???

"Sounds like the back-up plan became the primary plan."

"Already?"

"He and the Element of Loyalty forgave each other a while back and have apparently restarted their 'friendship' anew."

"Does he know she's the Element of Loyalty?"

"No. He doesn't even know any of them are Elements of Harmony. Ironic, considering he shares a type of 'connection' with them."

"Could the plan still work even if he knew?"

"That, I cannot say. As such, I hope he remains ignorant of such facts."

"You certainly hope for a lot of things, sir."

"That's all we can really do until our boys arrive. Even his vulnerability after his grandfather's death couldn't of been taken advantage of. We are stuck with nothing but to observe and make modifications to the plan."

It's been a full week since Zephyr's friends came over to his house to see what was wrong with him. He had only started to recover after he finally let his sorrow spill out in front of somepony over what happened to his grandfather.

While Zephyr was still slightly embarrassed over crying in front of his female friends like that, it was ultimately the reason why he ceased feeling anything during that time. He needed to let his tears flow, or they would have devoured him alive.

"My friends..."

That word, for the first time in his life, made Zephyr smile. He liked the way it sounded now. I'd like to think I changed a lot for the better during my stay here at Ponyville. Past me would be horrified.

Zephyr was brought out of his thoughts by a knock at the door. Cleaning up his house in small intervals during the day had become his current project ever since he internally destroyed it during random fits of trying to feel literally anything.

Didn't help his case that, thanks to his extreme self-abuse, Zephyr was restricted from flying for three days afterwards due to plucking off too many important feathers. He had to drink some kind of feather growing agent made by a "Zecora" to get his wings back up to par. This also meant removal of all the blood-stained feathers.

The only physical evidence left of his episode now were the bite marks he self-inflicted, outside of the minor pain from attempting to fly.

Shaking his head of stray thoughts, Zephyr answered the door. Standing there was a very worn out Pinkie Pie, looking like she was wearing two cakes.

"Hey Pinkie, what's wrong?" She tried rasping something to Zephyr in response before falling over out of exhaustion. He quickly brought her to the couch and gave her a glass of cold water, which she drained almost instantly.

"Oh my gosh, thank you Zephy. I wanted to sing an invitation to you for Gummy's birthday party tonight, but I accidentally thought of you last and I had already sang to all my other friends' invitations and I never thought to pass out written invitations--"

"Slow down there. What is this about, a birthday party?"

"Yup! I figured you needed something to help cheer you up more, and this birthday party may just be what the doctor ordered!"

Zephyr shook his head in amusement. "Nopony said anything about needing to cheer me up more than I already have been, but I accept the invitation none the less."

She gave a loud squee and gave Zephyr a bone-crushing hug. "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou, it's at seven! I have to go prepare for it!" She rushes out the door he forgot to close.

Come to think of it, my own birthday is tomorrow. Meh, nothing important, not right now anyways. I got a party to prepare for.

Seems even at a Pinkie Pie party, Zephyr was still getting a few looks of concern, but the other party-goers knew they shouldn't dwell on it.

"You're telling us that you never bobbed for apples or anything like that before?" Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack were giving Zephyr surprised looks. The three of them were standing by the tub full of apples and water. Pinkie Pie and Twilight were dancing while Fluttershy and Rarity were conversing by the cake.

Zephyr could only give an awkward shrug in response. "It's... probably due to how I perceived parties before moving here."

Rainbow cocked her head out of curiosity. "How so?"

"Back when I lived in Manehatten, all the parties my mother went to apparently served only alcohol, meaning minors couldn't join. She always stated I wasn't missing out on much and I guess that perception got carried through my life up till I met Pinkie Pie. Thanks to her, I now know what a party CAN be!"

"Glad to hear it, sugahcube'. Now let us show ya' how it's done!" Applejack dunks her head into the tub, coming up a few seconds later with an apple. "Ya learn by watching the best," she stated through the apple before eating it whole.

Rainbow looks at her with a flat look. "Riiiiiiight... 'watching the best'..." This earned her a glare from the farmer.

"Hmm, alright then." Zephyr moved in-between them and peered into the tub. Spotting an apple that was slightly green, he held his breath and made the plunge in an attempt at the apple.

Keyword: Attempt.

Worst. Decision. EVER.

Zephyr immediately brought his head back up, sputtering and coughing harshly. "Waha up da nose! Waha up da nose!"

If Rainbow died right then and there, it would have been out of laughter. Applejack put her hat in front of her face in a vain attempt at trying hiding her own smirk of amusement.

