On The Wings of Wind

? ? ?

"How is the target doing?"

"Struggling. His attempts to avoid interaction have had mixed results."

"So, no way to know for certain?"

"Correct. Thing is, it has grabbed the attention of Princess Celestia, who will undoubtedly ask the Element of Magic to look into him."

"Urgh, and with the royal guard keeping our boys laying low, our own hooves are tied"

"Should we..?"

"No. Continue observing for now. Remember, we have that back-up plan for a reason."

Zephyr's house

"WHAT THE BUCK WAS SHE THINKING?"

Zephyr knew that his mom could be quite a troll when she's feeling mischievous. However, he drew the line at sending ten tickets to her upcoming concert WITH conditions attached to them. Not only was it within her MO, but she knew how to get her way in the end.

looking over the letter she sent Zephyr with the tickets again reads:

Dear Zephyr;

As you know, Harmonecence is going to be performing at a concert coming up right soon here in Manehatten. As such, I would like to invite you and 9 of your friends from Ponyville to attend the concert. Please attend, the rest of the band misses you, and it would be nice to see you after a while.

Also note that I will be expecting you to extend the invitations. You know I won't forgive you for squandering the tickets I worked so hard to procure for you. VIP tickets are hard to come by.

Love, Mom.

The silver and gold tickets doubled as VIP backstage access.

"Friends? What friends? I never told her about making any friends in any of my previous letters. What is she trying to get at?

"Worse yet, I care too much about my mom's opinion to really just give them out willy-nilly, especially if what she said on the back of the letter is true."

P.S:

If you question who I'm referencing when I say friends, I mean the six mares and the three fillies you wrote to me about. I want to meet them personally and ask them their opinion of you. So don't be mean-spirited in giving them out!

"Argh, I'm beginning to really wish I didn't put that much detail into my letters. Even though I'm pretty sure I explicitly said they're not my friends, she still--"

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

The noise jolted Zephyr out of his bout of bafflement. The scare he had gotten yesterday with the Princess visiting Ponyville personally had not gone away, so he was trying to be cautious. Sadly, even though him offloading some of his worries onto Philomena helped lift some of the weight, it still devolved into talking to himself for the rest of the day like a psychopath and it had carried over to today.

Deciding to at least hear out whoever was there, Zephyr answered the door. A concerned Twilight Sparkle was the one behind it. "Hey Zephyr. Can I talk to you?"

Love of duck, can my luck get any worse? If she really is somehow tied with royalty, I can't really do much to refuse her...

"S-sure, come on in and make yourself comfortable."

When Twilight got herself seated in the kitchen chair, she motioned for Zephyr to sit down as well which he did so pensively, uncertain of her intentions. "So, what have you been doing lately?"

"Oh, ah... nothing new. Do wind and weather, go to the farm and harvest some apples, then just do whatever for the rest of the day." Zephyr felt like he answered honestly.

Twilight clearly thought otherwise when she gave a skeptic nod. "So... you don't do anything with other ponies?"

What is this, an inquisition?. "Of course I do. I work with Rainbow Dash, and I occasionally see Applejack and Big Mac while helping them on their farm. What's it to you?"

She frowns, wondering how she was going to try and get Zephyr to open up more. "Not much, I suppose." She suddenly smiles. "Got any problems, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues, major or minor, that I as a good friend could help you solve?

...What?

"I... don't know about the friend part, but I do have one problem."

That definitely got her attention. "Oh? What might that be?"

With a slightly nervous grin, Zephyr reaches over to his desk. "Would you kindly take these tickets off my hooves and give them to your friends?" He held out nine of the ten tickets to her with a coy smile.

It took Twilight a few seconds to recognize them and gaped. "VIP tickets to the upcoming concert in Manehatten? How did you get these?"

"My mom. She wanted nine ponies from Ponyville to come along, and I figured, why not you and your friends? You did just say you were willing to help me!"

I forgot to flip the letter I got. Hope she doesn't notice.

Twilight thought about the scenario for a moment before smiling and lighting up her horn. Unbeknownst to Zephyr, she had her own idea.

Yes!

She only took one, leaving the rest still sitting in Zephyr's hooves.

Wait, what?

