Zero Volt, but he teleported away and her hooves hit the ground instead. Zero Volt stood up, grabbed Nightmare’s tail, and slammed her into the ground.

Nightmare quickly stood up, unfazed by Zero Volt’s attack. She lifted her forelegs and slammed her hooves on the ground, causing an earthquake. Zero Volt stumbled as the ground shook, and Nightmare took the opportunity to gallop toward him for another attack. She whipped around and kicked with her hind legs, but Zero Volt teleported again. This time, he teleported behind her, tapped her shoulder, and teleported both of them. He returned to the ground and looked up to watch Nightmare plummet from a thousand feet up.

Nightmare crashed into the ground, leaving a crater on impact. However, she stood back up with little effort, unwounded from her landing. “Why did I have to pick a fight with Supermare?” Zero Volt sighed. “Or maybe she’s Wonder Pony.” Nightmare galloped toward him again, but Zero Volt teleported, causing her to crash into a wall behind him. The wall collapsed, trapping Nightmare underneath the debris. “Huh, is it just me, or was this miniboss harder than that last boss?” The orange alien gave him a confused look. “Maybe this isn’t the best time for video game logic. Anyway, weren’t we going somewhere?”

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt and the two small creatures arrived at another building half an hour later. This time, the capsule on top of it gave off an orange colored aura. Suddenly, Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect, and he rolled to avoid a cannonball. He turned in the direction it had come from and saw a ship floating in the sky. Nightmare was on the ship, using her ‘Applejack’ form, and a pirate flag waved at the top of its mast. “So now the farmpony with the southern accent is also a pirate,” he said. “You little guys have the weirdest enemies I’ve ever seen. Oh well, who cares? Rocket!”

The orange creature flew into Zero Volt’s body. Moving into an upright position and pointing his hooves downward, Zero Volt shot into the air using the creature’s power and smashed through the hull of the ship, splitting it in half. He rose high above the ship before the orange creature emerged from his body. As he fell back toward the ground, he noticed both aliens floating next to him. “Hey, how did you get here so quickly?” he asked the cyan creature. “Don’t tell me you stowed away with the two of us. Oh well, that makes things easier for me. Laser!”

Zero Volt used the cyan alien’s power as soon as it entered his body. He reflected off of several pieces of the ship’s wreckage and shot through the building on the ground, piercing the capsule at the top. As soon as he returned to the ground, the orange creature wearily made its way to the broken capsule, helped by his cyan friend. Meanwhile, another spherical container landed in front of Zero Volt. Seeing movement inside, he broke the container open and examined the creature than emerged from it. This one had a yellow body with a single eye on its conical head. “I might not need that shovel after all,” Zero Volt said, noticing the darker stripes that spiraled around the creature’s head. “Drill!”

As soon as the yellow creature flew into Zero Volt’s body, he jumped and dove into ground, drilling through the frosting and into the cake. Meanwhile, Nightmare stood up and scanned the area around her. Amidst the wreckage of the ship and the demolished building, she noticed the other two aliens floating nearby. The two creatures backed away as Nightmare approached them. A black fog seeped from her hat and formed a rope, with one end of the rope held in her mouth. Suddenly, the ground collapsed underneath Nightmare’s hooves, forming a sinkhole. When Nightmare tried to stand back up, Zero Volt emerged from the ground, drilling through her in the process.

“This cake is delicious!” Zero Volt said, licking his lips. He looked down and noticed the broken orange mare lying on the ground. “What happened to you?” The three creatures gathered around him and motioned toward the rest of the food. “No thanks, I’m already on the biggest sugar high in the history of sugar! Soon to be followed by the biggest sugar crash in the history of sugar but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. So! Where to next!”

“For once in my life, I knew what it was like to be Pinkie Pie,” Zero Volt said.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Pinkie Pie said.

“I know I’ve been saying this a lot recently,” Zero Volt said, “but whoa… look at this place!” Zero Volt stood on top of an airship thousands of feet above the ground. He and the three little creatures were in the middle of an enormous air fleet. Despite the similarities in the ships’ appearances, the sheer scale of the fleet overwhelmed Zero Volt. The view was made all the more stunning when set against the star-filled night sky, allowing the ships’ bright, vibrant colors to stand out even more. “One of your friends is somewhere aboard this fleet, right?” The aliens nodded to him. “Alright then, let’s go!”

Zero Volt saw a path of hard light appear above the deck of the airship. He galloped across the deck and jumped onto the path. As he ran along, the hard light stretched across the sky, weaving around many of the airships as it traveled alongside them. He had to make sure to keep a steady pace as he galloped. The path was only fifty feet long at any time, vanishing at the tail end as it extended forward. If he was too slow, he would have fallen behind and dropped off, but if he ran too fast, he would overtake the path and fall off the front end.

Looking on either side of the path, Zero Volt eventually found an entrance into one of the ships. H waited for it to come close enough and jumped off, landing next to the entrance. He was about to step inside the ship, but stopped in front of the entrance and looked at the interior. There were two more ships with openings in them, and Zero Volt teleported to both of them to scrutinize their interiors. “You know, the view on the outside is just spectacular, but on the inside, there’s not much going on,” Zero Volt said. “Your friend isn’t actually inside one of these ships, is he?” The yellow creature shook its head. “Alright then, let’s stick to the outside of these ships.”

Another hard light path snaked around the fleet, and Zero Volt jumped onto it and galloped along. The four of them continued along this path. ‘It’s about time I ran into someone friendly,’ Zero Volt thought. ‘I mean, I still have to clean up whatever mess these little guys are in, but after everything I’ve run into these last two months, I’ll take whatever I can get. I mean, they haven’t tried to kill me, they haven’t tried to take this thing off my leg, and they haven’t tried to… wait. How do I know they’ll let me stay after I take care of whatever’s attacking them? What if they’re only being nice to me just to use me, like Bruiser and Silver Wind?’ Zero Volt’s train of thought was broken when he noticed a pink earth pony catch up to them, now bouncing alongside them.

“Now she’s taking on Pinkie Pie’s appearance,” Twilight said.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Pinkie Pie said. “She should’ve fought you as Nightmare Pink back where all the sweets were. The starry skies and bright colors are more Twilight’s thing, or at least Rainbow Dash.”

“Nightmare Pink?” Zero Volt said. “Maybe Nightmare Pinkie or Nightmare Pinkie Pie, but whatever. Anyway, she didn’t appear as Twilight or Dash that night. It’s just this and… Nightmare Rarity? Nightmarity?”

“You’re terrible at this,” Rarity said.

“Hey, when the score is this one-sided, I have every right to make a mockery of her naming system,” he said.

“Hi there!”

“Uh… hi.” Zero Volt examined the pink pony bouncing alongside him. “Are you with the other two ponies I ran into today?” he asked, noticing the black veins across her body.”

“Yup!”

“And are you going to attack me to?”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Nightmare said before trying to bash her body into him. Zero Volt, tried to move away, but had to teleport when she forced him near the edge of the path. Nightmare bounced toward him again, but he decelerated and ran around her to dodge.

“Wait, why are you attacking me?”

“Because you asked me to, silly.”

“What the… well could you please stop attacking me?”

“Aw, what’s the fun in that?”

Zero Volt teleported above Nightmare and landed on her with his hooves. He kicked off, throwing her off the path and landing safely. “Not having that happen to you,” he said, as he continued galloping.

Suddenly, Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect, and he sidestepped to avoid a certain pink earth pony who almost landed on him. “Nah, still worth it,” Nightmare said.

“How did you…” Zero Volt started, but his two-second warning activated again, and he stepped away just in time to dodge several small explosions. He looked back and saw another pink mare. “Wait, there are two of you?”

“There’s enough of me for everypony to enjoy!” Zero Volt looked ahead and saw two more Pinkie Pies bouncing ahead of him. They both shook their heads about, throwing explosive party favors all around them. Zero Volt decelerated to avoid the explosions, but had to teleport when the other two Pinkies tried to run into him.

Zero Volt continued to dodge the Pinkie Pies as he galloped along the hard light path. The path ran between two of the largest ships in the fleet, and he saw a third one hovering above the path. A machine gun appeared on the third ship and aimed at the path. “Alright that’s it,” Zero Volt said. “Laser!” He took off as soon as the cyan creature flew into him. He reflected off of the two ships on either side of him, slamming into the Pinkie Pies and piercing the third ship multiple times. Most of the Pinkie Pie bodies simply crumbled when hit, but the real Nightmare stumbled and collapsed, falling off the hard light path when it left her behind. By the time the cyan creature left Zero Volt’s body, the path was clear of enemies.

Zero Volt was about to continue down the path, but the yellow alien pointed to one of the ships. A capsule with a yellow aura around it sat on the ship’s deck along with a broken container. The path swung closer to the ship, and Zero Volt jumped off and landed on the deck. The yellow creature appeared in front of him and pointed at the capsule. “You want me to smash that open?” Zero Volt asked. “Okay, let’s try drill.” He used the creature’s power to break through the ship’s deck and destroy the capsule. Once they separated, the yellow creature absorbed the energy inside the broken capsule and Zero Volt found himself face-to-face with another of the creatures. “Hey, I think I found you’re other friend! You all ready to go?”

Preparing for the Coming Nightmare

Bright Lights, Colors All Around (3/3)

Zero Volt galloped after Nightmare. The ground underneath him was breaking apart, and he was forced to sidestep every crack and fissure in his path. Eventually he reached the edge of the cliff and saw the roller coaster tracks. Despite what they were actually designed for, the tracks were smooth enough and close enough to each other, and he jumped onto those tracks, using them as grind rails. The tracks rumbled underneath his hooves. There were still roller coaster cars running along these tracks ahead of him, and they were heading in his direction. Fortunately there were multiple sets of tracks, and he switched rails to avoid the oncoming cars. Before long, the rails reached a large platform, and Zero Volt hopped onto it and galloped in pursuit of Nightmare.

“You decided to follow me?” Nightmare said. “Very well then, I have plenty of time to entertain your death wish before I reach the gate back to Equestria.” The two of them rapidly approached a portal behind her, and when they stepped through it, Zero Volt found himself in the middle of the air fleet. “Laser!” Cyan streaks appeared across Nightmare’s two smaller heads, which opened their jaws and each fired a laser across the ship’s deck. The lasers sliced through the ship’s hull as they made their pass, cutting the ship into four pieces. Seeing a hard light path nearby, Zero Volt ran across the deck and jumped onto it, continuing his pursuit.

Nightmare aimed at Zero Volt and swept across his path with another laser. Zero Volt jumped over the laser as it swept across. Nightmare fired again, but Zero Volt jumped over the second laser. This time, Nightmare prepared both arms and fired two lasers, one sweeping from each side. Zero Volt waited for the lasers to reach him and jump over both as they crossed each other’s paths. Despite the damage caused to the fleet, the hard light path remained unharmed by Nightmare’s attacks. Nightmare grew impatient and fired both lasers at the path again. This time, rather than sweeping them across the path, Nightmare guided the lasers toward Zero Volt. She could trap him in between the lasers or she could force him off the edge. At this point, she didn’t care how she killed him; she just wanted him dead.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt was getting closer. Nightmare wasn’t traveling particularly fast, and despite her attacks, Zero Volt was closing the gap between them. He moved to avoid the lasers that were aimed at him, and when they tried to box him in, he moved or jumped around them. Before long, he was in front of Nightmare’s arms. He moved closer to the right one and jumped onto it. In her frustration, Nightmare recklessly aimed the other arm at Zero Volt. Instead of hitting him, her laser seared through the arm he was running along. Nightmare growled and flailed her damaged arm, which now had cyan smoke rising from its wound. The cyan Wisp burst out from Nightmare’s wound and flew next to Zero Volt, who had leapt back onto the path.

“Hey there, glad you could make it,” Zero Volt said cheerfully. The cyan Wisp squeaked fearfully and pleadingly to him. “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’ll get the others back and finish off Nightmare once and for all. I’m not sure how yet, but I’ll come up with something.” The hard light path led into another portal, and the three of them passed through it. Zero Volt’s hooves kicked up pink cake frosting as he found himself running through the saccharine environment from earlier that afternoon. “Aw, and I’d just gotten all that icing off of my hooves.”

Yellow streaks appeared over the heads on Nightmare’s arms, which she aimed at the ground. Moments later, Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect, and he moved left to avoid a drill that rose from the ground. Several drills shot out of the ground, and Zero Volt sidestepped them as he galloped toward Nightmare. He was starting to close in on her again, but yellow light appeared over the ground in front of her.

“Whoa!” he shouted, sliding on his hooves as several rows of drills shot out of the ground, blocking his advance. ‘There’s no way I’m getting past all that on hoof,’ he thought. ‘Although…’ Still skidding on his hooves to decelerate, Zero Volt teleported past the drills and onto Nightmare’s left arm.

“What are you doing?!” Nightmare roared. Zero Volt had finally come to a stop on Nightmare’s arm. A circular beam of light moved across the ground toward him. “No! Get off! Get o-AGH” A drill rose out of the ground and pierced through Nightmare’s arm. Zero Volt was able to jump off before the drill reached him, and the yellow Wisp emerged from the smoldering wound on Nightmare’s arm.

Staring at the yellow Wisp in front of him, Zero Volt started to see a pattern. Throughout this entire day, he had been attacking Nightmare with these Wisps’ powers. Even now, when she had all of their abilities at her disposal, they still seemed to be damaging her. ‘If she wants their power so much, then maybe I can turn them against her,’ he thought.

“You little…” Nightmare growled. Another portal appeared behind them, and she passed through it. Zero Volt jumped as he entered the portal and found that his hooves had landed on a set of rails. He was grinding on the roller coaster tracks again, but the demolished factory wasn’t anywhere nearby. There were two more sets of tracks nearby, but he was already going at a decent speed and there were no roller coasters running, so he didn’t need to switch rails yet. Looking back at Nightmare, he noticed pink streaks on the smaller heads. Nightmare positioned the heads just above the tracks and launched spiked balls from them.

Zero Volt switched rails to dodge the oncoming spiked balls. Nightmare wasn’t launching them en masse, so there were gaps between them for him to pass through. Every once in a while he would jump over a spiked ball if it was more convenient. However, he soon realized that he wouldn’t catch up to Nightmare at the rate he was going. In fact, friction was starting to gain the advantage as he slowly decelerated along the track. ‘Maybe if I try to skate on the rails,’ he thought. ‘I could pick up speed and- wait, what am I doing?’ Zero Volt quickly teleported onto Nightmare’s right arm. Feeling the extra weight on her arm, Nightmare aimed her left head at him and launched several spiked balls at him in succession. Zero Volt galloped along Nightmare’s arm, avoiding each projectile as it shot past him. However, Nightmare didn’t take into account that he would be moving up while she aimed at him, and when he reached her shoulder, Nightmare’s last shot was too low and struck her instead.

Zero Volt leapt back onto the rails as Nightmare injured herself a third time. Nightmare now had three smoldering wounds on her transformed body, and the pink Wisp emerged from the third one and joined Zero Volt. Another portal appeared at the end of the roller coaster tracks. Zero Volt jumped into it and found himself galloping along a steel walkway. He was surrounded by steel, colored white and red, with only a hoofful of plants visible nearby.

“Whoa!” he shouted. His two-second warning had activated, and he moved left to avoid something shoot by him very quickly. He looked back at Nightmare, who now had orange streaks on her two smaller heads. Nightmare shot two orange rockets at Zero Volt, who managed to dodge both of them. However, the walkway that he ran along wasn’t complete, and there were several gaps in it. The walkway was wide enough that he could quickly step around any gaps, but Nightmare was still shooting at him, and her rockets traveled very quickly. Zero Volt stepped around a hole in the center of his path, but had to jump to the other side of the walkway to dodge a rocket.

At this point, Nightmare decided to get creative and aimed one of her heads at the walkway itself. With one head aiming at the platform and the other at Zero Volt, she destroyed parts of the walkway while shooting at him. With even less ground to run on and rockets being launched at him, Zero Volt had even less room to maneuver. Despite all this, he managed to close in on his enemy again. Noticing a wall along one side of the walkway, he hopped onto it, performed a wall run, and jumped onto Nightmare’s right arm. Nightmare aimed her left arm carefully at him and fired rockets at him as he ran along. Pink smoke still billowed from her wounded shoulder, and she was determined not to make the same mistake with him a second time. However, as soon as he got close enough, Zero Volt jumped from Nightmare’s arm and landed on her head, right in the center of her transformed body. He jumped off and did a back flip just as Nightmare fired one last rocket.

Zero Volt ran past Nightmare the moment him hooves landed on the ground. The orange Wisp appeared next to him after Nightmare fired a rocket at herself. “All of you stay close to me and don’t let go,” he said to the four Wisps. “Nightmare still has frenzy, and I am not letting you guys get captured again.” This time, there was no portal, but the walkway started to ascend up into the air. At the same time, Zero Volt found himself sidestepping around gaps in the platform less frequently. “What is this? Is this a… bridge?”

“Yes, but it’s not just any bridge.” Zero Volt looked up just as Nightmare passed above him. “Do you see the gateway up ahead? This bridge and that gateway lead back into Equestria, Canterlot to be more precise. What better way to begin my campaign of destruction than by crushing the heart of Equestria beneath my hoof?”

“Those don’t look much like hooves,” Zero Volt said with a cocky smirk. “And I can’t believe you built all this in the last few hours. I’ve got to say, I’m feeling a bit left out.”

“Oh don’t worry about it,” Nightmare said. “I can still toss your mangled body back into the world below before entering that gate. Cube!” Blue streaks appeared across all three of Nightmare’s heads. She brought her arms in front of her and gathered the blue Wisp’s energy using all three heads.

“All of you stay close to me!” Zero Volt said. The four Wisps huddled closer to him as Nightmare prepared her attack. She generated a single cube, almost as large as herself, and slammed it into the ground. Zero Volt teleported several feet above the platform before the cube landed. He continued his gallop as soon as he landed, but even though he avoided the attack, the cube’s shockwave spread cracks across the bridge. Zero Volt teleported again to avoid another giant cube, but the walkway started to crumble after the second attack. He noticed the damage to the bridge as soon as he landed again and tried to run faster, hoping the damage wasn’t too widespread.

Nightmare produced a third cube and slammed it into the walkway. As soon as the cube landed, the shockwave spread across the bridge, causing a mile-long section of it to crumble. Zero Volt managed to teleport further ahead and reached a stable section of the walkway. “Enough playing around!” Nightmare growled. “May you wander lost in the darkness of your desolation and demise for all eternity!”

Nightmare placed her arms just above the walkway and placed a multitude of smaller cubes in Zero Volt’s path in quick succession. The cubes surrounded Zero Volt as he started to run past them. As Nightmare floated further back, she placed more cubes along the bridge to block Zero Volt. The cubes did not completely block his path, and he could still run around them. However, they created a number of dead ends and sharp turns for him to navigate as their arrangement swallowed him up. He quickly stepped to either side whenever there was a cube in front of him. Since he could not see through the cubes, he had to depend on his two-second warning to find the right path.

Meanwhile, Nightmare had stopped generating small cubes and brought her arms together again. The blue Wisp’s energy gathered around her three heads as she prepared another, much larger cube. Zero Volt would still be lost among the smaller cubes by the time she dropped it, so she expected him to be caught by its shockwave. However, his two-second warning told him about her attack, so he teleported just as she dropped the cube. Zero Volt landed on Nightmare’s left arm and quickly jumped off, pushing Nightmare’s arm down and causing it to graze the walkway for just a second. At the same time, the shockwave spread to Nightmare’s body through her arm and damaged her left shoulder, freeing the blue Wisp. It also destroyed the rest of the bridge, causing it to fall apart and collapse.

Seconds later, Zero Volt teleported and landed on Nightmare’s face. Waiting for the Wisps to gather around him, he teleported all of them back to the aquarium and leapt onto the platforms above the water. As he galloped on the platforms, the blue Wisp floated in front of him and communicated with him. “No thanks,” Zero Volt said. “I’ve got it under control.” The yellow Wisp joined the conversation with his own squeaks and gestures. “I’ve already gotten five of you back on my own. Trust me, I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m not even trying that hard. If anything, Nightmare’s defeating herself.”

“Is that so?” Nightmare said as she flew over him. “You were lucky, you little colt. But luck can’t last forever. Hover!”

“She just called me a colt again,” Zero Volt said. “Just because she’s ridiculously old doesn’t mean…” Up ahead, Nightmare was tapping into the green Wisp’s energy to attack him. Her projectiles were in the shape of her smaller heads, and even though they moved slowly, she had already produced ten of them in the last five seconds. “Uh-oh.” Zero Volt galloped from platform to platform, swerving around or between each pair of floating heads. However, as he approached the projectiles, they seemed to deviate from their paths. ‘Are they gravitating toward me?’ he thought as he ran past them. Suddenly, a robotic fish leapt out of the water and lunged at him. He leapt to the side to dodge it as he jumped to the next platform. ‘Those things are still here?’ More robotic fish attacked Zero Volt as he jumped from platform to platform. He made sure to avoid them during his jumps while still running past the floating heads. Eventually, he noticed a green light shining behind him, and when he found an opportunity to look behind him, he couldn’t believe what he saw. The floating heads weren’t just gravitating toward him; they were changing course and chasing him. One robot jumped out of the water, only to be melted and incinerated when it leapt into the horde of floating heads. ‘She’s attacking me from the front, the back, from below, basically from every possible angle.’ His attention turned to the five Wisps who were following him, then at the projectiles that were fired at him. At this point, he wasn’t even sure if Nightmare was more interested in gaining the Wisps’ power or getting revenge.

Meanwhile, Nightmare stopped producing the green projectiles and brought her arms in front of her again. She had produced enough of them to at least keep him busy and was now gathering energy to create a much larger head to send at him; one too large for him to simply sidestep. Zero Volt ran past the last of the smaller floating heads and saw her send the massive one at him. Making sure that the Wisps were close enough, he teleported into the sky above Nightmare. He fell back down, bounded off Nightmare as he landed on her, and galloped ahead. Nightmare shook off the minor impact, only to notice her largest projectile turn around and face her, with a hundred or so smaller ones behind it.

Zero Volt noticed several things behind him as he galloped ahead: a bright green flash, the sound of flames crackling behind him, and Nightmare’s agonized cry as all of her attacks collided with her. Moments later, the flash died down and the green Wisp flew toward him. “You know, if Nightmare had been a bit less deserving of that, I might actually feel sorry of her.” Zero Volt found one last portal and galloped through it. After exiting through the other side of the portal, he was surrounded by tall grasses and lush vegetation; the same landscape that he found when he came to this world, but without anything built on it. The green Wisp waited a while and then gestured toward the portal they had all passed through. “Don’t worry about it,” Zero Volt said casually. “Nightmare wants all of you back, and I’ll bet she wants to kill me more than she’s ever wanted to kill any other creature in existence.”

“You, you, you, YOU! You horrid little colt!”

“See? She’s right behind us.”

“FRENZY!”

“Alright, everyone close to me and don’t let go!” Zero Volt ordered. “I just spent over twelve hours rescuing you twice, and I really don’t want to have to do it a third time.” The six Wisps huddled around him as Nightmare’s right head opened its mouth. The right head began sucking air in as it aimed at him, trying to swallow the Wisps again. Zero Volt’s hooves started to slip, but the Wisps held on as he tried to move out of range. Nightmare aimed her left arm at him and tried to pull them in with both heads. With both heads trying to pull him in, Zero Volt lost traction and was lifted off the ground.

Just as Nightmare was about to swallow him and the Wisps, Zero Volt teleported and landed on her right arm. Nightmare lifted her left head and tried to bite him with it, only for its jaws to clamp down on her arm when he teleported. She found him standing on her left arm and threw her right head at him. Zero Volt teleported again, causing her right head to bite into her left arm. Within seconds, each head bit through the other arm, and the purple Wisp emerged.

Zero Volt did a quick head count, and now that all seven Wisps were with them again, he turned back to the smoldering, disfigured monster in front of him. “Laser! Drill! Spikes! Rocket! Cube! Hover! Frenzy!” The Wisps circled around him and started glowing as his hooves lifted off the ground. When they all flew into him, his body glowed with a harsh white light. Two wings sprouted from his sides, along with a horn on his head. “It’s over, Nightmare,” he said. “Not for me, not for these Wisps, and not for Equestria, but for you and you alone!” Zero Volt flew right into Nightmare, shattering her transformed state and leaving behind only her original equine form. She writhed and twitched as the Wisps’ power seared her body, and within seconds, she exploded in a flash of bright white light and a purple fog.

Zero Volt flew across the landscape until his hooves touched down in a shallow stream. He tried to decelerate by sliding on his hooves, but one of them tripped on a rock and his body tumbled along the stream until he came to a stop. The glow around his body faded as he lied on his back in the middle of the stream. The horn and wings vanished from him, leaving behind a glowing outline of a horn on his forehead, an outline of a wing on each of his sides, and a few tufts of white hair in his mane. The outlines disappeared, leaving behind those white bangs and three white streaks along his sides. Looking at his flanks, he noticed one more detail that wasn’t there before. At some point in all of the fighting and chaos, his cutie mark appeared: a black set of pegasus wings and a unicorn horn with a green sword in the center. Zero Volt smiled a bit before noticing something else out of the corner of his eye. His battle with Nightmare had lasted all night, and when he looked at the horizon, he saw the sun beginning to rise. After an entire day and night of running around this world and fighting a god of darkness and destruction, Zero Volt succumbed to his exhaustion and fell asleep in the middle of the stream.

“So all of that happened in one night?” Twilight asked. “The Shinespark, the fight with Nightmare, your cutie mark?”

“We must have slept that night, and she was so close to reaching Equestria,” Fluttershy said. “I can’t believe you went through all that. I can’t believe you never told us about it.”

“If you didn’t believe me about that dragon, you would’ve never believed me about this,” Zero Volt said. “Besides, I could probably say the same thing about you. I’ve been around you for over a year, and the only time I ever heard anything about the Elements of Harmony is when you actually used them.”

“We don’t really talk about it much,” Applejack said. “Not even Rainbow Dash, and that’s sayin’ a lot.”

“Wake up, Zero Volt. This was only the beginning. You must keep going, Zero Volt. You must wake up now.”

Zero Volt slowly opened his eyes. Looking around, he saw some suspicious plant life and deformed trees. Above him, the forest canopy blocked out most, if not all sunlight. “The Everfree Forest?” he thought out loud. “Then that world… was it all a dream?” He stood up and brushed himself off before looking at himself. The cutie mark and the white parts of his mane and coat were all there. “So it wasn’t a dream. Then why am I out here? I remember passing out in their world.” His next realization upset him, and he frantically searched the forest around him, but saw no sign of the Wisps or a portal to their world. “They threw me out, didn’t they? I was just there to take out Nightmare, and then they got rid of me. They…” Tears started forming in his eyes and he looked down at the ground. “They used me.” Zero Volt closed his eyes and shook his head, tossing a few teardrops from his eyes. “No, I can’t think about that now. I have to… I have to keep moving.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt spent the next hour trudging through the Everfree Forest. As soon as he reached the edge of the forest, a town started coming into view. “Ponyville,” he said under his breath, having found its location on the map. “I guess I could start here.”

“Hey, look!” Pinkie Pie said. “Fluttershy’s getting a cameo!”

The town itself was still far away, but a certain yellow pegasus was tending to a chicken coop. “Maybe I’ll get a decent welcome here. Or maybe they’ll turn on me too. Maybe they’ll try to use me, just like Silver Wind and those Wisps. Or maybe they’ll save time and just attack me as soon as I walk into town!” The yellow pegasus noticed Zero Volt walking from the forest and started backing away. As soon as she was close to her cottage, she rushed through the door and slammed it behind her. “Looks like we’re off to a great start already,” he said, having noticed the cottage’s door slam shut and shades closing over all of its windows.

“And that’s the end of the movie,” Celestia said as the picture turned off. “I hope it answered at least a few questions about Zero Volt’s past.”

“It sure does,” Pinkie said. “Who knew there was an entire land made out of candy and baked goods? Now that I know about it, I can’t wait to… wait a minute.” Pinkie popped up in front of Zero Volt almost immediately, now with an angry look on her face. “You knew about that place this whole time. You could’ve told me about it. You could’ve even teleported me there! What else do you know that you’re not telling me, huh?”

“Pinkie, we have bigger problems than that right now,” Twilight said. She used her magic to pull Pinkie back, but she also had a stern expression. “Nightmare is still alive.”

“Wait, she is?” Spike said.

“It’s so obvious to me now,” she said. “Volt has no other way of attacking Nightmare. Of course he would’ve used the Shinespark the first time he fought her, and if it didn’t destroy her then, it wouldn’t have finished her off when we used it. But you already knew that, didn’t you, Zero Volt?”

“That’s what Ah was meant before!” Applejack said as she confronted Zero Volt. “This is exactly the kind thing yah shoulda told us ‘bout, but instead yah kept it from us. Why aren’t yah tellin’ us stuff that we oughta know about? Why didn’t yah tell us ‘bout Nightmare when we all know what she’s capable of?”