"Be... beginner's trap. Oh Celestia, that was hilarious!" Rainbow choked between laughs. When she calmed down enough she gave Zephyr a grin. "Now watch how it's actually done by a pro!"

"Hey everypony!" Pinkie Pie walks over to the trio before Rainbow made her plunge.

"Hey."

"Howdy."

"Sup?"

Pinkie gives a very happy hum. "Just wanted to tell you how happy I am that you could make it to Gummy's party."

That got a grin out of Zephyr. "Hey, your parties are always worth going to, no matter the occasion."

Despite herself, Pinkie flashed a very brief worried look at Zephyr before beaming again. The fact that he himself was smiling again, and amongst other smiling friends, filled her heart with joy.

"That's right. Wind, rain, or shine; if Pinkie Pie throws a party, I am THERE." Rainbow dunks her head into the tub and comes up with the apple Zephyr had eye-balled before. The "ta-da" she made sounded somewhat directed at him, much to his chagrin.

Pinkie made a disappointed click, knowing exactly what they were missing. "Just a boring old apple? There's other surprises in there as well, you know?"

Zephyr could tell by the slight change in Pinky's expression what she was getting at. Oh this is going to be golden...

Rainbow spits out the apple at Applejack, which Zephyr promptly ate while it was still in the air. "What kind of surprises?"

"Surprises are supposed to be just that, RD. Kinda ruins the point if you know what's coming." Zephyr was still chewing on the apple, so it came out somewhat garbled. Quickly swallowing he adds, "besides, I thought you enjoyed a good surprise?"

Pinkie gave a large smile. "Couldn't of said it any better, Zephy." This made the two mares look back into the tub, looking for said surprises.

"I'll let the pros get the surprises. Last time I tried, all I got was water up the nose." Pinkie giggled as two splashes were heard.

Applejack came back up with an apple with strings attached. Rather, it had a spring which dragged her head back into the tub, much to Zephyr's amusement. What took the cake for him was Rainbow coming back up with the guest of honor attached to her face. The look she had broke the dam as Zephyr fell over laughing. "Karma get to you two?"

Applejack looked a bit disgruntled before laughing a bit herself. "Ah guess we got what was comin' to us."

Rainbow threw Gummy off her muzzle. "Y-you didn't see anything!"

"Oh, I saw everything." Zephyr give a mischievous smile as he got back up, earning a glare from the blue Pegasus.

"I SAID, you. Saw. Nothing."

Applejack rolls her eyes, still good-natured over it. "Don't get yer' feathers in a bunch over it."

Rainbow was about to retort when they all heard a spitting sound. Looking over, they see Pinkie Pie standing in front of Rarity, face covered in punch.

That got a confused look from Zephyr. "Wonder what happened to warrant that?"

"Probably that." Applejack points at the punch bowl that Gummy was sitting in.

"Oh... OH! That would probably be enough to whet my appetite too." Zephyr made a disgusted face.

"Oh really?" Rainbow shot a snarky grin at Zephyr, knowing exactly the way to get her revenge. "Then I dare you to drink that punch and not spit it out."

"Seriously?" Was all Zephyr said as he shot her a flat look.

Applejack gives a half-smile. "Ah hate to take sides, but ah wanna see this as well."

"Traitor... fine I'll do it." Ignoring the slightly surprised looks from the two mares, Zephyr walked up to the bowl as Rarity was trying to save face. "Hey Pinkie, mind if I have the punch?"

"Sure, knock yourself out!" Came the excitable response.

Twilight looked baffled at the word-choice. "Did you say 'have THE punch' instead of 'have SOME punch'?"

The got a smile aimed at her. "Sounds like somepony is paying attention to sentence structure."

Now Rainbow looked confused. "What the hay do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I mean." Grabbing the punch bowl with Gummy still in it, Zephyr started draining the contents. The alligator managed to scramble out of the bowl and a collective gasp from everypony except Pinkie, who was cheering it on. When he was finished, Zephyr somewhat slammed the bowl down, wiped his muzzle off, then pointed a hoof at an awestruck Rainbow. "Where's your dare now, huh?"

Pinkie Pie jumped towards Zephyr with a lot of enthusiasm. "Whee, I never seen anypony drain an entire bowl of punch like that!"

"Um, aren't you going to...well, feel stuffed?" Fluttershy looked at Zephyr with mild concern.

"If you mean bloated, then yes. Totally worth it though," He exclaimed, pumping a hoof into the air in victory while inciting a mild grunt of annoyance from Rainbow.

