Super Smash Sisters: Scuffle
It was another typical sunny afternoon in Ponyville. Birds were singing, Celestia’s sun was shining overhead, and Zero Volt was in the park keeping his distance from Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was cheerfully bouncing from side to side while Zero Volt stood in front of her, eyeing her apprehensively. The two of them maintained their standoff for almost a minute before Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect. He performed a dodge-roll to the side to avoid a wooden crate that was tossed at him. He hopped to the side to dodge a battleaxe, spun his body around his forelegs to avoid a javelin, and leapt backward to avoid an apple cart.
The apple cart smashed to pieces when it hit the ground, and after the pieces settled, Zero Volt looked upon his assailant, Rarity. Rarity lifted herself up in the air with her magic and floated away, grabbing several more objects to throw. Zero Volt galloped toward her, dodging several more javelins, two more wooden crates, and a kitchen sink along the way. Rarity lifted another wooden crate, an empty apple cart, and a large rock in front of her. As Rarity hovered past with those floating objects, she looked for more projectiles to toss at her opponent.
Meanwhile, Zero Volt managed to jump onto the wooden crate that Rarity was lifting. He hopped from the crate to the cart and then onto the rock. By the time Rarity noticed the additional weight she was holding up, Zero Volt leapt at her, grabbed her tail, and landed on a tree branch. The other objects fell back to the ground now that Rarity’s magic was disrupted, and Zero Volt tied her tail around the tree branch. Rarity scowled as she hung upside-down from the tree branch while Zero Volt looked down to admire his work.
“Zero Volt! What are you doing?” Twilight Sparkle shouted. She was walking by when she saw Rarity and Zero Volt fighting each other.
“Relax, Twilight,” he said as he teleported in front of her. “Rarity and I are just sparring.”
“AJ and I wanted to see what Volt could do, so we talked him into it,” Rainbow Dash said as she and Applejack walked up to them. Meanwhile, Fluttershy flew up and held Rarity in her forelegs while Rarity used her magic to untie herself from the tree branch. It had been a week since she helped Zero Volt down the mountain in his injured state, and her wounds had completely healed since then. “He also wanted to spar against a unicorn, and Rarity wanted to throw stuff at him, so she agreed.”
“Applebloom and her friends’re keepin’ score for us,” Applejack said while pointing to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies were sitting at a table with a scoreboard behind them. Sweetie Belle looked disappointed as she used a green marker to give Zero Volt a point next to a picture of Rarity’s cutie mark on the scoreboard.
“Pinkie Pie is here to, well, I have no idea why she’s here,” Zero Volt said, “and Fluttershy is cheering as a spectator.”
“This does not deserve a ‘yay’,” Fluttershy said softly as she gently lowered Rarity back to the ground.
“Well, as exciting as this has been, I’m afraid I can’t stay for too long,” Rarity said. “I need plenty of gems for some dresses that a client wants me to make. Spike, would you mind accompanying me?”
Spike hopped off of Twilight’s back and scurried toward Rarity. “Well that’s unfortunate,” Zero Volt said. “Hey Twilight, can you take over for Rarity?”
“Wait, if Twilight’s going to be in this, can we watch her spar against him before we go?” Spike asked Rarity.
“Alright Spike, I suppose this can wait a little longer,” Rarity said.
“I guess I can take Rarity’s place,” Twilight said anxiously. “What are the rules?”
“The three of you will take turns fighting me,” Zero Volt said, “and whichever pony gets knocked down for five seconds straight loses that round. As for the intensity of the fight, try not to send anypony to the hospital, but at the same time, please don’t go easy on anypony. It defeats the purpose of the whole thing.”
“Wait a minute,” Twilight said, “are those battleaxes, flails and javelins?” She pointed at a large collection of weapons nearby.
“Rarity wanted to throw stuff at me,” he said, “so she picked those out herself.”
“I think you missed the whole point of not sending anypony to the hospital. What are the pillows for?” Twilight pointed to several piles of pillows placed around the area.
“That’s so that everypony has a soft place to land if your opponent wants to throw you or something,” he said. “Okay, I think Dash is up next.” Rainbow Dash started the fight by flying at him at high speeds. Because of Rainbow’s speed, Zero Volt relied entirely on his two-second warning to dodge her. Eventually he thought of an idea, and when Rainbow Dash came flying back, he teleported above and landed on her. As Rainbow Dash flew off, Zero Volt held onto her and covered her eyes with his hooves.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Rainbow shouted. “Get off of me!”