If Zero Volt was taken aback by what Applejack said, he didn’t show it. Despite some banter and a few casual comments, he had been brooding throughout most of the movie, especially during the second half. He had been lying on his stomach before, but now he stood up and met Applejack’s glare with one of his own. “Because I didn’t want to.”

“What d’yah mean yah didn’t want to? That’s no-”

“I mean I don’t like talking about my past!” Zero Volt snapped. “I don’t even want to think about my past! But no, we had to watch an entire movie about it! What I don’t understand is why we had to spend the last two hours RUBBING SALT IN THE WOUND!” Everyone in the room was speechless. In particular, Applejack was completely taken aback by Zero Volt’s outburst. Zero Volt was normally an easygoing pony who rarely showed bitterness to anyone. This was the first time his friends had ever seen him enraged, and he was still fuming at Applejack.

“That’s not what this is about.” Everyone, including Zero Volt, turned in the direction of the voice they had heard. Fluttershy wore a disappointed expression on her face as she stared at the floor, unable to look back at him. “When you first came to Ponyville, I asked you if you could learn to trust us. I know you’ve been through a lot, but that doesn’t mean you can shut us out like this.” Now Zero Volt was taken aback. Fluttershy was the last pony he expected to stand up to him like this, and his expression softened as she spoke. “Why couldn’t you trust us, Zero? Now you’ve made it harder for us to trust you.”

“I trust him.” This time, it was Rainbow Dash who spoke up. “Applejack, remember when Pinkie Pie got caught in a snowstorm? Volt was scared to death of your dog, and he still went with the two of you to find her. And when we last fought Nightmare, he pulled our flanks out of the fire so many times. I’m starting to think his two-second warning is watching out for us too. Wait, is it watching out for us?”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Zero Volt said.

“Oh. Look, maybe he doesn’t always tell us the truth, but I trust his actions, and that’s good enough for me.” The others silently thought about Rainbow’s words as she turned and walked toward Zero Volt. “Look, I get that you don’t want to think about your life before Ponyville. I’ve got a few things in my past that I don’t want to remember either, so if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. We just want you to at least tell us things on a need-to-know basis, okay?”

By now, Zero Volt had finally calmed down. “Yeah,” he said, “I can do that.”

“Okay then,” Rainbow said before turning to everyone else in the room. “Is that good enough for the rest of you?”

One by one, the other ponies in the room nodded. As soon as Applejack agreed, Fluttershy decided to speak up again. “I think we should all take a trip to the Wisps’ world, including Zero.”

“Fluttershy, no,” Zero Volt said, only for Pinkie Pie to jump right in front of him.

“Oh, absolutely!” she shouted. “I can’t wait to go there and try all those candies and doughnuts and take a swim in that chocolate river! I just have to remember to bring my own shovel for that giant cake! Wait, do I really need a shovel or…”

Zero Volt grew increasingly irritated by the hyperactive chatterbox in front of him. Pinkie Pie, seemingly oblivious to how annoyed he was getting, kept talking about what she wanted to do and what plans she was making. Before long, Zero Volt jammed his hoof into Pinkie’s mouth in midsentence. “Alright fine!” he said. “If it’ll shut you up, we’ll go next week.”

Pinkie Pie pulled her mouth off of Zero Volt’s hoof and wrapped her forelegs around him. “Aw, I knew we did the right thing by taking in this little stray.”

Zero Volt abruptly pulled out of Pinkie’s hug and held her back with his hooves. “Okay seriously, do you hear ‘bark, bark, bark’ whenever I talk?”

“No, but sometimes I hear ‘ruff, ruff, ruff.’”

Zero Volt was lost for words for the next few seconds. “I am not a puppy!”

“Of course not,” she said. “You’re a pony, silly.”

“You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

“Always do,” Pinkie Pie said before bouncing away, leaving Zero Volt dumbstruck.

“Hey, Volt,” Rainbow Dash said. “What does your cutie mark mean? We saw how you got it, but it still doesn’t make any sense.”

“Dash, no.”

“Volt.”

From the look on her face, Zero Volt could tell that she was adamant about this. “Need-to-know basis?” he asked with a sigh.

“Yeah.”

“It means that I can understand whatever the Wisps are trying to say with all their squeaks and gestures,” he said. “It also means that I can use their powers more effectively than anypony else.”

“That sounds kind of cool,” Rainbow said. “Why did you tell me that it was useless?”

“Because it doesn’t really do much when the Wisps are over there and I right here,” Zero Volt said. “Of course, that’s before I found out that I leeched some of their power during that final attack.”

“One other thing,” Twilight said. “Where did ‘Zero Volt’ come from, because I didn’t hear that name anywhere during the movie?”

“Before I woke up in the Everfree Forest, I thought I heard somepony calling out to me, telling me to wake up,” he said. “It kept calling me Zero Volt, and I guess the name got stuck in my head.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Twilight said. “Still, we’ve been calling you that for over a year now. It’s not like we can call you anything else. Now let’s find Pinkie Pie and go back home. Thanks for showing us all of that, Princess Celestia.”

“It was my pleasure, Twilight,” Celestia said, with Luna silently nodding.

* * * * * * * * * *

Celestia made her way down the steps into Canterlot’s dungeons. Twilight Sparkle and her friends had already teleported back to Ponyville, but she still had one other task today. Shortly after they had left, one of her messengers reported to her saying that a prisoner had requested her audience. The messenger had given her the prisoner’s number and profile, but she glossed over those details. After all, some prisoners were more memorable than others, and this was one of the more memorable ones. She turned a corner and found her prisoner, a black alicorn stallion. “You’ve finally decided to talk,” she said.

“I just needed a friend to talk to,” Blitzkrieg said. “After all, it does get lonely in here.”

“We’re not friends, Blitzkrieg,” Celestia said. “You would have attacked me and Luna and threatened the stability of Equestria over a selfish power grab.”

“Power grab?” he said. “You seem to have me confused with my parents. They wanted me to take the throne for the sake of power, but that was never my objective.

“Then why did you plan a coup d’état?”

“Celestia, do you know what a changeling is?” he asked. “A changeling is a lot like a mosquito; a small, insignificant parasite that feeds on others. At the same time, a changeling is a lot like an ant; exhibiting a hive mentality, but still a small, insignificant creature. If I remember correctly, Equestria almost fell to ruin a year and a half ago because you were defeated by what is essentially an overgrown ant queen.”

“That overgrown ant queen fed off of two ponies who were very much in love,” Celestia said. “Love is a very powerful emotion, and that swarm was ultimately defeated by the same power their queen used against me.”

“Oh I see now,” Blitzkrieg said. “All it takes to defeat the princess of the sun is the puppy love between two ponies. Why didn’t I think of that before?”

“It’s not that simple, Blitzkrieg.”

“Oh, but it is,” he sneered. “You see, I’ve done some research on you, and this isn’t the first time you failed to protect Equestria from a threat. The stories say that you first banished Nightmare Moon using the Elements of Harmony. It sounds like a victory, but I know the truth. You wouldn’t have used such magic unless you were out of options, which means that you were defeated by your kid sister throwing a temper tantrum. Twice. Then there’s Discord, one of the most powerful and malevolent beings in existence, but you should have been prepared for something that you had already defeated once before. But no, he overpowered you and Equestria was almost lost, again.”

“Unless you think you could do a better job against these beings, I don’t see the point you’re trying to make.”

“That’s exactly the point I’m trying to make, princess. You are a weak ruler, unfit to project your kingdom and its subjects. That’s why I tried to overpower you.”

“I don’t believe you for a second,” Celestia said. Blitzkrieg was getting under her skin more easily than she had expected, but her voice and demeanor remained calm. “You would only rule Equestria as a tyrant. Being a good ruler takes more than a philosophy of might makes right. If you really wanted to protect this kingdom, then you should have joined the royal guard.”

“Believe what you want to believe, not that it changes anything.”

“You should also know that those six young mares you saw that day are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” she said. “By attacking me, you endangered them and the kingdom.”

“Those ponies wield the Elements?” Blitzkrieg said. “I honestly didn’t know that. You’d think that they would be wearing them.”

“I keep the Elements under lock and magical key to prevent them from being stolen.”

“But then it takes that much longer to mobilize their bearers.”

“Nevertheless, it still doesn’t explain why you tried to kill Zero Volt,” Celestia said. “If your goal really is to protect this land, then why attack him?”

“Zero Volt? Oh right, the byproduct,” he said. “I attacked him because he was in my way, plain and simple. Although I will admit that I underestimated him. Maybe I can find a use for my little brother after all. But while we’re on the subject, I couldn’t help but notice those thunderclouds above the castle. You must realize that I am, for all intents and purposes, a demigod of lightning, so why would you put them so close by?”

“Your magic is supposed to be suppressed,” she said.

“Yes, I noticed that the food in here is laced with alicorn’s bane,” Blitzkrieg said. “You do know how the plant works, right? It inhibits a unicorn’s magic by blocking neurotransmitters at the base of the horn. That means that the equine body will eventually build up a tolerance when exposed to it long enough. Tell me, Celestia, how do you plan to keep me imprisoned if you have to keep increasing the dose just to weaken my magic?”

“I have my methods,” she said. “After all, you’re not the first pony that I’ve ever had to lock away. But I think I’m done here. You’ve told me what I needed to know.” Celestia turned and walked away from Blitzkrieg’s cell. She walked up the stairs and exited Canterlot’s dungeons.

Show of Hands, Who Saw This Coming?

Zero Volt's Afternoon

Author’s Note

To kick off this story’s return from its short hiatus, I’m putting up the final part of the three-chapter long look at Zero Volt’s back story. This chapter is going to be a retelling of An Afternoon in Ponyville, only it’s being told from his point of view. I figured it was appropriate since that first chapter never switched to Zero Volt’s perspective, but if you were waiting for Boost, Burst and Void… sorry, next chapter.

Zero Volt had spent a lot of time loitering around this one cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Probably a little too much time. At first, he was about to move on and explore the town, but as he passed by, he heard a high-pitched bark. He turned back toward the cottage and noticed two puppies playing in the yard. A sharp pain pierced his left side and his hind leg, and he started to hear more barking, only louder and more threatening.

Zero Volt quickly shook off the unpleasant thoughts in his mind. He could feel his heart racing and beads of sweat forming around his face. ‘Unbelievable,’ he thought. ‘I can’t even think of puppies without losing it.’ He diverted his gaze away from the two puppies, only to see dozens of other creatures near the cottage. ‘Huh, do all these animals live here? Whoever lives here must hoard them of something, like a crazy cat pony.’ He considered knocking on the front door and talking to whoever lived here. Then he remembered that this pony had gone through the trouble of locking his or herself inside when he showed up.

After that, he took a closer look at all of the creatures. There were plenty of small creatures like squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and birds. He noticed a falcon and an eagle nearby and silently remarked how well trained they must have been if they weren’t preying on any of the nearby animals.

“Alright, who are you and what’re you doin’ ‘round here?”

Zero Volt turned in the direction of the voice he had heard and saw two mares, both roughly his age if not a little older. As soon as he saw them, he was surprised to see that he recognized them, but managed to somewhat restrain his reaction, showing only a surprised look and opening his mouth a little. ‘Aren’t these the girls that Nightmare mentioned?’ he thought. ‘The ones that defeated her a few years ago?’ On his right stood a lavender unicorn with a pink streak through her otherwise purple mane. She was one of the only two whose phantom hadn’t fought him yesterday, and she was giving her friend a shocked and somewhat disapproving look. The other one was an orange earth pony. She wore a Stetson hat and had her blonde mane and tail tied in a… ponytail. She was probably the one who had just yelled at him, because from the look on her face, she was not happy to see him at all.

“I don’t want yah causing problems ‘round here,” said the orange earth pony, “so why don’t yah just get along now!”

Zero Volt rolled his eyes at the two mares and then turned around to leave. ‘Here I thought the real ones were going to be nicer,’ he thought. ‘Turns out this one’s just as ornery as Nightmare’s copy.’ Looking back, he wondered how much or how little Nightmare tweaked these six ponies when she made copies of them. The orange mare’s phantom had been strong enough to kill him with just one kick of her hind legs, which made him wonder how strong the real one was.

* * * * * * * * * *

At 1:30, Zero Volt was walking down one of Ponyville’s streets. He thought he was either on Mane Street or Stirrup Street, but after a while, he was too bored to really pay attention. Nothing in this town piqued his interest, and he didn’t recognize anything or anypony as he passed by. None of the townsponies seemed to take much interest in him either. Zero Volt stopped in the middle of an intersection to consider moving on to the next town. He was already certain that his previous life was not in this town, and though he had decided that he could abandon that goal and just find a place, he just couldn’t imagine himself living here. Then again, the town wasn’t giving him too much trouble, not yet anyway. Eventually, he decided that he could wait a little longer than an hour before choosing one way or the other. However, his thoughts were interrupted by a stabbing pain in his left shoulder. The pain was accompanied with a forceful push, and he stumbled sideways as a result.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!”

Zero Volt turned and noticed a unicorn sitting on her haunches next to him. Behind her was a cart full of gemstones and some digging tools, but his attention was fixed on the unicorn instead. He quickly recognized the white coat and styled purple mane and realized that this was another one of the ponies that Nightmare was plotting revenge against. ‘I’ve only been here for about an hour and I’ve already seen three of them,’ Zero Volt thought. ‘Do they all live here?’

The white unicorn gave a surprised look at Zero Volt and levitated a hoof mirror in front of her. “Ugh, do you see what you’ve done!” she shouted. “Look at my horn!”

Zero Volt looked at the bloodied tip of the unicorn’s horn and realized where that pain had come from. ‘Seriously?’ he thought, cocking an eyebrow. ‘You just gored me with that thing and you’re going to whine about something that you can easily wipe off?’ The wound was about two inches deep, and the white unicorn had yanked her horn to the side when she bumped into him, something both of them would have felt.

“Oh, don’t give me that look, you’re fine!” she yelled. “What do you have to say for yourself about this?!” The unicorn stepped forward and tilted her head. Zero Volt stepped back, but kept his thoughts to himself. “Don’t you talk? Say something!” the mare continued to glare at Zero Volt, who only returned a startled glare. “Oh never mind, just get out of my way!” The unicorn took her cart and walked around Zero Volt, who just stared at her as she left.

‘Apparently, Equestria’s heroes are a bunch of jerks,’ Zero Volt thought. ‘Oh right, heroines. Not that I’ll remember that distinction in the future.’ Looking back at his wound, he recalled a pre-Equestrian myth about unicorns. Back then, the other pony races thought that any wound caused by a horn was laced with magic. Supposedly, the unicorn’s magic would either aid in the wound’s recovery or stubbornly hinder it, depending on the unicorn’s feelings toward the injured pony. Considering how irritable that white unicorn was, Zero Volt was glad that it was only a myth. Nevertheless, he decided to get his wound disinfected before walking away.

* * * * * * * * * *

Another half-hour passed as Zero Volt continued to explore Ponyville. During that time, the residents of this town were starting to react differently to his presence. At first, some of them were just staring at him or taking a second glance as he passed by. It was almost as if they recognized him, but it didn’t make him feel any more welcome or less unwelcome than he felt earlier. Around that time, his stomach started growling, telling him that he was hungry. He spent the next few minutes looking around for a place to have lunch at, but as time passed, all of the ponies who were staring at him were now glowering.

‘Why are they all looking at me like that?’ Zero Volt thought. ‘I’ve only been here for about an hour and a half. What could I have possibly done wrong in the time I’ve been here?’ He tried to recall everything that he had done since coming to Ponyville. He hadn’t done much other than wander around parts of Ponyville, and he doubted that the three ponies who had confronted him today could have influenced this entire town’s opinion of him so much. ‘Wait a minute…’ He looked at the buildings around him, but couldn’t find anything that resembled a wanted poster. ‘Still, it’s been a week. It’s… possible that news could have traveled here this quickly. But if that’s true, then I’ll never be able to stop moving around and find a place to live. Not if what happened in Fillydelphia is following me around…’

When he looked up again, there was a grinning pink pony standing directly in front of him, her face mere inches away from his. “Hi there!” she said cheerfully. Zero Volt stepped back from this pink earth pony, clearly taken aback by her greeting. Part of him was startled by her, but another part of him recognized her as one of those six young mares. “What’s your name? My name’s Pinkie Pie!” Zero Volt looked down at her outstretched hoof. Though he didn’t make a reply, he eventually lifted his hoof and guardedly accepted the hoofshake she offered. “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!”

‘Apparently, one of the girls that fought Nightmare is an escaped mental patient,’ Zero Volt thought as he watched the mare trot away. ‘Then again, Nightmare’s version of her attacked me with the same joy and giddiness as a filly in a candy store, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.’ Another thought had crept into his head during his meeting with the strange pink pony. For a split-second, an almost imperceptible split-second, it almost seemed as if she had sniffed him.

Zero Volt shook the thoughts out of his head. After all, there would be plenty of time to find out who that pink pony was later, especially since she had something planned for him in about an hour. In the meantime, he decided to go to the park, thinking that he could use a change of scenery and maybe some open space to gallop through.

* * * * * * * * * *

At 2:25, Zero Volt was sitting underneath a tree. He had spent the last fifteen minutes running through the park, mostly to stretch his legs and clear his mind, though a part of him had hoped that this run would reveal some distant foalhood memory. Despite the lack of success, he had enjoyed the run and was now looking around. He hadn’t planned on paying close attention to anything or anypony in particular, but one pegasus seemed to catch his attention.

In the last two minutes, this one gray pegasus had been flying over the park… or at least trying to. Unfortunately, the poor mare could barely fly in one direction for longer than a second, and she had crashed through nearly every cloud in the area. All the while, Zero Volt found himself unable to take his eyes off of the aerial trainwreck he was witnessing. At every loop, every roll, every sharp turn, he turned his head to follow the erratic flight path of this pegasus. The spectacle finally came to an end when the gray pegasus crashed into a tree branch above him.

Zero Volt stood up and walked toward the branch that the pegasus collided with. From the angle of the crash, the gray pony had managed to wrap her forelegs around the branch to keep from immediately falling off, but she wasn’t going to hang from that position for very long. Fortunately, Zero Volt had walked underneath her and braced himself, giving her a slightly softer landing on his back. Once the pegasus had landed on him, he bent his knees and turned his body to the left, carefully depositing her onto the ground. “Are you alright?” he asked. “You kind of lost control back there.”

“Yeah, I think I’m okay,” the gray pegasus said while holding a hoof to her head. Much to Zero Volt’s surprise, she managed to get back to her hooves fairly quickly afterward. “But I don’t normally lose that much control when I’m flying. I just don’t know what went wrong.”

At that moment, Zero Volt took a much closer look at the dazed pony’s face. “Whoa! I think you might have hurt yourself a bit more than you think,” he said. “You’re eyes are…”

“Oh no, they’ve always been like that, ever since I was a little filly,” the pegasus said, holding her hoof out a few inches to Zero Volt’s right. “My name’s Derpy Doo… I mean Ditzy Hooves…”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Zero Volt chuckled. “Maybe I should take you to a doctor of something.”

“Oh, no, no, I’m fine now,” she said, finally emerging from her dazed state. She realized that her hoof was extended too far to the left and brought it in front of Zero Volt. “Actually, my name is Ditzy Doo, but sometimes my friends call me Derpy.”

‘I’m not so sure that’s a nickname,’ he thought as he extended his own hoof to shake Ditzy’s.

“Anyway, I still have to deliver a few letters,” Ditzy said, motioning toward the mailbags she was carrying. “Still, it was nice meeting you, and thanks for breaking my fall like that.”

“Yeah sure, nice meeting you too,” Zero Volt said as Ditzy prepared to fly off. “Fly safe.” He watched as Ditzy Doo took to the skies again and flew back toward the town.

After Ditzy Doo left, Zero Volt walked away from the tree he had been sitting under and wandered through the park. By now, he had seen enough of Ponyville to know that his old life wasn’t here. He was just about ready to leave and move on to the next town, which would probably be either Cloudsdale or Canterlot. They were both pretty close to Ponyville, and since visibility was good this afternoon, he could probably make it to either one by teleporting a few times as far as he could see. However, there was still one thing that was keeping him here. That seemingly unstable pink pony told him to be at Sugarcube Corner at about 3:00, which according to Zero Volt’s watch was half-an-hour from now.

Since this pink pony’s surprise wasn’t going to be for another half hour, he started wondering what he was going to do to kill time. “I think I’ve explored enough of this town, so that’s out,” he thought out loud. “I could follow Derpy around town for a while. There was something oddly hypnotic about that aerial trainwreck. Maybe I can watch her for a while until I have to get to Sugarcube Corner. Actually, where is Sugarcube Corner?” Zero Volt though back, but couldn’t remember passing such a place at any point during the afternoon. He decided that the next half hour would be better spent trying to find Sugarcube Corner. Along the way, he also started wondering what this surprise was actually going to be. “She did seem very excited about it, so it probably is in my best interest to check it out. Then again, it could be a trap.”

Zero Volt’s thoughts were interrupted when his two-second warning alerted him. His ears perked up, and after a small but deliberate delay, he rolled to his right to avoid a pegasus who was diving toward him. Almost immediately, the pegasus crash-landed into the spot that he had rolled from and slid for a few feet. Now that she was on the ground, Zero Volt was able to get a better look at the cyan pegasus. Her most distinguishing feature was her rainbow mane and tail, with each color separated from the others. The colors in her tail went normally from red to violet, but in her mane, the colors green, blue and violet were in the back while red, orange and yellow were above her head. Zero Volt recognized her as one of the six ponies that defeated Nightmare years ago, and also one of the two whose phantoms he hadn’t fought.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

The cyan pony quickly stood up and turned to face him. “I’d be more worried about myself if I were you,” she said. “What have you done to my friends?”

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

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

“Your friends are missing?”

“Don’t play dumb with me!” The rainbow maned pony flew at Zero Volt and tackled him into a tree. Her wings kept both of them suspended above the ground while her right hoof pinned him against the tree. She held her left hoof in front of his face, ready to start punching 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,” Zero Volt said. “Look, if your friends are in trouble, I want to help you find them, especially if this has anything to do with me.” The cyan pony maintained her glare as she scrutinized him. At the same time, Zero Volt was wondering what was going on and what had gotten into her. He reasoned that she might have been talking about the other five, but he couldn’t figure out anything beyond that.

Eventually, the rainbow maned pegasus let go of him and let him drop back on the ground. “Alright, maybe you’re telling the truth,” she said before starting to turn around. “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.”

“Hold on, don’t you want my help?” Zero Volt asked.

“Don’t bother,” she said. “You’ve wasted enough of my time already.” Zero Volt watched as the cyan pegasus flew back toward town.

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt sat underneath a tree at the edge of Whitetail Wood. It was almost three-o-clock, and he was listening to his MP3 player with his earbuds on while thinking about what that pegasus had said. At first, he had wanted to help in her search, even if she told him not to. However, he soon realized that he had no idea where to start looking, especially since he didn’t know who exactly was missing.

It was possible that the rainbow maned pegasus was talking about her five other friends. Zero Volt vaguely remembered what each of them looked like, but he figured that he could recognize them if he saw them. With that in mind, he had galloped from the park back into town. He had a lot of ground to cover, but he chose not to teleport. After all, he didn’t want anypony in this town to know what he was capable of. He couldn’t trust anypony in Ponyville. He couldn’t trust Silver Wind, or Bruiser, or any of them either.

First, Zero Volt went back to that cottage, where he had met two of those ponies. After making sure that they weren’t there, he galloped back toward the town proper and searched through the streets. Something had told him to go faster as he galloped, but he wasn’t in too much of a hurry, and he needed to run slowly enough to search around him. He still needed to find Sugarcube Corner at the time, if only to check if the pink one was missing, and he had also decided to keep an eye out for that white unicorn.

It was at that moment that Zero Volt stopped galloping and slid to a complete stop on his hooves. “I ran into four of them today,” he said. “But she only mentioned three when she attacked me. Three mares and… a baby dragon? I definitely didn’t run into one of those today. Then why is she pinning this on me? Her friends go missing and she points a hoof at me when I’ve barely been here two-and-a-half hours. Her friends are all jerks anyway, so why am I even helping them to begin with?” That last thought put an end to his rant, and he stopped to think. “Wait, why am I helping them?”

It was that last thought that he was now contemplating at the edge of Whitetail Wood. The earbuds were there to provide background music, and he was only half-listening to them while thinking about what to do. “They haven’t done anything for me so why should I go out of my way to help them,” he said about loud. “What exactly do I owe them?” Zero Volt was entertaining two courses of action, both of which made compelling arguments. He could either help those ponies with whatever problem they had, or completely ignore them and put Ponyville behind him. “Then again, maybe this isn’t about me owing them anything, not if they really need help. But why should I be the one helping them?”

Zero Volt looked up at the sky, then back down to his right foreleg. The two cities, Cloudsdale and Canterlot, were both nearby, and he still had time to reach one of them before the end of the day. Either one could have had some clues about his previous life, but there was nothing for him in Ponyville, not even a fresh start. He stood up and removed the earbuds from his ears.

“Let them fix whatever mess they’ve made,” he muttered. “I’ve got my own problems to deal with.”

He gave a quick glance to both towns and wondered which one to go to first. Somehow, a pegasus city built around a weather factory seemed more appealing to him than the capital of Equestria, so he decided on Cloudsdale. He turned toward it and started walking. There were only a few scattered clouds above Ponyville, so even though he wanted to, he couldn’t make the trip by cloud hopping. However, the part of him that wanted to help those six ponies was still nagging him. He had successfully convinced himself that this wasn’t his problem, but that didn’t mean that he could walk away from it.

Before long, Zero Volt came to a stop and gave a frustrated sigh. “Maybe they don’t deserve help, and they definitely don't deserve mine,” he said. “But I’m going to help them anyway.” He turned toward Ponyville and started to head back, but before he could take more than a few steps, something else caught his attention. A few hundred feet away, the cyan pegasus from earlier was floating in midair, apparently being held by magic. Not only that, but the pink earth pony, the same pink earth pony that was preparing a surprise for him, was floating next to her. The pink one was clearly unconscious, but the cyan one was straining against the telekinetic grip she was in, trying to break free. But what surprised him even more were the other two ponies that were with them. “Glacier? And Glass?” Zero Volt watched the two of them walk into Whitetail Wood, the other two being carried along by Glass’ magic. “On second thought, screw those girls,” he muttered bitterly. “This just became about revenge.”

Zero Volt went into Whitetail Wood and followed the four ponies from a distance. None of them seemed to notice him yet, but he tried to be careful while following them. He watched the ground carefully, avoiding any twigs or anything else that could give him away. At the same time, he kept a comfortable distance from them, not getting too close, but not letting them get too far ahead either. After all, he needed to find the other two as well, and he didn’t expect his two-second warning to tell him whether or not they’d spot him. Alternatively, he could have attacked Glass and Glacier now, setting the other two free, but all things considered, he wasn’t interested.

Autumn hadn’t yet come in Whitetail Wood. The foliage of the trees above him hadn’t changed color, and the leaves weren’t going to fall for quite some time. Looking up at the trees above him, Zero Volt had an idea. He teleported to one of the branches above and stood on it, being careful not to fall. He held a foreleg against the leaves on a nearby branch and smiled. The color was a bit darker then the green in his coat, but it was close enough that he could camouflage himself amidst the canopy while following those ponies.

Zero Volt didn’t walk along the tree branches to follow Glacier and Glass. The other ponies might have noticed him if the leaves rustled or one of the branches broke. Instead, he teleported from one branch to the next, making sure that each one was sturdy enough to support him and leafy enough to conceal him. Along the way, he paid some attention to the four ponies on the ground. Glacier said nothing during the trip, and Glass said something that sounded racist. As for the other two, the rainbow-maned pegasus was still struggling against Glass’ magic, but the pink one seemed a bit disconnected from the situation they were in. She was chatting with her friend, acting like they hadn’t actually been captured.

“Wait,” Zero Volt said quietly to himself. “Don’t tell me this is where Sugarcube Corner is. No, no it can’t be. I don’t think that surprise involves the two of them being held like this.”

Eventually, the four ponies on the ground made it to a large clearing in the middle of the woods. Silver Wind met them when they reached the clearing, and Bruiser was waiting for them at the other end. On one side of the clearing, Zero Volt saw a row of cages just big enough to each fit a pony in them. A lot of them were already occupied, and the rainbow-maned pony started talking to one of the ponies in them. The voice that responded sounded familiar, and after a second, Zero Volt realized that it was the orange earth pony. From her, he overheard a mention of a plant that was suppressing the magic of the captive unicorns in the clearing.

“Alicorn’s bane,” he whispered. “Known for inhibiting unicorn magic. First cultivated in pre-Equestrian times by earth ponies as a weapon against unicorns. Wait… how do I know all that?” Zero Volt wondered for a moment where this information could have come from, but there were more important things happening on the ground. The pink pony had been placed in one of the nearby cages and Glacier went to speak to Bruiser, apparently about him. “Alright, let’s do this.”

