AN: Warning: This chapter contains ponies (just so you know)

Chapter 7 Hot Topic

Emma P.O.V.

"HOLY PERIOD MICROWAVE!"

I heard a loud thump behind me and giggled a little. That was like the fifth time I had scared the hell out of Zim.

I had woken up in my bed and for a few seconds I had thought the last few days had been a dream until I saw Zim on the couch. I couldn't believe he did that for me.

I looked over at Zim who was on the floor tangled up in a blanket.

"Sorry about that I'm just so happy." I smiled a little embarrassed.

I heard my mom in the kitchen and ran out my bedroom door.

"Mom! Mom can we go to Hot Topic? Please!"

Mom glanced at me oddly distracting her from her breakfast.

"And why would we make that trip?" she asked.

"Because my Hot Cash is finally valid!" I said as if it was obvious holding up the email on my phone.

"I've been waiting for this for weeks."

"Well… I guess I did need to get some new clothes. How about I go to the mall and pick up a few things for you from that store." Mom smiled.

"The last time you did that you went to the wrong store and bought me a Strawberry Shortcake bracelet." I whined.

My mom spotted Zim standing in the doorway with Gir hugging his leg like a shy kindergartner on his first day of school. "But what about your friends? We shouldn't leave them unoccupied and we can't take them with us."

I looked over at Zim and Gir trying to think of some way I could get there that my mom would be okay with.

"Zim do you have your disguise on you by any chance?" I asked.

Zim thought about it for a second. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and ran outside. He came back inside wearing a black wig and light violet contacts.

"I think I recall seeing it somewhere." He joked adjusting his wig.

"I'm not sure if that will be enough." My mom cut in.

I smiled and dragged Zim to my bathroom. I opened an old dusty cupboard and pulled up a face paint kit I got for Christmas last year. I pulled off the plastic wrap and opened it up for the first time. I was never really glad to have this stuff. Until now.

I mixed a few colors together until I had a light pale skin tone. I took Zim's wig off and brushed it on his face covering all the green spots and gave him some gloves for his hands. I messed his wig up a little so it would seem more natural and gave it back to him.

Zim was shocked at what he saw in the mirror. He actually looked normal.

"How about this mom?" I smiled.

My mom had the same shocked expression on her face but it soon turned to a smile.

"If I didn't know any better I would think you were human." she laughed at Zim.

Zim returned with a growl. It was either that we just made fun of him or that he felt stupid that he never thought of this for his disguise before.

Zim P.O.V.

I looked so much like a human I felt sick. The itchy wig and contacts were bad enough but whatever the human had put on my face was a bit irritating as well.

"What about this little guy?" the Emma human's mother asked with a smile pointing to Gir who was sitting on her shoulder.

"Zim? Is there any way to temporarily shut Gir off?" the Emma human asked. "We can't really take him with us and even if we could it wouldn't be a very good idea." She explained.

I took Gir off her mother's shoulder and set him on the desk. He looked up at me with a smile. I placed my hand on the highest part of the back of his head and slapped in as hard as I could. Gir blacked out falling onto me. I set him on the couch and turned back to the humans.

"That should keep him out for a few hours." I said to the Emma human. She was a little frozen in shock but eventually spoke.

"But… how did you…?"

"I learned where that spot was so I could have some quiet while working on important projects. It's a bit cruel but it works and he doesn't even remember anything." I explained.

"Well… I guess that takes care of things. Can we go now mom?" she asked.

Her mother nodded. "Just change your clothes first. I don't think you really want to go in your pajamas."

Emma ran off and came back with a black t-shirt with an odd yellow winged equine-like thing with a pink mane and tail on it and the word 'yay' below it with dark blue jeans.

She picked her jacket off the ground and I found it to resemble Gir's disguise.

"Sorry if this weirds you out Zim but I never go anywhere without it." she smiled pulling on the hood.

The ride there was very long and very quiet. Eventually I broke the silence.

"So this mall as you call it. What is it exactly?" I asked.

"It's this big building with a bunch of little stores inside them. A lot of people go there to buy stuff." Emma explained. "If we just keep a low profile we should be fine."

I sighed and stared out the car window. The human was very anxious to get to this store. She was holding onto her wallet for her life and kept twitching and grinning. It was a little weird.

After about 15 minutes we finally got in the parking lot. I stretched my legs and the Emma human double-checked my disguise and we went inside.

There were humans everywhere! If I didn't know of my amazing eyesight I would have sworn they were hanging from the ceiling. The human dragged me farther into the building while in my daze. As soon as I was out of it I slapped her hand away and continued to follow her through the large place.

"I know it's around here… found it!" she pointed to a small store on the left wall.

It had red brick outside walls and the words 'Hot Topic' in white letters at the top. Walking inside I could hear what humans called rock music from a few speakers on the ceiling.