“Sorry, Dash, but I’m piloting now,” he said. He placed his hind legs on her back and twisted her head to steer her. “Now let’s start with a corkscrew, move into a loop-the-loop,” he said as he forced Rainbow Dash to perform those maneuvers, “and we’ll wrap it up with a nosedive into that pile of pillows.”
“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow Dash said. She quickly regained control of her body and stopped in midair. Zero Volt hung on with his hooves, still covering her eyes with them while she stayed in an upright position in the air. Rainbow Dash rapidly spun herself on a vertical axis while in the air. When she stopped, Zero Volt was too dizzy to hold on to her and fell onto the pile of pillows below. While they waited for him to get back up, Scootaloo gleefully used a blue marker to add a point next to a picture of Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark on the scoreboard. “He’s all yours, Applejack,” Rainbow said. “But if you beat him, it’s only because I softened him up for you.”
“If yah say so,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes. Zero Volt stood back up, and he and Applejack charged at each other. At first, the two of them just dodged punches from one another. After a while, Applejack turned around and kicked him with both hind legs. Zero Volt tried to block with his bracelet, but it did little to absorb the impact of Applejack’s powerful kick. Zero Volt was thrown into the air, but he landed on his hooves several feet away, completely unharmed.
Applejack pulled some rope out of her Stetson hat and swung it over her head before trying to lasso him. Zero Volt jumped back, though he managed to get his right foreleg caught in the lasso. He pulled on the rope to knock Applejack off her hooves, but she didn’t budge. Still holding the rope with her teeth, Applejack pulled on her end of the rope, lifting Zero Volt off of the ground. She spun him in a circle over her head before tossing him into another pile of pillows. Apple Bloom used an orange marker to add a point next to Applejack’s cutie mark on the score board.
“I think that colt has gotten soft since he started living here,” Rarity said. “He put up a much better fight against those scoundrels seven months ago.”
“He’s still tough and agile, but I don’t think that’s the problem,” Twilight said. “Trying to hijack Rainbow Dash and playing tug-of-war with Applejack just aren’t good ideas.” She stepped forward just as Zero Volt recovered from his second defeat. She picked up a flail and two battleaxes with her magic and held them in front of her. “Okay, here goes nothing.”
Twilight brought the weapons in front of Zero Volt and sluggishly swung them at him. Zero Volt had no trouble dodging the halfhearted attacks from Twilight's weapons. “When you said ‘here goes nothing,’ you weren’t kidding,” he said. “Come on, can you at least try to hit me with something?” Twilight said nothing as she continued to ineffectually swing the three weapons at him. “Some star pupil you are.”
“What did you say?” Twilight asked, noticeably taken aback by his comment.
“I said that Celestia must have made a mistake when she took you under her wing,” he said.
‘What does he mean by that? Have I failed her as a student?’ Twilight thought. ‘Wait a minute, how would he know if I fell short of the Princess Celestia’s expectations? What gives him the right to judge me on my magical studies?’ Twilight became angry at Zero Volt, and as her anger grew, a visible aura surrounded her. With her magic, she lifted half of the remaining weapons in the nearby arsenal.
“Finally, something interesting,” Zero Volt said to himself. He galloped toward Twilight, who started throwing the weapons she had at him. As he ran, Zero Volt sidestepped the javelins and battleaxes thrown at him and hopped over several flails that Twilight sent spinning at him. When Twilight ran out of weapons, she enchanted the trees around her, causing their roots and branches to grow toward him in an attempt to ensnare him. Zero Volt dodged the spreading roots and branches with ease, but when he came close to Twilight, she captured him with her magic. He briefly struggled against her telekinetic grip before looking at Twilight, who was leering back at him. “Uh-oh,” he said before being violently thrown into another pile of pillows.
“Hey Zero, what did you say about Twilight, because she just showed you,” Spike shouted. Apple Bloom had just finished placing a picture of Twilight’s cutie mark to the scoreboard, and she added a point next to it using a violet marker.
“Oh gosh, are you okay?” Twilight asked. “I didn’t mean to lose control like that.”
“Actually I’m glad you did,” Zero Volt said as he got up. “Like I said before, it defeats the purpose of having a sparring match if you go too easy on me. I’m just glad you remembered to throw me into these pillows, though I was expecting a softer landing.”
“I think it’s about time for me to take my leave,” Rarity said. “I must say, it’s about time you girls gave him a good beating. This was worth waiting seven months for.”
“You never could do your own dirty work, could you Rarity?” Zero Volt said as Rarity and Spike left.
