Forest Green

by Phazon

Search and Rescue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Want some help?”

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

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

“What do you think of Ponyville so far?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The three of us?”

“Yeah, you, me and Winona.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * * * * * * *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Snowboarding!”

“In this weather?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Really, that’s it?” Zero Volt said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Or something,” Pinkie Pie added.

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

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

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

* * * * * * * * * *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Thanks, Dash.”

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