I bite my beak and take a step back. He's saying... I'M ZERO?

"Well, Silver? Do you have an answer?"

How can I even respond to that? What do I say?

"Come on, Silver. Say something."

Why would he accuse me? What did I do?

"Why won't you say anything?"

"How about she shouldn't have to?"

!!! Smolder leads the others into the room. Yona and Rain step between me and Gallus, and Cozy wraps her hooves around me. The rest surround him (though I don't know how much Bramble can do in this situation).

Gallus looks around at the others. "Weren't you guys arguing?"

Ocellus shrugs. "We figured it wasn't worth arguing over if we would forgive them or not. They probably have an unforgivable reason anyway."

"Why would you accuse her of being Zero? You don't really think she would do something like this, do you?"

Gallus looks right at Sandbar. "To be quite frank, any one of us could be Zero. If we don't suspect each other, we'll keep playing right into his claws." He starts moving around like there isn't an angry mob around him. "He'll pull the strings, control your actions, and lead you all right to failure. Everything will end, and the truth will be forever lost."

Yona lets out a growl, but Rain is the one to speak up. "Do you really think she's Zero?"

Gallus shrugs. "I know she isn't. I just want her to prove that to all of you."

Really? He put that pressure on me and stressed me out... over something he already knew? Why did I fall for him again?

Smolder's face is in her hand. "I'm gonna have to keep an eye on you."

Sandbar rolls his eyes. "So, what are we doing right now? Looking for things that could help us?"

Cozy looks at the door to the infirmary. "The next set of doors are through there. How about we look around until the next chime."

Everyone nods except Gallus, who just stands there.

"Anyone that misses the chime gets a wet willie!" Uh oh. Smolder can actually do that.

"That's not sexual, is it?"

We all look at Rain and burst out laughing. How does she not know?

Ocellus shakes her head. "It's where she wets her finger and sticks it in your ear. It's not sexual."

Sandbar lets out a few more laughs before taking a deep breath. "Alright, let's split up."

Ah. It's nice to get a good laugh in times like this.

I suddenly feel Gallus' breath on my ear. "Don't trust the pony."

... Did he just confirm that Sandbar is Zero? I watch him as he and Smolder enter the infirmary. I guess he thinks the same thing I do.

"You okay, Silver?"

I look at Cozy Glow. "Yeah. I'm just letting my imagination run wild."

"As usual."

"Hey!"

She giggles. "I didn't say that it's a bad thing. All the time. Anyway, I can search around here by myself, if you want to look somewhere else."

I look around. "Actually, I think I'll just ask questions for now."

"Well then, ask away."

"Why do you think you were given bracelet 9?"

She shrugs. "Probably nothing specific. If they had a reason to distrust me, they would have given me it as a crutch."

"A crutch?"

"Moving forward, the easiest way to form a team is to make nine with two bracelets and have them pair up with whoever has the bracelet of that door. As a result, I'll be stuck with whatever team is formed after that happens."

"So you won't get a say in where you go." I get it. If Zero is afraid of Cozy, they would want Cozy to have the least say in what we do. Though that is a pretty big if. There's not much reason for anyone to distrust her. "Any idea why we were kidnapped?"

"Chance? Fate? Who knows? The only constant is that we all go to the School of Friendship, but even that doesn't quite work. They could have grabbed Anita, Hector, or Strongheart as well."

I scratch my ear. "They probably only needed nine of us. Besides, Anita is a princess, Hector is a nuisance, and the last time we heard from Strongheart, she headed home for some mysterious reason."

"True, but that assumes that the memories we just got back were the last memories we ever had. It's possible that she came home."

"Even then, they might want to cripple the school by taking away it's best students. Especially the one that gets the most work done."

She squishes her cheeks. "Aww. Thanks."

"When did I say that was you?"

"Hey!"

We share a giggle.

"You know, I'm not quite sure what to make of you."

"Me?"

I nod. "Sometimes I feel like something is off about you but can't place what. Other times, you feel like a perfectly normal pony or someone I can trust to the end of the world."

She sticks her tongue out and looks up. "Mmm... Let me put it this way; you don't have to worry about what I'm going to do."

I smile. "I'll keep that in mind." I look around.

"Ocellus and Sandbar went that way, Bramble and Yona went that way, and Rain went that way."

"Thanks, Cozy." I guess I'll talk to Sandbar and Ocellus next.

This hallway... I don't think it's really been significant. Either way, there they are.

Ocellus is the first to notice me. "Hey, Silver. We've got this place covered."

"I'm not searching. I'm asking questions."