“That’s tough talk coming from somepony who’s losing three-nothing to us,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Dash, if you’re ready to go again, I’m right here-” Zero Volt stopped in midsentence to jump over Rainbow Dash, who took his invitation and flew at him. Zero Volt continued evading Rainbow Dash, just as he did in their first round. He soon decided to teleport by her as she flew at him, graze her with his hoof, and teleport her in front of a pile of pillows. Rainbow Dash barreled through the pile and slid across the ground. “Now why didn’t I think of that before?” Zero Volt said. At the scoreboard, Scootaloo anxiously waited for her idol to get up before adding a point next to Rainbow’s cutie mark using the green marker.
“Maybe Ah shoulda gone before yah, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack taunted as she walked next to Rainbow. “Yah know, to soften ‘em up for yah.” Applejack gripped her lasso with her teeth and threw it at Zero Volt again. Zero Volt caught the lasso with his right foreleg, closing the loop around it. ‘What is that boy thinkin’ doing this again?’ Applejack thought. ‘Oh well, time to toss ‘em like a candy wrapper.’
Applejack pulled on her end of the rope, lifting Zero Volt off of the ground and over her head. She was planning to toss him around the park again, but he brought his end of the rope to his mouth and pulled on it, bringing himself down. Instead of flying over Applejack’s head, Zero Volt was now falling toward her with hooves extended. He collided with Applejack’s side, knocking her down and landing on the ground with his hooves. Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom the green marker, and after hesitating, Apple Bloom gave Zero Volt one point against Applejack.
"Alright, Twilight, don’t go easy on me this time,” Zero Volt said. He started running toward Twilight, who levitated the entire arsenal of weapons available to her. She tossed them at him while he dodged them just as before. As Zero Volt approached her, Twilight dropped her remaining weapons and caught him with her magic again. She prepared to throw him, but this time he teleported out of her telekinetic grip and appeared right behind her. Zero Volt grabbed Twilight’s tail with his teeth and pulled, yanking her off of her hooves. Gripping her tail, he picked her up and spun her body in the air. Twilight was spinning in the air like a helicopter blade, and after a while, Zero Volt was lifted off of his hooves. Once he had floated high enough to reach a tree branch, he stepped onto it and stopped twirling Twilight over his head. He lowered her back to the ground and released her tail.
Zero Volt teleported in front of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Now let’s see, each of you has scored against me once and I’ve scored against each of you once,” Zero Volt said. “So, what do we do for a tiebreaker?”
“Ah don’t see why we cain’t each have a round three against yah,” Applejack said. “What about Twilight?”
The three of them looked back at Twilight. She stood up, but she was too dizzy to stay on her hooves and eventually stumbled into a pile of pillows. “We can ask her when she wakes up,” Rainbow Dash said. “Now everypony clear out! It’s my turn again.” She found a spot in the park and started flying around in a circle. Before long, she generated a twister, and the other ponies tried to stay on the ground as fruit carts, wooden crates, and carriages were pulled into it.
As Zero Volt stared at the twister, he noticed a sedan being pulled into it. “That tornado’s carrying a… what is that anyway?” he thought out loud. His hooves slid across the ground as the twister began to pull him toward it. “Ah, never mind. I’ve always wanted to try this!” He galloped toward the tornado and jumped into it. As the tornado carried him, he landed on a carriage that was caught in it. He jumped off of the carriage, let the twister carry him, and then landed on the sedan. Rainbow Dash was busy maintaining the tornado and trying not to get hit by the objects it was carrying, so she did not notice Zero Volt leaping from one object to another to get to her.
Before long, Zero Volt leapt off of a crate and landed on Rainbow’s side. He bounded off, making her lose control and putting her at the mercy of the twister while he landed harmlessly on a fruit cart. The twister had also picked up all of the pillows in the field and scattered them around, and Rainbow Dash was lucky enough to crash into a newly formed pile of them when the twister spat her out. As the tornado subsided, Zero Volt continued leaping from object to object until he safely jumped out and landed on solid ground. He found Rainbow Dash lying on her back among the pillows and teleported to her. “You okay, Dash?” he asked, holding out his hoof.
“Yeah,” she said, grabbing his hoof and letting him lift her to her hooves. “I just wish I could solve more of my problems by kicking up a tornado.”
Zero Volt turned around to face Applejack. They both charged at each other, but Zero Volt stopped on his forelegs and attempted to sweep kick Applejack with his hind legs. Applejack jumped over him before the sweep kick could hit her, landed right behind him, and kicked him with her hind legs. The force of Applejack’s kick sent him flying through two piles of pillows and crashing into a tree that stood to the left of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched as Zero Volt slowly stood up and shook himself off. “I thought we agreed not to send each other to the hospital,” he groaned.