Zero Volt jumped off the tree branch he was on and teleported above Silver Wind, who was hovering in the air just ahead of Glass and the still restrained cyan pegasus. Extending his hooves downward, he landed on Silver Wind’s back and quickly jumped off of her. The landing and immediate jump threw her into the ground as Zero Volt somersaulted back toward Glass. Even though Glass noticed him attacking Silver Wind in midflight, she didn’t react quickly enough before he landed behind her and kicked her across the clearing. His attack abruptly released the cyan pegasus from Glass’ magic, and she fell back on the ground as well. Zero Volt moved back toward Silver Wind, grabbed her tail, and flung her across the clearing and into Glass. Almost nopony had noticed him as he attacked the two, and by the time he was done, he turned his attention back to Bruiser and Glacier. The two of them were still talking about him and wondered why it was taking so long for him to notice their presence in Ponyville.

“That’s funny, you’d think they’d have noticed me following them,” he said, drawing the attention of everypony in the clearing to him. He overheard a snide remark from the white unicorn, who had apparently been captured as well, but chose to ignore it. “Alright, let these ponies go, and leave this town alone.”

“That’s a rude way to make an entrance,” Bruiser 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,” Zero Volt 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,” Silver Wind said. She and Glass had managed to stand back up and join Bruiser and Glacier. They both look annoyed at him, but they seemed to be swallowing their pride for the time being. “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,” Zero Volt said. “Who gave you that right?”

“You misunderstand,” Glass started. “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 pointed toward the cages and all of the townsponies imprisoned within them.

“And what makes you think you’re gonna get away with this?” the cyan pegasus said, now standing next to Zero Volt. Her wings flared out, and she looked like she was ready to attack. “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,” Bruiser said. “We have a few ponies that could’ve actually stopped us, and we have a few that nopony’s going to miss. More importantly, we’ve captured every pony that has had any contact with our little friend today.” As he spoke, he pointed toward the ponies that were trapped in the cages. Zero Volt skimmed the row of imprisoned ponies and recognized a few more familiar faces. The lavender unicorn was also there, but there was also a small purple dragon in the cage with her. He also noticed a scared-looking yellow pegasus with a pink mane, the only one of those six young mares that he hadn’t yet run into today. He turned back to Bruiser in time to hear the end of his speech. “You see, we have been keeping a low profile. You, not so much.”

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

“I think you’ll find that it does,” Silver Wind 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?” the cyan pony responded. “And don’t call me ‘rainbow girl’!”

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

‘Are you kidding me?’ Zero Volt thought. ‘I’m supposed to start trusting you because this town is out to get me? You’re the ones who turned the town against me to begin with, and you actually admitted it to me just now. As far as manipulative jerks go, you guys are morons!' Because of his inner tirade, he was no longer paying attention to Bruiser's speech. It didn’t matter to him; he knew exactly what Bruiser was saying and he didn’t want to hear it. He turned his attention back to the other ponies in the clearing, specifically to those six mares. 'Still, I'm not letting everypony off the hook just yet. I could probably stall the fight and leave them in those cages long enough for them to get irritated. That could settle things. Or maybe I won’t set them free at all. I could just as easily leave them all here at the end of the fight. I’m sure somepony will find them out here… eventually.’

At the same time, Zero Volt noticed the cyan pegasus still standing next to him and realized the flaw in his plan. Once the fight ended, she was going to free her friends and everyone else in those cages. That meant that he would somehow have to let her get defeated, and from what he had seen earlier, she wasn’t going to lose without putting up a good fight. Either way, Bruiser had just finished his speech, and they were all waiting for a response.

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

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

“Friends, huh?” he 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,” the cyan pegasus said in a more sympathetic tone.

“Save it,” he said harshly. “Just because I’m siding against them doesn’t mean I’m siding with you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Zero Volt looked at the cyan pegasus, who was now floating an inch above the ground. “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?” she said.

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

The rainbow-maned pegasus finally looked down and realized that she was being held by Glass’ magic again. “This wouldn’t be happening if you hadn’t distracted me,” she said just 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.

‘Maybe, but you shouldn’t have gotten distracted in the first place,’ Zero Volt thought to himself. ‘Idiot.’ At the other side of the clearing, Silver Wind had stepped forward as his first opponent. ‘Looks like they’re fighting me one at a time. Not that it matters. If they knew half of what I could do or saw half of what I’ve fought in the last two months, they’d know how screwed they actually are. In fact, I could probably take them all without any of my abilities.’ He charged at Silver Wind, but not before preparing himself to ignore anything that his two-second warning tried to show him.

Silver Wind quickly sprung into action and flew at him. Zero Volt ducked underneath her and skidded to a stop. He barely had time to dodge when she turned around and flew back at him. Since he had relied on his two-second warning for so long, he was having trouble dodging Silver Winds attacks. Eventually, she tackled him head on, tossing him several feet across the clearing. Zero Volt landed on his back and bounced off the ground, but managed to slow himself down by reaching for the ground with his foreleg and sliding to a stop.

‘Alright, fine. I guess I still have to pay attention to those warnings I keep getting,’ he thought. ‘Oh well, I can hide that one pretty well, and I could probably still win without teleporting.’

“I thought this was going to be harder,” Silver Wind said. “You should’ve joined us while you had…” She paused in midsentence when she took a closer look at the expression on Zero Volt’s face. Instead of being frustrated or worried, he was actually smirking at her. “Wait, why are you smiling like that?”

“Well I don’t know about you, but this is actually pretty fun,” he said. “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.” He briefly glanced at the caged ponies, and while most of them were surprised, he was glad to see that some were also angry.

“We’re all being held prisoner, our town is in danger, and you’re having fun?!” the lavender unicorn shouted.

“Hey, could you maybe get us out of here today?” the cyan pegasus added.

“Sure, no problem,” Zero Volt replied insincerely. Silver Wind started attacking again, but now that he was paying attention to his two-second warning, he wouldn’t have any trouble dodging her. ‘Oh this is going to be so much fun,’ he thought. Silver Wind flew at Zero Volt at high speeds from every direction possible, but he easily avoided her attacks by ducking, rolling to the side, hopping backward, and even jumping right over her as she flew low. Each evasive stunt brought him closer to the caged ponies, which were now behind him.

Silver Wind charged at Zero Volt from the front, but this time, Zero Volt leapt over her, grabbed her tail with his teeth, and flipped in mid-air, pulling her out of her flight path. After flipping 360°, he threw her onto the ground and landed 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.”

“We are NOT your spectators!” the orange earth pony shouted.

“Speak for yourself, Applejack.”

Zero Volt looked back at the cages and saw the pink earth pony with a bag of popcorn and a soft drink. ‘Okay…’ He was beginning to wonder if that pink mare actually was crazy. He also took a second to try to remember her name, but was only able to come up with ‘Pinkie-something’ when his two-second warning alerted him about Silver Wind.

“Why… won’t… you… stay… still?” she said, pausing on each word to charge at him. Zero Volt hopped onto her back and jumped off as she flew at him, doing another flip at the peak of his jump. Silver Wind 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,” he said, “You’re asking me to stand perfectly still so that you can beat me half to death… How stupid are you?”

Silver Wind screamed in rage as she charged him again, only to fail miserably and hit the ground, sliding in front of Bruiser, Glass and Glacier. The battle had taken its toll on her, and everypony could tell that she was exhausted. “I can’t do it,” she said. “He’s too fast.”

“Oh come on,” Zero Volt 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!” Silver Wind charged again, but Zero Volt 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,” Zero Volt remarked. He took one last look at Silver Wind before his two-second warning activated again. Behind him, Glacier decided to take over and was now charging at him. Zero Volt jumped aside just before Glacier could tackle him and performed a sweep kick with his hind legs, tripping his opponent. “Do you know how loud you are when you gallop?” he said, making an excuse to cover up his precognitive ability. “I could’ve heard you from a mile away.”

Glacier stood back up and turned around. Zero Volt charged at him, and spun around to deliver a kick with his hind legs. He then jumped onto Glacier and quickly bounded off, making sure to kick off of his opponent’s head in the process. When he landed on the ground, he kicked Glacier in the side and rolled forward to get away. However, when he turned around, he saw Glacier standing in the same spot completely unharmed. “Was that supposed to do anything?” Glacier asked.

“On anypony else it would’ve,” Zero Volt said, looking a bit stunned.

Glacier placed his hoof on a stone on the ground and crushed it. He swept his hoof along the spot, wiping the dust from the pulverized stone around. “How right you are, because this is going to be you in about a minute.”

“Nah, I’m not worried,” Zero Volt said. “I mean sure, you're built like a castle, but you move like one too.”

“What’s your point?” Glacier asked, having already started attacking.

“My point is that you’re going to have the same problem that she did,” Zero Volt said, easily dodging his opponent’s attacks. “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.”

‘Really, that’s the best you’ve got?’ Zero Volt thought. ‘I spent all day and night yesterday chasing down and fighting a god of destruction, and you think you can tire me out? If I weren’t trying to hide my abilities, I’d have sent you skydiving by now. Oh well, at least I get to toy with you for a while.’ He continued dodging Glacier’s attacks until he stopped at the edge of the clearing. “You know, I like that plan!” he said. “It does sound like something that would work on me. But I think my plan is better; it has something that yours doesn’t.”

“What, you being incredibly annoying?”

“Hey what can I say? I love being the center of attention,” Zero Volt said. “It distracts my opponents from more important things. But no, my secret? I’m not dumb enough to tell my opponent how I’m going to beat him.”

Glacier punched at him twice and kicked at him with his hind legs, but only managed to tear into the trunks of four nearby trees. Zero Volt jumped away and galloped a short distance before turning back around. Casting a quick glance at the damage done to those four trees, he thought of an idea and looked back at Glacier. Both stallions charged toward each other, until Zero Volt ran off course and used an outcropping to jump onto a tree branch above. He jumped from one tree to another, making sure to shake the damaged trees once he reached them, before aligning himself with a branch on the last one and running along it.

As soon as he jumped off, Zero Volt turned to face Glacier again. The four trees that he had jolted were starting to lean over, and all he had to do now was get his opponent underneath one of them when they fell. “Hey, I’m over here!” he shouted. “Come and get me!” They both charged toward each other again. Meanwhile, Zero Volt watched the trees behind Glacier, and after a while, he rolled out of their path before they could hit the ground. When he stood back up, he found Glacier pinned underneath two of them and struggling to push them off. “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.” Glacier looked up to glower at him, but stopped struggling once he saw Zero Volt floating above the ground. “What, over already? Oh well.” Zero Volt didn’t notice that he was being lifted off the ground until after he finished gloating. Once he was done, he finally realized that his hooves weren’t firmly on the ground anymore. “Uh-oh.”

Almost immediately, he was thrown into the ground. His body was lifted up again, only to be slammed against one of the fallen trees. Zero Volt was lifted off the ground a third time and tossed to the right and rolled along the ground before finally stopping in front of Glass. “Never send a pegasus and an earth pony to do a unicorn’s job,” she said as she picked him up again using her magic. “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?” he asked, holding up his right foreleg and the bracelet on it. “It’s not that hard to get it off. If you ask nicely, it’ll come off on its own.”

Glass’ magic visibly constricted around Zero Volt’s body, and he struggled painfully against it. “You really don’t know when to shut up, do you?” she said. “With my magic I can do whatever I want with you. You can’t break free.”

As much as he enjoyed taunting Glass over his item, he was starting to realize that he couldn’t fight her like this. ‘Great, I guess I can’t hide my teleportation ability from them anymore,’ he thought. He stopped struggling for a moment and focused on another spot in the clearing. In less than a second, he teleported to that spot and escaped from Glass’ magical grip. “Eh, not a bad toy,” he said, drawing everyone’s attention before switching to a more upset tone. “But playtime’s over!”

“Wh-what did you, how is that even…”

“So you’re a teleporter,” Bruiser 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,” Glass said. She tried to use her magic, but Zero Volt teleported away every time he felt her magic or foresaw the spell she was about to use.

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

“What could something like you know about unicorn magic?”

“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. As powerful as you think you are, you can’t touch me.” On his last sentence, Zero Volt teleported right next to Glass and spoke right into her ear. “I don’t have that problem.” He then teleported to her other side and kicked her with his hind legs, throwing her across the clearing until she hit a tree and landed on the ground. “Alright everypony, I’m almost done! Just got one last thing to-”

Suddenly, Zero Volt was tackled from the side, throwing him across the clearing. While he was still in the air, Bruiser galloped ahead of him and intercepted him with another kick. Every time Zero Volt flew across the clearing, he would come close to landing on the ground, only for Bruiser to kick him again and keep him airborne. Eventually, he had to teleport elsewhere to break the pattern and land on the ground.

‘Rrrgh, what happened back there?’ he thought. Now that he was back on the ground, he started to get back on his hooves. ‘I didn’t know he could run that fast. And how did he manage to attack me like that? I should’ve been able to see him before that happened. Never mind, it doesn’t matter. He’s the only one left and I have no reason to hold back, so-”

Before Zero Volt could stand up or even finish his thought, Bruiser stepped in front of him slammed his hoof down, breaking his knee. Both ponies knew what had happened, especially Zero Volt. He heard the brief, barely audible crunch in his leg. He felt the bone fracture, the two broken pieces slightly moving against each other. Most of all, he could feel the immense pain in his leg, and clenched his teeth to keep from yelling in agony.

“You know,” Bruiser said. He sped toward the other side of the clearing before continuing his speech. “I am very disappointed in you. I was really hoping you could be a part of our family. Do you know what…”

‘D-damn it!’ Zero Volt thought. He tried to stand back up despite his broken leg. ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen! I should have been able to see that before it actually happened. How does he keep doing that?’ After a while, he managed to reach a sitting position. He was tuning out Bruiser’s speech to check his injured leg. ‘Oh no. I-I think it’s actually broken. How did I let this happen? What am I going to do about this now?’

Looking up, he noticed that Bruiser was finishing his speech. He was breathing heavily because of his injury, and he was trying his best not to cry or show any other reaction. He wouldn’t let Bruiser know how much pain he was in or how dire this had just become, not to look tough, but to spite Bruiser. After all, that’s what this was all about: infuriating him, humiliating him, getting revenge.

“You know, that’s too bad,” Zero Volt said. “I was gonna do a little victory dance after all this.” He had a smirk on his face again, and he tried to imitate the mocking tone he had used throughout most of the fight.

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

“Well let’s face it, you are a joke,” Zero Volt 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.” Bruiser charged at him, only to slam head first into a tree when Zero Volt teleported five feet to the right. “I’m right here! Where are you running?” He teleported to the center of the clearing.

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

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Zero Volt said, now standing right behind his opponent. He looked up and studied the sky above him before teleporting in front of Bruiser. “But now, my turn.” He placed his hoof on Bruiser’s muzzle, teleported both of them two hundred feet above the ground, and teleported himself back down. He would have to wait for gravity to bring Bruiser back down, so for the next few seconds, he tended to his injured leg.

“What did you do with him?” asked the lavender unicorn.

“There’s a saying about things that go up, and…”

“Ooh, I know this one!” Pinkie interrupted, only to be interrupted herself when Bruiser crashed into the ground.

“Turns out it applies to him too.”

“It’s not over yet,” Bruiser seethed, now trying to stand up again. “Just because you’ve-”

“Actually, it is,” Zero Volt said. “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.”

“You arrogant little-”

“Shut up,” Zero Volt said. “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, I could’ve had my pick from any of them. That reminds me.” He quickly scanned the entire row of cages, wondering which of those ponies he would free. Up until this point, he hadn’t made up his mind about whether or not he’d free them. That changed when his leg was broken. This wasn’t fun anymore, and leaving them in those cells wasn’t going to make him feel any better. Eventually, his eyes reached the pegasus with the rainbow mane, and though he didn’t quite understand why, he decided to release her first. He teleported next to her 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?” Bruiser said. “That’s the best you can come up with?”

“Don’t think that I’m a pushover,” said the cyan pegasus. “I’ll show you what happens when you mess with Ponyville.” She was about to take flight, but Zero Volt held his foreleg in front of her to stop her. “Wait, I thought you needed backup.”

“If I wanted your help, I’d have let you out sooner,” Zero Volt said. “In fact, the only reason you’re out now is because I needed an empty cage. After all...” He teleported in front of Bruiser, touched his muzzle, and teleported him into the empty cage. He then teleported back, leaving Bruiser trapped inside one of his own cells. “What else am I gonna do with him?”

“When I get out of here...” Bruiser started, only to have Zero Volt speak over him.

“Is anypony really gonna listen to this?” Zero Volt turned to the cyan pegasus. “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 teleported around the clearing and brought Glass, Glacier and Silver Wind together to address them. “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.”

Glass left without saying a word, but Glacier stood up and glared at Zero Volt. Zero Volt glared back, refusing to be stared down, until Glacier turned and walked away. Silver Wind was the last to go, but before she left, she looked at him with a seemingly remorseful expression. If he had felt any differently about her, he would have thought that the concern was genuine.

Now that those three were gone, Zero Volt signed and turned back to the others. “Is everypony okay? Did any of you get hurt in all of this?”

“We’re all fine!” the lavender unicorn 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.” Within the next two seconds, Zero Volt teleported everyone except Bruiser out of the cages. As soon as they were free, they walked around and talked to each other, asking each other if they were alright among other things. Before long, they all turned toward him, making him worry. He wasn’t sure what they wanted to do with him after everything that happened, so he decided to try to get rid of them. “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.”

Upon hearing this, several ponies started to realize how long they had been away from town. Some remembered that they had work to do, some had stores to run, while others had friends and acquaintances to visit. A few of them, after having spent over two hours in those cages, could be heard saying that they needed to use the bathroom. Little by little, Ponyville’s residents left Whitetail Wood and went back to their town. Even Bruiser had been taken away. A large red stallion had tied a rope to one of the bars of his cell and hauled him off without saying a single word.

Now that he was alone, Zero Volt turned his attention back to his broken leg. ‘What am I going to do now? What can I do? I can barely stand up right now, much less walk with this leg. I can’t head back to Ponyville and try their hospital. It’s too risky to stay in that town for weeks to let this heal.’

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

Zero Volt recognized the cyan pegasus’ voice and turned around. Behind him were the six young mares he had run into today, including that other yellow pegasus. ‘No! Not now!’ he thought. He teleported several feet back and prepared to fight them. ‘I just fought those four back there. I can’t fight the rest of them like this. Just please, leave me alone. Leave me alone!’

“Take it easy,” said the orange earth pony. “We’re not here to hurt you.”

‘Okay if I drop one of those fallen logs on the two pegasi, maybe I can send the others skydiving without them… Wait, they’re not?’

“Wait, we’re not?” said the white unicorn.

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

“Really,” Zero Volt said bitterly. He teleported behind them and turned his back to them. “I didn’t feel very welcome earlier this afternoon.”

The lavender unicorn turned around and approached him. “Look, I know we all got off on the wrong hoof,” she said. “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.”

‘If I go with them and stay at the hospital, I’ll be a sitting duck. Still, it’s not like I have any other options.’ After thinking about it, he decided to agree to her offer. “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,” said the little dragon. “Now we just have to figure out how to get you to the hospital.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” said the lavender unicorn. “You can teleport us to Ponyville Hospital, can’t you?”

“I don’t know where it is.”

“Oh,” she said. “Well I can take care of that.” She closed her eyes and started to focus on a spell of her own. Zero Volt watched her carefully, waiting to see if his two-second warning would react to it. Seconds later, the eight of them were all caught in what appeared to be, and sort of felt like, a magenta fireball. After a second, the spell wore off and Zero Volt, though a bit disoriented, noticed that they were in an emergency room. One of the young mares called for some help, bringing a nurse and two paramedics to him. The unicorn spoke to them briefly and then to her friends, but then she turned to speak to him. “Okay, we all have to go now, but we’ll be back later to check on you. Just stay here and take it easy for a while.”

The six ponies turned toward the exit and left the hospital along with their dragon. Zero Volt watched them as they left while the hospital’s staff started to ask him questions and give him medical attention.

The Inevitable Prequel Chapter (2/2)

Apparently, There's Also a DS Version

A light snowfall descended over the streets of Ponyville. The streets had already been cleared of any snow that had fallen over the last few days and weeks, making it fairly easy to walk around town. At this time in the afternoon, Zero Volt was walking toward the library to meet his friends. Unfortunately, he wasn’t looking forward to meeting them there. A week earlier, he agreed to take them to visit a place that he had put behind him a long time ago, a place that he did not want to return to. However, they were all eager to go there, each for their own reasons, and only he was capable of bringing them there.

Strangely enough, the one most eager to go there was Fluttershy. One would’ve thought that Pinkie Pie would be the most eager, though she was certainly enthusiastic. After all, it wasn’t everyday that she had the chance to indulge in a near-limitless supply of sugary treats. However, he had hardly noticed any fauna the last time he had gone to that place, making Fluttershy’s interest all the more unusual. In fact, it was her idea for the eight of them, Spike included, to go to the Wisps' home world. Zero Volt realized that a few days ago, which is why he went directly to her to avoid going there.

“So you’re asking me if we can cancel our visit to the Wisps’ home world,” Fluttershy said.

“No, not necessarily,” Zero Volt said. “But since I’m the only one who doesn’t want to go, I figured I could leave you all there and come back a few hours later when everypony’s ready to go home.”

“Zero, you make it sound like you’re dropping us off at daycare,” she said. “But no, you’re not just dropping us off. You’re coming with us.”

“But why?”

“Because you need to be there, and because I’m, uh…” Fluttershy hesitated to finish her sentence. She looked away from him and nervously shuffled a hoof across the ground. After about ten seconds, she quickly murmured to a patiently waiting Zero Volt, “because I’m making you go.”

Zero Volt stared at her incredulously. “Fluttershy, I’m resistant to just about every method of persuasion you have, especially The Stare. You, on the other hoof, have been known to get frightened by your own reflection, and you’re making me go with all of you?”

“Th-That was ten years ago, and it hasn’t happened since,” Fluttershy said, looking visibly hurt. “And Rainbow Dash swore she’d never tell anypony. I never told anypony that she-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! She didn’t tell me anything,” he said. “Twilight told me about it. She found out after veering off course while testing a mind reading spell.”

“Oh… then forget what I was about to say.”

“It’ll be like you never told me,” he deadpanned. “Anyway, like I said, you really can’t convince me to stay with the group, so the rest of you will just have to have fun without me.”

"B-but wait,” Fluttershy said, but could barely manage a whisper as Zero Volt turned to leave. She frantically tried to think of some way to change his mind. An idea finally hit her, and she placed her hoof to her muzzle and blew on it sharply. It didn't make much sound, at least not the kind of sound that either pony could hear, but it was enough to catch his attention and make him turn around. They heard the sound of small paws tapping the ground, and seconds later two puppies scampered in through the front door and stopped in front of her hooves. Zero Volt paled when he saw the two come in, and his breathing started to become faster and shallower. "Alright, if you won't listen to me, then maybe you'll listen to them."

“Fl-Fluttershy,” Zero Volt stammered. “What are you…”

“You have two choices, Zero,” Fluttershy interrupted, finally showing some assertiveness. “You can either come with us to the Wisps’ home world, or you can deal with these two.”

“I still can’t believe she did that,” Zero Volt said to himself. “And with puppies? Where did she even get that idea?”

He didn’t have much time to ponder Fluttershy’s choice of coercive methods before he arrived at the library. The others were already there, each putting the final touches on their preparations for the trip. Pinkie Pie had over a dozen bags of different shapes and sizes surrounding her. There was no question about what she wanted to do in the Wisps' home world, so Zero Volt reasoned that the bags were meant to carry as many sweets back to Equestria as she could. One by one, she stored each empty bag in one of the others. When she was done, every bag, including some saddle packs and suitcases, had all been stuffed into one little fanny pack.

“Pinkie, did you really just do that?” he said.

“Yeah, of course,” she said, placing the pack around her neck. “You don’t expect me to lug around one of those big suitcases around, do you?”

“It’s not the why that I’m concerned about. It’s really more the how.”

“Really, because I’d like to know why she’s bringing a shovel with her,” Rarity said.

“She’s planning to dig up some cake,” Zero Volt said. “Which is weird, because that’s what the Drill Wisp is for.”

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie chirped. “I guess I don’t really need this then.” She opened one of the windows and tossed the shovel out into the snow.”

“Sure, y’all just let that thing rust outside,” Applejack said in admonishment. She was only planning on finding out how their world seemed to be growing sweets, pastries, and confections, so she wasn’t bringing anything with her.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hadn’t packed anything either. Fluttershy was going to communicate with and befriend the Wisps when she arrived, and Rainbow was planning on trying a few of the Wisp powers for herself.

As for Rarity, she didn’t know how the weather would differ from that of Ponyville, so she had packed some clothes for cold, hot, rainy, snowy, and any other type of weather she could think of. She was also bringing a sketchpad, in case any design ideas came to her. Everything she had was packed into a single suitcase, and a few of her friends remarked that she was actually traveling lighter than usual.

Finally, Twilight was busy ordering Spike to put together some of her own supplies. “I’m still going to need more parchment than that, Spike,” she said. “I want to learn everything about their world, and I mean everything. In fact, let’s pack another inkwell.”

“You do realize we’re only going to be there for a few hours, don’t you?” Spike said as he went to find more materials. “Besides, how do you know that place is going to be that much different from Equestria?”

“They have their own sun and moon, possibly their own day-night cycle, an ecosystem that appears to be based entirely around flora, another ecosystem that’s somehow based entirely around candy, a huge aquarium and a massive fleet of airships,” Twilight said.

“Half of those things were actually built by Nightmare when she tried to capture the Wisps,” Zero Volt said. “That ‘aquarium’ was actually the ocean, only with platforms and giant fish tanks built into it.”

“Does that mean there will be a beach we could go to?” Rarity asked.

“Maybe,” he said. “But those airships will be long gone when we get there. At best, you could try to do some stargazing.”

“Spike, pack a telescope!” Twilight said. “Who knows what planets and constellations the night sky has in that world? I also have to determine what satellites the planet has, its force of gravity…” Twilight continued to list the data and information she was hoping to find on the planet. Zero Volt stared at her as she rambled on before walking over to Spike.

“You think we should just leave her behind and leave her to her own devices when we get there?” he said.

“I’m not so sure,” Spike said. “She studies magic more than anything, and the closest thing they have to magic would practically turn Twilight’s horn into a hood ornament.”

“I’m not exactly sure how their home world is maintained, but I see your point.”

“Come on, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re all waiting on you.”

“Alright, alright,” Twilight said. “I’m almost ready.” She picked up several plastic bags and placed them in her saddle bag, but not before the other ponies noticed a biohazard symbol on each of them. “What? I’m going to collect some biological samples while I’m there.”

“Putting them all in biohazard bags seems kind of overkill,” Rainbow said.

“Rainbow, we have no idea what the organisms of that world would do if they were released into Equestria.”

“Yeah, Celestia knows what plagues I brought back from that world last year,” Zero Volt snarked.

“Is it too late to put him under quarantine?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, yes it is,” Twilight said. “Alright, I’m ready. Zero Volt, if you would.”

“Fine, let’s get this over with.” The eight of them gathered together along with their belongings. As soon as they were all ready, Zero Volt focused on their destination. The library around them vanished in a green flash, and when the flash of light faded away, they all found themselves surrounded by lush grasses, tall trees, and many wild, flowering plants. Scattered patches of clouds hung above them in the otherwise clear blue sky. Aside from Zero Volt, the seven of them stared in awe at the verdant, picturesque landscape around them.

“Incredible,” Applejack said. “Ah thought this place was beautiful before, but that movie the princesses showed us didn’t show it justice.”

“Yeah, and we saw that in HD,” Rainbow said.

“So, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, “spring-wear or summer-wear?”

“Definitely late spring,” Rarity said, pulling the appropriate hat out her suitcase.

“Does that mean you need the rest of your stuff taken back to Ponyville?” Zero Volt asked.

“Zero, don’t even think about it,” Fluttershy said.

“I’ve already thought about it, Fluttershy.”

“Alright, let’s begin!” Twilight said. “Rainbow Dash, fly up and see if you can manipulate those clouds up there. I also want you to help me calculate their density, as well as this world’s atmospheric pressure.”

“No offense, Twilight, but I didn’t come here to be your research assistant,” Rainbow said.

“Shhh,” Fluttershy whispered. “Does anypony else hear that?”

“Hear what?” Spike asked. The eight of them fell silent and listened. Before long, they started to hear chirping sounds coming from somewhere nearby. Zero Volt raised his hoof to quietly call the group’s attention and pointed toward their left. With an insincere salute from Rainbow Dash, they all headed in that direction. The chirping sounds became more audible as they went until the source of the sounds sprung out of the grasses.

Seven Wisps, each one a different color and shape, emerged from the grass and started floating around the ponies. The ponies, and dragon, gazed at each of the Wisps as they floated around and stopped in front of them.

“That didn’t take very long,” Pinkie Pie said.

“That’s because they always have their glee club here,” Zero Volt said.

“Really?!” she said. She opened her mouth and took a deep breath, but Zero Volt jammed his hood in her mouth to stop her from singing.

“No, they don't. I have no idea why they’re here.”

“Zero?” Fluttershy asked, pointing at one of the Wisps. “I don’t remember seeing this one before.”

