Forest Green

by Phazon

Cutie Mark Crusaders on Ice

Zero Volt woke up the next day at 6:30 and looked around the living room. The room was still dark, but he could hear Rainbow Dash lightly snoring nearby. He stood up quietly and teleported to the window, making sure not to disturb her in her sleep. A thick layer of snow covered the window, making it impossible to see anything outside. Not that it mattered. Celestia wouldn’t be raising the sun for at least half-an-hour, so it was still dark outside. Zero Volt teleported next to Rainbow Dash and started nudging her. “Wake up, Dash.”

Rainbow Dash groaned as she opened her eyes. “What time is it?” she asked, still half-asleep.

“Six-thirty in the morning.”

Rainbow Dash looked around the living room. “You call this morning? It’s still dark out.”

“The sun’s going to be up soon,” he said. “Don’t you have to clear up some of yesterday’s clouds?”

“Give me fifteen minutes. And make breakfast while you’re at it.”

“Sure thing, Dash.” He was about to walk away, but he looked back at her. “No offense, but you look cute in your sleep.”

“Shut up,” she yawned.

Zero Volt teleported into the kitchen and started to prepare some oatmeal. Meanwhile, he started to think about everything that had happened the day before, as well as the past three months. ‘Applejack’s the one with the dog, so I should probably tell her first. What about Pinkie Pie? I don’t see any value in her knowing, so maybe I should tell her last. Maybe I shouldn’t tell her in the first place. Maybe I shouldn’t tell any of them.’ He tasted a spoonful of the oatmeal to see how far along it was. He decided it could cook a little longer before going back to his thoughts. Zero Volt had more-or-less settled in Ponyville, and whatever his old life could’ve been, he was thinking about it less with each passing day. ‘A few more months and those girls will know as much about me as I do, and I don’t know anything about me. Do they really deserve to know this much?’

Rainbow Dash had spent the last few minutes slowly waking up. She stood up, stretched her wings and legs, and walked into the kitchen. “How did you sleep?”

“Surprisingly well,” Zero Volt said. “Thanks for staying over.”

“No problem,” she said. “Thanks for not taking advantage of me in my sleep.”

Zero Volt stared at her, unsure of how to respond to that. “I can teleport into your houses, you know. If I was going to take advantage of any of you, I would’ve started a long time ago.”

“That’s, um… I don’t think I needed to know that.”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

Zero Volt placed two bowls of oatmeal on the table, and the two of them sat down. “So how are you going to tell everypony about, you know?” Rainbow Dash asked after taking a spoonful.

“We didn’t do anything last night,” Zero Volt said, earning an annoyed expression from Rainbow Dash. “Anyway, I think it’ll be easier to tell them one at a time. So far, I’m thinking Applejack first, Pinkie Pie last.”

“If you told Twilight, she’d probably give you the name of a therapist you could talk to,” Rainbow said. “Hey, maybe Rarity will lay off any dog stuff during your act if you tell her.”

“Not going to happen,” he said. “We’re pretending to hate each other, so nothing’s off the table.” As soon as they were done with breakfast, Rainbow Dash took her things and Zero Volt teleported her back to her cloud house. As the sun rose, Zero Volt decided to go on a morning canter above the clouds. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had to thin the clouds to allow the sun to at least somewhat warm up Ponyville.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Anyway, there’s something I didn’t tell you two about the whole fear of dogs thing.” At 11:30, Zero Volt was at the library. He had already finished telling Applejack and Rarity, and both of those talks went as expected. Applejack decided that she would keep him away from Winona whenever he visited the farm, and Rarity was left wondering if she would have used the full knowledge of Zero Volt’s fear against him if she still hated him.

“Are you taking my advice?” Pinkie Pie said. “Oh, I know! Maybe Applejack can let you play with Winona until you feel better about dogs. That’s perfect!”

“No, Pinkie, that’s not perfect,” Zero Volt said. “Do you remember what I told you about that dog attack in Baltimare? I didn’t exactly get away from that unharmed.” He brushed his hoof along his left side, revealing the stitches underneath his coat. “Since then, I’ve been getting flashbacks whenever anything reminds me about that day, including this.” He brushed his fur back into place to obscure his stitches again.