“Y’alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “Twilight’s up next if she’s ready.”
“Actually, I think I’m done for today,” Twilight said.
“Are you sure, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s four-up right now. All you have to do is break the tie.”
“Yes I’m sure,” Twilight said. “I’m not in the mood anymore.”
“It’s just as well,” Zero Volt said. “You’re the least difficult opponent here. I have to get creative with Dash and AJ, but with you, all I have to do is teleport right next to you and attack.”
Twilight stared at him for a few seconds. “I’m not falling for that again,” she said before walking off to the side.
“While we’re on the subject, which one of us do yah find the most challengin’?” Applejack asked.
“Rainbow Dash,” Zero Volt said.
“What?! How is she tougher than me?” she said. “Ah’m beatin’ yah two-to-one, and she’s losin’ two-to-one.”
“Yeah, but I actually have to go all out against her,” Zero Volt explained. “With you, I’ve been holding back on my teleportation just to keep things fair.”
“You hear that, AJ?” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m the only one he’s not going easy on.”
“Oh, hush up, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said. “And you, why don’t we settle this by makin’ me the tiebreaker? It’ll even settle the score between us, if yah win.”
“Alright, Applejack, let’s do this!” Zero Volt said. Rainbow Dash flew back several yards to give them some space. Zero Volt moved aside to dodge a punch from Applejack and threw a punch at her. Applejack ducked to avoid the punch, spun around and kicked with her hind legs. Zero Volt ducked and knocked Applejack off of her front hooves with a sweep kick, causing her to fall down. He then grabbed her tail with his teeth, jumped in the air, did a midair flip and threw Applejack into a pile of pillows. “Hah, and I still didn’t have to teleport!”
“Alright, Volt, yah win,” Applejack said.
“That’s it?” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m his toughest opponent, and all he had to do to win was beat you? Come on, Volt. You and me, one more round.”
“Well how could I say no to you?” Zero Volt said with a smirk. “Sure, why not?” He teleported above Rainbow Dash while she was in midflight. When Rainbow saw him disappear, she rolled left and kicked him with both hind legs as he came down. After being kicked, Zero Volt teleported again, hoping to turn the force of Rainbow Dash’s kick against her. Rainbow Dash saw him teleport again, so she ascended to dodge him and grabbed his tail just as he appeared under her. She flipped in midair and threw him into some pillows beneath them.
“You’re getting a little too predictable, Volt,” she said. She flew back down and helped Zero Volt to his hooves. “It looks like we’re all tied up again."
"Wait, what?"
"I said we have a tie again," Rainbow said. "So how are we going to settle it this time?” The two of them turned to stare at Twilight Sparkle.
“For the last time, no!” Twilight said.
“Well Twilight’s still on the sidelines,” Zero Volt said. “Why don’t the three of us have a free-for-all to decide the winner?”
“Ah don’t like that idea,” Applejack said. “With only three of us, either somepony’s gonna let the other two wear each other out or the other two are gonna gang up on the third one.”
“Alright, alright, you want to settle this fairly and honestly,” Rainbow said. “How about the three of us have a race? We’ll get a clear winner, and we can make sure everypony plays fair.”
Twilight made a fake coughing sound to catch their attention. “Remember the first time you two competed in the Running of the Leaves, when you cheated each other into last place?” she said. “Or last year, when you tied for first and spent the next five weeks racing each other to see who would keep the trophy?”
“I don’t remember that,” Zero Volt said.
“You were in the hospital,” Rainbow Dash said. “And don’t worry about it, Twilight, we’ll play nice.”
“Remember, Rainbow Dash, no wings,” Applejack said. “And Volt, yah’d better not do any teleportin’, yah hear? In fact, Twilight, do yah have a spell that can stop 'em from doin' that?”
“Actually, I do,” Twilight said. “Incidentally, I also have a spell that can keep Rainbow Dash’s wings at her sides.”
“Use that one too,” Applejack said. “Ah wanna make sure this stays a hoof-race.”
“Time out!” Zero Volt interjected. “You created a spell just to disable my teleportation ability?”
“I invented a spell that arrests a specified target within its location in space-time, excluding manual locomotion of course,” Twilight explained. As she cast the spell on him, a magenta light momentarily surrounded him before quickly fading away. “That would prevent any sort of teleportation, whether it's a unicorn’s spell or your ability. Now Rainbow Dash, are you okay with me magically holding your wings in place?”
“Not really,” Rainbow Dash said, “but as long as it’s more comfortable than having them tied down by Applejack.”
