Standing Out

   I buzzed away from the zebra's hut and smiled bigger than my own head. I unscrewed the cork lid and put a drop on my tongue. I stopped, winced, and almost puked, it tasted like a wet dog's breath that just ate a branch rotten lemons. I gaged and tried to swallow down the liquid, but the aftertaste was even worse. I eventually got over it, but I still had a sour breath. After a few minutes, I began to feel different.

   My legs cramped up a little, and my wings stiffened. I felt stronger, my bones felt thicker, and I seemed meatier, I went over to a once heavy rock and lifted it up with ease.

"Wow, nice job potion. Seems like I've taken steroids or somethin'." I laughed as I stared at my huge legs. I noticed I was much taller, maybe even taller than Zigzag. I did a barely noticeable dance to myself, and thanked Chrysalis for meeting Zecora. I could tell the next time those punks saw me, they'd be even more shell-shocked than they already were.

   I narrowed my eyes and smiled when I heard buzzes from Changeling wings. Now it's my turn, I thought to myself as I watched them fly into view. Zigzag stopped dead in his tracks, crouched down nervously, and stared directly at my eyes.

"Um... He-hello... I've never... se-seen you... around he-here..." He said in a shaky voice.

"Wow, I'm surprised you don't remember me." I said with an evil grin. The group sank lower into the ground.

"Wh-what? Wh-who are you?" Zigzag said. I laughed,

"It's me... Icarus." I said confidently, stepping closer to them. Their eyes grew enormous, and their pupils shrank. One of the 4 Changelings grew dizzy and fainted.

"No you're not! You can't proves it!" Zigzag screamed, his eyes swelling with water.

"Oh, can I?" I corrected, I turned my neck and showed him the birthmark on the bottom of my head he had always teased me about. His eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Bu-but how?" Zigzag stood up, with a confused look.

"I have caring friends." I said kindly, softening my harsh tone.

"Your point? I have friends too" Zigzag said blankly.

"They understand problems and don't fight, they listen to others, not tease before they even know what happened. Zigzag, why do you tease me?" I explained.

"Because you seem weak and don't want to fight." He answered nervously.

"Exactly, but you were shocked to see how fast I was, because you'd never seen me try to fly like that. You just don't understand why I'm like this." I said, the last 2 Changelings flew away, leaving only me and Zigzag, and the fainted Changeling. I began to explain to him what had happened.

"Zigzag, when I was only a few weeks old, I was abandoned, my family set me on the edge of the Everfree. When somepony named Fluttershy found me, she raised me until a while back after I left her. And during my life, she told me fighting would NEVER solve anything, even if something was funny to somepony else, and it was serious to you. She learned not to bully, what are you going to solve in fighting anyways? If you're mad, hurting others is only going to make it worse."

   Zigzag stared at the ground the more I explained, though the more I explained, the more Zecora's potion wore off. As I shrank back to normal, I finished telling how I felt. Zigzag looked up silently and gave me a slow, sad nod. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, I just wanted Zigzag to understand what it was like being bullied. Zigzag sighed and stood up.

"Um... I'm sorry... Now that I know that... I feel horrible for what I've done to you..." He poked the ground with his hoof quietly, a  tear rolled down his cheek and splashed into the grass.

"Hey, I didn't mean to hurt you. I just wanted to-" I was cut off by him.

"No I deserve it. I know, you were trying to explain, and I've realized what it's like to be in you're shoes. Because I'm a bag of dirt  in my dad's eyes." He said, 2 more tears rolling off his snout.

   We sat silent for a while, and finally stood up, walking our different paths back home. I didn't technically know where I was going until I heard hoofsteps behind me. It was Zigzag.

"Where are you going?" I asked him puzzledly.

"Where I should be going. Home." With that, he walked back to Fluttershy's cottage with me.