Rarity huffed. "Can't say I approve of such boorish acts, but I suppose if Pinkie allows it, I can overlook it."

Who died and made you controller of the sun?

"It's fine, Rarity, at least the punch didn't go to waste!" The music changes. "Oh, this is my jam!" Zephyr shook his head as Twilight and Fluttershy started dancing again, with Pinkie joining them shortly after, talking to them mid-dance. While it did look kind of cute for a bit, Pinkie wound up hitting her dance partners with her flank.

I hope she's covered for dancing accidents...

"C'mon, everypony! Gummy wants to dance!" Pinkie cries out. Zephyr helped Fluttershy off the wall and, after a smile of thanks, the both of them went into the incomplete circle to dance around Gummy.

"... See ya later, birthday alligator!" All of the partygoers had just wrapped up and were leaving the party after a full night of dancing and cake.

"Rainbow, that doesn't roll of the tongue very well." At least not for me...

"Don't care. Tired." she flies off back to her house.

As he was walking away, Zephyr overheard Twilight say something off-hoof about doing something like this again soon. While he definitely agrees with that sentiment, for some reason it gave him a bad feeling that he couldn't shake.

When Zephyr got back to his room, he suddenly remembered the wind harp that he brought with him on first arrival. After strumming it a few times, Zephyr noted it was off-key since it was mostly just collecting dust. He made a mental note to play it one of these days, either privately or for friends. For now, I need rest for work in the morning.

For some reason, he couldn't get any hot water for his shower that night. It was a source of frustration for him.

After coming home from wind duties and apple bucking, Zephyr managed to cleaned up what remained of the mess made. The only difficult part he found was breaking up shattered glass and ceramic ware, since he needed to be thorough. Right as he finally finished, there was a knock on the door and answering revealed Pinkie Pie as the perpetrator once again.

"Deja vu... sort of. What brings you this time around?"

"Well... uh." Zephyr mentally noted that Pinky was usually more enthusiastic than this. "I was... uh, wondering if you wanted to come to Gummy's after-birthday party... please?"

That prompted a snort of laughter. "An after-birthday party? No offense, but only you would come up with that kind of thing." Remembering something said off-hoof last night, Zephyr gave Pinkie a puzzled look. "Did you think of this because Twilight said something about 'doing it again soon'?"

"Y-yeah."

"Oh, Pinkie Pie." Zephyr shook his head in amusement. "You know how that old saying goes? 'Whatever you do, do it in moderation'."

"Yeah, but I figured it would be a fun idea..." She pouted a bit. She was really hoping-

"I wasn't jabbing at you Pinkie. Besides, I need to get caught up on your parties due to how many I missed."

This immediately perked her up with tears in her as she gave Zephyr yet another bone-crushing hug. "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou, I thought you were going to turn me down as well!"

After a quick tap on Pinkie's back to let him go, Zephyr gave her an exasperated look. "Wait... *cough* what?"

She switched to sorrow and sighed, which saddened Zephyr considering he was so used to 'happy' mode. "I could tell you at my place." Not knowing what else to do or what the situation was, he agreed.

By the end, Zephyr had a headache, and not the same kind Fluttershy gives him. "...So let me get this straight. Rainbow and Fluttershy have to... 'house sit' for a bear."

"Yup." Pinkie was looking out the window.

"Rarity has to 'wash her mane'." Celestia forbid a speck of dirt gets in it.

"Yeah..."

"Applejack has to harvest apples, even though I CLEARLY thought she was done for the day."

"Seems that way..."

"And finally, Twilight is behind on studies and has to hit the books. Dunno why she wants to hit them when they're meant for reading."

"That's what I told her."

"Rather... 'convenient' that everypony suddenly decided to mark themselves as too busy to attend. ESPECIALLY Twilight considering she's the one who said, and I quote, 'We should do this again soon'."

Pinkie Pie suddenly gasped in disbelief. "They actually all sound like... EXCUSES!"

I'm going to settle for her either being naive or innocent. That, or she genuinely believes her friends wouldn't just abandon her parties.

She suddenly gasped again and lowered herself onto the window still. When Zephyr opened his mouth to ask, she somehow filled it with her hoof halfway across the room. Weird... it tastes like cupcakes. Crap, need to resist the urge to start licking it....

"That doesn't look like studying... OR hitting."

She removed her hoof from Zephyr's mouth, who tried not to cough from the ordeal. "Let me guess... Twilight?" A nod from Pinkie and he was tempted to look outside himself.