Sandbar smiles at me like he's not Zero. "Alright. What's on your mind?"

"About what happened earlier..."

"You mean with Gallus? Or before the first set of doors?"

"Yeah, you seemed pretty upset at that point. I'm glad you calmed down."

Uh... What?

Ocellus puts her hoof to her cheek. "I'm not sure why you broke down, though."

"Well, the rest of us were going at each other pretty hard."

What are they talking about?

"Sandbar, what are you talking about? We weren't fighting earlier."

"Yes, we were. Cozy was mad at me, Smolder was mad at Gallus-"

Ocellus raises her eyebrow. "No, Silver just broke down crying and screaming. It wasn't until Rain suggested-"

"Rain wasn't arguing until-"

"There was no arguing."

"I think you're both losing it." They stare at me. I was expecting that. "I don't remember anything significant happening before the first set of doors. I was talking about what happened after I left the room with the orb."

"Oh, that?" Ocellus rubs the back of her head. "Well, I tried to diffuse it by thinking of something that would justify this, but Sandbar beat me to the punch by pointing out that we shouldn't worry about it right away."

"Once we find out who Zero is, we can decide if we forgive them or not. After all, I didn't want another big fight." And Sandbar is talking crazy again and doing nothing to stave off my suspicions.

"Again, we didn't fight before the first set of doors."

Ocellus prods Sandbar. "See?"

"And I didn't break down crying. I don't know where either of you got the idea that something happened before the first set of doors."

"Um..."

"Well..."

I sigh. I think it's time to switch topics. "What do you two think of Rain?"

"She's nice but doesn't talk much. In fact, I think I've heard her voice more here than I did in a week at the school."

Ocellus taps her chin. "From what I've read, kirin have a natural enemy in the form of the nirik. I wonder if she's so passive because of them."

I scratch my head. "Nirik?"

"I wish I could describe them in detail, but all I really know is that they are a natural enemy of the Kirin that resemble them somewhat."

"Hey, do you think that's what Rain turned into?"

I tilt my head. "What are you talking about?"

"Back when she broke up the first argument."

How do I even respond to that? Why is he still saying that happened?

"Let it go, Sandbar." I think Ocellus is just as frustrated as I am, even though she's imagining things as well.

Next topic, before things get weirder. "Who do you guys think Zero is?"

"Probably Gallus or Smolder, since they're the pranksters of the group."

Wait, what? "Prank?"

"Sandbar, you don't think this is all a prank, do you?"

"I'm hopeful it is. It's probably not, but I hope it is."

At least he's acknowledging that he could be wrong on that.

"I don't have any idea who Zero is. For all we know, they may not even be one of the participants."

"That's a good point." That doesn't make me think it isn't Sandbar, though. I just have to be ready to admit it might not be him.

I think that's all I have to ask them for now. Well, I have one more thing to ask Sandbar, but I don't want to ask it in front of Ocellus. "I'm going to talk to the others."

"See you at the hour."

I head back. I don't think I've spoken to Rain that much. I head over to her.

She quickly notices me. "Hello."

"Hey. I'd like to ask some questions."

"Sure."

"Who do you think Zero is?"

She shrugs...

...

Uh, okay. "Why do you think we were kidnapped?"

She shrugs... again...

...

Wow. "Do you remember anything happening before the first set of doors?"

She shakes her head...

...

"Are you..."

She giggles. "Sorry, I didn't see a need for complex answers, so I chose to remain silent."

Okay, that was amusing. "So, you and Smolder..."

She's blushing. "Y-you wouldn't understand. It was a connection that wouldn't be considered normal. Let's just say, she understands part of me that I never thought anyone else would."

"And that understanding connected you two and it blossomed from there?"

"Yeah." Hah! She looks so embarrassed.

"Mind if I ask about the nirik?"

"Well, they aren't exactly kind creatures." She's still blushing.

"Rain, is there something you don't want to tell me?"

"Well, the nirik... I guess I can trust you. The truth about the nirik is that they are kirin."

Interesting. "You mean, they're kirin that-"

"No, that's what we call kirin that get too angry. Because that's when we change. We thought it was something to fear until Lady Autumn Blaze showed us that we could control it. Since then, there have been fewer nirik issues."

"So, how well can you control it?"

"Vvvvvvvvvery well." Well, that's one way to say it.

"Have any of the others seemed off to you?"

Rain sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask. I feel like there's something wrong with Gallus."

... GALLUS? "Wait, what do you mean?"

"The others seem to be almost exactly the same as when I first met them. Gallus, however, seems much smarter. And some of the things he said earlier really make me wonder if he knows something that we don't."