"I'll leave you two to shop." Her mother smiled leaving us at the doorway.

I actually didn't protest this time as the Emma human dragged me inside and what I saw was amazing. Walls of shirts racks of jewelry and merchandise from countless different Earth franchises. The human pulled me over to one of the back corners of the store where we found at least 50 different things in Gir's image.

"No… No… Got this last week…" she muttered picking through the items.

I started to wander through the small store finally letting my eyes fall onto an odd thing. It was a creature similar to the one on the Emma human's shirt but it was gray with bright yellow hair and two orange eyes facing different directions.

It was a small figure about 7in tall like the others that sat with it on the shelf but unlike the others of its species it didn't seem to have a name written on the box.

I stared at it for a good 10 minutes until I heard a human behind me.

"Hey kid. Are you alright?" I turned to see a tall slightly over weight human female standing over me. She had short purple hair thick glasses and multiple piercings on her face. She wore a nametag on her shirt that read 'Janet'.

I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head and made sure not to make eye contact with the clerk as I began to walk away.

"Hey Zim! What's wrong?" the Emma worm asked walking over to me holding a sparkly purple and black striped handbag with Gir's face on it.

I motioned to the other human hoping she would understand that she was on to me. But she didn't see that.

"Ohmygod!" she dashed past me to the figures holding up a few proudly.

"Thanks for finding these. The layout of the store changes so often that I probably wouldn't have noticed the new ones." She beamed at me.

After a few more minutes she made her purchases, which were, two 'pow nieee' (I can not pronounce that human word) figures named Fluttershy and Lyra Heartstrings the Gir bag and a shirt from something called Kingdom Hearts.

Walking out of the store the human checked her phone and informed me that her mother was at the food court that was just a short walk from where we were. Once there she gave us some extra money and we both chose which kind of food to eat and sat down at the table.

"So what did you get?" her mom asked.

The Emma human brought out the two figures and showed them to her with a proud smile.

"Zim found them for me." She mentioned smiling at me.

Emma P.O.V.

We ate our food and my mom showed me the clothes she bought and just had to tell me all the bargains she found on the way home. I didn't really pay attention I was too happy Zim had found the pony figures.

Yes I know it's a bit childish but if Invader Zim didn't exist (which I can not imagine in the slightest) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic would be my favorite show. I don't really know why I like it but I do and I've been looking for a Fluttershy figure for so long. My favorite character or 'best pony' as some people fraise it is tied with her Rainbow Dash and Derpy Hooves. I have a weird liking to Pegasi ponies apparently. I already had the other two as vinyl figures and I got Lyra because why not and it was buy one get one half off!

I had to spend at least 60 bucks to get the deal on my 2 Hot Cash tickets and I did so quite nicely. My wallet was still basically cleaned out. Oh well. Just need to do a few things around the house and choose one of my HT emails as an excuse to go back as soon as next week.

"I love shopping." I thought. "Eww. I just sounded like a girl."

When we got back home I tried on my t-shirt and handbag and unboxed my ponies. I set them on the shelf next to my other 2. Zim came back inside later from working on his ship and looked at them oddly before turning to me.

"Is there any way to get this stuff off easier?" he asked rubbing at his cheek still stained with the face paint.

I smiled and took him back in the bathroom. He sat on the counter so I could see his face better and scrubbed at his face with a dry hand towel. I knew we couldn't use water because of Zim's skin but I didn't know it would be so damn hard to do! Zim groaned and tried to move his head away from me but I held him down against the wall until the stuff was off with a few tiny spots remaining.

He hopped off the counter rubbing his cheek gently.

"Sorry Zim but that was really hard to get off." I apologized rinsing off the rag.

"You know that trip wouldn't have been as nice to go on without you." I continued.

Zim stopped in the doorway and looked at me oddly.

"I always like going to that store but you made it better. I mean it was nice to have someone there to hang out with. It makes you feel like you're not alone."

I was blushing like crazy. I turned around walked up to Zim and as much as I knew he would destroy me for this I hugged him. He made a small squeaking noise as my arms wrapped around him tight and less than a second later I released him and walked out the door.

"I'm gonna go take a shower." I ran down the hallway and snatched a towel before going into the main bathroom and locking the door.

I usually showered right before bed but it gave me a decent excuse to get out of there before he could doom me for hugging him.

When I came back out after about 30 minutes with my hair wrapped up in the towel and wearing my same clothes. Gir was standing in the doorway beaming. He handed me a piece of paper and skipped off giggling. I looked at the picture and felt the heat grow on my cheeks.

It was drawn in crayon by who I would guess was Gir. It was me and Zim kissing in a sunny field with pink and red hearts drawn around us.

He must've seen me hug him and spent my whole time I was in the shower drawing that. I folded the paper and went back to my room sliding it in my desk drawer.

What was wrong with that robot? Other than a lot of things?