“Oh… well that’s okay. You don’t have to think about it if you don’t want to,” Pinkie said. “And remember that if you get scared of me, you can still try to laugh it off.”

“This is the name of a psychologist in Ponyville you can visit,” Twilight said as she levitated a business card in Zero Volt’s direction. “You should have told us about this sooner.”

“Thanks, both of you. I’ve already told the others, so don’t worry about them,” he said. He read the business card briefly before putting it away. “Why do you have the name of a psychologist readily available?”

“I’ve been toying with the idea of visiting one,” Twilight said, “either to vent my frustrations or learn some coping techniques.” Twilight felt that her friends sometimes made terrible decisions, and she found herself even more frustrated when her friends ignored her advice while making those decisions. She would have explained that to him, but Pinkie was still in the library. Not to mention some of the decisions that Zero Volt had made in the last three months.

The door opened and Rainbow Dash stepped in. “Hey guys. Volt, did you tell everypony?”

“Yeah, I just finished telling these two,” he said. “You finished fixing the weather?”

“I did that hours ago,” she said. “I went back to sleep after that.” She flew toward one of the bookshelves and looked for a book to read.

The door opened again and Rarity walked in followed by Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “Oh good, you’re here, Pinkie Pie,” she said. “Sweetie Belle and her friends want to go ice skating and I was wondering if you could go with them.”

“Sure!” Pinkie Pie said.

“Awesome,” Scootaloo said. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Ice Hockey Players!”

“I thought we were Cutie Mark Crusaders Figure Skaters,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Either or, we could try both at the same time,” Apple Bloom said. She was less enthusiastic about either activity than her two friends. “Hi, Zero Volt.” She turned to her friends and said, “He’s a friend of Applejack’s.”

“I think my sister knows you, too,” Sweetie Belle said. “Aren’t you the sickly green vagrant who won’t leave Ponyville alone?”

Zero Volt looked at Rainbow Dash and pointed at Rarity with his hoof. Rainbow Dash nodded. “Probably,” he said. “So, Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“We’re tryin’ all sorts of things to get our cutie marks,” Apple Bloom said.

“Oh, kind of like a journey of self-discovery,” he said. “That’s an unusual approach. From what I’ve seen, most ponies get their cutie marks in a moment of serendipity.”

“Sara-what?” Scootaloo said.

“Serendipity,” he repeated, making sure to enunciate. “It means getting something that you like when you’re not actually looking for it. How long have you been going at it?”

“They’ve been trying various activities together ever since they met two years ago,” Twilight said.

“Two years?”

“Don’t judge them, Zero,” Rarity said. “As I recall, you spent two months on your own ‘journey of self-discovery’ and found nothing. Compared to you, these three have been much more successful and much more persistent. Now Pinkie Pie, I must thank you for watching them for me. I have three separate orders to complete and one of my other clients has been badgering me because she refuses to accept that I only do mare’s fashion. I do not have the inspiration to design anything for stallions. I don’t even have an appropriate model. Ugh, I just know that I’m going to be swamped for the next few days.”

Zero Volt sighed. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can’t stand to see Rarity stressed out like this.” He teleported next to Rainbow Dash, who was sitting on a couch reading a book. He placed one of his earbuds in his right ear. Rainbow took the other earbud and the two them searched his music player for something to listen to.

“For a second there, I thought he was going to do something useful for once,” Rarity chuckled as she started leaving the library. “I must return to the boutique. Have fun with Pinkie Pie, girls.”

Soon after Rarity left, Pinkie led the Cutie Mark Crusaders out of the library and toward the lake, leaving Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt in the library. “I have to take inventory and reorganize the books,” Twilight said, “so could the two of you go with Pinkie Pie to the lake. Sometimes I worry that those fillies will destroy Ponyville on one of their crusades, and having Pinkie Pie as their only supervision isn’t very reassuring.”