"Why don't you hoof out the tickets yourself? You can get to know the others you choose a bit more through this."

"But...but..."

"No buts. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be just fine." Twilight gets up from her seat and heads to the door before looking back with a worried face. "Besides, there's a certain trio of fillies you should visit after school is done. They have been rather sad that you haven't been there for them." With that, she takes her leave, ticket in tow.

Zephyr, from that one statement, felt like complete trash due to the implications of what she said.

The miniscule amount of time I spent with the crusaders, and they already grew that attached to me? This was EXACTLY what I wanted to avoid...

With a heavy sigh, Zephyr looked down at the remaining eight tickets left to be handed out. He knew full well that an order from Twilight might as well be royal decree.

"May as well get it over with..."

Question is, who to start with?

Amidst deep thinking, Zephyr had taken to wandering around Ponyville while debating on his course of action.

Rainbow Dash would ironically be the easiest to give one to. I just have to disguise it as--

There was a 'WHOOSH' sound from above as Zephyr re-stabilized himself. Upon looking up, he saw an all too familiar rainbow trail courtesy of the mare he was just thinking about. "Speak of Discord and she doth appear."

Zephyr launched himself after Rainbow to get her attention. Apparently she noticed me following her, since she stopped and turned to me with a slightly irritated face. "What the hay do you want? If it's another race you want, then all you have to do is ask. I'll gladly kick your flank again."

Ignore it... ignore the irritation as best you can, or you'll make this needlessly difficult...

Clearing his throat, Zephyr put his plan into action. "Actually, this IS about a race. More specifically, the last race we had."

"Yeah, what about it? You going to get on my case over it?" She sneers a bit, clearly in a bad mood from earlier.

Grind my gears, will you? "Ugh, no. What I wanted to say was--"

"Spit it out already. I'm on a tight schedule, and I got stunts to perform!"

Zephyr's patience was already running thin as he glared at her. "Hock the ego for one minute, PLEASE?" Rainbow scowls back, though it quickly switched to shock when Zephyr showed her a concert ticket. "This is your reward for beating me back then, okay? Don't tell anypony else where you got this, otherwise I'm going to kick you so hard you'll be flying backwards for a week." As soon as she took the ticket with a surprised look on her face, Zephyr flew off without bothering to hear anything further.

Now, I hope I don't regret this decision...

Landing in front of Sugar Cube Corner as his next stop, Zephyr was still grumpy from that encounter with the prismatic Pegasus.

"Hi!" Zephyr gave a start when he looked to see--

Oh sweet merciful Celestia, what did I ever do to you? All I did was shirk from your attention... or was that what displeased you? Not enough reverence?

"Hi, Pinkie..." The pink party mare was standing there with a big smile on her face.

"I'm just glad you didn't disappear on me again! You seem to be very good at that! I might have to borrow some tips from you!"

Zephyr had to think for a moment before realizing what she meant. "If you're talking about yesterday, I got to see the whole town at once from the air, thanks to you."

She paused in thought, though she never lost her smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

That elicited a groan in response. "What I meant is that you scared me so high into the sky, Ponyville was a speck!"

"Oooooooohhhhhhhh... was it fun?"

"Yeah, I was about as joyful as a monkey in a banana famine." Zephyr was very close to facehoofing.

Pinky let out a high-energy giggle. "Silly! Just give the monkey a banana then."

All the facehooves in Equestria could not express my feelings towards that statement. Is she naive or is she just doing it deliberately? I doubt she's actually stupid.

"Pinkie, can I ask you something?"

"Sure!"

"If I give you this ticket --" Zephyr pulls it out and shows her with a weary face "-- will you please leave me alone?"

Next thing he knew, Zephyr was in a crushing death grip from Pinkie Pie. "Oh Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You!" She takes the ticket out of his grip and rushes into Sugar Cube Corner, leaving him to fall to the ground without any support.

I can confirm that she still scares me...

"Three down, six more to go..."

As convoluted as his order of attack was, Zephyr found himself going to Applejack's farm next even though Fluttershy was closer.

Have I mentioned enough times that I hate headaches? Because I don't think I have.

"Well, howdy pard'ner! Ferget somthin'?" The sudden talking made Zephyr jump a bit as he turned to see Applejack coming out of the barn after finishing with her load of apples.