Zero Volt walked over and examined the Wisp. This one was white in color and looked very similar to the pink Wisp, except with two small antennae on its head instead of spines. “He used to be Frenzy,” he said. “You know, the purple one? Now he’s Boost.” The white Wisp started glowing and did a back flip before flying toward him. Zero Volt held his hoof out, stopping the Wisp. “Not now.” Though a bit discouraged, the white Wisp started talking to him and briefly gestured toward the other ponies. “Yeah, those are my friends. From Ponyville. They’re here to pay a visit. Hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” Fluttershy said. “Could show us around your world? My friends and I would really like to see it.” The white, yellow, and orange Wisps all moved in front of her and started communicating with her. “Oh.”

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

“There’s another one of them around here as well,” she said. Fluttershy turned her attention back to the Wisps. The orange one gave her a pleading look while the white one produced another series of squeaks. When they were finished, the orange Wisp added a few more chirps and pointed off in the distance. “Of course. We’d be happy to help you find him.”

“Big surprise,” Zero Volt said sarcastically. “You guys need help, again! Alright sure, that’s why we’re here, right? To handle all of your problems for you.” The blue Wisp made a few quiet chirps of its own. “Yeah, I’m angry. Suck it up. Everypony, let’s split up and search for this other Wisp. One team should check out this grassland while the other searches Sweet Mountain. If you guys are going to put up an amusement park, we might as well name your other tourist attraction.”

“Ooh ooh ooh!” Pinkie called out. “I call Sweet Mountain Team!”

“But Zero, didn’t they say that their friend was somewhere in the amusement park?” Fluttershy said.

“How would they know that for a fact? They’re not exactly doing a good job of keeping track of this place if a whole amusement park popped up underneath them.”

“But then why would an amusement park just appear in this world? Don’t you think that’s a little out of the ordinary?”

“I think it’s a lot out of the ordinary,” Zero Volt said. “I also think it could be a complete distraction. That other Wisp could just as easily be anywhere else in this world, so why not expand our search? We might as well enjoy ourselves while we’re here, right?”

A scowl formed on Fluttershy’s face after the last comment, and she struck him across the face with one of her hooves. Zero Volt stood still with his mouth agape, his muzzle now smarting after Fluttershy’s slap. He turned back to look at her and saw the anger in her eyes. “Shame on you,” she said harshly. “Just because you’re upset right now does not mean you can use us like that!” She turned to the rest of the group. “Come on, everypony.”

Fluttershy walked off in the direction that she had been pointed in, with the Wisps all flying along with her. One by one, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity all passed by Zero Volt to follow her as well. A few of them cast a quick glance in his direction while he stood there, completely speechless. As soon as they had all walked by him, he hung his head low to the ground. He cast a glum look in their direction before lifting his hooves and lethargically following them.

* * * * * * * * * *

Half an hour later, the entire group arrived at the amusement park that the Wisps had mentioned. Four Ferris wheels were already visible from where they were standing, and nearly every street they walked along was lined with various exotic plants. Several walkways were constructed high above the ground, leading in various directions. Fluttershy continued to lead the group, surrounded by and speaking to the Wisps. The others were following slightly behind her, all taking in the scenery around them, while Zero Volt continued to lag behind everyone else.

“How do y’all reckon we’re gonna find that other Wisp?” Applejack said. “This place is big.”

“Big and boring,” Pinkie Pie whined. “This is supposed to be an amusement park, but all I see are a bunch of Ferris wheels.”

“Now let’s not forget about the shopping malls here,” Rarity said, pointing out all of the stores that surrounded them.

“Nopony seems to be running any of these stores,” Twilight said. She decided to change the subject. “Could somepony tell me what happened between Zero Volt and Fluttershy? Why did she slap him?”

“Remember when she told him off for usin’ us?” Applejack said. “He knows that their little friend is somewhere ‘round here. That’s why he wanted us to split up and look elsewhere.”

“I don’t understand. He doesn’t want to help them?”

“That’s exactly right. He’s still mad at them, and since we all came here to enjoy ourselves, he used that as an excuse to get out of helpin’ those Wisps.”

“No,” Rainbow Dash said. She looked back at Zero Volt, who was still lagging behind and sulking. “He wouldn’t do that. I get that he’s angry, but he’s not like that.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Twilight said. “Volt is a decent pony. We’ve known him long enough to be able to say that, but he had some serious trust issues when he first came to Ponyville, and I don't think he's worked through any of them. I think he’s letting his anger and distrust overrule his conscience.”

Twilight turned back and gave him a disappointed look, but at the same time, she knew more than she was letting on. A few days ago, Zero Volt had agreed to let Twilight test a mind reading spell on him. While casting the spell, she allowed her focus to drift and managed to find his memories of his first day in Ponyville, as well as his confrontation with those four thugs.  Without his knowledge, much less his approval, she learned that he had considered leaving without freeing the Ponyvillians who had been trapped in those cells, knowing that it could have been days before anypony found them. Of course, they could have freed themselves within a few hours once their magic returned, or just one hour if they had some parchment for a letter to the princess. Nevertheless, the incident showed just how far Zero Volt was willing to take a grudge.

At the same time, Twilight’s probe into Zero Volt’s mind had told her that he wasn’t seeing a therapist, despite her recommending one about a year ago. She could have figured that out on her own; his trust issues would have certainly been brought to light during a therapy session. Unfortunately, psychological help sounded like exactly what Zero Volt needed, especially for his fear of dogs, which she was convinced was more than just a case of cynophobia.

“For once, I hope you’re wrong, Twilight,” Rarity said. “From what Fluttershy has told us, this isn’t like looking for a little foal lost in the marketplace. She mentioned that this Wisp has been acting strangely, and for Zero to be so callous at a time like this is just…”

“I know what you mean,” Pinkie Pie said. The ponies continued to walk through the streets, searching for the other Wisp. They passed a few benches that were lined up along the street when a violet object rushed by, flying behind a few buildings and lampposts. This did not go unnoticed by Pinkie, who quickly looked in the direction of that violet blur. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Rainbow asked.

“I just saw something over there a second ago.” Rainbow Dash flew over to the lampposts that Pinkie was pointing at and scanned the area. Everyone else, including Fluttershy and the Wisps, stopped and waited for her, but Rainbow didn’t see anything unusual around her. She ascended slightly to get a better view of their surroundings, but she still wasn’t finding anything.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash noticed some movement on the other side of the street, among a group of shrubs. She quickly flew over to the spot and looked around. “I thought I saw something here,” she said. She searched among the tropical plants and lampposts, but whatever she had seen didn’t seem to be there anymore.

“Whatever it is can’t be too far,” Twilight said. “If we fan out from here, one of us should be able to find it.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Zero Volt said, pointing his hoof down one of the walkways in the area. When the other ponies looked at him, they realized that he was pointing at a small, violet creature floating over the walkway. “That missing Wisp you’re looking for is right there. You want him? Go get him!” He teleported onto the other walkway and galloped after the violet Wisp, who was now flying away from all of them. Most of the other ponies tried to follow on hoof, expecting the street to eventually connect to the walkway above, though Fluttershy quickly took flight and led the group of Wisps with her. Rainbow Dash was already in midflight, so she quickly switched to the other path and caught up with Zero Volt.

“For a while there, we thought you didn’t want to help,” she shouted to him.

“Take a closer look at that Wisp,” he shouted back. “This isn’t about them anymore.”

Rainbow took a closer look at the violet Wisp. This one had a fairly round head, and like the others, also had three limbs extending from the base of its head. However, this one didn’t seem to have any eyes, and an unpleasant, yet disturbingly familiar grin was spread across its face. After a few seconds, she remembered where she had seen this grin before. “No way! Her again?”

“I guess so, and from the looks of things, she’s almost sucked that one dry. Come on, we have to take her down.” The two of them continued their pursuit, with the rest of the group running along the street to keep up with them.

Pinkie Pie, of course, was bouncing with them while they galloped, but soon noticed a single metal rail off to the side of the walkway they were on. Rather than wondering why that rail was even there in the first place, she saw that it led up to the walkway that the violet Wisp was traveling over. Once she reached the rail, she made one final hop and landed on it. Switching to her front right hoof, she did a one-hooved hoofstand while grinding up the rail. “Wheeeeeeeee-Owie!” However, she forgot to jump off of the rail before it ended and fell off, tumbling on her back and onto her haunches. Zero Volt and Rainbow Dash were already ahead of her, so she quickly stood back up and bounced after them.

Eventually, the ponies and Wisps all arrived at a stream that ran through the park. Both paths continued on the other side, but each one had a gap in it placed just above the stream. The violet Wisp had no trouble floating across the stream, while Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt continued after it, the latter teleporting across while the former simply flew over. Pinkie Pie, who had almost caught up to her two friends, saw a few balloons rising from the gap in the walkway. She leapt on top of one of the balloons, somehow able to stand on top of it without falling, and used them as platforms to reach the other side.

Down below, Twilight used her magic to create a temporary bridge over the stream for herself. Applejack opted to jump across the gap, using her powerful legs to make it across in a single bound. The rest of Wisps also flew over with no problem, but Fluttershy lagged behind a bit to reach Rarity and give her a ride. Despite some difficulty due to the additional weight, she was able to make it to the other side and drop Rarity off, allowing both to continue the chase.

Before long, the walkway sloped down and merged with the street below. Once the paths converged, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Zero Volt found themselves at the front of the group. The two pegasi were using their wings to maintain speed, and dozens of tiny sparks were flowing from Zero Volt’s white streaks as he galloped. He appeared to be channeling his Shinespark ability, but instead of fully activating it, he only used it to raise his running speed.

The three of them were catching up to the violet Wisp, but before they could get any closer, a wall of black flames rose up ahead of them. The three leading ponies all stopped before any of them could run into the flames, but the rogue Wisp was already on the other side. The rest of the group finally caught up, but by then, the flames had circled around the Wisp, keeping the ponies away from it.

“Don’t you dare take another step,” a familiar voice spoke out. The flames surrounding the Wisp started to gather in front of it. Once the flames had clustered together, they died down, revealing the alicorn to whom the voice belonged. “What are you foals doing here?”

“N-Nightmare?” Fluttershy gasped.

“We could ask you the same thing,” Zero Volt said bitterly. “Don't you think this is getting a little old? I mean, what is this, the third time we've run into you?"

“Fifth by my count,” Twilight added. “And we know you’ve tried this before, so just give up the Wisp and we won’t be forced to harm you.”

“Why would I stop now?” Nightmare said, “After I’ve finally absorbed the power of one of the Wisps into myself. It only took me a few months this time.”

“Only a few months?” Zero Volt said derisively.

“Why of course. You must realize how difficult it is for a being such as myself to absorb their anti-magic power. After all, the small bit that you gained from each of them interferes with your other abilities, doesn’t it?”

“Still, all that prep time just for one of them?” he continued to mock. “What, you didn’t find anything with a shorter timetable?”

“Recall that I once waited a millennium for one of my plans to come to fruition,” Nightmare said. “I am a patient mare, and if this plan takes only a few years, then I can easily wait that long. Besides, how well do you think Equestria can defend itself against anti-magic? Maybe I should show you what I have in store for your kingdom. Void!”

The violet Wisp started glowing and immediately flew into Nightmare’s body. Once she absorbed the creature, Nightmare’s body was enveloped by a sphere of violet energy, which then started to suck in everything around it. Gusts of wind blew toward the sphere, carrying loose objects like trash cans, balloons and certain plants with them. Most of the ponies grabbed onto any secure objects they could find, with Applejack holding onto her hat as well. The Wisps weren’t as lucky, and many of them started to get pulled in. Twilight quickly grabbed each of them with her magic and tried to bring them back. She strained her magic, trying to the best of her ability to pull them to safety.However, the void created by Nightmare swelled and rapidly expanded. Neither the ponies nor the Wisps had any time to escape before the void consumed all of them and spread across the amusement park.

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt woke up to the feeling of something poking at his muzzle. Upon opening his eyes, a large green blob took up most of his field of vision. His vision became clearer after a few seconds, revealing that the blob wasn’t actually large, just very close to his face. “Uh yeah, good morning to you too,” he muttered to the small creature. “Now stop poking me.”

The green Wisp backed away from him, allowing him some room to stand up and get his bearings. Zero Volt brought his hooves underneath him and slowly stood up, ignoring the soreness in his legs and joints. He was still in the amusement park, but when he got back on his hooves, he saw that it looked very different after Nightmare’s attack. The sky had become a deep violet, most of the benches and plants had been thrown about, and several fissures and gaps had formed in all of the nearby walkways.

“Looks like Nightmare’s attack did a lot of damage to this place,” he remarked. “More than that, it separated all of us.” He began to explore the amusement park, looking around at his surroundings while cantering down the walkway. The Wisp caught up to him and started following him.

“Where are we going?” the Wisp asked. Although it couldn't speak any pony languages, Zero Volt could understand the little creature’s chirps perfectly and had no problem translating them.

“I’m going to find my friends and take down Nightmare,” Zero Volt said.

“You wanna give me a little more detail than that?”

Zero Volt stopped for a moment and glared at the Wisp. “No. I don’t.” He began cantering again, with the Wisp anxiously following him.

* * * * * * * * * *

In another section of the amusement park, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were also trying to regroup with the others. Two wisps, the yellow and cyan one, were floating alongside Fluttershy, who was trying to keep the same pace as the faster flying Rainbow. Nearby were three massive Ferris wheels, two of which were less than a mile away, the third one looming over them as they flew by. Fluttershy grew anxious as she gazed up at the towering structure that cast its shadow over them.

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy squeaked. “You don’t think these Ferris wheels are going to come to life at any minute and start attacking us, do you?”

“If they did, they’d probably go after Volt, knowing his luck with them,” Rainbow said. “Which reminds me, what are we going to do about him?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about his attitude this entire trip,” she said. She stopping flying and touched down on the ground, with Fluttershy doing the same. “He was about to ditch these little guys a while back when we started looking for that new one. That’s why you slapped him, right?” Fluttershy nodded to her. “Then why did we even come with us?”

“Um, actually…” Fluttershy murmured, but she was to quiet for Rainbow Dash to notice.

“I mean, if he didn’t want to deal with these Wisps that much, then he should’ve stayed behind.”

“Rainbow, I…”

“He could’ve saved us a lot of trouble, and nopony would’ve minded if he wasn’t here.”

“I told him that he had to come,” Fluttershy said, finding her voice in the middle of her friend’s rant. Rainbow Dash finally stopped talking and looked at her. Fluttershy glanced down for a second and nervously shifted her wings before explaining. “Zero asked me a few days ago whether or not he had to stay with us when we got here, and… I may have threatened him with these two little puppies if he didn’t-”

“You did what?!” Fluttershy flinched at Rainbow’s outburst. The two Wisps flew in front of her to protect her, but did little to deter Rainbow Dash when she angrily approached her. “Fluttershy, what is the matter with you?! What the hay made you think it was okay to mess with his fear like that?” Fluttershy continued to cringe as she backed away from Rainbow Dash. “Well? Spit it out already!”

“I-I had to do it,” she squeaked. “Zero needed to come back here, to talk things out with the Wisps.”

“For what? He made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want to speak with them.”

“That’s just it. Zero thinks that they used him and got rid of him when they didn’t need him anymore, but he has it all wrong.”

Rainbow blinked in response, somewhat surprised by what she was hearing. “How do you know that?”

“It was all during that movie that the princesses showed us,” Fluttershy said. “We all saw the same thing, so I thought maybe he’d pick up on it too.”

“So then you got something out of these guys that he didn’t?” Fluttershy nodded. “That still doesn’t make up for what you did. You know how he feels about dogs.”

“Maybe I went a little too far, but it can’t be that bad,” Fluttershy murmured back, but she didn’t find Rainbow’s reaction very reassuring. “Can it?”

Rainbow Dash sighed in frustration. “Remember that night when we all found out it? After we all got back home, I went over to his place to see how he was doing.”

“You never told us about that,” Fluttershy said. “So, how was he doing?”

“Not too good,” she said. “When I got to his place, he was having trouble sleeping. He spent the entire day around Applejack’s dog, so it was still gnawing at him even after he left Twilight’s, and… part of it might have been my fault too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some stupid prank involving a dog costume after everypony left. I felt pretty bad about it, so I spent the night at his place and-”

“Wait, you slept with him?!”

“What? No, no, no, I didn’t sleep with him!” Rainbow said. “I just slept over at his place. We talked for a couple minutes, and when he was feeling better, we both went to sleep. Look, that’s not important right now. As soon as we trash Nightmare, you have to talk to Volt and call off your attack dogs. I don’t even know why you used them in the first place.”

“They’re not attack dogs, they’re just puppies,” Fluttershy said. “And I told you before. Zero had to come here to work things out, and I… I didn’t know how else to do that.”

“The one time you didn't think to ask politely,” Rainbow muttered in exasperation. “Now come on, we have to regroup with everypony.” She spread her wings and lifted off the ground again. Fluttershy watched as she flew off before giving a remorseful look to the two Wisps floating next to her. After a while, she finally lifted off the ground and followed Rainbow Dash.

* * * * * * * * * *

Elsewhere, Rarity and Twilight were walking through the amusement park, hoping to rendezvous with the rest of their friends. Twilight was anxiously scanning the area around them while Rarity trudged alongside her miserably. Spike was standing on Twilight’s back and helping her look around. Floating just above them were two Wisps, the white one and the blue one.

“How much further do we have to walk, Twilight?” Rarity whined. “It feels like we’ve been here for days.”

“Rarity, it’s only been half an hour,” Twilight said. “I know for a fact that you’ve been on longer walks than this.”

“Yes, but add that to the other half-hour we’ve spent wandering around and… actually you’re right,” she said. “This isn’t the longest we’ve ever had to travel. So why am I complaining about this now?”

“I’m a lot more worried about us right now.” Twilight tried to focus on casting a spell, but she didn’t seem to have any access to her magic, almost as if she didn't have any magic at all. “This is the longest I’ve ever gone without being able to use my magic. With Nightmare running loose somewhere in this park, we’re in a lot of danger if she finds us.”

“This must be what she meant when she talked about invading Equestria,” Spike said. “But we can still fight back, right? We can use these Wisps and their powers.”

“That might not be such a good idea,” Twilight said. “We still don’t know what the white one does, and the blue one is too dangerous to use with anypony around.”

“What do you mean?”

“Whenever Volt used it, it released a shockwave that demolished every building within a mile of him. If that shockwave can tear apart other buildings, imagine what it could do to a live pony.” Twilight looked up at the two Wisps and focused her attention on the white one. “For all we know, this one could be just as dangerous. Rrgh, why didn’t he use this one when he had the chance earlier?”

“Probably to spite them,” Rarity said. The white Wisp was in front of her, making a series of squeaks and gestures to try to communicate with her. Of course, she couldn’t interpret anything that the Wisp was trying to say. “I wish we could understand you, but unfortunately, we seem to have misplaced both of our translators.”

“Since we can’t just ask them, we might as well test it for ourselves,” Twilight said. “I was going to study this world, so I might as well start here. Rarity, stand back.” Twilight approached the white Wisp while Rarity and the blue Wisp backed away. “Now what word did Volt use with this one before?”

“Hmm. I believe it was boost,” Rarity said. At that moment, the white Wisp flew into her body. Rarity flinched when the Wisp flew in her, and a multicolored aura surrounded her hooves. As soon as its energy coursed through her, she took off, screaming uncontrollably. “Aaahhhhhh! Stop! Release me right now!” The white Wisp increased Rarity’s running speed immensely, and she found herself unable to slow down as she ran down the street.

Twilight spread her wings and flew after her, partly to prevent her research from running away, but mostly to make sure that Rarity was unharmed. However, Rarity already had a head start, and because of the white Wisp’s power, Twilight was having difficulty keeping up with her. Along the way, Rarity ran onto a ramp alongside the street and flew off of it. When Rarity opened her eyes and looked ahead, she realized that she was about to crash into the wall of a building. She closed her eyes and turned away in anticipation, but instead of colliding with the wall, she abruptly shot back in the other direction. Once her hooves touched down again, she slid on them, creating a braking sound until she finally came to a stop. The white Wisp emerged from her as soon as she stopped, and was met with a glare from Rarity.

“Next time, stop when I ask you to!” she scolded, causing the Wisp to wince. “Preferably before I crash into something!” She looked at as much of her body as she could, but to her surprise, she had emerged completely unscathed. She was especially surprised to look at her hooves and find that they hadn’t even been worn down. “On the bright side, you didn’t ruin my hooficure.” She then found a nearby window and checked her reflection in it. “And my mane is still immaculate as always.”

“Rarity, are you alright?” Spike asked. He and Twilight had finally managed to catch up to her, though the latter stopped in front of her and tried to catch her breath.

“Actually, yes,” she said. “Surprisingly enough, I managed to get out of that without so much as a scratch.”

“It looks like you completely reversed direction before you could hit that wall,” Twilight said. “On top of the increased velocity, I think I have a good idea of what the white Wisp does.”

“Unfortunately, it didn't let me slow down, so I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.”

“I could probably ask someone else to test it out instead,” Twilight said. “Which reminds me, we still have to find everypony.”

“That means more walking, right?” Twilight nodded. “Very well, let’s go.” Both ponies, as well as the two Wisps with them, turned a corner and continued down the road through the park.

* * * * * * * * * *

“No… no… no… For the last time, no!” Zero Volt shouted, finally losing patience with the green Wisp. The park had become increasingly difficult for him to traverse due to the damage caused to the walkways. Earlier on, he tried to teleport across a large gap, only to find out that his magic-based abilities were being suppressed. The green Wisp had suggested using its power to explore the area, but he stubbornly refused. “I can get around here without your help, so leave me alone.”

“You’re angry,” the green Wisp squeaked.

“Yeah, I’m angry,” he shot back. “That tends to happen when my ‘friends’ use me to solve their problems and then throw me out with the trash.”

“Really? Who was it?” Zero Volt stopped in his tracks and squinted back at the Wisp. “It couldn’t have been Fluttershy. I mean, she seems so nice.”

“It was you!” Zero Volt said with a facehoof. “All seven of you!”

“Huh? What did we do?” Zero Volt didn’t respond, though his eye started twitching as he stared at the creature. “Wait, you don’t mean last year, do you?”

“Yes! Last year! You spent the whole day and night egging me on and acting nice to me, and when I finally get rid of Nightmare for you, I wake up in the Everfree with the door slammed behind me.”

“No,” the green Wisp squeaked softly. “That’s not what happened at all.”

“Then enlighten me,” Zero Volt seethed.

“Zero, you had a little bit of our power with you after that night.” The Wisp flew up to him and ran one of its pods through his bangs. “And that monster was still alive. We thought you were going to go after it when you woke up.”

“Then why did I wake up alone in the middle of the forest? You couldn’t be bothered to say goodbye to me first?”

“There wasn’t enough time for that. You came to us through a hole that the monster made, and that hole was going to close up.” Zero Volt blinked at the Wisp, putting an end to the glare he was giving it. “We tried to wake you up, but I guess you were too tired after that night. We always felt bad about letting you go like that, but… I didn’t think you’d take it this hard.”

Zero Volt stood in silent thought. His mind slowly moved from one thought to another. First, he felt confused and uncertain. From there, he remembered old bitter feelings, and pangs of guilt spread through his chest while his ears flattened against his lowered head. After he realized that the green Wisp might have been telling the truth, he thought back to those first few days in Ponyville. The anger he felt, all the things he did to ones he thought he couldn’t trust, and his behavior during this visit to the Wisp’s home world, all motivated by a misunderstanding. He looked up slightly when a different thought crossed his mind. “I could’ve teleported back,” he said.

“Huh?”

“I can teleport between this world and mine,” Zero Volt said. “I could’ve just gone back to Equestria myself.”

“Oh. Oops.”

Zero Volt did a facehoof. “Do you know how much angst that could’ve saved me?” he asked.

“Angst doesn’t look good on you,” the Wisp said.

“Angst doesn’t look good on anypony,” he said. The two of them stayed silent for several seconds. Eventually, Zero Volt let out the biggest sigh he had ever held in his entire life. “I’m going to say this to the rest of you guys after this is all over, but… I’m sorry… for the way I’ve been acting today.” He placed a hoof on his head. “I’ll probably have it in better words then, but right now I’ve got a lot on my mind.” The green Wisp responded by floating above his head and gently resting on top of his mane. “Hey, what are you doing?” Zero Volt swayed his head in every direction, but the Wisp held on to him. “You know, I probably look ridiculous with you up there.”

“Heh, I know,” the green Wisp chirped.

Zero Volt smiled at the small creature, but then he remembered that Nightmare was still causing havoc in this world. Looking around, he noticed that the only walkway nearby was the one he was standing on, and his path was now cut off by a large gap in the walkway. Above him, he saw a few trails of small golden rings, each going in a different direction. “We’ve spent enough time here,” he said. “The sooner we rendezvous with everypony and take down Nightmare, the sooner things will go back to normal. Hover!” The green Wisp was briefly surprised before being abruptly pulled into Zero Volt, whose white bangs changed to green and whose body now emanated a green aura. He lifted off of the ground and floated over the walkway, toward one of the trails of rings.

* * * * * * * * * *

Pinkie Pie gave out a cold, scrutinizing stare ahead of her. Her head tilted in one direction as she stared ahead, and then tilted it in the other direction. After staring intently for almost a minute, Pinkie pulled on the corners of her mouth and stuck out her tongue. She made several more faces after the first one, each one no less absurd than the one before it.

The pink Wisp floated in front of Pinkie Pie, with two of its limbs folded in front of it. It stared at Pinkie, meeting her smile with an irritated squint. The Wisp turned away and glanced to the side, where Applejack and the orange Wisp looked on in perplexity. It motioned between the two earth ponies and made a few squeaks to the orange Wisp. The orange Wisp glanced toward Applejack for a second before flying toward Pinkie Pie. The pink Wisp responded by flying away from Pinkie Pie and toward Applejack.

“You’re no fun,” Pinkie said, her smile quickly shifting to a sad pout.

“Focus, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said. “We didn’t come here ta have fun.”

“Actually, that’s exactly why we came here, remember?” Pinkie said. She jumped in front of the pink Wisp, almost pushing Applejack out of the way, and her typically wide grin reappeared over her face. “And I’m not giving up on you just yet. I’m sure you’re a cool, fun-loving little guy underneath that spiky shell, just like another pony I know. I just have to figure out what puts a smile on that face.” The pink Wisp continued to squint back at her.

“How’re yah gonna put a smile on the face of a little critter that doesn’t even have a mouth?” Applejack asked. Pinkie paused for a moment, but Applejack continued to speak. “Look, right now we’ve got more important things to worry about. Nightmare’s still runnin’ loose, and we’re all still lost in this park. Before yah start makin’ more friends, we need ta find the ones we’ve already got.”

A small frown appeared on Pinkie’s face, but she nodded and started to walk along with Applejack. The two didn’t get very far, however, before the walkway underneath them cracked and started to break apart. Pinkie Pie and Applejack lost their balance and stumbled about the walkway, which now shook underneath them. The center of the walkway fractured most severely, and as chunks of stone broke off, a violet sphere appeared underneath it, swallowing each broken piece. The violet sphere swelled, absorbing more of the walkway, and causing both earth ponies to fall off the edge.

Pinkie Pie screamed as she plummeted from the crumbling path above her. To her right, Applejack was also yelling, though not quite as hysterically as Pinkie, and looking down. Pinkie looked down as well, and though she could barely see anything on the ground below her, the two of them were falling toward a small building, apparently a security office. To her left, the pink and orange Wisps were flying alongside them, keeping up as they fell. “Rocket!” Pinkie grabbed onto Applejack with her forelegs before the orange Wisp flew into her. The two of them rolled into an upright position, and as soon as the orange Wisp’s energy radiated from Pinkie’s back hooves, the two of them shot upward. They soared past the broken walkway and reached a higher altitude before the Wisp separated from Pinkie. Applejack and Pinkie Pie slowed in their ascent until they finally fell again, landing near a reflecting pool at one of the highest areas of the park.

Applejack slowly began to get back up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she nudged Pinkie with her hoof and pointed in front of them. Both mares stared up at the large violet form that loomed over them. It looked very similar to the monstrosity that Nightmare turned into when Zero Volt first fought her, but instead of two arms, it had a long tail with the same sort of head at the end of it. Nightmare floated toward them until she was hovering above the courtyard, on the other side of the reflecting pool from Pinkie and Applejack. She aimed its tail at the two of them and opened the mouth attached to it.

The mouth on Nightmare’s tail started to gather energy for a second attack. However, it had only charged for a few seconds before a cyan beam of light pierced a section of the tail. The beam came to a stop near Pinkie Pie and Applejack, at which point Rainbow Dash emerged from it and separated from the cyan Wisp. “You two alright?” she asked, only to have Pinkie Pie hurl herself at her and give her a bear hug. “Yeah, I missed you too, Pinkie, now get off me.”

“Glad ta see your safe too, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said. “Yah know where the others are?”

“We’re right here!” Twilight called out. She, Rarity, and Fluttershy ran toward them, bringing Spike and three of the other Wisps with them. She turned and glared at Nightmare.

“It looks like you fillies finally made it back to me,” Nightmare sneered.