Uh, yeah whatever, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. She and Zero Volt stood up and walked out of the library.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt were sitting near the frozen lake. They were watching Pinkie Pie help the Cutie Mark Crusaders with their ice skating.

“I’m starting to see why Apple Bloom wasn’t so eager to go ice skating,” Zero Volt said. The two of them looked at Apple Bloom, who was struggling to stand up on her skates. She placed her front hooves on the ice to support herself, but when she tried one of her hind legs, her forelegs slipped out from under her. “She’s definitely not meant for the ice.”

“I don’t think she’s very coordinated to begin with,” Rainbow Dash said. “Scoot looks like she’s got the hang of those ice skates.” Scootaloo shot past Apple Bloom while pushing a hockey puck with her front hooves. She gracefully swerved past orange cones and various other obstacles on her way to the goal, which did not have a goalie in front of it. Scootaloo stopped about ten feet from the goal and tried to make the shot. Rainbow Dash ducked to avoid the puck, which flew at her head instead of going anywhere near the goal. “Too bad she’s a terrible shot.”

“Sorry Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted.

“At least this time, she didn’t lose the puck halfway to the goal,” Zero Volt said. “Rarity’s sister is doing okay over there.” Sweetie Belle was skating alongside Pinkie Pie on the other side of the lake.

“Yeah, but she’s not exactly a natural at this,” Rainbow Dash said. Sweetie Belle looked behind her to check her flank, and was disappointed that a cutie mark wasn’t there. “As long as we’re on the subject, how did you get your cutie mark?”

“Can’t remember,” he said.

“Oh right, the amnesia thing,” Rainbow Dash said. “Do you at least know what it’s for?”

“Not important.”

“Okay…” Rainbow Dash was confused by his dismissal of his cutie mark. A cutie mark represents the ability or trait that makes each individual pony unique, and now matter what it was, ponies were always proud of what their marks symbolized. “You want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

‘He’s hiding something from me,’ she thought. ‘Actually, he’s hiding a lot from me. It took us three months just to learn about his fear of dogs, and that’s after we forced it out of him. There’s so much we still don’t know about him, and it’s not just the things he doesn’t remember.’

“Hey Dash, is that normal?” Zero Volt asked. Rainbow Dash looked up and saw Pinkie and Sweetie Belle singing. Apparently, Pinkie Pie started singing to cheer up Sweetie Belle. Before long, Sweetie Belle had turned the song into a duet.

“Yes, sometimes we break into song,” Rainbow said. “Usually Pinkie Pie. I’m surprised you haven’t already noticed. How long have you been here, three months?”

The two of them watched as Pinkie Pie and Sweetie Belle continued their song. “You know, Rarity’s sister has a great singing voice.”

“Her name is Sweetie Belle, I think,” Rainbow Dash said. “Speaking of Rarity, I don’t suppose you’d agree to be her model for stallion’s designs.”

“Maybe if I could do it behind everypony’s back, but I don’t see it happening.”

After the song was over, Pinkie Pie picked up Apple Bloom and skated off of the lake with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “Did everypony have fun today?” Pinkie Pie said.

“No,” Apple Bloom said while taking off her ice skates. “This didn’t get us any closer to gettin’ our cutie marks. Ah knew we shoulda tried somethin’ else.”

“Too bad,” Rainbow Dash said while opening a book she had brought with her. “Better luck next time.”

“Hey, maybe we could get our cutie marks by writing a book,” Sweetie Belle said.

“That could work,” Apple Bloom said. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Storywriters!” The three of them said a quick goodbye to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt before running off.

“Rarity was right about one thing,” Zero Volt said. “Those three are persistent. Well, see you two later.” Zero Volt teleported away, leaving Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash alone. The two of them exchanged glances and thought the same thing: they were going to pull some pranks today.

* * * * * * * * * *

Two days later, Zero Volt and Rainbow Dash were walking through Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow was pressing the issue of his cutie mark. “Come on, Volt, you can’t just say that your cutie mark isn’t important to you. It’s a part of who you are, and it might tell us something about who you were before you lost your memories.”