Twilight finished casting the second spell on Rainbow Dash. There was no visual effect, but Rainbow noticed her wings become numb. “Now let’s try to map out a path for this race,” Twilight said. She revealed a map of Ponyville and the surrounding areas. “From here, you can head through Whitetail Wood,” she said as she drew a line on the map, “then head this way outside Ponyville. Rarity should be out here gathering gems, so you can say hello to her, take a U-turn, and head back to Ponyville. The finish line will be right in front of my library, so both spells are set to wear off when you get there. Because of that, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt should both cross the finish line, even if you don’t win the race.”
“Are we supposed to follow the path precisely or do we get some room for maneuverability?” Zero Volt asked.
Twilight applied her magic to the map. The line she drew on the path was replicated with a magenta path across Ponyville. “I’ve made the entire track twenty feet wide, so you should have plenty of room to run around each other and obstacles,” she said. “If any section of the path extends over something that’s not traversable, feel free to take a detour. Keep it brief, though, and no using this to take shortcuts.”
“Alright, sounds good,” Rainbow Dash said. She, Applejack and Zero Volt moved to the beginning of the magenta path.
“Alright everypony!” Pinkie Pie shouted, pushing her party cannon near the start line. She aimed the cannon straight up. “On your mark… get set…” When Pinkie reached the word “go,” she fired her cannon, which shot confetti and balloons into the air. The three ponies galloped forward, though none of them ran at their top speed.
As they raced in the direction of Whitetail Wood, the magenta path behind them started vanishing. Since those sections of the path were already behind them, it made no sense for Twilight’s magic to sustain them. Ahead of them, the path went along some of Ponyville’s streets. The townsponies had mixed reactions to the path. Some of them stared curiously at it, but cautiously stayed off of it. Others had no problem walking over the trail that was in their way, while some foals ignored it and even played on it. Once the three racing ponies showed up, most ponies stayed clear of them, though five foals obliviously continued playing. The racers ran around the foals in their path and kept going.
The three of them eventually made it to the woods. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were neck and neck. Zero Volt was galloping at the same speed as they were, but he was about fifteen feet behind. “Hey, Zero, is this too much for you?” Rainbow Dash taunted. “You’re falling behind!”
“What’s the rush?” Zero Volt shouted back. “I just felt like hanging back and enjoying the scenery.”
After hearing that, the two young mares quickly realized the implications of him being behind them. They both looked at each other as if to ask, ‘What does he mean by scenery?’
While they contemplated what he said, Zero Volt quickly darted ahead of them. He then hopped, spun around and started running backwards. “Oh come on, girls,” he said. “If that’s all it takes to distract you, I can win this race with mind games alone.” He did another 180° spin and continued galloping ahead of them. Rainbow Dash and Applejack turned their attention back to the race and ran faster. Within moments, they both overtook him and were now fighting each other for the lead.
About halfway through the forest, the path that they ran along descended in between two ledges. Applejack took the lead when they entered the trench, which was too narrow to let any of them run around their opponents to get ahead. “Move over, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said. “You’re in the way.”
“Sorry Rainbow Dash, but y’all are staying back there for a while,” Applejack said.
“Maybe she is, but I’m not,” Zero Volt said. Neither Applejack nor Rainbow Dash noticed him performing a wall run behind them, which allowed him to reach the top of the ledge. They did notice him take the lead while running above them and then jump back into the trench ahead of them. “You girls should really learn parkour. It’s the next best thing to flying or teleporting.”
“You just wait until we get past this trench, Volt!” Rainbow Dash yelled.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt ran out of the trench and eventually made it back into Ponyville. They passed through the town uneventfully and raced through the area Rarity normally searched for gems in. They ran past several small holes in the ground, which indicated that Rarity had been digging there earlier.
“Hey, is that Spike over there?” Rainbow Dash said while looking to the left of the magenta path. Spike was lying on the ground, and his scales were partially covered in ash. The three of them ran off of their race track to get to him.
“Spike, what happened to yah?” Applejack asked. “Where’s Rarity?”
Spike struggled to get up when the three of them reached him. “Some dragon got to her,” he said. “He saw that she could locate gems and decided to take her for himself.”
“Why does a dragon need help looking for jewels?” Rainbow Dash said. “Can’t you guys smell them?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I think he has sinus problems or something.”
“Help me!” The four of them looked off in the distance and saw Rarity in the grip of a purple dragon’s left claw. The dragon, which was not quite an adult, was roughly twenty times the size of a pony. He was relatively thin, but had a considerable wingspan, razor-sharp claws, and a long tail that ended with a sharp tip.