“You’re not getting away with this, Nightmare,” Twilight said. “Not when we have you outnumbered.”

“I’ll be plenty outnumbered when I return to Equestria,” Nightmare countered. “Why would I worry about it now, especially with this Wisp’s power at my disposal? You must have realized its effects by now, and once I unleash it upon to Equestria, not even the royal pony sisters will be able to use their magic.”

“Neither will you,” Zero Volt said, catching the attention of everyone else. He stood directly behind Nightmare with the green Wisp floating right next to him.

“And neither will you,” Nightmare said. She aimed her tail at him and channeled the violet Wisp’s power. “What are you going to do without your own magic?”

“Spikes,” he said. From the other side of the reflecting pool, the pink Wisp flew away from the others, past Nightmare, and into Zero Volt. A pink aura formed around his body, and once it formed into a sphere, he started revving up the Wisp’s energy. Spikes projected out of the sphere and moved over its surface, making several revolutions each second. Seconds later, he shot across the ground and jumped into the smaller head on Nightmare’s tail. He revved up again, allowing the spikes to shear into the head before letting go and shooting across the tail. He then jumped off, separated from the Wisp and landed with the rest of his friends. “Hey girls.”

“Ah reckon you’re feelin’ better now?” Applejack said.

“More or less,” he said. “Got a few apologies to make, but there’s time for that later.” He reached into his mane and pulled out two small wires, each one with an earbud at the end of it. Placing an earbud in each hoof, he inserted them into his ears before noticing the bewildered expressions on his friends’ faces. “What? Every boss battle needs some good background music.” Most of them cocked an eyebrow at him while he looked back at Nightmare, who aimed her wounded tail at him. “Boost.” The white Wisp flew into his body. His mane didn’t change color, though a multicolored glow formed around his hooves and the green hue of his irises became less saturated.

Zero Volt galloped forward. Nightmare kept the end of her tail aimed at him and fired three spheres in his direction. He leapt over the first one, which hit the ground below him. The second one landed several feet ahead from him, and he made a sharp left turn in midair with the Wisp’s power. His hooves landed on the surface of the reflecting pool and he kept running, skimming the water’s surface as he went. He reached dry land and continued to dodge the voids shot at him, either by swerving or jumping.

Meanwhile, his friends watched the fight go on. Some of them looked worried, though a few seemed unimpressed. “Hold on a second,” Rainbow Dash said. “Why is he just running around her?” From where they stood, Zero Volt was, in fact, circling around Nightmare while she attacked.

“Maybe he’s looking for an opening before rushing her,” Spike said.

“Running around for two minutes before attacking?” Pinkie Pie mused. “That sounds oddly appropriate. Either that or chasing after her if she's running away.”

“Appropriate or not, this is taking too long,” Rainbow said. “Laser!” She absorbed the cyan Wisp, took a split second to focus on Nightmare, and instantly found herself on the other side of the terrace they were in. Nightmare winced at the beam of light that had shot through the back of her head. She turned around and faced the rest of the group, prompting Fluttershy to use the yellow Wisp to drill into the ground and out of harm’s way.

Nightmare aimed at the group of ponies and Wisps, but was blindsided again, this time by Zero Volt. Pinkie Pie jumped in as well using the pink Wisp. She trotted across much of the surface of Nightmare’s transformed body, breaking into an occasional hop while the spikes dug into Nightmare. Rainbow Dash made another pass with the cyan Wisp, followed by Fluttershy, who inadvertently resurfaced directly underneath Nightmare and drilled into the base of her body. After realizing where she had resurfaced, she grabbed the yellow Wisp and flew back to her friends.

Now becoming annoyed, Nightmare rose above the terrace and aimed down at them. The violet Wisp’s power surged through her tail as she created another void. Rather than toss it at them, she held on to it, allowing it to grow in size.

Zero Volt looked up at Nightmare, and then at the nearby Wisps. “Hover.” The streaks on his sides and a few of his bangs turned green. With both Hover and Boost active, he propelled himself off of the ground and kicked the back of Nightmare’s main head. He was tossed back by the impact, but wasted little time recovering and slammed into her tail. He continued to attack her, bouncing off after each strike only to deliver another one. Each attacked physically rattled Nightmare, and eventually, her tail was knocked into her own void.

Nightmare pulled back, but was unable to break free from the violet sphere. In fact, her tail was actually being pulled in even more. Despite her efforts to break free, the void was claiming more of her. The sphere expanded by a few inches, and she fought even harder against its pull. Instead, the trapped limb broke off near its base, falling into the void while Nightmare broke away. The violet Wisp emerged from the smoldering stub of her tail, and now that it was no longer being used by Nightmare, the once violet sky returned to its normal color.

Back on the ground, everyone watched as the sky returned to normal and the violet Wisp floated down toward them. Twilight and Rarity tested their horns, one of them conjuring a book while the other produced a paper-thin, almost transparent, yet reflective surface in front of her. Both were delighted to see their magic working again.

Their delight was short-lived, however, when Nightmare’s main head flew toward them. Without the violet Wisp, she attacked by lunging at them and snapping her jaws. Fluttershy flew back to get out of the way, with most of the Wisps following her. Rainbow Dash pulled Pinkie Pie away and Twilight teleported Spike, Rarity, and Applejack to safety. Nightmare thrashed about in an attempt to kill any of them. In her fury, she caught sight of Zero Volt standing by himself with the violet Wisp next to him. His mouth moved briefly, and though she was too far away to hear what he said, she saw the violet Wisp fly into him.

Zero Volt dropped to his knees. A violet haze rose from his hooves, as well as the white sections of his mane and coat. He felt a dull, throbbing pain in his head and his stomach, but at the same time, that pain and everything else he felt was growing more distant with each passing second. Unlike Frenzy, which made him feel a combination of hunger and bloodlust when it activated, Void was making him feel empty, as if everything around him and inside him was being swallowed up. His hearing became hazy, and when he looked up, his eyes registered little more than a blurred, violet picture of the environment around him.

Nightmare approached Zero Volt as he lay on his knees. She recalled the effect that Frenzy had on him, both before and after he used it. Right now, he was either struggling to tap into this Wisp’s power or he was rejecting it outright. Either way, she had an opportunity to kill him while he was weak and unguarded, and she decided to take it. Nightmare lunged at him with jaws extended, ready to crush him between them.

By the time Nightmare reached him, Zero Volt’s body was already engulfed by the violet Wisp’s energy. She collided with the violet sphere that formed around him. Every cubic inch of her that fell into it was dissolved, degraded by the Wisp’s tainted anti-magic, and just like the previous void, this one was also pulling her in. What separated this one from the previous one was that it was moving toward her as well, apparently led by whatever capacity for thought Zero Volt still had in this state. The void swallowed more and more of her, breaking down every piece of her transformed body.

Finally, the void consumed the last of Nightmare’s form. It swelled by a few inches before finally dissipating. In its wake, the violet Wisp emerged, now with a deep violet aura around its body. Zero Volt appeared in center of where the void once was before falling to the ground.

The other ponies and Wisps watched while Zero Volt attacked Nightmare with Void. As soon as it ended, and once he collapsed, Fluttershy ran over and knelt beside him. She found no physical injuries on him, but his whole body shuddered and he was holding his front hooves against his stomach. Fluttershy placed a hoof on his side, but the only reaction she received was a quiet, pained moan. Above her, the glow around the violet Wisp intensified and changed from violet to a bright red. As it glowed the small creature’s body began to change shape. Three eyes appeared on its head, whose shape now resembled a candle flame, only larger. Its limbs became thin and somewhat wavy, and its entire body changed from violet to red-orange.

The red Wisp floated down to Fluttershy and spun around her head. Despite her concern for Zero Volt, it caught her attention and she looked up at it. The Wisp stopped in front of her and made a few small squeaks. Fluttershy nodded to the small creature and stood up. Behind her, a black fog swirled over the ground and gathered in one spot. She turned around and glowered at it as it molded itself into an equine form and rematerialized into Nightmare. The red Wisp followed her as she walked in front of her, her glower now turning into The Stare. Nightmare flinched when she saw Fluttershy’s powerful glare directed up at her, but quickly regained her composure and stared back.

“An intimidating gaze, but nothing more,” Nightmare said. “I’ve seen enough of your thoughts, your emotions, and your fears through the phantom I made from you.” She grasped Fluttershy with her magic and lifted her up to eye-level. “There’s nothing behind that Stare, so don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can convince me otherwise.”

“Burst!” The red Wisp flew into Fluttershy, instantly breaking Nightmare’s telekinetic grip on her. Fluttershy caught herself with her wings, and her hooves, as well as her primaries, were enveloped in flames. She flapped her wings to stay aloft while staring down Nightmare, each wingbeat releasing a burst of flames from them. At the same time, fire began to circle around her. The flames gathered around Fluttershy as she brought herself to an upright position and crossed her forelegs over her chest. She spread her forelegs out, and the flames that had built up exploded outward. The blast threw Nightmare several back, setting her entire body on fire, and incinerating her before she could hit the ground.

The rest of the group ran over to Fluttershy. With Nightmare gone, the red Wisp flew out of her while she landed back on the ground, now panting after the battle. “That was awesome, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said. She gave her a congratulatory shove which briefly knocked her off balance.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said. “That took a lot out of me.”

Rarity looked around the park apprehensively, and then turned toward her friends. “Do you think Nightmare is finally gone?” she asked.

“Probably not,” Zero Volt groaned, still feeling the effects of Void. “This is the third spectacular death scene she’s had, and she managed to come back from the last two just fine.” He turned toward the group of Wisps. “Look, I uh…” He was interrupted when six of the Wisps huddled around him, though the green one chose not to join them. The white Wisp left the embrace and chattered to Zero Volt, making a lengthy series of chirps. “Sorry, I uh, didn’t quite get all that.” The green Wisp floated down to him and made its own chirps to him. “Oh, thanks.”

“So you’ve finally reconciled with them?” Twilight said.

“Yeah. Turns out the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding.”

“Déjà vu, huh?”

“So if Nightmare’s gone and you’re friends with them now, there’s only one thing left to do,” Pinkie Pie said. “Throw a party!”

Before anyone could respond to her, Spike belched out a scroll. He managed to catch the letter and unroll it. “My dearest Twilight Sparkle… depart for the Wisp’s home world… Nightmare has resurfaced…” Spike skimmed the letter silently, only reading out loud the crucial details before rolling up the scroll. “I guess this came a little late.”

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Zero Volt dictated. “We’re already here, it’s already taken care of, and we’ll be back to give you a recap later today.”

“A-Actually, why don’t I dictate the letter?” Twilight said, holding a quill and some parchment with her magic.

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that afternoon, the seven ponies, and Spike, were still in the Wisp’s home world. After Nightmare had been defeated, most of them returned to the grassy area they had first entered in. Celestia and Luna had sent a reply to Twilight’s letter agreeing to wait until they returned to give them a debriefing. Until then, most of the six young mares in the group set out to do what they had initially came to do. Pinkie took the yellow Wisp with her, promising to return it in the same condition that she borrowed it in. Rainbow Dash spent much of her time flying around before taking a few of the Wisps for a test drive. She found Hover to be both redundant and slow, though she was enjoying the use of Laser and Boost. Fluttershy spent time talking to some of the other Wisps, but after seeing Zero Volt sitting alone, she realized that she still had something else to do.

Zero Volt noticed when Fluttershy hovered next to him and sat down. Neither one said anything for a while, but eventually, Zero Volt was the first to speak. “You knew, didn’t you? That’s why you insisted on me being here.” Fluttershy nodded. “You know, if they had realized that I could teleport back to Equestria, they would’ve had time to give me a proper sendoff. Then again, a lot of what happened today could’ve been avoided if I’d been an adult about this whole thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I’d come back here and talked to them sooner, things would’ve been easier for all of us,” he said. “We would’ve reconciled sooner, I could’ve introduced you girls to them, and we could’ve agreed to visit every so often. And if we’d all been here sooner, we might’ve rooted out Nightmare before she could cause any real damage. Instead, I acted all passive-aggressive about it.”

“So if there’s one thing you learned from all of this…”

“Yeah.” Another tense, awkward silence fell over the two of them. Fluttershy knew what he was going to say next, and she waited for him to address it. “Fluttershy, we need to talk. About your dogs.”

“What about them?”

Zero Volt sighed. “I still get flashbacks of that dog attack, the one that happened in Baltimare. It’s not just once in a while either, but… every morning when I brush my coat over my stitches, or if I turn over in my sleep, or whenever somepony takes her dog out for a walk.” He paused for a moment to finish his thoughts. Fluttershy didn’t say anything, only silently encouraging him to continue. “It’s bad enough dealing with it on an everyday basis, even when my friends don’t add to it. Applejack’s been great about keeping me away from Winona whenever I’m around, and Celestia bless her for it, but… those puppies you used on me. I just need to know, did you really have to do that, just to get me to come here?”

“I… I didn’t think I had a choice,” Fluttershy said. “I didn’t think you’d believe me if I just told you. I saw how the Wisps acted toward you that day. They genuinely liked you, and they genuinely cared about you. I thought you would have realized that when we watched that movie, but I guess understanding their language isn’t the same as understanding them.”

“I would’ve listened to you,” he said, after another pause. “I mean, I would’ve found it hard to believe, but I still would’ve trusted you. You didn’t have to keep this from me. You didn’t have to use those dogs either.”

Fluttershy looked down in front of her. She knew that is wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation, but she hadn’t expected her conscience to weigh so heavily on her. She moved closer to him and extended her wing over his back. Zero Volt felt the contact and looked around to see Fluttershy’s wing drape over him. “Zero, you’re right. I shouldn’t have exploited your fear like that. I-I shouldn’t have exploited it at all.” Zero Volt nodded in acknowledgement. “You… you still trust me, don’t you?”

“Yeah, of course. You promise to keep those puppies away from me, right?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Cross my heart, hope to-”

“You can already fly,” Zero Volt said, a tiny smile forming on his face. Fluttershy returned the smile.

“Actually, I am a bit hungry right now,” she mused. “Do you think we can ask Pinkie Pie if she has any cupcakes?”

“Maybe later,” he said. “I kind of want to stay here for a while.” Fluttershy nodded again, and to two of them stayed in that spot. They looked around at the scenery, including their friends around them, as the day drifted by.

Bright Lights, Colors All Around (2/3)

Preparing for the Coming Nightmare

Outside the walls of Canterlot Castle, the sun could be seen setting for the day. Despite the wintry cold, Luna was standing over a balcony in one of the highest sections of the castle. Having just brought the moon from the horizon, she returned inside and made her way down to the castle’s main hall. Celestia was standing in the main hall when she arrived, and the guards who were normally stationed in the hall had already been dismissed. “They should be arriving soon, should they not?” Luna asked.

“Twilight said that they’d be here two minutes ago,” Celestia said as she flung herself in front of Celestia. A green glow hovered in the air above the center of the hall, and was quickly replaced by six young mares, a young stallion, and a baby dragon.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said. “I’m so sorry we were all late! It’s just that we brought a lot back and-”

“It’s alright, Twilight,” Celestia said. She lifted her gaze to address the others as well. "Now tell us, what happened in the Wisps’ home world?”

Zero Volt stepped forward. “Nightmare had been in the Wisps’ home world for the last three, maybe four months,” he said. She was trying to absorb their powers again, same plan as the one she had when I first went there.”

“And in that time, she had already claimed one of them, correct?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“I’ve been sensing her from time to time,” she said. “Today in the Wisps' home world and four months ago when she last attacked us. I could also sense her a year ago, on the night of your first confrontation with her.”

“So, whenever she’s been active or on the verge of an attack?” Twilight said.

“Yes. Now continue.”

“After a while, we tracked her down and attacked using all of the Wisp powers,” Zero Volt said. “By the time we were done, the Wisps were all okay and Nightmare had pretty much burst into flames. I’m sure she’s still alive though, wherever she is.”

“That raises an important question,” Twilight said. “How will we know when we’ve stopped Nightmare once and for all? This is the fourth time we’ve defeated her.”

“And all four of those looked pretty convincing,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Unfortunately, we still have a very long way to go before Nightmare is truly vanquished,” Luna said. “During my lunar exile, I could feel Nightmare festering inside of me, growing more powerful with each passing year. After over a thousand years, she has grown immensely powerful, and I do not think that she will be so easy to defeat.”

“Actually, that last fight was pretty easy,” Spike chimed in.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. "All we really did was walk around for an hour and a half and then kicked her flank for about five minutes.”

“Did she not have at least one of the Wisps to use against you?” Luna asked.

“She had one of 'em,” Applejack said. “We had the other seven.”

“I see,” Luna said. “Under the circumstances, she most likely chose to retreat from an unfavorable situation rather than take too much damage.”

“Still, you’ve all defeated Nightmare three times with the powers of those creatures,” Celestia said. “Those attacks should have weakened her, and I believe we are making some progress.”

“What about the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight asked. “Didn’t they have an effect on Nightmare when we used them against her?”

“The Elements of Harmony freed me when I was possessed by her," Luna said, "but I'm afraid that they did not cause any damage to her. Unfortunately, her magic has become too powerful after all these years, and now she can overcome the Elements through sheer force.”

“That means that the Shinespark is our most reliable weapon against Nightmare,” Celestia said.

“But the Elements of Harmony are supposed to be the most powerful magic in existence,” Twilight said. “Are you saying that both Nightmare and the Shinespark are stronger than the Elements?”

“Not necessarily,” Celestia said. “Nightmare is only as powerful as she is now because of the tremendous reserve of magic that she has built over time. We still don’t know the source or nature of that magic, but we do know that the Shinespark can neutralize it little by little. Though I wouldn’t expect the Shinespark to do the same to the Elements of Harmony. Their magic is more complex than that.”

“Not that it really matters,” Zero Volt said. “The whole Elements versus Shinespark scenario wouldn’t actually play out anyway.”

“That’s ‘cause we’re all on the same side. Ain’t that right, Volt?” Applejack said.

“Right,” he said. “Also because it takes a ridiculously long time for the Elements to activate. I could probably teleport up to each of you and steal them before you got to use them.”

“Yeah, you try that, Volt,” Rainbow said. “See what happens.”

“If we’re all ready to get back to the matter at hoof,” Celestia said. The others turned back toward her. “There’s no telling when, where, or how Nightmare will attack again. Our best means of finding her is through Luna’s visions, so you must all be prepared to respond whenever that happens. With that in mind, I am entrusting you with this.” She used her magic to pick up a scabbard with a sword sheathed in it and placed it in front of them. The sword had a blue hilt with yellow markings along the crossguard. The scabbard was coated with blue dragon scales and decorated with a silver trim along its edge, chape, and opening. In addition, an adjustable strap was added to the scabbard, designed to fit around a pony’s barrel.

“Isn’t this the sword we used to fight Nightmare last time?” Twilight said.

“Yes it is,” Celestia said. She unsheathed the sword, revealing a double-edged blade attached to the hilt. “We also had a new blade forged for it, since the last one rusted away.”

“Wow, looks like you went all-out with the scabbard too,” Zero Volt said. “Are you sure that sword can still absorb the Shinespark?”

“Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

Zero Volt placed his hoof on the hilt of the sword and closed his eyes. A second later, outlines of a horn and wings formed on his body and seven spheres of light, each of a different color, emerged from them. One by one, the spheres of light floated toward the crossguard, and once they had all passed into the sword, the blade began to emit a soft white glow. The outlines disappeared from Zero Volt’s coat, and his bangs now matched the rest of his mane’s black color. “I think it worked,” he said.

Twilight fired a beam of magical energy from her horn. Her spell reached the sword’s blade and dissipated without any visible effect. “Yeah. It definitely worked.”

“Now most of you are capable of using a sword,” Luna said, “but we do insist that Zero Volt be trained to use one as well.”

“We don’t need you to become a skilled swordspony,” Celestia said. “You just have to be able to swing a sword without falling over.”

“I’m not going to live that down, am I?” he said.

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that evening, Zero Volt entered a large square room within the castle. Celestia had told him to come here, apparently to meet a few of the royal guard ponies. The room was mostly empty except for him and his friends, who were standing along the walls by one of the room’s two doorways. Despite the apparent lack of furnishings, he noted a few details around the room. Several sections of the walls and floor were either paler or deeper than the rest, suggesting that some objects that had normally been placed there were recently moved.

As soon as he reached the center of the room, a magical barrier, blue in color, formed over the doorway in front of him. He turned around and saw another barrier, yellow in color, cut through the other side of the room, blocking him off from both his friends and the other doorway. ‘That might have been more intimidating if I couldn’t teleport out of the room,’ he thought. Suddenly, his two-second warning signaled him, and he jumped out of the way of a beam of magic shot at him from behind. The beam collided with the yellow barrier, creating a ripple through it before disappearing. Zero Volt turned around and saw five royal guard ponies. The guards consisted of two mares, one orange and one lime-green, and three stallions, one gray, one blue and one white. All five of them were unicorns and all five of them were clad in armor. “Um… nice to meet you too?” he said.

Two of the guards, one mare and one stallion, charged at Zero Volt. The lime-green mare flipped around and kicked at him with her hind legs while the blue stallion kept charging, his horn held out in front of him. Zero Volt jumped back to avoid the mare’s kick and dodge-rolled away from the stallion. His two-second warning activated again just before an axe and a spear were thrown at him with magic. He moved his head to the side to avoid a swing from the axe and teleported away from the spear thrust at him.

Zero Volt reappeared behind the mare that had tried to kick him and grabbed her tail with his teeth. He yanked her tail, but was barely able to pull the mare more than an inch back. She kicked at him again, and he teleported toward another part of the room. “Didn’t think that’d be so heavy,” he muttered.

“What did you say?!” the mare said. She pointed her horn at Zero Volt and cast several spells in his direction. Zero Volt teleported again, this time several feet to her left.

“Sorry, but I usually have no problem grabbing somepony by the tail and tossing them around.”

“How many of those other ponies were wearing eighty pounds of armor?”

Zero Volt dodge-rolled, avoiding another beam of magic, but had to teleport again to dodge an axe that was telekinetically swung at him. “Really? All of that is eighty pounds?”

“Actually, it’s more like thirty-six kilograms,” said the orange guard mare. “She’s just very sensitive about her weight.”

“In that case, this might hurt a bit,” Zero Volt said. He teleported next to the angry guard mare and teleported her, including her armor, up to the ceiling. He teleported himself back to ground, leaving her to fall back down and hit the floor with a hard thud.

As soon as Zero Volt returned to the ground, the white guard stallion fired at him with his magic. Zero Volt teleported next to the blue guard stallion and teleported him into the spell’s path. The attack threw the guard pony across the room and into the yellow barrier before he dropped to the floor. Zero Volt then teleported behind the orange guard mare and grabbed her tail. Both ponies disappeared in a green flash, but the mare’s armor remained. Each piece of armor remained in the air for a split second and fell on the floor with a heavy clatter. Seconds later, the denuded guard was flung into the nearby wall. Before she could fall back down, Zero Volt teleported next to her and kicked her against the wall with both hind legs.

The gray stallion was about to step forward, but the white one held out his foreleg to block him. Instead, he stepped toward and stared silently at Zero Volt, preparing his horn. Zero Volt stared back at him, and after a very brief standoff, he galloped toward the two remaining guards. The white stallion stood still and watched, keeping his eyes on Zero Volt while the other guard pony stood behind him. He lifted his head, his horn pointing directly up, and cast a rose-colored barrier over the two of them.

Zero Volt stopped galloping, but instead of coming to a stop, he teleported directly inside the barrier and spun around. He tried to deliver a kick to one of the guards, but the white guard pony tilted his head to avoid the attack. He then grabbed Zero Volt’s hind leg with his hoof, pulled, and twisted him around, tossing him onto his back. The other guard stallion tried to cast a spell of his own, but Zero Volt teleported back from them and got back on his hooves. The white stallion aimed his horn and fired three blasts of magic, but they were blocked when Zero Volt held up his bracelet and extended the wings on it.

Zero Volt teleported behind the white guard pony and grabbed his tail with his teeth, but was forced to teleport away to avoid getting kicked by him. The two guards found him standing outside the rose-colored barrier. They eyed him calmly, horns tilted slightly downward and front hooves ready to act on a moment’s notice. A few beads of sweat trickled down Zero Volt’s head, but he stared back at the other two with a tiny smirk on his face.

Their standoff continued for several more seconds, finally coming to a close when Zero Volt teleported back inside the barrier and next to the white guard stallion. The guard tried to throw a punch at him, but he teleported away almost immediately. He reappeared behind the guard and quickly teleported away again. The white guard pony stood confused as a flurry of green magical energy swirled around him. With each flash of green that appeared around him, he also started to realize that parts of his body were feeling lighter. One by one, each hoof was less weighed down when Zero Volt teleported near and then away from it. Clanging sounds could also be heard in another section of the room as if one by one, large pieces of metal were falling to the ground. Zero Volt swung by him again, and once he noticed a substantial amount of weight removed from his entire back he realized what was happening.

Zero Volt teleported in front of the white guard stallion and placed his hoof on the guard’s helm. He teleported again, taking the helm with him and leaving the guard completely stripped of his armor. He reappeared outside the rose-colored barrier, next to a pile of that guard’s armor. He dropped the helm on top of the pile and looked back at the two guards. He briefly smirked at them, but wound up taking a second look at one of them. Now that the white guard pony’s armor had been removed, his cutie mark was now visible, a purple shield with three light blue stars above it and a pink, six-pointed star placed over it. He had blue eyes, and his mane and tail consisted of three different shades of blue.

“You look familiar,” Zero Volt said.

Shining Armor stood within his own barrier completely dumbfounded. “Did Twilight ever tell you that she has a brother?” he asked.

“Once or twice,” Zero Volt said. “So you’re Shining Armor?”

Off to the side, Twilight and her friends watched while her brother and Zero Volt resumed their fight. Shining Armor used his magic to retrieve his armor and dissolve the barrier that he had cast over himself. Zero Volt started attacking again, trying to use his own abilities to match Shining Armor’s magic and guard training. “Are they still going at it?” Just inside the doorway, next to Twilight and her friends, Princess Cadance had entered the room.

“Cadance!” Twilight said cheerfully. She and Cadance ran toward each other and broke into an old song and dance they both knew. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” The two hugged each other at the end of their greeting. “Do you think this counts as a day when the fate of the world isn’t hanging in the balance?”

“I’m sure it does,” Cadance said. “Shining Armor and I were just here for a summit with Princess Celestia. We were going to stop by Ponyville tomorrow and surprise you with a visit.”

“You're still going to come visit, right?” Twilight said.

"Yes, of couse." Twilight and Cadance smiled warmly at each other, but they soon turned their attention back to the scuffle on the other side of the barrier when Shining Armor and Zero Volt clashed in front of them.

Shining Armor used his magic to create another barrier around himself. “I’ve got to say, I was expecting more from you after I read your file,” Shining Armor said.

“I have a file?” Zero Volt asked. The horn on his bracelet extended out and he used it to pierce Shining Armor’s barrier. Shining Armor shot a beam of magic at him, and he teleported away to avoid it.

“Yeah, Princess Celestia has a file on you,” Shining Armor said. “She even gave me a copy of it before we all came here.” Zero Volt placed his hoof on Shining Armor’s helm and teleported away, taking the helm with him. Shining Armor spotted him in another part of the room, but when he didn’t see his helm with him, he reached up with his magic. After a quick glance above him, he was able to grab his helm before it fell on his head and put it back on. “I’ll admit that you have some interesting powers. Too bad that that’s all you have. I’d be a lot more impressed if you didn’t have the combat skills of a street thug.”

“Hey, that is offensive to every street thug whose flank I’ve kicked!” Zero Volt said.

“Heh, funny,” Shining Armor said. “But sooner or later, you need to stop playing around. Troops, now!” Throughout the rest of the room, the other four guard unicorns started to channel their magic. Four sparks of magical energy appeared around Zero Volt and surrounded him. One of the sparks, blue in color, floated above his head while the other three, one white, one pink and one orange floated around him. Threads of magic extended from each spark toward each of the other three, forming a tetrahedral matrix around Zero Volt. Shining Armor completed the setup by casting a barrier spell over the matrix.

Zero Volt watched while the five royal guards cast their spells around him. He could have given a number of reasons why he didn’t react, whether it was because the spells were set in place fairly quickly, his two-second warning didn’t flare up, or simply because he was somewhat captivated by the visual effect. But once the tetrahedral matrix and barrier spell had been put in place, he saw no reason to remain inside. He closed his eyes and pictured a different area of the room, right near where Shining Armor stood. A green glow formed over his body and faded away after a second, but he remained where he was. He looked in either direction with a perplexed expression before turning his attention to the spells. The horn on his bracelet extended out again and he pierced the barrier with it. The bracelet left a small hole and several cracks in the barrier, but when Zero Volt pulled his foreleg back, the barrier repaired itself almost instantly.

“That’s a containment spell,” Shining Armor said. “Once those nodes connect to each other, no magic can go in or out of that matrix. Solid objects can still pass through, which is why I cast a barrier over it.”