Zero Volt stayed silent for a moment. “Actually, I do remember getting it, but there’s nothing in that memory that tells me anything about my old life,” he said. “Besides, I didn’t notice it until hours later, and it’s not really the best special talent to have.”

Rainbow Dash looked at his mark and thought about what he said. “You’re special talent is getting drunk? Actually no, holding your liquor might make an interesting special talent.” Zero Volt glared at her. “What, your cutie mark looks like something that could be on a liquor bottle.”

“Well maybe if my job at the hospital doesn’t work, I can open a distillery,” he said sarcastically.

“Retreat!” The two of them looked around after hearing that scream, and they found Pinkie Pie ducking behind a tree to take cover from a barrage of snowballs. She noticed Rainbow and Zero Volt while she was hiding behind the tree. “Hi, you two! I’m having a snowball fight with Apple Bloom and her friends. Want to help me storm the castle?”

The two of them looked up and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders throwing snowballs from their clubhouse. “I’ve got this one,” Rainbow Dash said. She spread her wings and flew toward the clubhouse. As soon as the three fillies saw Rainbow Dash, they made her their target. Rainbow Dash was pelted by the barrage of snowballs and crash-landed before she could reach them.

Zero Volt teleported Rainbow Dash back to where Pinkie Pie was taking cover. “I don’t think the direct approach will work,” he said. "I’ll teleport up there and take out their suppressive fire. Then we can split them up and go after them individually.”

“Volt, it’s a snowball fight. We’re not actually storming a castle,” Rainbow said. “Besides, I think Pinkie Pie beat you to it.” They looked back at the clubhouse and saw Pinkie up there throwing snowballs at the three fillies. Apple Bloom threw snowballs back at Pinkie to cover her friends’ retreat as they climbed down the ladder.

“Oh that’s right, Pinkie randomly pops in sometimes,” he said. “Why does she need our help again?”

“Who cares? It’s payback time.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran in different directions after they reached the bottom of the ladder. Rainbow Dash’s wings flared and she flew in pursuit of Scootaloo.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom had gotten down from her clubhouse and Pinkie Pie chased after her. “I guess that leaves me with Sweetie Belle,” Zero Volt said. He followed her hoofprints through the barren orchard.

Apple Bloom ran past the trees to escape Pinkie Pie. She looked behind her to see where Pinkie was, but didn’t see her. “Hi, Apple Bloom!” Apple Bloom turned around and stopped just before she could run into Pinkie Pie, and then ran in the other direction. She stopped behind a tree and turned around to look for Pinkie. Without warning, she was hit by a snowball from above, and when she looked up, she saw Pinkie sitting on a tree branch. Apple Bloom found a snow bank nearby and ducked behind it. She took some snow from it and balled it up. When she took some more snow from it, she saw Pinkie Pie’s face in the snow bank. Apple Bloom screamed, tossed her snowball at Pinkie and ran off again. “You can run, but nopony can hide from Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie shouted cheerfully. “Except for Zero, but that’s only because he teleports a lot,” she said to herself. “Even Twilight doesn’t teleport that much. Sometimes it’s like she forgets that she can.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were taking turns throwing snowballs at each other while hiding behind trees. “Good to know that you’ve got your A-game, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “You went down way too easily back at the clubhouse.”

“That’s why I’m here to get back at you,” Rainbow Dash said. “Not that this is the first time you brought me down like that.”

“What do you mean by that?” Scootaloo said. “Wait, are you still mad about that Gabby Gums column?” By that point, she had stopped throwing snowballs.

“I’m not really mad, Scoot, just a little confused,” Rainbow Dash said. “I thought you looked up to me. Most of my fans don’t try to hurt my reputation.” When she noticed that Scootaloo wasn’t throwing snowballs anymore, she came out from behind the tree and started walking toward Scootaloo.

“I guess I haven’t really been much of a fan lately… do you really get hooficures?”

