Zap made sure to shuffle a bit as she approached the bench, causing Felicity ’s ear to twitch in her direction. But they didn’t look up, just kept their ear aimed at her as she carefully approached and sat down on the other edge of the bench. Almost falling off from how much she tried to keep the distance between them.
 
Risking a glance at the other slumped over pony, hugging their very confused dog-
 
Winona’s fur wasn’t exactly what Zap would call silky soft, more coarse and thick, but it was still very nice to pet her as she sat in front of the bench. It was a nice day, probably specially ordered from the Weather Bureau by cousin Cortland just for the competition. Winona just sat calmly, starting at Zap as her tail thumped the ground.
 
“So, uh… that was a bit of a fiasco. On my part I mean. I’m-”
 
The stranger dog whuffed as Felicity finally shifted to look at her a bit. Zap felt her pulse quicken, and shut up in favor of making sure Winona’s collar was still fastened properly. In return she got a face full of dog breath.
 
“Sorry. I’m really sorry,” she finished, while not risking looking back up.
 
Ma always mentioned being able to feel when someone was staring at her. Zap didn’t think that was actually a thing; if she was remembering school right, seeing someone is just bounced light going into the eye, and she didn’t believe her Ma had any magic that allowed her to sense where the light that bounced off her went.
 
She was still very aware of the other pony looking at her now though, hearing their breathing and seeing how they were facing her out of the corner of her eye. She hunched her shoulders together and curled down a bit.
 
“Why?” they finally asked.
 
Zap couldn’t help but look up again at the question. Felicity was staring at her with an unreadable expression, ears flicking and tail twitching in discomfort. Their dog was-
 
She felt sweat gather in her heavy mane, as the droplets on her face started to evaporate in the sunlight. She looked down at Winona again, to make sure she wasn’t getting overheated.
 
“…because I yelled and insulted you when you’d done nothing wrong?”
 
Felicity just continued to stare at her, as she started to shift uncomfortably before stopping abruptly. She was balancing right on the very edge now, and unable to scoot even a seed-length further away.
 
Then they looked away, wincing. Their (long, Zap hadn’t ever imagined a pony could have such a disproportionate) horn lit up, and their dog was deposited on the ground on the other side of them from her.
 
“Go.” The dog was frozen, whining and confused. “Go, go, play over there”, they said, louder. Waving their hoof in the direction of the field in front of them. The dog hesitated, before slinking away, staring fearfully at Winona as it did. Winona didn’t as much as twitch, keeping herself focused on Zap.
 
“Is… is that better?” Felicity asked, hesitantly.
 
“Oh! Yeah, uh, thanks.”
 
Zap looked down at Winona again, considering. She had growled and probably scared the princet, even if Zap knew she wouldn’t have actually attacked. So…
 
“…You’re of the clock, ‘Nona. Thank you for the help, go have some fun too. Just keep away from the dog, okay?”
 
Zap was never sure quite how much Winona could understand, but knew that she would at least recognise “off the clock” and “keep away from the dog”. Winona immediately stopped her attentive, serious look, smiled a dog smile, and twirled around to bound off and run around on the grass. The other dog seemed very displeased with this development, but calmed down when Winona held true to Zap’s order and stayed at least ten pony-lengths away at all times. Zap turned back to her companion.
 
“…‘M sorry she scared you and your dog”
 
“It’s fine”, Felicity mumbled. They were staring at the two dogs, slumped over in their seat. “It’s not your-… I’m sorry too, it’s my fault it got so heated anyway.”
 
…
 
“…come again?”
 
“I reacted wrong, I’m sorry.”
 
“Again. Come again?”
 
“Look…my special talent is mental health. I’m currently studying to be, uh, something, like a psychiatrist?” They stumbled a bit over the indecision of their future, but continued. “I mean, I don’t know what happened back there, but I’m not supposed to- I’m s’posed to be helpful? Instead I just made it worse.”
 
Zap just stared as Felicity slumped over even more, now staring morosely at their flank.
 