Zero Volt started weighing his options. He couldn’t damage Shining Armor’s barrier quickly enough, and he couldn’t teleport outside because of the containment spell. His Shinespark could have dissolved both spells, but it was being kept in that sword. Even if he had the Shinespark with him, he couldn’t reach the necessary speeds to activate it. “So I’m trapped,” he said. His eyes wandered toward the containment spell’s four nodes, then to each of the guard ponies who were maintaining the spell. “Do you really need all four of them to cast this containment spell?”

“It’s a very taxing spell,” Shining Armor said. “A more powerful unicorn could probably cast the whole thing, but right now each of my guards is maintaining one node.” Shining Armor focused on his own barrier, causing it to disperse. He then turned toward each of his fellow guards and dismissed them.

One by one, the nodes on the containment spell flickered and vanished. The threads of magic that connected them dissolved. Both the yellow and blue barriers also vanished, effectively unsealing the room, and the four guard unicorns turned toward the other exit, away from the other ponies in the room. As soon as the guard ponies left, Shining Armor turned back to Zero Volt.

“Every Monday and Thursday evening from five to eight, you’re to report to the castle courtyard for your training as a swordspony,” he said. “You'll meet a dark gray guard pegasus when you get there.” Using his magic, he levitated the Shinespark-infused sword, sheathed in its scabbard, toward him. “Remember to bring this with you.”

Shining Armor tossed the sword to Zero Volt, who caught it in his right hoof by the scabbard. He tilted the scabbard to have its chape pointing downward and released his grip, letting the sword fall until he caught it by the crossguard. One by one, seven spheres of light emerged from the sword’s hilt as the Shinespark transferred from the sword back to him. “Am I done here now?” he asked.

“Yes,” Shining Armor said. “You’re dismissed.”

“I don’t have to start calling you ‘captain,’ do I?” he said. Cadance walked away from Twilight and her friends and toward Shining Armor. On her way, she passed by Zero Volt and took a few seconds to whisper something in his ear. Zero Volt’s eyes widened, and he stood there bewildered as Cadance and Shining Armor left the room together.

“What did she say to you?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“She said that I should quit while I’m ahead,” Zero Volt said. “After I… undressed her husband and everything.” Rainbow and Applejack chuckled at him, while Twilight made the same bewildered expression that Zero Volt had.

“O-kay then,” Twilight said uncomfortably. “I think it’s time for you to take us all back to Ponyville.”

“Yes, and once you get back home you can do some much needed soul searching,” Rarity teased. After a few seconds, Zero Volt shrugged off the recent verbal jabs and waited for the others to group around him. Though slightly tempted to leave Rarity behind, if only for a minute, he teleported himself and his friends back to Ponyville.

Bright Lights, Colors All Around (3/3)

Show of Hands, Who Saw This Coming?

Twilight Sparkle sat in front of her desk in the library, poring over an old book in front of her. Several other books were open around her, some piled on top of each other, while dozens of books lay discarded on the floor around her chair. She turned to the next page in her book and stared at the words written in it. An occasional glance was made to one of the other books nearby, only for her to return her entranced gaze back to the book in front of her. All the while, Twilight barely moved any other muscle on her body, her mouth slightly agape as her wide, unblinking eyes looked over the books in front of her. Anypony who would have walked in and seen her at that moment might wonder if she was mentally there at all.

As a matter of fact, several other ponies were in the library with her. Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy all stood in the library, each with a look of concern as they watched Twilight. Pinkie Pie was there too, initially for the same reason that Applejack had brought Rarity and Fluttershy to the library, but she was now looking around the library, focusing on nothing in particular. Rainbow Dash, however, was lounging on the couch with a book in her hooves. Despite her preoccupation with the work of fiction in front of her, Rainbow at least partially aware of Twilight’s zombie-like state. She, like most of her friends, could barely remember the last time that Twilight had broken away from her studies and stepped outside, and her coat was now a paler shade of lavender than usual, something Rainbow was especially aware of when comparing her with a nearby photo with her in it.

“Uh, Twilight…” Applejack started.

“Sorry, can’t talk, AJ,” Twilight said. “Doing research.”

“That’s actually why we’re here, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “When was the last time yah left the library, Twi?”

“I haven’t really needed to leave the library,” Twilight said, still not taking her eyes from the books in front of her. “Spike usually goes out to buy anything we need, you girls always drop by whenever we need to talk, and anything that the princess needs from me or that I need from her goes through Spike.”

“Wrong answer, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, actually bothering to briefly look up from her book. “Try about three months.”

Applejack sighed. It had been about three months since Twilight had last left the library, maybe a little less. If Applejack had to put a date to it, it would’ve been a few days after Shining Armor and Cadance had come to visit them in Ponyville. Since then, anyone that needed to talk to Twilight normally came to the library to see her. Twilight had been right about that, but right now Applejack needed to talk to her. She nodded to Rarity, who stepped forward and focused her magic on the window behind Twilight’s desk. With one quick motion, Rarity pulled the curtains open. Twilight recoiled from her desk and placed her hooves against her eyes, shielding them from the daylight as it spread into the library through her window.”

“Argh, turn the lights down!” Twilight groaned. “What is that?”

“That’s the sun, Twilight,” Applejack said. “Yah’d know that if yah didn’t spend all day cooped up in this here tree.”

“Twilight, we’re all very worried about you,” Rarity said. “Normally we look the other way whenever you obsess over your studies, but even for you this is excessive.”

“Can you tell us what it is you’re studying?” Fluttershy murmured. “If you want, maybe we can help you find what you’re looking for.”

Twilight turned to look at her friends for a moment. She then looked back at the books on her desk, still shielding her poorly-adjusted eyes from the sunlight streaming through her window. “I’m looking for any information I can find about Nightmare, the Wisps, and anti-magic,” she finally said.

“Twilight, the Wisps live in a completely different world,” Rarity said. “I highly doubt that anypony else has ever traveled to their world and discovered them.”

“Then how do you explain that sword we found in Canterlot Castle, the one that can absorb Volt’s Shinespark?” Twilight asked. “That sword was in a hidden passage of the castle, just waiting for us to find it. And what about Nightmare’s attack on the Wisp’s world? Zero Volt found her there only two years after we saved Princess Luna from her. For all we know, she could have known about them all along before we defeated her.”

Pinkie appeared next to Twilight wearing a deerstalker hat. “Hmm, somehow this all points back to Zero,” she said. “He’s the one that found the sword by smashing that window with his bracelet. Come on, Twilight. We have somepony to interrogate.”

“I tried,” Twilight said. “He’s clueless. And I’ve looked through every book I can find on history, magic, biology, architecture, classical literature, and mythology, but I can’t find anything.”

“Sounds like you’re graspin’ at straws on those last few subjects,” Applejack said. “Look, it’s great that you’re tryin’ to learn anything that might help, but we think it’s time yah take a little break for your studies.”

“Wait, is this an intervention?”

“Not exactly, but like we said before, we’re all very worried about you,” Rarity said.

Before Twilight could respond, she heard the front door start to open. Zero Volt walked in, and briefly glanced around the library. “Hey girls,” he said. “Twilight, are you still on that research binge?”

“You’re not here for the intervention too, are you?” Twilight asked.

“Actually, yeah,” he said. “I’m not late, am I?”

“By about five minutes, Volt,” Rainbow said.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said. “I got held up a bit back at the hospital.”

“I appreciate everypony’s concern for me,” Twilight said. “But could you try to solve some other pony’s problems, maybe try to Volt a fillyfriend.”

“You’re deflectin’, Twilight,” Applejack said.

“Yeah, and what an odd deflection to make,” Zero Volt mused out loud.

“Look, this is really important,” Twilight said. “The more we know about Nightmare and how this all started, the more prepared we’ll be to fight her.”

“Nopony’s arguing about that, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. She walked over to Twilight and placed a hoof on her back. “We just think it would be healthy for you to take a break every once in a while.”

Twilight looked from Fluttershy, who was gently trying to coax her into leaving the library and going with them, to the rest of her friends. “Alright fine,” she said. “I guess it can wait until later.”

“Alright!” Pinkie Pie said. “Now our next order of business: getting Zero a special somepony!” Pinkie’s suggestion was met with mixed reactions throughout the room, ranging from a quick, definitive nod and a few smiles to several cocked eyebrows.

“Huh?” Zero Volt said. “Wait, why?”

“Well yah have ta admit, yah haven’t really been with anypony in all the time yah’ve been here,” Applejack said.

“That’s sort of like the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?” Zero Volt said. “And I’m not just talking about you, AJ.”

“Now look who’s deflecting,” Twilight joked.

“Come on Volt,” Rainbow Dash said. “Let the girls find you a fillyfriend. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I could die,” Zero Volt said.

“Okay,” Twilight said. “Realistically, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“I could die,” he said with a little more emphasis.

“In all likelihood, what’s the worst thing that could happen?” Rarity asked.

“I could die!”

“Alright, we can see that you’re skeptical,” Twilight said, lightly chuckling at the same time. “Just come back in a few days and talk to us again.”

“Sure thing, Twilight,” Zero Volt said. “Until then, remember to enjoy the wonderful world outside this tree.” He then teleported out of the library.

“So are we really going to play matchmaker for him?” Twilight asked.

“Well I can’t speak for anyone else, but I suppose we might as well,” Rarity said. “It was only a matter of time before our gender would have to sacrifice one of its own to appease him.”

“Uh… what?” Twilight said. Her confusion was shared by the others in the room, and even Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash looked up from what they were doing to give her an odd look.

“You all remember that movie we watched a few months ago,” Rarity said. “He said it himself that he was at least somewhat interested in us.”

“Yeah, and a year and a half later, he hasn’t made a single pass at any of us,” Rainbow said as she flipped a page in her book. “Not even once.”

“You don’t think we put him off, do you?” Fluttershy asked.

“Maybe on the first day he was here, but Ah’m sure he’s plenty comfortable around us now,” Applejack said. “Ah think we can wait a while before working on this side project, but right now let’s get Twilight outside. Any ideas?”

“How about a picnic?” Pinkie Pie said.

The rest of the group voiced their agreement, including a “sounds good” from Rainbow Dash. The six of them headed toward the door and walked out into Ponyville. As they moved further away from the library, Twilight started looking back, toward the research she had left behind.

“You can talk to us about your research along the way,” Fluttershy said. “If it makes you feel any better.”

“Well, I haven’t found anything yet, but I know I’m looking for something from before Princess Luna was possessed by Nightmare, probably something from Equestria’s earliest history. Maybe even before Equestria was founded.”

“Ponyville’s library isn’t even a century old, Twilight,” Rarity said. “I can’t imagine you would find anything there.”

“I’ve also looked through a number of items in the Canterlot archives,” Twilight said.

“And still nothing?” Rarity asked. Twilight shook her head.

* * * * * * * * * *

Three days later, Zero Volt made his way to the Carousel Boutique and knocked on the door. Several seconds passed without anyone answering the door. He knocked a second time, and moments later he heard hooves against the floor inside. The door eventually opened, and Rarity stood on the other side of it. “O-Oh, good afternoon, Zero,” Rarity said, looking very flustered. A few hairs in her mane and coat were out of place. Beads of sweat trickled down the sides of her body, and she was taking quick, shallow breaths.

“Yeah, apparently I’m supposed to come here to talk about setting me up with somepony?” he said.

“R-Right… the side project,” she said. “Look, this isn’t the best time for me to discuss this with you. Perhaps you could come back in a few days.”

Zero Volt took another look at Rarity. She was having trouble focusing on anything, though she seemed to be trying to divert her attention away from him in particular. Her hind legs were shifting about nervously, and when he looked back, he noticed that her tail was slightly raised in the air. “Are you in heat?”

“H-How did you…” Rarity trailed off. At first she was hoping to drive Zero Volt away without any potential blow to her dignity, but he had managed to figure it out on his own. “I suppose the signs are there, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they are,” he said. “Look, if this is a bad time, then-”

“No, no, I’m sure we can keep this brief,” she said. “Please, come in.” Rarity stepped back and allowed Zero Volt to come in while keeping her distance from him. “I just needed to know if you have any preferences, and if there are any mares you’re particularly interested in.”

“Not really,” Zero Volt said. “I mean, I guess I like pegasi a little more. That’s not a problem, is it?”

“Not at all,” Rarity said. “If you told me to rule out any pony races, then we’d have a problem. Now that you mention it, you do seem to get along with pegasi more easily than any other ponies.”

“I guess I just relate to them more,” he said. “I can’t even count the number of hours I’ve spent running above the clouds or Shinesparking over Ponyville. Plus, if you get a pegasus to fly overhead, you can get a nice shot between their legs.”

“Zero, now is not the time of year to be giving me ideas!” Rarity said.

“Right, sorry.”

Rarity turned to look at Zero Volt. At the moment, she struggled just to maintain her composure, or even just to think straight. It certainly didn’t help that there was a stallion right in front of her to add fuel to the fire, even if it was just Zero. But what she found strange was that he didn’t seem to be acting any differently at all. His breathing was regular, his gait was normal, his eyes weren’t drawn to any particular part of her, and he seemed to be keeping some degree of focus. As far as Rarity could tell, he was just acting like Zero.

“Zero, my estrous phase…” she said. “This isn’t bothering you at all?”

“No, not really.”

This bothered Rarity even more. She was certain that under the circumstances, pheromones and everything, Zero Volt should have been trying just as desperately as she was to control his baser instincts. The fact that he was completely unaffected by her being in heat and casually admitted it confounded her, but then she considered another possibility. “Are you sure it’s really mares that you’re interested in?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure,” he said. “I remember the last time Dash was in heat. She drove me nuts.” Rarity’s jaw dropped after his last comment. She stared silently at him for several seconds, prompting a confused reaction from him. “What?”

“… Really?!”

“Okay, it’s not what it sounds like.”

“You said it yourself, Zero. You found it difficult to compose yourself when Rainbow was in heat.”

“I think you’re confusing love with lust, Rarity,” Zero Volt said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Rarity said, stepping toward him. “In fact, I’m willing to bet that you’re lust for her was exacerbated by something that’s already there.”

Rarity stared smugly at Zero Volt. As much as he was straining her willpower during this estrous phase, and as much as she wanted him to leave, she was also confident in her assertion that he was infatuated with Rainbow Dash. While she was trying to extract a confession for him, Zero Volt was trying to stare her down. He was expecting her to drop the subject eventually, but after a minute passed, he realized that he didn’t have any counterargument against her. “Alright fine, I’m attracted to Rainbow Dash.”

“I should have realized it earlier,” Rarity said. “You spend so much time with her, you’re friendlier around her, you… you’ve been staring up at her when she’s flying, haven’t you?”

“Well yeah, she’s a great stunt flyer and- Wait, no, not like that!”

“Zero, you’ve already admitted plenty to me today,” she said. “In hindsight, this should have been obvious to me too.”

“Rarity, have you seen how fast she normally flies?” Zero Volt said. “I don’t think it’s possible to steal a glance when she flies by.” Rarity seemed to accept his defense somewhat, but she wasn’t completely convinced, and continued to stare at him. “Not that I haven’t tried.”

“Nevertheless, this is a good place to start,” Rarity said. “Now that we’ve established that you have feelings for her, our next step is deciding how you should court her.”

“Actually…”

“Zero, please don’t tell me that you’re worried about whether she’ll feel the same way,” she said. “I understand that confessing your feelings to a pony who doesn’t reciprocate them might make things uncomfortable between you, but I’ve seen that in so many romance stories, and to tell you the truth, it gets boring after a while.”

“Actually, that’s just part of it,” Zero Volt said. “You see, there’s another pony-”

“Oh,” Rarity said. “Oh! You mean Fluttershy?”

“Wait, how did you know?”

“Let’s just say that I’ve noticed a few things in the last year,” she said. “So you’re having trouble deciding between the two.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Hmm… I was going to ask what was taking you so long to ask one of them out.” Zero Volt gave her a confused look. “Zero, you’ve been in Ponyville for a year and a half now. Grade school foals who are afraid of catching cooties have made more progress than you. You’re lucky that Rainbow and Fluttershy are both still single.” Zero Volt’s glanced uncomfortably around the room. “Although, there are reasons that the two of them don’t have special someponies of their own, and therein lies the difficulty in courting either one of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“In Fluttershy’s case, it’s fairly obvious,” Rarity said. “A pony as timid as she is isn’t going to put herself out there, and if any stallion were to talk to her, she would just run away and hide.”

“I can see how that might be a problem.”

“Well, it’s not all bad,” she said. “Coltfriend or no coltfriend, Fluttershy is already perfectly content with us as friends, not to mention all of her animals.”

“I guess there’s something to be said about missing out on something,” Zero Volt said. “If you don’t know what you’re missing, you don’t really mind missing it.”

“Exactly,” Rarity said. “And with that, we have a convenient segue toward Rainbow Dash. Now Zero, between her weather duties, her Wonderbolts training, and everything she does during her free time, have you ever once seen her with a coltfriend? Have you ever seen her on a date with anypony? Have you ever seen her take an interest in any stallion?” Zero Volt shook his head after each question. “It seems to me that Rainbow Dash simply isn’t interested in a relationship. At the very least, she clearly isn’t thinking of being in one.”

“That does give me a lot to think about,” he said. “But it’s a little too soon to be thinking about how I should ask either one out. I still need to figure out which one I should ask.” Rarity rolled her eyes at him. She had already told him that he was taking too long, and even though she wasn’t saying it a second time, he knew what she meant by the eye roll.

“Ultimately, you’re going to have to decide for yourself,” Rarity said, “but if you want my advice, you should choose Rainbow Dash. You seem to have a better rapport with Fluttershy, but you have much more in common with Rainbow.”

“Thanks,” Zero Volt said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Also know that I can give you more advice once you actually make up your mind between the two,” she said. “As their friend and dress designer, there’s a lot I’ve learned about those two over the years.”

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Zero Volt interrupted. “Every once in a while, you have these magazines and stuff with Fluttershy’s picture on them, and-.”

“Those are from a few years ago,” Rarity said. “I asked Fluttershy to model a few dresses for me, and she was immediately scooped up by the photographer, Photo Finish to be a professional model. That is, until she quit after a week or two.”

“Only a week or two? What happened?”

“As it turns out, she hated being a model, especially with all of the public attention she received because of it. She doesn’t like to talk about it, and I don’t think anypony still remembers her after all this time, but I’ve saved a few of her photos. Of course, Rainbow Dash is fairly attractive herself, wouldn’t you agree? Fluttershy is gorgeous, adorable even, but I’ve always found that Rainbow Dash has a more untamed, natural beauty to her. Admittedly, I find her to be the least cooperative pony to design a dress for, but it’s always a delight to work with those strong, toned legs, those powerful, yet graceful wings-” Rarity stopped in the middle of her speech when she noticed Zero Volt staring at her. His mouth was hanging slightly open, and one of his eyebrows was raised. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I assure you that I’m saying that as a fashion designer, not as a lesbian.”

“You sure about that?” he asked. “Because it really sounded like you were swooning back there. Maybe there’s something you’re not telling yourself?”

“Zero, if I was a lesbian, do you think I would mind you being here while I’m in heat?!” she said, scowling back at him.

“Oh, right,” he said. “Forgot about that.” Taking a closer look at Rarity, Zero Volt noticed that she seemed more composed now than when she let him into the boutique. Neither of them had brought much attention to the topic in the last few minutes, and even though she was panting now, her breathing had been calmer a minute ago. He started to think that the conversation had managed to take her mind off of her estrous, if only for a while.

“Of course, we can't quite say the same for Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said.

“Oh right, isn't there a rumor around Ponyville that Dash might be a lesbian?” Zero Volt asked.

“It's not just a rumor,” she said. “There's a betting pool going around about her sexual orientation. At this point, either she's too dense to realize it or she's deliberately teasing hundreds, if not thousands of ponies.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Dash,” he said. “Still, I don't really see the connection. I mean sure, the mane color is a bit LGBT, but that's her natural color. She can't change it.”

“As opposed to what, her sexual orientation?”

Zero Volt thought about Rarity's remark for a few seconds. “I see what you did there,” he said. “Yeah, that's clever.”

“At the same time, you must realize that she's a bit… butch,” Rarity said.

“You mean she's a tomboy?” he said. “Well that's no excuse. Ignoring or rejecting one's traditional gender roles doesn't make you homosexual. By that logic, Spike should be gay.”

“Now now, leave Spike alone,” she said. “He's quite the gentlecolt, er, gentle-dragon.”

“Yeah, a gentle-dragon who wears an apron, bakes cookies, and goes to the spa,” Zero Volt said. “Rarity, I once saw him walk out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his head. The strange thing is that he doesn't even have a mane or anything.”

“Be that as it may, he has made his feelings toward me abundantly obvious,” Rarity said. “He just needs a role model that's a bit more masculine, that's all. In fact, why don't you fulfill that role? You're around us all the time.”

“Let Shining Armor do it, he's the surrogate brother.”

“Nevertheless, that leaves one bit of evidence still on the table,” she said. “You see, Pinkie Pie is prone to some... indecent exposure during her more unhinged moments.”

“Indecent exposure? Rarity, you do realize that public nudity is socially acceptable, right?”

“Let me finish. Anyway, during those moments, Rainbow's wings have the peculiar habit of stretching out.”

“Oh yeah, I've seen that a couple of times, but that's not exactly concrete evidence," he said. "I mean, if you've seen the look on Dash's face during those moments, you'd think that Pinkie Pie was rolling around in garbage.”

“You know, I once saw Pinkie Pie roll around in garbage.”

“Really?”

“No, but considering how readily you believed me, you can understand why we're all a little worried about her.”

“I see what you mean,” Zero Volt said. “Has Dash ever had that reaction around any stallions?”

“Well, maybe the Wonderbolts,” Rarity said. She walked toward the front door and passed Zero Volt along the way, prompting him to follow her. “Soarin in particular, but I think Spitfire as well, and she's a mare.”

“Maybe she's just being a fanfilly,” he said. “You know, she could just be bisexual.”

“That's also a possibility, but there is one way you could find out for certain,” she said as she led him toward the door. Zero Volt stepped outside, but Rarity stayed within the boutique. “Ask her yourself, and leave me alone!” She slammed the door in Zero Volt's face, leaving him outside the Carousel Boutique.

“... Okay, maybe I will.” Zero Volt turned around and walked away. He wasn’t entirely sure where he wanted to go next, but he was thinking of either seeing Applejack or Rainbow Dash. He would have given it more thought, but before he could take ten steps outside, the door to the Carousel Boutique flung open. Zero Volt turned around, and as soon as she saw Rarity at the doorway, he felt his body lifted off the ground and pulled back to the boutique.

“On second thought, I need to ask you a favor,” Rarity said. Zero Volt watched Rarity carefully, uncertain of what she wanted, but ready to teleport on a moment’s notice. “I need you to teleport me to and from the drugstore.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure.” He teleported out of Rarity’s telekinetic grip, appeared next to her, and teleported both of them to Ponyville’s drugstore.

They both appeared inside the entrance of the store, and Rarity took a moment to get her bearings. Almost immediately, she was hit by a wave of heat, and her mind felt hazy. Other stallions had been in the store earlier in the day, and their presence lingered the air, tormenting her as she took in her surroundings. Shelves were lined with bottles and small boxes. To their left was the checkout counter where the pharmacist, a mauve pegasus mare wearing a lab coat, was tending to a customer. Rarity walked down one of the aisles, followed by Zero Volt.

Once they stopped in the middle of the aisle, Zero Volt started browsing the selection. The shelf Rarity was looking through held a variety of products meant to deal with a mare’s estrous phase, and her asking to be brought to the drugstore made sense to Zero Volt as soon as he looked at that shelf. The products were mostly either pharmaceuticals or various potions made by Zecora. Some of them were contraceptives, some worked to lower a mare’s libido, and a few of them did both. “Hey, Rarity? I understand the point of the contraceptive ones, but what’s the point of the other two? It seems kind of redundant to have both.”

“They’re both for mares who don’t plan to spend several days engaged in heated intercourse,” Rarity said. “The combined ones are a bit more expensive, but they’re completely redundant unless you don’t want to take any chances.” Rarity picked up one of the boxes on the left side of the shelf, among the products used to suppress libido. This was her usual choice for managing her estrous, and she would have already been taking it if it hadn’t caught her by surprise this season. It would take a while before the drug took effect, but she could shelter herself within her home in the meantime.

Meanwhile, Zero Volt was still thinking about his plans for the rest of the day. Finding Rainbow Dash was one option, partly to hang out with her, partly to ask about her sexual orientation, but he wasn’t sure where she would be. She could have been doing tricks in her practice field, maintaining the weather, resting on any one of thousands of tree branches, or sunbathing on any one of hundreds of clouds. Even if he did find her, he wasn’t sure how to approach the topic. He definitely needed to know, if only to know whether or not to rule her out, but he didn’t want her to notice the subtext behind his asking. He also considered visiting Applejack. At this time, she would have been tending to the trees in Sweet Apple Acres, followed by a little practice with her violin. He thought that she might help him narrow it down between Rainbow and Fluttershy, but he was also concerned about too many people knowing.

“Zero?” Rarity asked. Having already made her purchase, she prodded an unmoving Zero Volt with her hoof. “Zero!” He snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention to Rarity. “We can go now, Zero.” Zero Volt nodded and teleported both of them to the front step of Rarity’s house. Using her magic, Rarity opened the door and walked inside. “I will get you back for this, you know.”

“Huh? Why?”

“For tormenting me while I’m in heat for the last twenty minutes,” she said. “This was supposed to be a short visit, wasn’t it?”

“Oh. Sorry about that,” he said. “If it’s any consolation, I did help you make that drugstore run.”

A thought came to Rarity’s mind, one inspired by the discussion she had with him. “I suppose you have a point there,” she said. “Now that I think about it, you once said that you’d like to be a pegasus, right? If I remember correctly, Twilight has a spell that can temporarily give wings to a pony.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes, she used it on me a few years back when we all took a trip to Cloudsdale,” she said. “Rainbow Dash was participating in a flying competition, and we all went to give her moral support. You should ask her to cast it on you sometime.”

“Yeah, I might just do that,” Zero Volt said, his enthusiasm growing by the second. “Thanks, Rarity.”

“Just remember to mention my name when you ask her,” Rarity said. “The spell is very taxing, but I’m sure she’ll be happy to do it for you if you give her my recommendation.”

“Okay, thanks again!” Zero Volt immediately broke into a gallop as he left Rarity’s home. Meanwhile, Rarity stood by the doorway smiling at him before she eventually walked inside.

* * * * * * * * * *

Half an hour later, Zero Volt was walking toward the Apple family house. Bluegrass music was playing nearby, slowly becoming louder and clearer as he approached the house from the side. The tune continued playing when he turned a corner and reached the front of the house, where Applejack was practicing a solo piece. She finally reached the end of the song and looked up, seeing Zero Volt standing nearby.

“Howdy, Volt!” Applejack said. “Y’alright there? Ah don’t think Ah’ve ever seen your face that red before.”

“Ask Rarity,” Zero Volt said. “Or Twilight… or Fluttershy… or whoever that camera flash came from. So, you’re practicing the violin?”

“It’s called a fiddle, Volt,” Applejack said. “It’s only a violin if you’re into that fancy high society music. What brings yah here?”

“I was wondering how involved you are in that whole ‘find a fillyfriend for me’ project,” he said. “I just got back from Rarity’s and we made some progress.”

“Ah might take some time outta mah schedule,” she said, putting down her fiddle. “But how does talkin’ about that with Twilight and Rarity get you this embarrassed. If Pinkie Pie were as embarrassed as you, we could see it on her face.”

“This was something that happened after Rarity and I talked,” he said. “And Fluttershy was there too.”

From where she was sitting, Applejack could see his face turning even redder than before. “Somethin’ about Fluttershy get you all worked up?” she asked, right before making a realization. “Now wait just a minute. You like Fluttershy, don’t yah?”

“Yeah, I do,” he said sheepishly.

“Well Ah’ll be,” Applejack said. “Ah always thought you were sweet on Rainbow Dash.” Zero Volt didn’t respond. Applejack noticed and scowled at him. “Really? Both of them?”

“Look, I’m only going to pick one of them,” Zero Volt said. “I’m just having trouble deciding which one.”

“How much trouble?”

“Enough trouble that I’ve known both of them for about a year and a half and still can’t decide,” he said.

“Ah see. Ah didn’t know yah even liked Fluttershy, ” Applejack said. “Ah’m sure yah’d look nice together, but how’d this all start?”

Zero Volt paused for a moment to think. Do you remember when all of you visited me in the hospital, and that cake that Pinkie brought with her?”

“The one yah thought we tried to poison you with?”

“Yeah, and Fluttershy caught on to me,” he said. “After you all left, she promised to keep it a secret for me, I guess because of all the tension between us. Then she asked me if I could try to trust you girls. You know, it took me a few weeks before I started to trust any of you, or a few months in Rarity and Pinkie Pie’s case. But Fluttershy… I started trusting her on that first day. To tell you the truth, she’s the reason I decided to give this town a shot.”

“Sounds like you’ve already got a good idea of who yah want to ask,” Applejack said. “But let me ask yah this. Do yah trust Rainbow Dash as much as yah trust Fluttershy?”

Zero Volt thought quietly for a moment. “Yeah,” he said. “I trust them about the same.”