"O-oh, uh... hi Applejack. I just... uh, happened to pass by here on an enthusiastic walk!"

She took on a skeptical look. "An' this... 'enthusiastic' walk jus' happened to bring you right up to the barn?"

I foresee my flanks getting burned in the future. Still, as thin of a lie that was, I wonder if she actually saw through my other lies... probably, but I'll keep pretending otherwise.

"Alrighty then, then I have one question." Applejack straightens up with a serious look. "What kind of music do you like?"

This apparently caught her off guard as she almost fell over. "That's it? Jus' asking what music ah like?" Zephyr nodded, she scratched her head in embarrisment. "While ah typically like country music, ah will listen to other kinds if the band is good enough. Why are you suddenly curious?"

This... might be a bit awkward.

"I'll just cut to the chase since I know you prefer straightforwardness. Did you want to go to the concert going on in Manehatten?"

Applejack mulled over it for a bit before nodding with a smile. "It would be nice and all. After all, There's a few...few..." She started gaping at the concert ticking Zephyr suddenly held out to her.

"Yeeeeaaaahhhh... my mom sent me a bunch for some reason, and I figured 'why not give one to my employer'?"

Applejack shook her head, like she was snapping out of a trance. "Are ya sure, sugahcube? Ya don't have to if ya don't want to."

"Nay, I chose give you one." More like I was kinda-sorta forced to... maybe.

She gives him a big grin. "Well, ya certainly made this farm pony happy! Ah'm not much for concerts, but the one going on in Manehatten is said to be the biggest one yet! Thank you kindly fer a chance to go."

Wait till she finds out that's a VIP ticket.

Zephyr shook his head. "It's no problem, Applejack, though I apologize for not having one for Big Mac to have. I'm going to be running along now." He turns to leave the farm, his next stop already in mind.

"Actually, there's one last thing ah want to tell ya." Zephyr looked back at Applejack with a puzzled expression as she sighs. "Be sure to give Applebloom a visit. That filly actually misses you, ya know?" With that, she heads back to her house to talk with her family.

Strike number two. Did I really make that much of an impact on their life? All I did was watch over them!

Giving another heavy sigh at the slowly mounting guilt, Zephyr continues to his next destination.

"Figures she's be out..."

By the time Zephyr had arrived in front of Rarity's boutique, it was already closed in a 'temporary leave of absence'.

Now what am I to do? From what I can tell, Rarity gets along well with Fluttershy, so I figured I'd get both of them out of the way by giving Rarity Fluttershy's ticket as well.

"You looking for Miss Rarity, sir?" Zephyr looks over to see a light blue mare approach him with a mane that was blue and white.

Colgate, Ponyville's dentist if I recall. "Yes I am."

"Ah yes. She usually goes to the spa with Miss Fluttershy at around this time. If your business is important, perhaps you can find her there."

Perfect. I can give the both of them their tickets right then and there. "Thank you for the info. Can you point me there? I wanted to give her something as payment for the suit she worked on for me."

After Colgate gave Zephyr the directions to the spa, she requested him to come in for a 'complimentary check-up' when he found the time of day. It came out of left field for him but he agreed to it because, as he admits being weird for, he liked getting his teeth worked on. That got an amused giggle out of the mare

As Zephyr flew to the spa, he noticed and skirted around Rainbow Dash who seemed rather preoccupied. He didn't want to deal with her again for the rest of the day, though he wondered why she was distracted.

Upon entering the spa, Zephyr was greeted by a light blue mare with flowing pink hair. Seems to be a lot of light blue mares in this town...

"How may I help you?"

Due to a bad prior experience with spas, Zephyr looked around slightly nervous. "Is Miss Rarity here? I wanted to give her something."

"Oh, yes. She's currently in the middle of her session with Miss Fluttershy. I could give it to her if you would like."

"Please." When Zephyr pulled out the two tickets, she gaped at them, but quickly regained composure. Once he confirmed that the tickets were on their way, he took leave after she assured him they would get to their intended recipients.

All that's left are three fillies. I still love how specific my mom was when she told me who to invite. Still... how will they react when I see them after how many days?