“So, it’s my fault it escalated, really. I’m sorry.”
 
Zap was starting to worry for Felicity’s spine, as much as they were trying to curl into themselves. Their mane flopped into their eyes, as they refused to look at her.
 
That… was not what she’d expected.
 
“Excuse the language, but that’s roadapples.” Zap stated, managing to catch Felicity’s eyes as the princet snapped their head up, their long horn almost whistling in the air due to the speed of the movement.
 
Zap tried her best not to think about how she had now, in one day, yelled at, insulted and sworn at foreign royalty.
 
“I mean, sure, you’re gonna be some awesome whatever-title-you-pick helping ponies with their issues. And then you’re probably gonna haveta take some ponies yellin’ at you or callin’ you names, and not react back. I mean, I know I yelled a lot at Ms. Mindful back when I first started meeting her… then again, I was like fourteen then, and she’s probably used to teenagers being angry. Say, you’re plannin’ on working with adults or kids? ‘Cause Scoot’s got some experience in the kid department, I can ask her to-”
 
Felicity had gone from confused and upset, to just plain confused at this point, and slicked their ears back accordingly.
 
“Wait, no, sorry. Rambling, that wasn’t the point,” Zap said, while trying to remember what the point had actually been. “…You’re not on the clock right now” Right, that’s where she was going! “You were just out with your dog, having what seemed like a lovely time, and some random mare started to scream and then called your dog a rat sorry ‘bout that again so of course you’re gonna yell back.”
 
She sat back, satisfied. Felicity didn’t seem as convinced by the marvelous point she was making as she was though.
 
“We still can’t just yell and fight whenever someone gets upset though”, they countered.
 
“I mean, wasn’t upset though, I was actively lookin’ for a fight.”
 
“And I shouldn’t have taken the bait! I get what you’re saying, but I don’t want to be someone who just makes things worse.”
 
“Taking the blame doesn’t make it better!”
 
“Whatever! I still shouldn’t have been fighting when something clearly had just happened!”
 
“I can make Amber fight with me. Amber! The shyest, least confrontational pony there is after Aunt Shy. Puh-lease, getting ponies riled up should have been my mark, I’m that good at it!”
 
They glared at each other for a bit.
 
Then Zap snorted, Felicity let out an involuntary giggle, and they both leaned back against the bench. Only to promptly shoot back up again as they simultaneously realised the back of the bench had been visited by what seemed to be a whole flock of birds.
 
“What would a mark for making ponies angry even look like?” Felicity finally asked, still smiling as they tried their best to look at their own back. “Also, I’m fairly sure looking to fight would fall under being upset in this case”
 
“Turn around a bit. …Yeah, far as I can see, you’re clear of bird gifts”, Zap said, then sighed. “But you were right, comin’ here was a really bad idea. I should’ve known better than be around this many dogs, there’s no way it could’ve ended any other way than panic”
 
“…a phobia? What’s it called-”
 
“Cynophobia, yeah” She waved her leg a bit. “Also how I got this”
 
“Oh.”
 
“Yeah.”
 
“What about…”
 
“‘Nona’s special”, Zap looked up, smiling fondly at her silly girl who was currently trying to dig up something in the grass, getting herself covered in dirt in the process. Winona looked up at the mention of her name, always ready to get back to work, but Zap just waved her off. “Raised her since she was just a couple of days old. For some reason, she doesn’t count as a dog”
 
“…Forgive me for asking, but. Why did you even come here then?”
 
She shrugged.
 
“I love ‘Nona. Love to spend time with her, love to teach her stuff and watch her mind work things out. ‘Specially like to run agility courses with her - it’s fun to watch her figure out how to best tackle all the obstacles and how happy she seems to be.” Zap grinned. “Also helps tire her out a bit”
 
Her smile dropped again, as she sighed. “Just wanted to… share that with someponies who gets it. And wanted to get more… used to being around other dogs? I don’t exactly like bein’ afraid, y’know.”
 
