Forest Green

by Phazon

At the Hospital

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

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

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

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

“So you’ve been in fights.”

“But I didn’t start any of them.”

“For the last two months.”

“But I didn’t start any of them.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nah, not at all.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Pinkie Promise?”

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

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

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

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

“It’s Fluttershy,” she said.

“Great meeting you, Fluttershy,”

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

* * * * * * * * * *

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * * * * * * *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hi, Pinkie,” he said anxiously.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Author's Note:

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

Comments

[Time Squid]

Rarity is a bitch? It's canon.