“Hmm, Ah still think yah oughta go with Fluttershy, but you’re gonna havta figure this one out for yourself, Volt,” Applejack said. “But if yah go with Rainbow Dash, Ah should warn you. Ponies tend to get hurt when they’re around her long enough.”

“What, you mean emotionally.”

“Ah mean physically,” she said. “The first time Ah met her, she decided to take a break from her weather chores and mess around the farm. Ah caught her eating a few apples off the trees, and she thought it’d be fun to have me chase her ‘round the orchard. Ah got mah rope and tried ta lasso her down. Big mistake.”

“What happened?”

“Ah was still holdin’ mah end of the rope when the lasso went around her leg. She flew me into half a dozen trees before she noticed she’d picked me off the ground.”

Zero Volt winced. “But I’ve seen you hold her back by the tail before,” he said.

“She knows ta hold back now whenever she feels somethin’ tug on her tail,” she said. She picked up her fiddle and stood up. “Look, Ah gotta bring mah apples to market right now. But before yah go, Ah’ve got one last thing to say.” She placed her fiddle just inside the doorway. Then she turned back to Zero Volt and walked directly up to him, glaring into his eyes and making him step back. “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are two of mah closest friends, so whatever choice you make, pick one and only one. Ah know how to use a geldin’ knife, so Ah’d better not see yah messing around with the two of ‘em.”

Zero Volt continued to stare at her, his mouth hanging open. Aside from an occasional blink, he didn’t say a word, nor did he move another part of his body. Meanwhile, Applejack didn’t wait for his response. She walked toward the barn to prepare her vendor’s cart.

“Point taken,” Zero Volt finally said after Applejack had left. He turned around and left Sweet Apple Acres, heading toward Ponyville. His next destination was to Rainbow Dash’s practice field, where the two of them had planned to have a sparring match, something they had been doing together once every few weeks. His pace quickened to a trot, and then to a canter. He was supposed to meet her in fifteen minutes, so he didn’t feel the need to teleport or break into a gallop.

“Hi, Zero!”

Zero Volt turned around and saw Pinkie Pie trotting toward him. He slowed down a bit, allowing her to catch up to him. “Oh, hey Pinkie.”

“Whatcha up to?”

“I’m meeting up with Dash at her practice field,” he said. “She and I are doing a little sparring today.”

Pinkie gave him a small pout. “Aw, are you having a lover’s quarrel?” she asked.

“W-What?”

“Or maybe you’re heart’s set on Fluttershy.”

“You know?!”

“Of course I know, silly!” Pinkie said. “I’ve seen what you’re like around them, how much time you spend with them. Anypony could have seen it from a mile away. It almost makes me wonder how you feel about the rest of us.” The two of them slowed down to a walking pace. Neither one said anything at first, with Zero Volt continuing toward the field and Pinkie following him. “How do you feel about the rest of us?”

“What do you mean?”

“You remember what you said to Nightmare about us,” she said. “Now that you know us all better, how do you feel about the rest of us?”

“Applejack no, Rarity never, Twilight maybe and you…” Zero Volt paused for a moment. He stared at Pinkie Pie, who continued to grin at him. “We’d have to be really drunk first.”

“That’s okay,” Pinkie said, petting his forehead. “You’re not my type. So, did you make up your mind yet between Flutters and Dashie?”

“No, not yet,” he said. “I’ve talked to Rarity and Applejack, but they didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. What do you think?”

“I think…” Pinkie Pie started, only to pause in midsentence. Apart from the soft thumps of her hooves against the dirt road, Pinkie was completely silent, and Zero Volt leaned closer to her in anticipation. “… that you’ve got a tough choice to make.” Zero Volt lifted his right foreleg to do a facehoof. Not realizing that he was still trotting along, he stumbled forward and fell down headfirst. “But it’d be great if you and Fluttershy got together. That way, all four of us could be happy! We could even double-date!”

“Hold on! Hold on,” Zero Volt said as he stood back up. “Four of us? So then you’re…” Pinkie nodded. “When you said I wasn’t your type, you weren’t kidding,” he muttered.

“Well, that’s just part of it,” Pinkie said. “But you don’t how close you came to changing my mind when you came to Ponyville with chocolate in your coat.” Pinkie Pie placed her hooves on Zero Volt, one on his muzzle and the other on his side. “If you were a mare, I would’ve been all over you,” she said in a sultry tone.

Zero Volt placed his own hooves on her chest, pushing her off of him and keeping her at foreleg’s length. “And I would’ve filed a restraining order.”

Pinkie put her hooves back down and pouted at him. “You know what? That’s why you and I can’t be special someponies together,” she said. “I think you’re cute in that silly scaredy-colt kinda way, but when I wanna be your friend and you run away from me and think I wanna hurt you, it gets hurtful after a while.”

“Sorry,” Zero Volt said. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t run away from you anymore. I’m here right now, aren’t I?” Pinkie Pie smiled weakly at him. “So, about Dash. Does that mean she’s also a lesbian?”

“Actually, she goes both ways,” Pinkie said. “But not at the same time, so don’t you get any ideas.” She ended her answer with a playful jab to Zero Volt’s snout.

“You’re not the first earth pony to tell me that today,” he said. “But if you like her too, that means we’re both competing for her, right? Unless I decide on Fluttershy?”

“Mmm... maybe,” Pinkie said with some uncertainty. She fell into an uncomfortable pause for a few seconds and finally gave a deep sigh. “But I’ve been friends with Rainbow Dash a lot longer than you, and I’ve been trying to get her attention for a really long time. I don’t think she's really interested, so you probably don't have anything to worry about from me.”

Zero Volt thought for a moment. “Maybe you’re being too…” He trailed off on the last word, almost changing his mind about finishing the sentence. “Subtle.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Pinkie said. “Dash once said that I’m about as subtle as a brick to the face, but I never understood that. You’d definitely notice if a brick hit you in the face.”

“She is pretty blunt,” Zero Volt said. “But she does have her more compassionate moments.”

“What do you mean?”

Zero Volt sighed. “Promise you won’t tell anypony about this, especially not Rainbow Dash.” Pinkie placed her hoof over her eye. “That night when you all found out about my fear of dogs, Dash flew over to my place to ask me about it. She sort of connected the dots between my fear and Baltimare, and she wanted to see if I was okay.”

“She flew all the way through that super-cold snowstorm just to check up on you?” Pinkie said. “Aw, that’s really sweet of her.”

“Yeah, and after I told her everything, she stayed over that night to make sure I was okay,” he said. “What she did for me that night, it really meant a lot to me, you know?”

Pinkie Pie nodded. “But wait, why doesn’t she want anypony to know about it?”

“I guess she doesn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about her spending the night at my place,” he said. “Either that, or she’s protecting her reputation as a tough pony.” The two of them stood in silence for a few seconds. The moment ended when Zero Volt glanced at his watch. “Oh wow, I really lost track of time there. Later, Pinkie.”

“Bye, Zero,” she said just before Zero Volt teleport away, leaving her alone. “And now off to Rarity’s.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Up above her practice field, Rainbow Dash angled herself downward, wings beating faster as she propelled herself into a dive. Down on the ground, her target stood still and watched, waiting for the right time to make his move. Rainbow was mere feet away from him when her target disappeared with a green flash. She made a quick glance to the right before performing a barrel roll to dodge him. She was already close to the ground and had to skid to a stop on her hooves.

Zero Volt landed with his hooves on the ground, just to the left of Rainbow Dash. He teleported again, this time right behind her, and grabbed her tail with his teeth. Rainbow felt the tugging on her tail, and with wings already spread, she took off again, pulling him with her. Zero Volt released her tail and teleported away. His hooves slid across the ground upon landing, but before he could come to a stop, Rainbow turned around and flew at him. She tackled him from the side, placing her forelegs around him and grappling him by the sides. She flipped him over and dropped him on his back, landing on top of him and pinning him to the ground.

Zero Volt tried to move his forelegs, but Rainbow kept her hooves pressed against them, keeping him pinned to the ground. “Nope, you stay down, Zero,” she said with a smirk on her face.

Zero Volt lay there, staring at Rainbow and waited for her to let him go. “You don’t normally call me ‘Zero,’” he said.

After a while, Rainbow Dash relented and stepped off of him. “You don’t normally lose this badly to me,” she said. “I thought you were getting royal guard training.” She offered him a hoof, which he accepted, and pulled him up to a sitting position.

“I’m being trained as a swordspony,” he said as he stood up on his hooves. “Unless you want me to find a wooden stick to whack you with, that’s not going to do me any good. Besides, I still won three to two today, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but what’s our total scores?” she asked. The two of them walked a nearby tree and sat down underneath it. Rainbow Dash picked up two bottles, one blue with a lightning bolt on it, and the other green with black pegasus wings, and tossed the latter to Zero Volt.

“Sixty-eight to sixty-one you,” he said. “But I’m making a comeback.” He took a drink from his bottle while she chuckled at him.

“So, any progress on finding you a mare?” she asked.

“None whatsoever,” Zero Volt said. “So far, Rarity’s having a bad week, and Applejack threatened to castrate me.” Rainbow gave him a bewildered look. “It makes more sense in context. On the bright side, Pinkie and I had a fascinating conversation about lesbians.” Rainbow Dash laughed and took a drink from her bottle. “Or at least I think we were talking about lesbians. I wasn’t paying much attention.”

“Yeah, she has that effect after a while,” Rainbow said. “Did you ask Twilight or Fluttershy?”

“I didn’t get the chance to,” he said. “Fluttershy’s still helping Twilight wean off the dead end research. I don’t think she’s going through withdrawal, so that’s good news.”

“You think it would’ve helped us if she actually found something?”

“I don’t know,” Zero Volt said, taking another drink. “It’s been three months since Nightmare last showed up. I don’t even know what she could be planning. She tried using the Wisps, she tried using Luna, she tried… whatever that was she did when she last came here.”

“I think she went after us,” she said. “To get rid of the Elements and the princesses. It doesn’t matter. We have the Shinespark, and we have that sword. If she shows up again, we’ll kick her flank like every other time.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” Zero Volt took another drink from his bottle, and the two of them remained silent for a while. “You know, I’ve been getting these weird thoughts lately.” Rainbow Dash looked at him. “It’s like something keeps telling me to drop the sword, drop the Shinespark, and just leave. Like I should just leave this to you girls and stay out of it.”

“You’re not really going to ditch us like that, are you?” Rainbow asked.

“No, of course not,” he said. “I’m not even sure where those thoughts came from, but something about them feels familiar.” The two of them became silent again. To their left, the sun was setting below the horizon, but they both continued to stay underneath the tree.

The Return of Nightmare Moon

My dearest Twilight Sparkle,

You and your friends must come to the castle as soon as possible. We have need of the Elements of Harmony once again.

Your ever watchful mentor

Princess Celestia

“So you got a letter from the princess,” Zero Volt said after he finished reading. “And you’re showing me this because…”

“The princess needs us immediately, and it’ll take hours to get to Canterlot by train or hot air balloon,” Twilight said. Zero Volt stood there and raised a eyebrow at her. “Ugh, you have to teleport the six of us to Canterlot castle, now!”

“But I’ve never been to Canterlot,” he said.

“Well then we’ll hold you by the hoof so you don’t get lost,” Rarity said. “Now let’s get going.”

“Girls, in order to teleport somewhere, I have to picture that location in my mind,” he explained. “That means I have to have been there before, or at least see it from where I’m standing.”

“Oh… so then you can’t help us,” Twilight said.

“Apparently not.”

“What if you had a picture of Canterlot?” The other ponies turned to the direction the voice came from. “Um, it’s just a thought,” Fluttershy said, “but if you look at the image and thought of that place in the picture, maybe you could teleport there.”

“Great idea, Fluttershy.” Pinkie Pie shouted. “Alrighty then, we’re off to the train station!” The other ponies gave Pinkie a bemused look. “So that we can look through their travel brochures and find a good picture of Canterlot.”

“Or we could just dig through one of my photo albums,” Twilight said. Twilight strained herself as she used her magic, and the seven of them were teleported to the library with a large magenta flash. “Spike, bring me all the photo albums you can find!”

“Wait a minute,” Rainbow Dash said. “You used your magic to teleport us here so we can find a picture so that Volt can teleport us to Canterlot. Why can’t you just teleport us to Canterlot?”

“I’d rather she didn’t,” Zero Volt said. “Getting caught in one of Twilight’s teleportation spells is really jarring.”

“I’ll admit your teleportation is a bit smoother, but I wouldn’t call mine jarring,” Twilight said. She noticed Spike walk into the room with a stack of albums in his hands. “Spike, we need a picture of Canterlot, preferably as close to the castle as possible.”

Spike dropped the albums. “Why not use that one?” he said, pointing to a row of framed pictures on a shelf.

“Oh yeah,” she said. She lifted one of the pictures and floated it in front of Zero Volt. “It’s from my brother’s wedding.” Zero Volt studied the photo carefully, first getting a look at all of his friends, then at Shining Armor and Cadance, and finally at the location where the picture was taken. “Do you think you can get us to Canterlot with this?”

“Who knows, if there’s any other place in Equestria that looks like the wedding reception, he could send us there instead,” Pinkie Pie said, tilting her head up and holding her hoof to her muzzle. “Or he could send us inside the picture… or maybe he could send us back in time! We could stop the changeling invasion, and then we can hang out with ourselves from the past! We could enter a look-alike contest with ourselves!”

“I find it amazing that she can go off on a tangent while she’s already going off on a tangent,” Zero Volt remarked, still studying the photo. “Alright, I think I can get us there. Everypony grab on and let’s go.”

“If we’re going to Canterlot, then I’m coming too,” Spike said.

“This isn’t a social visit, Spike,” Twilight said. “Something’s threatening Equestria again, and the princess needs our help to fight it. It’s too dangerous for you.”

“So what? You’ll just use the Elements of Harmony and blast it halfway across the planet,” Spike said. “There’s no danger at all.”

“Little guy’s got a point there,” Rainbow Dash said. “Besides, it's not everyday we get to see them in action. Come to think of it, Volt's never seen them at all.”

Once they were all ready, Zero Volt focused on the location in the picture and teleported the eight of them. A green flash enveloped their vision for a split second, and when it faded, they were no longer standing in the library. “It looks like we’re in the right place,” Twilight said, checking her surroundings and noticing the castle. “Come on, Princess Celestia is waiting for us.”

They ran toward Canterlot Castle, and after a few minutes, they arrived in the courtyard. “Hey, what’s with those clouds up there?” Rainbow asked. She pointed to several thunderclouds that were floating above the castle.

“It might be a new emergency alert system for the city,” Rarity said. “I just hope it’s experimental; it looks so out of place.”

“Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t say anything about what’s happening inside the castle,” Twilight said.

The sun had set below the horizon when they arrived, and Celestia was waiting for them at the front doors. “I’m glad you could make it so quickly,” she said. “Zero Volt, nice to meet you again. Now everypony go in. I’ll explain everything inside.” Luna was waiting for them inside as they entered the castle. Zero Volt continued ahead of the rest of them, walking closer to Luna as he scanned the foyer. “Luna, you remember Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and this is Zero Volt, the colt I told you about.”

“WE ARE PLEASED TO MAKE THINE ACQUAINTANCE!” Luna said. She noticed that Zero Volt had been blown back a few feet by her greeting, and he was shielding himself with his bracelet. “Sorry, old habits… was I really that loud?”

“You could stand to lose a few decibels,” Zero Volt said, the wings of his bracelet folding as he put his foreleg on the ground.

“Everypony, we need to focus,” Celestia said. “Nightmare Moon has returned.”

Luna’s expression filled with guilt as she looked at the other ponies in the room. Pinkie Pie and Rarity looked at her in shock with their mouths wide open. Rainbow Dash and Applejack glared at her, ready for a fight. Twilight and Fluttershy’s expressions showed concern and sympathy more than anything else. But Zero Volt… Zero Volt raised an eyebrow and gave her a quizzical look. “Who?” he asked.

“A long time ago, after Celestia and I restored harmony to Equestria, we took our places as its co-rulers. Celestia raised the sun and ruled during the day, and I raised the moon and ruled during the night,” Luna explained. “But our subjects thrived during the daylight and rested during the nighttime, and according to the legend, I grew envious of my sister. I started calling myself Nightmare Moon and threatened to plunge Equestria into perpetual night. Celestia was forced to imprison me for a thousand years before the Elements of Harmony could return me to normal.”

“Where have I heard this before?” Zero Volt asked himself quietly.

“But now the evil presence known as Nightmare Moon has reappeared,” Luna continued. “Even as we speak, I can sense her in the Everfree Forest, making her way toward Ponyville.”

“She’s in the Everfree Forest?” Applejack said. “Ah thought she was in you.”

“Luna and I came to the conclusion that she was possessed by the creature that called itself ‘Nightmare Moon’,” Celestia said. “I thought the Elements had vanquished this spirit, but clearly it’s still alive.”

“If you were possessed by this being, does that mean that you were never jealous of Princess Celestia to begin with?” Twilight asked.

“I’ll admit that I was a bit envious of Celestia at first. She always talked about how joyful and lively the ponies were during the day,” Luna recalled. “One day, I decided to stay up through the morning and afternoon to observe our subjects. On that afternoon, I saw the citizens go about their daily labors, and every once in a while they would quarrel with one another. But at night,” she said dreamily as she closed her eyes, “everypony drifted off into slumber, and the world became so peaceful, so serene. It was… sublime. A thousand years later, the nighttime hasn’t lost its charm and beauty. Sister, you may keep the day, but I love the night, and I always will.”

“Now you’re starting to make me jealous,” Celestia joked. “But enough talk, we need to stop Nightmare Moon before she threatens Equestria again. I trust that each of you brought your Elements.”

“Yeah, the nighttime is great and all, but I wouldn’t want to spend all day in it, and I definitely don’t want Nightmare Moon ruling over us,” Spike said.

“Don’t be naïve, Spike,” Luna said. “Nightmare Moon is not trying to conquer Equestria. She’s trying to destroy it.” Everyone in the room looked at her. “Despite anypony’s preference, day and night are both equally important. Without the sun’s warmth, the world would be too cold to live in, but without the periodic reprieve that the moon gives, the sun would scorch the planet. Nightmare Moon may have manipulated me through my emotions, but her goal is death and destruction, not conquest.”

Zero Volt watched as five of his friends each revealed a gold necklace with a jewel embedded in it and placed them around their necks. Twilight Sparkle lifted a tiara adorned with a star-shaped jewel with her magic and placed it on her head. “So let me get this straight,” he said incredulously. “We going up against a centuries-old, omnicidal monster… and we’re going to fight her with a jewelry collection.”

“These are the Elements of Harmony, Zero Volt,” Celestia said. “They are the most powerful magic in all of ponydom. That is what we’re using to fight Nightmare Moon.”

“And you gave the Elements of Harmony to the six of them?” he said.

“Yes, your six friends are the chosen bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and only they can use them effectively,” Celestia said. “That is why I called them here.”

“Cool. So Nightmare Moon’s in the Everfree right now?”

“Yes, but she is very close to the outskirts of Ponyville,” Luna said. “You must leave now and intercept her before she can cause any damage.”

“Alright then,” Zero Volt said. “Girls, we’re heading out.” He waited for the six mares to go near him before teleporting all of them back to Ponyville.

“Sister, do you trust that colt?” Luna said, now that they were alone.

“Not entirely,” Celestia said, “but Twilight and her friends do, and for now that’s enough.”

* * * * * * * * * *

The eight of them approached the Everfree Forest with Spike sitting on Twilight’s back. Along the way, the mares were explaining the nature of the Elements of Harmony to Zero Volt. “So it’s honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty and… magic?” The others nodded at him. “That last one is a little out of place, don’t you think? The other five Elements correspond to virtues, but magic… it sounds like that one is just raw power.”

“I’m glad you brought that up,” Twilight said, ready to go into lecture mode. “I believe that magic, as one of the Elements, symbolizes the bonds that ponies share with each other in their hearts. In the last three years, I’ve seen cases of magic being amplified by those types of bonds. As virtues, the other five Elements promote good relationships, which in turn can strengthen a spell immensely. I’ve even seen one case in which a spell was amplified by romantic feelings. You’re half-right, though. On its own, magic is just raw power that just about anypony can use, but that magic becomes so much stronger when it’s fueled by the bonds of friendship or love.”

“Twilight,” Rainbow said, “that would’ve sounded so lame if you weren’t trying to talk like an egghead.”

“Shut up, Rainbow,” Twilight said.

They reached the edge of the forest, with Fluttershy’s cottage half a mile to the south. As they stood there, dozens of small animals scurried away from the forest, trying to escape from the menace that was about to emerge. Once the animals had run past, the eight of them heard a chilling laughter coming from the forest. Moments later, Nightmare Moon appeared in front of them, looking as she did three years earlier. “It’s been a long time, Twilight Sparkle, and I see you brought the Elements of Harmony with you. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate my return.”

“I forgot to plan a homecoming party,” Pinkie Pie said with a facehoof. Applejack placed her hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder and shook her head, telling her that a party wasn’t appropriate under the circumstances.

“You sound smug Nightmare Moon,” Twilight said. “We both know how this ended last time. It won’t end any differently this time.”

“Nightmare!” Zero Volt said. “I should’ve known it was you!”

The six young mares each gave a loud “Huh?!” when they heard what he said.

“And I should have known that you would align yourself with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” Nightmare Moon said. “But since you’re here, I won’t need this look anymore.” Nightmare Moon’s armor shattered as a black aura surrounded her. Within seconds, her mane, tail, and wings were enveloped in orange and gray flames, and her irises changed to a deep red hue. Her cutie mark, originally identical to Luna’s, had changed to depict a large magenta jewel with a black pair of wings and horn at the center.

“Volt, you know her?” Twilight asked. “I thought you’d never even heard of Nightmare Moon.”

“Long story, I’ll explain later!” he said, still glaring at the transformed monster before them.

“Oh, we have plenty of time for explanations before your demise,” Nightmare Moon said. “Let’s start with name ‘Nightmare Moon’. I only went by that name when I possessed your Princess Luna. It’s a simple naming system, but you can just call me ‘Nightmare’ from now on.”

“I don’t care what you want to be called,” Rainbow Dash said. “Twilight, we have the Elements and she’s right there, so let’s turn them on full blast and fry her already!” Twilight activated the Element of Magic, and the other young mares focused on their respective Elements. The six of them rose above the ground, and seconds later, two multicolored bands of light shot at Nightmare, weaving around each other in a helical pattern. The bands of light reached Nightmare, and the spot she stood on erupted in a bright multicolored light.

Meanwhile, Spike was standing on Zero Volt’s back, and the two of them were watching in awe. “Whoa, do the Elements of Harmony always create a light show like this?” Zero Volt asked. “I bet Dash would be proud to pull this off at the end of one of her stunts.”

The explosion of light continued for almost a minute. The six mares returned to the ground as the Elements of Harmony deactivated. They looked at each other and smiled, acknowledging a job well done. Once again, a major threat to Equestria was thwarted, and for once it was done quickly and effortlessly.

Then they heard laughter from within the explosion of light. They turned back and watched in horror as the light faded away and Nightmare came into view, completely unscathed. “You asked me why I was so smug before. It’s because I’m immune to the Elements of Harmony!” she said. “Why else would I have taken so long to emerge from lunar exile? What else could I have possibly been doing up there?” A black fog surrounded her as she spoke. Eventually the fog subsided, and Nightmare took on a form similar to Rainbow Dash. Her recreation was identical to Rainbow’s appearance, except for black veins visible through her cyan coat, and darker colors in her mane and tail.

“I thought you were waiting for the alignment of the stars,” Twilight said.

“The stars? Those were little more than my personal egg timer,” Nightmare said.

“Hey girls, quick question,” Zero Volt said. “When the most powerful magic at your disposal fails miserably, what else is there?”

“I-I don’t know,” Twilight stammered.

“Oh goody, now we get to do this my way!” he said as he glared at Nightmare.

“Hold on,” Nightmare said, perfectly mimicking Rainbow’s voice while adopting an anxious tone. “You’re going to attack me, just like that? I thought we were friends.”

“Rainbow Dash is right behind me,” Zero Volt said, “and I don’t think she’d respect me very much if I couldn’t tell her apart from some cheap copy.” He charged at Nightmare, leaving his friends behind as the two of them fought each other.

“I don’t understand. How could Nightmare overcome the Elements of Harmony like that?” Twilight said, still in shock.

“Maybe they’re not at full power,” Applejack said. “If what yah said about bonds and friendship is true, Rainbow Dash mighta weakened them when she called yah an egghead.”

“No, that’s not it,” Twilight said. “Rainbow’s annoying, but her heart’s always in the right place, we know that.”

“We don’t have to prove how much we represent our own Elements again, do we?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We already embody our respective Elements,” Twilight said. “The Elements of Harmony are just as powerful as they were the last time we used them, but…”

“Maybe Nightmare was right,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe she is more powerful than the Elements of Harmony.”

Zero Volt teleported in front of them with his back turned and slid backward on his hooves. “Can’t you do anything for yourself, Nightmare?” he said. “It really shows how powerful you’re not when you copy the abilities of others.”

“And yet you’re the one who’s breaking a sweat,” Nightmare said. Zero Volt was panting slightly, and he was starting to get tired. “I guess that’s the difference between an ageless magical being like me and a mortal pony like you.”

“If that’s the case, then it’s time for me to shift gears,” Zero Volt said under his breath. He charged at Nightmare again. Nightmare dove at him, but Zero Volt sidestepped her while maintaining his acceleration. Moments later, he teleported to another part of the field, still charging at Nightmare.

“Looks like it’s time to do my best matador impression,” Nightmare said. Zero Volt was already galloping very quickly, and within moments he went into a Shinespark. He lifted off the ground and flew at Nightmare, who easily avoided him. Zero Volt stopped, turned around, and flew at Nightmare, but she dodged him a second time. “When I took on Rainbow Dash’s form, I absorbed more than just her abilities,” she said as she continued dodging his attacks. “I also absorbed her thoughts and memories, and she’s been watching you for some time now.” At that moment, winds began to circle around her, carrying a few small clouds with them. Once they were in front of her, she used her hooves to pack them into a ball. “She knows your skills, your fighting style, your attack patterns…” Zero Volt flew at her one more time, and as she swerved out of the way, she left the balled-up thunderclouds in his path. “And your weaknesses.”

The Shinespark deactivated as soon as Zero Volt collided with the balled-up thunderclouds. He fell out of the air and crashed into the ground, already unconscious. “Zero!” Fluttershy yelled, very audibly. She and the others watched as Zero Volt lay there broken and defeated.

“Alright, that’s it!” Rainbow Dash said. “Nopony does that to Volt. Not me and especially not you!” She spread her wings and flew at Nightmare, but stopped when Nightmare disappeared in a thick black fog. She watched as the fog floated toward the ground and took on a new form. ‘Really,’ Rainbow thought, raising an eyebrow, ‘you’re copying Spike now?’

Rainbow snapped out of it and prepared to attack, but before she could, wisps of black fog surrounded Nightmare’s limbs. Nightmare grew in size, and within seconds the form she took on was no longer that of a baby dragon. Her purple scales slowly turned black and started peeling. Rainbow’s jaw dropped and she floated back as Nightmare’s body towered over her, reaching adult size and replacing its scales with a black, spiky carapace. Once the fog disappeared, Nightmare grabbed Rainbow Dash out of the air. Keeping Rainbow Dash in her grip, she lifted her claw and slammed it into the ground with an open palm. She pulled her arm back and stood back up, leaving Rainbow Dash unconscious next to Zero Volt.

“Ah’m coming for yah, Rainbow!” Applejack said. Nightmare turned her attention to the other five mares and changed into a black fog again. The fog gathered itself it front of them, stopping Applejack from running to help Rainbow Dash.  Nightmare took on Zero Volt’s appearance next, but with black veins across its body and a deep purple on its bangs and sides instead of white.

The five of them started to back away, but black lines appeared on Nightmare’s head and sides, forming the outlines of a horn and wings. Glowing black spheres emerged from those outlines: two from the horn and one from each wing. The spheres floated above Nightmare’s head before taking on the forms of Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. The bodies of these four duplicates were translucent, and their bones could be seen glowing in different colors: cyan for Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, yellow for Applejack, and green for Rarity. Moments later, the four copies flew at the originals, throwing them several feet back and knocking them out.

Twilight was the only one left standing, but before she could turn around to see if her friends were okay, Nightmare teleported behind her and kicked her with both hind legs. Twilight flew several feet, but before she could hit the ground, Nightmare teleported in front of her and kicked her horn. Twilight’s horn shattered on impact, and she landed next to Zero Volt.

Nightmare’s body changed shape one last time, mimicking Twilight Sparkle’s appearance, but with the usual black veins and black streaks in her mane and tail. She scanned the area around her, seeing the unconscious ponies surrounding her and laughed maniacally.