“Rarity is a damsel in distress,” Zero Volt deadpanned. “Why am I not surprised?”
“It does happen an awful lot,” Applejack said. “Funny thing is, she don’t make a good damsel in distress.”
“Why not?”
“You know how you’re always complaining about how shrill and whiny Rarity is?” Rainbow Dash said. “Imagine what it’s like when she does it on purpose.”
Off in the distance, the dragon was discovering firsthand how annoying Rarity could be. “Will you shut up, you insufferable nag?” he growled at her.
“Did you just call me a nag?” Rarity whimpered. “You think I’m just some old, worn out horse?”
“No, I told you to shut up!”
“And what if I don’t?” Rarity asked. The dragon responded by growling at her again, only this time his mouth filled with fire, some of which was blown in Rarity’s direction. “N-now you wouldn’t do that. You need me to find gemstones for you.”
“If you cooperate,” the dragon said, flames still sputtering from his mouth. “If not, I can always have roasted pony as an appetizer.”
“I’ll be quiet now,” Rarity squeaked, now realizing that she was in no position to bargain with or manipulate her captor.
“So, do we help her or not?” Zero Volt asked.
“Now ain’t the time to joke ‘round, Volt,” Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash was already charging ahead. The dragon noticed her galloping toward him and spit a fireball at her. Rainbow tried to sidestep the fireball, but it exploded when it hit the ground. She was caught by the blast, which threw her to the side, but didn’t burn her. The dragon was about to fly off with his prize when he felt something tug on his left claw. When he looked, he saw that Applejack had lassoed his left claw and was tugging on the rope to pull him down. Unimpressed, the dragon pulled back, lifting her off the ground and slamming her next to Rainbow Dash. He then shredded the rope with his right claw.
“Hey, buddy!” The dragon looked in the direction of the shout and saw Zero Volt. “Let the unicorn go, and I promise that a certain overgrown reptile around here won’t get hurt.”
“I am not a reptile,” the dragon snarled. “I’m a dragon!”
“You know, I don’t really see the difference,” Zero Volt taunted. The dragon, now enraged, started spitting a barrage of fireballs at Zero Volt. Zero Volt charged forward, dodging the fireballs with a series of sidesteps. Even without his teleportation ability, his two-second warning allowed him to avoid oncoming fireballs and predict where the next ones would be. When Zero Volt was a short distance away, the dragon swung his tail around to hit him. Zero Volt leaped over the dragon’s tail, and sweep kicked the dragon’s face when he landed.
The dragon jerked his head in response to the kick and felt a sharp sting on his face. Further enraged, he roared at Zero Volt, causing him to slide backward on his hooves. The dragon then flapped his wings, creating a powerful gust of wind that tossed Zero Volt back several feet. Preferring not to waste any more time with the ponies, the dragon beat his wings again, flying off with Rarity in his grasp.
As Zero Volt sat up on his haunches, Rainbow Dash and Applejack headed over to him. “That dragon’s flyin’ off with Rarity,” Applejack said. “We’ll never catch up to ‘em on hoof."
“That wouldn’t be a problem if somepony hadn’t told Twilight to use all that magic,” Rainbow Dash shot back, gesturing toward her wings.
“If you want to go back and get the spell reversed, then go ahead,” Zero Volt said as he stood up. “I’m going after them before we lose them.” Soon after, the three of them galloped after the dragon. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were running as fast as they could, but the dragon was flying further ahead of them. Zero Volt was trying to keep up with the two young mares, but he was quickly falling behind. ‘Wow, those two are fast,’ he thought. ‘I guess I was going to lose that race in the end. No, wait…’ As Zero Volt ran, his body started feeling lighter and his legs became more nimble. ‘It feels like I can go faster.’
As this sensation swept over him, the white streaks on his sides and his white bangs started to glow. Zero Volt accelerated, but the closer he came to his top speed, the more his top speed increased. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were too busy looking ahead to notice Zero Volt quickly catching up to them. Tiny sparks flowed from the glowing sections of his mane and coat, and as he ran faster, more sparks flowed from them. He soon reached speeds that nopony had ever galloped at: 70 miles per hour… 80 miles per hour… 90 miles per hour, 95, 99…
A fireball of green and white shot past Rainbow Dash and Applejack, and the two of them skid to a halt on their hooves. Rainbow Dash gazed ahead, wondering what it was, but Applejack directed her attention to Rainbow’s sides. When Rainbow Dash noticed her friend’s gaze, she saw that her wings were fully outstretched. She moved her wings around, and realized that they were completely free of Twilight’s spell. The two of them looked back toward the fireball, which lifted off of the ground and slammed into the dragon as it went along, causing him to let go of Rarity.