Rainbow Dash was already in front of Scootaloo. “Scoot, look at how scuffed up my hooves are. Does it look like I get hooficures? And don’t say that. You’ll always be my number one fan.”

“Thanks, Rainbow Dash.”

“No problem, squirt. One more thing, though.” Scootaloo looked up and saw Rainbow Dash picking up some snow. “You didn’t forget that we were having a snowball fight, did you?”

Elsewhere, Zero Volt was standing on top of a tree branch. He teleported from one tree to another, following Sweetie Belle’s hoofprints. “It figures that I’d be going after Rarity’s sister,” he said. “Where is she anyway?” His question was answered when he saw a snowball thrown up at him fall back down before it could reach the branch he was on.

“You’re too high up,” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Get down here and play fair.”

“If you have a problem with it, then throw higher,” he said, throwing a snowball at her. Sweetie Belle sidestepped the snowball and started to make another one. “Besides, you’re a smaller target and your coat blends in with all this snow. Who says I can’t have a few advantages?”

The six of them continued their snowball fight, but eventually Pinkie had to go back to work and each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders went back to their own homes. Rainbow Dash followed Zero Volt back to his house.

While the two of them hung out, the door opened and Rarity stepped. “Zero, I heard that you’ve been watching over Sweetie Belle for the last few days and…” Rarity noticed Rainbow Dash in the room halfway into her sentence. “I was just about to give Twilight and Pinkie a piece of my mind for trusting you with those three fillies.”

“You can drop the act, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said. “I already know.”

Rarity looked at Zero Volt, who nodded back. “Oh, well I just wanted to say thanks.”

“By the way, you said that you can’t really get into designing for stallions,” Rainbow said, “but if you did, do you think he’d make a good model?”

“Hm… I don’t really see it,” Rarity said. “Maybe if he removed the bracelet… and the white parts of his coat and mane.”

“This isn’t leaving my sight, Rarity,” Zero Volt said, lifting his right foreleg.

“It doesn’t matter,” Rarity said. “My business is doing just fine anyway.”

“I’m surprised those white parts are still there,” Rainbow said. “It starts off black, but once they reach your bangs, the same hairs change to white. I can’t believe that’s your natural color.”

“Dash, I can’t believe that’s your natural color,” Zero Volt said while pointing at her mane.

“Good point.”

“Anyway, while I was watching those three,” Zero Volt said, “I noticed that Sweetie Belle is a pretty good singer, and Scootaloo seemed to be good at anything involving balance, rhythm and coordination.”

“Did you also see their clubhouse?” Rarity asked. “I heard that Apple Bloom renovated it by herself. She certainly has a flair for construction and interior design.”

“So there’s a good chance that those are their special talents,” Zero Volt said. “Shouldn’t we tell them?”

“You said it yourself, Zero, those three are on a journey of self-discovery,” Rarity said. “It defeats the purpose if we do the discovering for them.”

“But they’ve been at it for two years, and the answers are right in front of them. It’s like they’re having trouble finding water in the ocean.”

“Zero, I do not appreciate you talking about my sister and her friends like that,” Rarity said as she opened the door to leave.

“Yeah, sorry,” Zero Volt said. “Just tell me one more thing before you go. Did you just break into my house?”

“Darling, a mechanical lock is nothing to a unicorn’s magic,” Rarity said. She began using her magic to telekinetically pick the lock. “You just need to get a feel for the mechanism and… voila!” The lock opened and she turned the door handle. “Farewell, you two.” She walked out of the house and closed the door behind her, leaving Zero Volt looking perplexed.

“I’m not sure what to worry about more,” he said, “that any unicorn in town can break into my house or that she may have misinterpreted this.” At the end of his sentence, he waved his hoof back and forth between the two of them.

“The funny thing is that you can just teleport in without that door,” Rainbow Dash said. “And to be fair, half this town thinks I’m a lesbian. They misinterpret it no matter who I hang out with.”

“Oh, well okay.”

The two of them sat silently in the living room for a minute. “You’re not gonna ask which way I go?” she asked.

“I don’t like you that much.”

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