Zephyr looked at the clock tower to double-check the time. If the foals get out at a similar time to Manehatten's schools, it was pretty close to the mark.

Oddly convenient...

However, when he got to the school and waited for a bit, it became apparent he miscalculated.

... Or not. Huzzah for my memory lying to me.

Checking the school schedule on the nearby plaque, Zephyr confirmed school wasn't out for another thirty minutes, so he decided to wait underneath a nearby tree with nothing better to do.

Actually, I could of went for a snack... that's besides the point though. I guess a nap will have to do.

As soon as he curled up, Zephyr was out like a candle, with the stress of the day finally catching up to him.

Thirty minutes later.

A lot of foals liked the sound of the school bell ringing at the end of a day. It always meant no more classroom boredom. Cheerilee always made sure the foals had a good learning experience, but most still couldn't wait for day's end.

Prime examples being the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were always silently thinking up different crusade ideas for after class to try out.

Except this time, as they left, they all concluded that they all drew blanks for the day.

"If this keeps up, we will be redrawing ideas from past crusades!" Scootaloo gave an exasperated sigh.

Applebloom shook her head. "We've got to keep trying! We won't get cutie marks from doing nothing."

"Keep trying past crusades or trying to think up new ones?"

"Both!"

This went on for a bit until Sweetie Belle stopped, eyes wide.

Applebloom was first to notice. "What's wrong, Sweetie Belle?"

She lifted a shaky hoof to point. "L-look who it is."

Sleeping right underneath one of the trees was a familiar green Pegasus.

Applebloom went wide-eyed as well. "Zephyr? But we haven't seen him since he took us home during that one storm."

Scootaloo frowned. "Last I saw him was when he took me back to the orphanage to tell them I was okay." She had already told her friends about her situation. They vowed to never let anypony else know until she was ready for it. It certainly didn't change her standing with her friends.

"What is he doing sleeping here of all places?"

Sweetie Belle put a hoof up to her chin. "I don't know. We could ask when he wakes up."

"Or we could just wake him up ourselves, then ask." Scootaloo grinned. "Besides, we haven't seen him in a while. May as well give him a wake-up call as revenge."

The other two fillies looked at each other before nodding and dashing towards Zephyr. When the trio landed on him, he let out a big 'oof' as his eyes snapped open. Said sight didn't last long as a pair of orange hooves covered his eyes. "Guess who?"

"Hi, Scootaloo." The hooves retract and Zephyr twisted his neck to see the three crusaders on his back, all sporting innocent grins.

Scootaloo's grin quickly turns into a frown. "Where were you for the last few weeks? We always tried searching for you, but we could never find you."

Sweetie Bell had a sad look on her face. "We... missed you. We thought you didn't like us anymore."

Strike three for me. The guilt cannot be denied.

Knowing he was in too deep, Zephyr let out a sigh. "I'm sorry about that, girls. I have been dealing with... difficulties. Some of them centered around you three. Unfortunately, they lead me to avoiding you girls until now, but with Twilight and Applejack informing me of what you were going through..." He bowed his head as best he could in his current position. "All I can really say right now is... sorry."

I have no idea how to approach this kind of situation. Certainly shows my social-awkwardness.

All Zephyr got in response was a bat on the side of the head from Scootaloo that didn't hurt. "Just don't do it again."

Applebloom had a thoughtful look. "Is that why ya came 'round to the school?"

That got a smile out of Zephyr. "Mostly. Perhaps you girls could forgive me if I give you these?" Upon holding out the last three tickets currently on him, they showed confusion. Realizing they wouldn't know, he quickly explained, "tickets for the concert in Manehatten." That definitely got them excited.

"Yay, we can go to a concert! Except..." Applebloom gave me a worried look. "Ah can't go by mahself... Mah sister won't let me." This 'wilted' Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as well.

"Don't worry about it. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are all going as well. Scootaloo, you can ask Dash if she can be your acting 'sister' for the day." A part of Zephyr wondered If his mom actually thought that through before sending the tickets. I wouldn't doubt it. She's always been both sly and insightful.

"YAY!" The fillies started hugging Zephyr in pure joy. Not only did they get special concert tickets, but they reconnected with the stallion that took good care of them.

"Now... how about I take all of you for ice cream?"