Apparently, There's Also a DS Version

Bright Lights, Colors All Around (2/3)

An hour later, Zero Volt and the four little aliens were traveling along a metallic walkway. They had left the fleet of aircraft behind a while back, and Zero Volt was being led through a new area, although it seemed strangely familiar to him. Much of the area consisted of steel platforms and walkways. Electrical lighting was installed along the walls, allowing them to see where they were going now that it was nighttime. Zero Volt still thought he remembered this place, but the area had been built over so extensively that it was impossible to tell what used to be there, even with the occasional trees and flowers.

“Wait.” Zero Volt stood still and looked around. Eventually, he managed to look past all of the construction and development and see the hoofful of plants and thick grasses that were still around. “This is where I first came to this world. But where did all this stuff come from?” he said as he continued along the walkway. “How did all this get built in only a few hours?” The walkway led him to a body of water. “And is this supposed to be a river? Why’s the water purple? I don’t think water’s supposed to be purple.” The fourth alien squinted at him, as if calling him an idiot. Zero Volt examined the newest creature to join their party. This one was pink in color, and looked similar to the cyan creature, except with thinner limbs and spiny projections on its head. “So what kind of powers do you have?” Zero Volt asked. “Oh right, I have to say the right word first. Okay then, spike. Spine.” The pink creature pointed its limbs at the projections on its head. “Weird pink sun drawn by a grade-school colt?” The creature’s head and limbs slumped in frustration. “Yeah, I know. Just once I’d like to talk to you guys without it turning into a game of charades.”

“That last guess was awfully specific,” Pinkie Pie said. “Fluttershy, you can understand those little aliens, right? What’s the secret word?”

Fluttershy sighed quietly before giving an answer. “Spikes.”

“Didn’t he just say ‘spikes’?” Rainbow asked.

“No, um…”

“Actually, he said ‘spike’,” Pinkie interrupted, “without the ‘s’ at the end.”

“Because of one letter?” Rainbow said. “Shouldn’t ‘spike’ be close enough?”

“I’m not the judge,” Pinkie said, “I’m only the scorekeeper.”

Zero Volt scrutinized the pink creature, still trying to find the right word. “Whatever it is, it has to be related to those spikes on your-” The alien flew into Zero Volt’s body, cutting him off midsentence. “Seriously? You took points off because of one letter?! Oh well, as long as…” Zero Volt cut himself off again after glancing at a nearby window. He ran his hoof through his bangs as he stared at his reflection in the glass. “Promise me you’ll tell no one about this.”

“Great, now everypony knows,” Zero Volt said, burying his face in his hooves.

“It’s okay, Zero,” Fluttershy said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “There’s no shame in a stallion having pink in his mane.”

“Well, maybe a little shame,” Rainbow Dash said.

A pink glow surrounded Zero Volt’s body, forming a sphere around him. He watched the energy flowing around him, but was surprised when a multitude of spikes shot out of the sphere. He took several steps forward and noticed that the ball of pink energy rolled along the walkway with each step. The six-inch spikes that covered the ball pierced through the steel walkway as it moved. “Huh, so this one let’s me roll around in a hamster ball of death. Alright, let’s taking for a spin.”

Immediately regretting the bad pun, Zero Volt broke into a gallop. The metallic crunch of the spikes tearing through the platform completely drowned out the sound of his hoof beats as he ran. The walkways hadn’t been finished yet, and he found numerous gaps in the platforms. Zero Volt sidestepped the gaps and ran along whatever sections had been built. A large gap extended across the entire width of the walkway ahead of him. He wouldn’t be able to leap across it, but he noticed a wall extending across that gap. He approached the wall and attempted a wall run along it.

Wall running was a fairly straightforward action for Zero Volt. All he had to do was run next to the wall until the right moment when he could hop onto it. Each step pushed him further up, but by pushing against the wall, he was also pushing off of it. As a result, he always had to jump off after the first few steps while his hooves could still reach the wall. But this time, something was different. After three steps with each hoof, Zero Volt realized that he was still running on the wall, and he was still climbing it. He came to a stop, only to realize that he was still standing on the wall even after he slowed down. Looking at the ball of pink energy, he noticed that the spikes running along its surface had embedded themselves into the wall.

“So I can stick to walls with this thing,” Zero Volt thought out loud. “Maybe I can stick to ceilings too.” He ran along the rest of the wall and jumped back on the walkway after finding a place to land. He stopped on the walkway and looked ahead, noticing a tower in the distance. The tower was at the other side of the tainted river, and the walkway ended at a ramp just above the river.

Suddenly, the spikes started to spin around the surface of the ball. Zero Volt stood in place, watching the sharp projections travel around the stationary sphere, sounding like a revving engine. Seconds later, the ball shot forward, carrying him across the platform against his will. Zero Volt shot over the ramp, clearing the river and landing on his stomach at the base of the tower. The pink alien emerged shortly afterward, and Zero Volt stood up and shook himself off.

“Ugh, warn me the next time you’re going to do that,” Zero Volt said. He looked up at the four creatures, who were gazing up at the tower. “Hey, what are you all looking at?” The orange alien flew down to him and tried to communicate with him. Zero Volt observed the creature carefully. He still had no way of understanding its chirping sounds, but could sense its fear and anxiety. “You don’t like this tower being up here, do you?” The creature shook its head slowly. “I don’t care much for it either. Fortunately, you little guys make a great demolition crew. Spikes!”

The pink alien flew into Zero Volt’s body again. It only took a second for the sphere and spikes to materialize around him. He stood still, allowing the creature’s power to rev up before taking off. The spikes sheared through the tower’s floors, walls and support structures as Zero Volt shot across every surface of the tower he could reach. By the time he was done, he was back at the base of the tower. Much of the tower’s walls and floors had been punctured, slashed and warped, but amazingly enough, it remained standing.

“Rocket!” Zero Volt shouted, absorbing the orange creature. He used its power to shoot upward, smashing through as much of the damaged structure as he could on his way. Eventually he reached the top of the tower, but when he landed on the roof, the structure started to collapse. Whole sections of the tower crumbled and fell, and Zero Volt felt the floor beneath him shake. “Uh-oh, we probably shouldn’t be up here while this tower’s collapsing,” he said. “Actually, where is the safest place to be in a collapsing building? The fall could kill you if you were closer to the top, but you’d be buried under tons of debris if you were on one of the lower levels.” Zero Volt brought his hoof to his muzzle and contemplated the idea as the tower crumbled at all levels. He was interrupted when the pink creature struck him across the face with one of its limbs. “Oh right, we need to escape. Laser!”

As soon as he absorbed the cyan alien, he flew off the tower, shooting across the sky at a downward angle. They arrived in front of another building, and Zero Volt landed on the ground after they separated. He looked up at the capsule on top, noticing the pink aura it gave off, when the ground suddenly started to shake. Another enemy appeared next to the building and turned its attention toward Zero Volt.

“Wait a minute,” he said, staring at the giant Ferris wheel robot that had just emerged, “didn’t I just trash this thing a few hours ago? Actually it looks like it’s got a few upgrades on it. Oh well, still a recycled boss. Spikes!” Zero Volt absorbed the pink alien a third time, and after charging up its energy, he climbed onto the giant robot and sped around its body. As soon as he damaged its body and cracked its faceplate, he jumped off, smashing through the capsule on top of the building before landing on the ground. He turned around to watch the destroyed robot break apart, only to notice the pink alien lose consciousness and collapse on the ground. “Hey, are you alright?”

The other creatures flew over to Zero Volt and tried to talk to him. “We need to get him to that ball of light?” he asked, noticing that they were gesturing toward the broken capsule. He gingerly picked the creature up with his mouth and teleported in front of the light. As soon as the alien was close enough, he absorbed the ball of light and woke up. “You okay?” The creature flew around him for a moment before nodding. Out of the corner of his eye, Zero Volt noticed a container on the ground. He went toward it and teleported the container, releasing the alien inside it without actually opening it. “How many more of you guys are there?” The cyan creature floated in front of him and held two of its limbs up. “Good, we’re almost done. Hopefully I won’t have to spend all night doing this.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“So this is supposed to be an aquarium?” Zero Volt asked. His eyes swept over the new area the aliens brought him to. There were numerous platforms and walkways suspended over the water. Lighting was available above the platforms to see where he was going, and light permeated throughout the water itself, making its surface and everything inside it brighter and more visible. “It’s not like I’m unimpressed or anything. I mean, hey look. World’s largest fish tank.” He moved closer to the edge of the platform to look into the water. His two-second warning activated and he fell backward just before something jumped out at him. “Was that supposed to be a robot piranha? Why are there killer robot fish in an aquarium? Oh well, I guess that’s one more thing to watch out for.”

Zero Volt looked back at the creatures around him and noticed the newest member of the party. It had a round, green body with three round pods on the end of its limbs, much like the orange creature. However, nothing about its appearance told Zero Volt anything about what it could do. “So what powers do you have?” he asked. The green creature responded with a few squeaks while floating around him. It would occasionally descend, but floated back up before it could touch the ground. “Uh… float, levitate, bounce, flying… floating, levitating, bouncing… nothing?” The creature shook its head and continued its chirps. “This is the worst game of charades ever,” he sighed.

“What word were you shooting for this time?” Spike asked.

“Hover.” Zero Volt and Fluttershy said simultaneously, followed by an awkward glance at each other.

“Whoa, freaky,” Pinkie said. “Hey, maybe if we shout it loud enough, Past Zero will be able to hear it.” Pinkie Pie inhaled deeply, and just before she started to inflate like a balloon, she shouted at the top of her lungs. “HOVER!”

“Past me didn’t hear you,” Zero Volt said, removing his hooves from his ears, “but you are just one decibel shy of Luna’s public speaking voice.”

“Are you mocking the co-ruler of Equestria, Zero Volt?” Luna said.

“Am I not allowed to?” he asked.

“I have a joy buzzer that can answer that for me,” she said.

“Actually, joy buzzers don’t have any voltage in them,” Twilight said. “It just feels like you’re getting zapped by them.”

“Oh, then I’ll just use a thundercloud.”

“Isn’t that a little extreme?” Zero Volt said.

“No need to worry,” Luna said. “I only jest.”

At some point in the middle of the alien’s chirps, Zero Volt’s ears perked. “Hover?” The creature flew into his body immediately after, causing his hooves to bounce off the ground. “Hover it is.” He floated back down, only to bounce back up as soon as his hooves touched the ground again. Deciding to test the creature’s power, he straightened his legs and floated higher up, then straight across the water. “It doesn’t go very fast, but at least it has good handling.” He corkscrewed through the air as he floated above the water. Several robot piranhas jumped out of the water, but were torn apart by the green aura that surrounded him.

“I take it that you’re enjoying that.” Zero Volt turned around and saw a white unicorn with a purple mane floating next to him.

“And I take it that you’re with those other ponies,” Zero Volt said.

“What other ponies?” Nightmare asked.

“The ones with the same sickly black veins across their bodies that you have.”

“Sickly? Well, even if they do clash with the coat and mane, I still look gorgeous.”

“That’s a matter of opinion,” he said with a smirk.

“How dare you!” Nightmare said. “I’ll show you what beauty and radiance are!” The air around Nightmare started to shimmer as strands of magical energy, blue with a tinge of black, circled around her. The strands condensed together, forming fragments of sapphire and onyx. As the precious stones materialized, they gathered around Nightmare, forming into a body with two heavy arms. The stones formed a space inside the body for Nightmare to stand in, with a transparent sheet of diamond to protect her. As soon as the body was complete, she stretched its arms and punched Zero Volt across the aquarium.

The gems that formed the arm cracked after coming into contact with the green alien’s aura, but the punch hit its target, sending Zero Volt’s body skipping along the water’s surface. He eventually made it to several platforms, rebounding off of a wall and into the air. “Ngh, my head,” he moaned. “And pretty much everything else.” Nightmare flew at him to punch him again, but Zero Volt corkscrewed upward just in time to dodge her.

“Come back here, my little pony,” Nightmare said. “I’m in the mood for a little basketball.”

“Sorry, I don’t play,” Zero Volt said, struggling to avoid Nightmare’s attacks. He tried to dodge the punches thrown by the jeweled body she had built, but the green alien’s powers made him too sluggish in the air. “And I am not a basketball.”

“Fine, basket-colt,” she said. “Not that it matters. Wordplay won’t save you.”

“Maybe not, but this will.” Nightmare threw another punch, but this time, Zero Volt flew at her instead of away from her. He attempted a somersault as he rammed into the head, only to bounce off toward its arms. He then bounced off one arm, back into the head, then into the other arm. Every bounce caused cracks to form in the gemstone armor as Zero Volt ricocheted about the body. Before long, the protective diamond covering fell off, and Zero Volt slammed into Nightmare herself before rebounding upward. Nightmare vanished into a black fog after taking damage while the gemstones crumbled away and fell into the water.

After watching his enemy disappear, Zero Volt turned his attention back to his flight and performed another corkscrew. However, he managed to spin into a long, winding trail of small golden rings. The green alien’s power homed in on the rings and followed the trail, keeping Zero Volt in a corkscrew. At the end of the trail, the green alien emerged and struck a pose in midair while Zero Volt landed painfully on a platform.

“Ngh, you guys have an annoying habit of throwing me into stuff,” he groaned as he stood up and placed a hoof on his head. The cyan creature tapped his muzzle and pointed across the water. “We still have to keep going, don’t we?” There were no platforms in the direction they were supposed to travel, and Zero Volt couldn’t see their final destination. “I just thought of something. If clouds are less dense than water, and I can stand on clouds, then I should have no problem standing on top of water.” Zero Volt jumped off the platform, but his hooves fell through the water’s surface and he sank like a rock. Seconds later he teleported back onto the platform, soaking wet. “Okay that didn’t work. And apparently I’m not a very strong swimmer,” he said. He turned toward the aliens and noticed the looks they all gave him. “Hey, it was worth a shot!”

Rainbow Dash burst in laughter in the middle of the scene. “I wish Twilight had thought of that,” she said. “She would’ve gone all egghead and failed so spectacularly.”

Zero Volt glared at Rainbow before turning to Fluttershy, who was giggling at the scene. “And what do you have to say?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, is just that-” she tried to say, but laughed out loud along with Rainbow Dash.

“You’re lucky that I’m nice,” he said. “Otherwise, I’d ask the princesses to put both of you in that flight blooper reel.”

“I don’t suppose any of you can get us across a body of water this big?” Zero Volt said. The cyan, orange, pink and green creatures all shook their heads, but the yellow one flew in front of him. “Hm, I think I see what you’re getting at, but would I need to use a different word, like torpedo?” The yellow creature shook its head. “Oh, then just drill.” As soon as the creature flew into him, Zero Volt jumped into the water. With the yellow creature’s energy spinning around him, he rapidly made his way through the water. Several enemies chased after him along the way, but were torn apart when they went anywhere near him. He turned to avoid any live fish that were in the waters, surprised that there would be any marine life here with the robot enemies.

Eventually, he found a large platform and jumped onto it, separating from the yellow alien. A building stood at the center of the platform with a green capsule on top. Zero Volt walked toward the building, but was stopped by the green alien, who pointed toward a trail of rings that ran through the building several times. “You want me to use you with those rings again?” he asked. “You’re not going to drop me like you did last time, are you? Alright fine, hover.” Zero Volt floated up using the green alien’s energy and corkscrewed into the trail of rings. He followed the trail as it looped around, barreling into the building whenever the rings led toward it. He landed on the ground as soon as he was done, and the building and capsule were both destroyed.

Zero Volt looked at the wreckage of the building when he heard a loud splash behind him. He turned around and saw a submarine emerge from the water. “The rest of you guys are good up here, right?” he asked. The creatures all nodded at him. “Okay then, drill!” The yellow creature flew into him as he galloped off the platform and into the water. Meanwhile, the green alien was making its way toward the light above the destroyed building. It grew stronger after absorbing the light, and moments later, Zero Volt emerged from the water with two small creatures.

“Alright, sub’s trashed and I got your friend back,” he said as he lied on the ground. “Good night, little cephalopod things.” The cyan and pink aliens flew toward him and tapped him forcefully. “Look, it’s two o’clock at night and I’ve had a very long day. I know you still have one more friend, but I’m sure he can wait a few hours.” The pink alien backed up several feet, but was interrupted by Zero Volt. “Alright, alright, I’ll go. Just don’t stab me like that.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt stood at the edge of a cliff with the six little creatures around him. There were several sets of rails nearby, and they watched three sets of roller coaster cars travel along those tracks. Each track plunged downward at the end, causing the roller coasters to fall off the rails and plummet into the abyss below. “Ugh, never again,” Zero Volt said as he walked away. The landscape became much bleaker as he and the creatures moved away from the cliff. On his left, he found a river flowing with green liquid, too viscous to be water, but not the least bit inviting to any organism. He noticed a factory to his right, and as the aliens directed him toward it, he found himself examining its design. Many of the structures he had seen today were jarring when placed against the environments they were built over, but this was entirely different. The architecture of this building looked dark and foreboding, like the lair of an evil overlord. “Hey, do you guys remember when this place actually looked nice?” he asked. “All that plant life, that landscape made entirely out of sugar, and the air fleet would’ve all made great postcard photos. Now we have roller coasters that send you falling to your death, not to mention the creepy factory we’re walking into.”

Zero Volt turned a corner and walked into the largest room in the factory. He and the other creatures scanned the room as they moved through it. Hundreds of capsules occupied the room, each filled with a purple energy that was made murky by a tinge of black. The atmosphere made Zero Volt even more uneasy, and the aliens huddled closer to him in fear. Suddenly, an alarm sounded and a red light filled the room. Blast shields moved into place over each capsule, and an army of robots dropped in from the ceiling, surrounding Zero Volt. Zero Volt’s gaze shifted across the room as he glared at the robots, which were all aiming their weaponry at him. Before anyone could act, the sixth alien flew in front of Zero Volt and tried to communicate with him. This creature, blue in color, had a more boxlike appearance than his other friends, with a cubic head and stiff, rectangular limbs.

Zero Volt watched the creature intently as it chirped and flailed around. “Cube?” The blue creature flew into his body, and he rose up into the air. A blue aura formed around him, taking on the shape of a cube and slamming into the ground. The impact generated a shockwave that spread across the ground and tore through everything it passed over. It shattered the capsules, shredded their blast shields, ripped apart every robot in the room, and fractured every wall and floor in the room. By the time the shockwave subsided, the entire factory was in ruins.

“Hey, remind me never to use you indoors, or anywhere crowded,” Zero Volt said, finally mustering a response to the catastrophic damage around him. Seconds later, he felt the ground shake underneath him as the factory started to fall apart. “Oh that’s right, we’re indoors right now.” Zero Volt looked at his options carefully, trying to find the best way out of a collapsing building. “Uh… drill!” He burrowed underground the moment the yellow Wisp flew into him, and within seconds, he surfaced again, having escaped the factory’s collapse. He was about to reprimand the blue creature when an armored warship flew overhead. All of them stared at the ship, and the aliens started talking amongst themselves. “Your last friend is up there?” Zero Volt asked, receiving a nod from each of them in response. “Then we have to make sure it doesn’t get away.”

Over the next two minutes, Zero Volt made use of the creatures’ powers to attack the warship. He activated the green one first, using it to follow a trail of rings that brought him on top of the ship. The pink creature came next, which he used to perforate the ship’s armor. The damaged armor allowed him to use the yellow creature and drill into the ship. He caused as much internal damage as he could, then delivered the coup de grace with the blue alien. The shockwave from the last attack destroyed the ship internally and externally, causing it to fall apart and crash into the ground. The last spherical container rolled from the wreckage and in front of Zero Volt, who had teleported off of the ship before it crashed. He teleported the container away, releasing the creature trapped inside. The last creature, purple in color, took on a demonic appearance and seemed to have a wicked smile across its face instead of eyes.

“Are you sure that’s your friend over there?” Zero Volt said. “He seems a little off.” Noticing the other creatures nearby, it lunged at them. Zero Volt teleported between them and held the purple alien back with his hoof. “Hey, calm down. No need to get into a frenzy.” Suddenly the purple creature started glowing and flew into him. Zero Volt’s knees buckled and he placed a foreleg over his stomach. Purple liquid started to ooze from his eyes, ears and mouth, and a purple fog emanated from his hooves. He lifted his head, but before he could let out a scream, the purple alien’s energy spread across his body and consumed him, taking the form of a monster’s head.

The monstrous head went into a rampage, snapping its jaws as it jumped across the ground. It first went after the other aliens, which floated up to avoid it. The monster tried to jump up at them, but couldn’t jump high enough to reach them. Unable to devour the other creatures, it turned its attention to a nearby building with a capsule on top of it. It lunged at the building, chomping into its walls and support structures. As chunks of the building broke off, the monster absorbed them into its body, growing progressively larger in the process. Within seconds, the building was unable to support itself and collapsed. The building collapsed on top of the monster, which absorbed much of the debris and ballooned in size. The capsule on top of the building shattered upon hitting the ground, releasing a blue sphere of light.

The monster turned and tried to devour the sphere of energy, but stopped in its tracks. Moments later, the monster’s body dissolved, revealing Zero Volt and the purple creature at the center of it. Zero Volt felt delirious shortly after the creature left him, but after a few seconds, delirium became nausea, and he lowered his head to throw up. Looking down, he noticed that his vomit was purple in color. He coughed and sputtered painfully as he spewed the last few bits onto the ground. “Oh dear sweet Celestia, that was dreadful,” he groaned. “Or maybe it’s Luna.” He held his foreleg on his stomach and spat a few times, hoping to get the taste of this unnatural puke out of his mouth. “Oh who the hay cares; both of them.” He looked up at the purple creature, who looked like it could have been foaming at the mouth. “Ugh, what happened to you?”

“I happened to him!” Zero Volt turned around and saw an alicorn mare standing behind him. Her coat was black and her mane, tail and wings were ablaze with orange and gray flames. “Look upon me and despair, for I am Nightmare!”

Zero Volt stared at her for several seconds. Apart for the flames on Nightmare’s body, both ponies stood perfectly still. After ten seconds of silence, Zero Volt raised an eyebrow and asked, “Who?”

“You have to be kidding,” Nightmare said with a facehoof. “Haven’t any of you ponies ever opened a history textbook?”

“Not in recent memory,” he said. “So… who are you again?”

Nightmare sighed in frustration. “Over a thousand years ago, the royal pony sisters rose to power and established harmony throughout Equestria.” An image of Celestia and Luna, both a thousand years younger, appeared in front of Zero Volt as Nightmare spoke. “But the princess of the night, Luna, grew a little jealous of the adoration that the ponies showed her older sister. Her anger and envy allowed me to take control, and together we turned on her sister, refused to let the sun rise, and threatened to plunge Equestria into night for all eternity.” As she spoke, Luna’s image became altered, reaching the size of a fully grown alicorn and taking on the appearance of Nightmare Moon. “Celestia was nothing before our combined power and we almost defeated her, but in desperation, she activated the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned us within the moon. For the next thousand years, we waited in lunar exile, growing stronger with each passing year, until the day that we finally escaped.” The images of Celestia and Nightmare Moon disappeared, replaced by Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Zero Volt looked at each of them one by one, noting how each of them appeared: Rarity striking an elegant pose, Fluttershy sitting with a demure expression on her face, Pinkie Pie looking as lively and cheerful as the real one, Rainbow Dash in the middle of an aerial stunt, Twilight with a wide-eyed look in her eyes, and Applejack wearing a smile while adjusting her hat. Meanwhile, Nightmare continued her story, but with an added bitterness and anger in her tone. “But Celestia anticipated my return, and these six fillies used the Elements of Harmony to thwart our plans and separate me from their precious Luna!”

“Uh, question!” Zero Volt shouted as he raised his hoof. “I couldn’t help but notice how attractive the six of them look and-”

“You’re kidding, right?” Nightmare asked. “Are you really thinking about rutting them at a time like this?”

“A little bit, but that’s not the point,” he said. “If you hate these girls for thwarting your plans, then why are the images you have of them so flattering?”

“These images are my templates,” Nightmare said. As she spoke, black veins appeared across the bodies of the six young mares. “I replicated their forms and tweaked their abilities to my liking. I was planning to use them against those fillies and their kingdom, but you seem to have damaged a few of them.” The images of Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity lost their black veins, and their skeletons appeared to glow through their bodies.

“So is that all you wanted to use them for?” Zero Volt said. “I thought you were planning on using them for a little foe-yay.”

“I did not create these duplicates so that I could have my way with them!”

“If you insist…”

Zero Volt looked to his right, and then to his left. All six of his friends were staring at him with their mouths hanging wide open. “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” he said. “I’ll bet each of you has met at least one pony you wanted to pounce on.”

“Yeah of course, but we wouldn’t actually admit it to them,” Rainbow said.

“Hey, I only admitted it to Nightmare, and I was planning on killing her afterward,” he said before turning to face Luna. “Why didn’t you edit that out?”

“Celestia thought it would be amusing,” Luna said. “And it was.”

“Yeah, very funny.”

“First of all, ‘pounce’ is a very indelicate way of putting it,” Rarity said. “Second of all, a lady does not pounce.”

Zero Volt turned his head to check his flank. “Now what are you doing?” Nightmare asked.

“For a second there, I thought that my special talent was distracting others,” he said.

“And yourself apparently.”

“No, I’m not distracted,” Zero Volt said. “I know exactly what I’m dealing with. Without the sun’s light, the earth would freeze and plants wouldn’t be able to grow. Every creature would starve, and before long, the world would become a cold, desolate wasteland. You’re not trying to rule Equestria. You’re trying to destroy it and end all life.”

“That’s exactly right,” Nightmare said. “Luna was so easy to manipulate, though I always wonder what would’ve happened if I had gone in the other direction. When those two ponies first came to power, the young Celestia had let the adoration of her subjects go to her head. I could have manipulated her just as easily and brought eternal daylight to Equestria. Every plant and animal would wither and die, and the earth would become scorched and desiccated. But what can I say? I was in the mood for chilly that year.”

Zero Volt cringed as she spoke. Nightmare almost seemed giddy as she described the end of the world to him. “Maybe, but that still doesn’t explain why you’re here,” he said. “Why are you attacking and capturing these creatures? What purpose does it serve?”

“For a second there, I thought you actually had some intellect,” she said. “These creatures are called Wisps, and surely by now you’ve seen just how much damage they can cause, especially after spending this entire day using them against me. Just imagine how much damage they’ll cause to a pony city, or even to the ponies themselves.”

“So let me see if I understand this,” he said incredulously. “The cute little cephalopod things have power in them to destroy the world. Just what was in that fog I walked through this afternoon?”

“I can assure you that this is no hallucination,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Zero Volt said. “I’ve freed all the Wisps and destroyed everything you’ve built here! It’s over, you’ve lost!”

“Oh you naïve little pony, you haven’t saved all the Wisps,” Nightmare said. “That last one and all of its power still belong to me.” Zero Volt heard a strong wind coming from behind Nightmare. Off in the distance, where the factory once stood, the purple energy rose from the wreckage and rushed toward them like a dust storm, glowing in the darkness of the night. Once it reached them, it gathered and swirled around Nightmare. The purple Wisp reacted to the energy and growled ravenously at it. Zero Volt extended his hoof to try to hold the Wisp back, but pulled back when it lashed at him. “It looks like my new pet is hungry. I’d be more than happy to oblige it. Frenzy!”

“No!”

The purple Wisp flew away from Zero Volt and toward Nightmare. Nightmare absorbed the creature, along with all of the purple energy that swirled around her, and started to undergo her transformation. Zero Volt lifted his right foreleg and extended the wings on his bracelet as powerful winds swept from Nightmare. The remaining Wisps huddled closer to him, trying not to get blown away. When the winds subsided, he looked at Nightmare, who had taken on a form similar to his when he accidentally activated the purple Wisp. The major difference was two arms, each with a head at the end of it, extending from the sides of the main head.

The smaller heads snapped their jaws before lunging at Zero Volt. Zero Volt dodged and teleported to avoid the heads, but by the time he realized what they were really lunging at, it was too late. Nightmare’s arms retracted back, taking the other six Wisps with them. She absorbed the rest of them into her, augmenting her transformation even further. Her transformed state was originally the size of a pony, but now she had grown to the size of an Ursa Minor.

“Let them go now!” Zero Volt growled, staring up at the monster in front of him.

“You’re in no position to demand anything of me,” Nightmare roared. “With the Wisps’ power at my disposal, nothing in Equestria can stop me. I can only imagine what some of these will do to the ponies and their towns. Actually, why imagine it when I can at least test them on you. Cube!” Blue streaks appeared across the smaller heads on Nightmare’s arms. She aimed them at Zero Volt, each one firing a cube-shaped projectile at him. Zero Volt leapt backward, but the cubes hit the ground instead, spreading their powerful shockwaves across it. Though he was still airborne when the cubes landed, his two-second warning had shown him what nearly happened to him, and it wasn’t pretty. Instead, the shockwaves sundered the ground as they passed over it, and by the time they were gone, the ground was still shaking due to its own instability. “Never mind then, there will be plenty of creatures to use this on in Equestria. But since you were nice enough to show me how to use their power, I will set aside this entire world to be your burial place.”

Zero Volt watched as Nightmare flew off. The ground shook underneath him, and whole sections of it started to break apart and collapse. He bent his knees, ready to break into a gallop, and said his last words before entering his toughest fight yet. “Not if I stop you first.”