Rainbow Dash spread her wings and quickly took to the air. She flew after her falling friend, and within moments, she rescued Rarity before she could fall too far. “I take it this is the third time you’ve caught me skydiving without a parachute,” Rarity said. “You’d think that I would have learned to catch myself with my magic by now.”
“Rarity, you know you like this just as much as I do,” Rainbow Dash teased. She lowered them to the ground where Applejack was standing. “Hey, I got Rarity back.”
“Ah can see that, but what just happened?” Applejack said. “What was that thing that went past us, and how'd yah get your wings workin’ again?”
The three of them were interrupted when the dragon landed right in front of them. Blood dripped from his mouth from the impact with the green and white fireball, and he roared angrily at the three mares. Suddenly, Zero Volt teleported onto the dragon’s head and prepared to teleport it away. A green light spread from his body to the dragon’s, and though there seemed to be a delay in the teleportation, they both quickly vanished. Zero Volt returned a split second later. “Hey girls!” he said. “Rarity, why do you smell like you were bathing in dragon’s sweat?”
“Where did you send that dragon?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Over there,” he said. The dragon was standing roughly half a mile away in the direction he was pointing in.
“Volt, that ball of light that went past us,” Applejack said. “Was that you?”
The four of them heard a loud roar, and saw the dragon flying toward them. “We’ll deal with that later,” Rainbow Dash said. “We have a bigger problem headed right for us.”
“Wouldn’t it just be easier to teleport back to Ponyville?” Rarity asked.
“Ponyville is right there, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “It’s the first place he’s gonna look when he finds out we’re gone, and we cain’t let that thing rampage into town.”
“Alright, Dash, AJ, you can hit that thing a lot harder than I can, so wait for an opening to strike,” Zero Volt said. “I’ll go in first and distract him by being my usual, charming self.”
“You’re going to annoy him, aren’t you?” Rarity said.
“More than he’s ever been annoyed in his entire life,” he said before galloping toward their foe. The dragon landed on the ground and fired another barrage of fireballs, which Zero Volt maneuvered around just as before. Not intending to repeat their last fight, the dragon beat his wings to rise above the ground and spit a fireball at the ground, creating a shockwave of flames. Zero Volt leaped over the shockwave and sweep kicked the dragon in the face. His rage now returning to him, the dragon tried to breathe fire over Zero Volt, who teleported to escape. When Zero Volt reappeared he landed on the dragon’s head with his hooves before jumping off.
The dragon tried to find Zero Volt again, until he noticed a lasso close around his neck. Applejack was trying to pull the dragon down again. Seconds later, Rainbow Dash collided with the dragon’s head with her front hooves extended. As she continued tackling his head at high speeds, the dragon decided to shoot her out of the sky with a fireball. He inhaled deeply, but before he could aim at her, Zero Volt jumped at him, landed on his stomach with all four hooves, and kicked off. Instead of a fireball, smoke emerged from the dragon’s mouth as he coughed and sputtered. With one final tug from Applejack, the dragon fell over on his side, and Rarity used her magic to tie the dragon’s limbs with the rest of the rope.
Once they subdued the dragon, the four ponies cheered. Rainbow Dash hoof-bumped each of her friends as she flew over them, and Zero Volt hoof-bumped Applejack. Zero Volt and Rarity turned to each other, but they only stared at each other before turning away awkwardly. Meanwhile, the dragon burned through the rope with his flames. After freeing himself, he stood up and roared at them.
“Great, now we only have to do that like fifty more times,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Okay, Plan B,” Zero Volt said. “I need Applejack to tie his wings down so that I can drop him from a thousand feet up.”
“Uh Volt, that was mah last rope,” Applejack said.
“Well then, unless one of you can fire plasma shots from your hooves, we’re running out of options,” Zero Volt said. He started thinking about other solutions, ‘That ball of light thing that Applejack mentioned could work, but I’m not even sure how I did that. I might be able to teleport something massive over his head. Or maybe I could just teleport him somewhere else. Of all the places I traveled to in Equestria, there has to be someplace where I can dump an angry dragon.’
As the dragon loomed over them, Fluttershy flew toward him and hovered in front of him. “Leave them alone!” she said, Staring directly into the dragon’s eyes. The dragon stepped back, overcome by the effect of The Stare.
“Would yah look at that,” Applejack said. “Ah s’pose Fluttershy’s gonna save our flanks from this one.”
“I must admit that this happens surprising often,” Rarity said. “In fact, hasn’t Zero had some recent experience being rescued by that sweet, little pegasus?”