"Things such as..."

"Even beyond him accusing you of being Zero before saying he knows you aren't, the way he worded some of his statements seemed strange to me. Almost like he already knew who Zero was."

I raise my eyebrow. "You don't think it's him, do you?"

"I can't rule it out, but I believe Zero is someone outside of our group. I hope that, at worst, it's Hector or Anita. At least, someone like that."

"Why?"

"Because they can be more easily proven to be Zero, meaning they are more likely to be brought to justice."

I put my claw to my chin. "I see."

"I know you think it's Sandbar, but I really doubt he would do this. We can't use faith to prove who is or isn't Zero."

"Thanks for talking to me. I feel like I understand some things better."

"No problem."

I head back to the infirmary. I want to talk to Smolder while this is still on my mind.

Smolder is near the beds of the infirmary, while Gallus is searching around the drugs. I head over to the dragon.

"Hey. We've got this area."

"I know. I'm just asking everyone questions."

"What would you ask me?"

"Well, I asked Rain how the two of you got together, but she couldn't bring herself to tell me."

She looks me dead in the eye... and smiles. "Really? It's kind of a fun story."

"I won't tell anyone."

"I don't care. I like how it happened."

I sit down. "When did it start?"

"When we visited the Peaks of Peril. Rain went off on her own at one point. I got curious, so I followed her. She eventually reached a clearing, then let out a scream and got engulfed in flames. When they died down, her coat had turned black and there were pink flames all over her body. I realized what had happened since we were warned about the nirik just before that. She thrashed around a bit, then noticed I was there. She tried to scare me off. Once I realized why I did what any dragon would."

My heart is pounding. "You fought her?"

"She had a ton of steam to blow off from various frustrations at the school, and I had been itching to fight someone for quite a while. We got so aggressive that if anyone had seen us, they would have either run or tried to save us from each other. Her coat eventually went back to normal, so I lightened up. Once the flames vanished, she fell to her knees. I walked over to her and hugged her. That's when I noticed how tired I was from our fight."

Wow. "Then you kissed?"

"Nah. That didn't happen for a while. We laid there holding each other until we were able to get back up and rejoin the group. She had an image of calmness to maintain, so we kept it quiet for a while. When we got back to Ponyville, we found a place we could fight without bothering anyone. We probably went at it eight or nine more times before our first kiss."

"Really? You fought that much?"

"Yeah, and we would cuddle up after each and every fight. Though as time went on, our fights got shorter and our rest time got longer. I didn't notice or mind until our assignment about foreign plants. Rain and I went to our spot and did the assignment. Once we were done, I asked if she wanted to fight, and she said no."

"So you skipped to the cuddling?"

"I grabbed her and held her for a while. She kissed me on the cheek. So I grabbed the sides of her face and kissed her on the lips. We just laid there like that for a while."

"Wait. Wait. Don't tell me. Is that why you didn't show up for class the next day?"

Those red cheeks say everything. "We fell asleep while like that. The headmare found us, dragged us back to school, and only gave us a warning for missing class since we did the assignment. Then she told us we were free to explore our relationship as long as it didn't make the other students uncomfortable or get in the way of our studies."

"Did you ever fight after that?"

"Once. Someone she had a crush on got on her bad side, so she needed to let it out as much as possible."

Oops. That would be my prank gone too far. "I didn't even mean for half of that stuff to happen. It just did."

"Doesn't save you from her anger, though. Anyway, I need to get back to looking. Looking for nothing."

I turn to leave. Gallus.

"Hey, Silver. What's up?"

"What you said earlier, about-"

"Don't know what you're talking about." That smile says otherwise. "Just keep your wits about you and you'll be fine. Anyway, how are your memories?"

"What? We all touched the-"

"I mean from the other timelines."

"Oh. That. Well, things aren't exactly clear. I'm getting bits and pieces of other timelines, but it feels like I'm watching a string of random scenes cut out from two or three movies. Disjointed and obscure. It feels like I'm not able to access the field all that well."

"It's like any other skill. Unless you're naturally good at it, you have to practice and practice until you're good enough. Like me."

Wait. Is he saying... "Do you... remember something we don't?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Why do you want to know?"

"I want to know who I can trust."

*DING DING DING*

"The other's will be back soon. We'll talk later."

Author's Note

Hehehe. The best part of writing all of this is that I can slip foreshadowing in with red herrings, and you won't know which is which. It could be the heavy-handed not so subtle hints, or it could be the things you didn't even notice.

You won't know until it comes to pass.