“Yes. …I do not… think this was the way to do it, though?” Felicity’s voice going up in pitch and down in volume, as they hesitated on asking the question.
 
“Yeah, no kiddin’”
 
They both sat in silence for a while, watching Winona run and roll around in the grass, chasing invisible insects, while Felicity’s dog walked around in circles, staring at her wearily.
 
“…if you wanted to, Peri and I could come visit next time I’m in the area? Though, maybe him specifically is a trigger after this…?”
 
Zap turned to look at them. “Really? I yell at you, insult you, get you kicked out of the competition… and you wanna visit? Voluntarily?“
 
Felicity grinned at her, seemingly very pleased that she didn’t turn it down off-hoof.
 
“Sure! You seem nice when you’re not screaming, and I think Peri would like meeting another dog every now and again.”
 
Peri, for his part, was pretending to look at some birds while sneaking fearful side-glances at Winona who was settling down for a nap.
 
“I dunno if he agrees”, Zap said, deadpan, as Peri jumped when Winona rolled over to sun her belly. “But, yeah, of course! Come over whenever you want -actually, if you can make sure that it’s around a month from now, we can probably treat you to some zap apple jam.”
 
“Oh, I’ve had that before! Aunt Twi sent some when I was a kid, and now Mom usually imports as many jars as she can whenever it’s available”, they said, and leaned over a bit conspiratorially. “Don’t tell her I said this, but you can probably be knighted if you wanted, just by promising to send her a steady supply of the stuff”
 
Zap laughed and jumped off the bench. “In that case, I can do you one better! Zap apple cider -one glass and you’ll never want to drink anything else again. What’s the rate for that? Think I can haggle half the empire for it?”
 
Felicity giggled along, as they much more gracefully got down as well. “I’ll hold you to that!”
 
“Oh, but I should warn you,” Zap started, as she stomped the ground twice, waited and stomped again. Winona jumped up and bounded back over. “My cousin has a huge crush on you.”
 
“Oh, uh-”
 
“But she has crushes on everyone, so it’s nothin’ personal. Actually, she probably crushes on your sister way more than you.”
 
“…which sis-”
 
“Just be prepared for her to be unable to talk straight around you and it’ll be fine.”
 
“…yeah, I can-”
 
“And my other cousin is gonna pester you for the story behind your cutie mark -she hasn’t got hers yet, very fixated on them. You know how that age is.”
 
“Right”
 
“My other other cuz is probably gonna insist on showing you his bees though, so if you’re scared of that, better tell me now so I can warn him not to.”
 
“No, that’s fine.”
 
“And my Aunt Sugar and fourth cousin’ll try their best to overfeed you on desserts, so pace yourself during dinner.”
 
“I’m staying for dinner?”
 
“Oh, no way’s Ma’ll let you not stay for dinner. You like apples? It’s gonna be a three course meal of nothin’ but.”
 
“…”
 
“Oh, and so you know, Uncle Mac’s not much of a talker, so don’t be upset if you jus’ get one-syllable words out of him, and-.”
 
“You’re messing with me.”
 
Zap finally lost the straight face and laughed. “Mostly, yeah -I mean, it’s true, but it’s not as overwhelmin’ as I’m describing it”
 
Felicity grinned back at her, as they called Peri back over -though, using their magic to make sure the dog came in a half-circle, so they were between him and Zap.
 
They walked towards the town center together, chatting about their respective families and their various interesting characteristics, before splitting up -Zap was gonna wait around and properly apologise to Cortland again before leaving, but Felicity wanted to see if they could catch the next train out.
 
It was probably for the best that neither of them turned around and saw the gathered former competitors, doing their best to listen in on the conversation. Except Cortland, who was starting to froth at the effort of trying to push everypony back to the course without Zap or Felicity noticing.
 
Zap was very surprised the next day, when she found out from the most reputable gossip rags in Equestria that apparently she is now dating half the Crystal Empire’s royal family. Cool.
 
…She gives it one week before she’s suddenly pregnant with one of them’s illegitimate child. Amber put her bet down on twins.