“That might just be one of the few things you and I can agree on,” Zero Volt said. “What’s Fluttershy doing out here anyway?”
“She came here with us,” Twilight said. She was standing behind them with Pinkie Pie and Spike.
“I ran back to Ponyville as fast as I could,” Spike said. “When I told them what happened, Twilight teleported us here to save time. She also said something about Rainbow Dash and Zero Volt not being able to fly or teleport.”
Meanwhile, Fluttershy had finished talking down the dragon, who was now flying away. “That dragon shouldn’t be bothering anypony now,” she said. “He was having trouble finding food because of a cold. I told him that it was wrong to kidnap Rarity when he should have negotiated with her, or at least looked for a remedy for his cold. I also advised him that fighting all of you to try to take Rarity was more trouble than it was worth… no offense, Rarity.”
“Anyway, we only managed to find you when we saw this ball of white and green in the sky,” Twilight said.
“Whatever it was, it even got rid of your spells,” Rainbow Dash said, opening her wings. “You never told us you could do that, Volt.”
“I didn’t even know I could do that,” Zero Volt said. “I just kept running faster and faster until I just took off. I’m not even sure what that was.”
“If you’ve never done that before, then we’ve gotta come up with a name for it,” Pinkie Pie said. “Ooh, I’ve got it! We can call it the Shinespark!”
“Hm… It sounds good, but I think that name’s already taken,” he said.
“Shinespark or not, Ah’m surprised yah went through all that trouble to help Rarity,” Applejack said. “Ah though y’all hated each other.”
“We do, but if something happened to her, I would’ve had a hard time explaining to everypony why I didn’t do anything to help,” Zero Volt said. “Like it or not, I’m stuck with her.”
“That’s not even the best part, Zero,” Rarity said. “I’m certain that these girls would be far less reprimanding of me should anything happen to you.”
“Aw, that’s not true,” Pinkie Pie said. “We all love this guy, don’t we? Who’s a good boy?” Pinkie started petting Zero Volt, much to his annoyance.
“He’s not a puppy, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said. “If anything, I’ve seen him flinch at puppies.”
“Isn’t there a race we still have to finish?” Zero Volt said irritably.
“No way, Ah ain’t lettin’ either of yah finish this race anymore,” Applejack said.
“Oh come on Applejack, this can still be a hoof-race even without Twilight’s spells,” Rainbow Dash said.
“What about his Shinespark thing?” Applejack said. “You saw how fast he went. He broke right through Twilight’s magic and flew almost as fast as you.”
“You can still have a fair race with Rainbow Dash, but I agree, this does disqualify him,” Twilight said. “Now Zero Volt, I would like to study this ability of yours, so could you come with me and allow me to run some tests?”
“I might as well,” he said. “The more I know about what it is, the better I can use it.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Twilight Sparkle opened the door to her library. As she entered, she scrutinized a list of data that she had gathered on Zero Volt this evening. Even though she had learned nothing about the nature and origin of his new ability, she was delighted at how much data she had gathered about how it worked and what it was capable of. “The Shinespark, as Pinkie Pie keeps calling it, must be another manifestation of Zero Volt’s latent unicorn powers,” she thought out loud. “Then again, he is able to fly with it, so there may be some overlap with his pegasus physiology.”
Spike was lounging on Twilight’s back the entire time when he belched, producing a scroll from the princess. “There’s a letter for you,” he said.
“Read it out loud,” Twilight said. Spike unfurled the scroll and started reading it.
My faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
Though I’ve been very busy with my royal duties over the months, I have been following your letters about this new friend very closely. I was especially fascinated by last week’s letter, and I did conduct tests on the sample you gave me. First and foremost, Zero Volt is not a descendant of me or my sister. In fact, he isn’t even close to royalty, in case you were wondering.
You were right about him being part-unicorn and part-pegasus, which is strange. Normally, the foal of a pegasus and a unicorn would be one or the other, not an imperfect combination of the two. I’ve decided to come to Ponyville tomorrow to meet him myself. Maybe we’ll discover more about him.
“Wait, Princess Celestia’s coming here tomorrow? This is so sudden,” Twilight said. “I’m going out to meet Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Tomorrow’s going to be a very busy day, and I need their help to make sure everything runs smoothly.” Spike jumped off her back as she went back out the door.
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No idea what you mean. I see 189 views. Flutterdash?
2344000 I meant 200 views across all chapters. Yes, it did take seven chapters for this story to get that many views. Also, this was written way back when Rainbow Dash x Fluttershy was both a popular and overdone pairing. It probably still is.