"She entered the store, trying to be sneaky or something."

"Want me to confront her downstairs?" Zephyr refused to let this lie and got ready to launch himself outside.

"No!" she whispered loudly somehow. "We need to be tactical about this." She pulls out two tin cans both attached by a string. She uncovered a hole in the floor and stuck one can in it.

"Now what--"

"Shh, she's hear you." She beckons Zephyr over while putting the other can to her ear. Humoring her, he got close and stuck an ear near it as well.

"Oh, You must be here for--"

"Shh... is Pinkie Pie or Zephyr around?"

Hmm... it seems Pinkie indeed does have some foresight beyond Pinkie Sense. How she knew Twilight was avoiding me as well, I will never know, but... that hurts...

"Good. Neither of them need to know anything about this."

Pinkie let out a small whimper. "I... I thought we were friends. What is it that Twilight doesn't want us to know?"

This infuriated Zephyr a bit, although he did his best no to show it. "I thought she trusted me... trusted US--"

"Oh, she's coming back!" Both ears were back on the can.

"Here you go."

"Thanks and remember: not a word to either of them." Both of them look at each other with immense worry. "Hey, what's with the tin can?" The can in Pinkie's grasp suddenly went into the hole with her foreleg. She quickly jerked it out, snapping the string and making Twilight yelp.

After a little bit, Pinkie spoke up, "we have to follow her!"

"Why follow her when we can just confront her?"

"Twilight's smart, she will find a way to get away from us or further 'excuse' herself if we confront her directly. Don't forget, she can teleport and even I can lose her if she does that! We need to be tactical about this!"

"Ugh... fine, I'll follow your lead. However, let it be known that I have a bad feeling about all this..." That got a worried look out of Pinkie, who had the exact same gut feeling.

As the two of them stalked Twilight as secretly as they could, Pinkie had donned a goofy pair of glasses thinking that it would fool her. Sadly when Twilight looked behind her when Zephyr accidentally kicked a rock, both of them hid as fast as they could. Stealth is so not my thing.

"Our cover's blown," Pinkie hissed to Zephyr right next to her. "We need a new disguise..."

"Please... something better than just donning those things."

She looked around and dove into a bale of hay before hopping off after Twilight. Zephyr groaned at the sight before deciding to make a decently sized bush as his cover, hoping his mane and tail didn't give him away. Uprooting it carefully, he made sure he could tuck it into one of his wings for easy carrying. Once satisfied with the result, Zephyr followed after Pinkie, heart pounding and body slightly shaking from the excitement and fear of getting caught again prematurely.

As soon as Zephyr caught up with the hay that contained Pinkie, he crouched so that it looked like a normal bush was just sitting there. The pair observed Twilight passing a package to Rarity, who surprised Zephyr by cleverly picked it up with her tail. She then walked right past both hidden ponies without so much as a glance at the disguises and Zephyr gave himself a mental hoof pump in victory.

Pinkie kept adding things to her 'disguise', making it LESS effective than if she left it alone, but in her slowly failing optimism believed it was helping. Zephyr didn't dare speak up about it, with the thought process that any speaking at all might blow both their covers. We've come too far to fail now.

Finally, Rarity met up with Fluttershy in one of the alleyways.

"Have you seen either of them?"

"Haven't seen Pinkie Pie since this morning. Zephyr I'm not so sure about..."

"Me neither, and I'm a bit worried about that. Still, can you believe that she wanted to throw an 'after-birthday party today?"

What's so special about today again?

"I'm just thankful to come up with an excuse for Pinkie Pie. I don't know what I would of done if I had to deal with Zephyr."

That WAS an excuse... uh oh. Zephyr looked over to see Pinkie's sad eyes through the bale, like she was going to cry.

"I worried about the same thing. Besides, this is going to be so much better."

"As long as neither of them find out about it."

That statement felt like a knife to the heart for both hidden observers. Zephyr had thought they liked doing things with him but now the others are outright AVOIDING him like the feather flu. I knew it... it took so long I thought it wasn't true... but...

The statement from Rarity was a massive blow to Pinkie as well. This was the first time her parties were ever considered such low priority that literally ANYTHING else was better. She could feel her heart slowly ripping itself in half.

Rarity dropped the package next to Fluttershy and whispered something before walking off. Fluttershy picked it up and kept going straight. Zephyr saw her trajectory and managed to move far enough away, but Pinkie accidentally bumped into a wall while trying to do the same thing. This caused her to bump into the buttery mare, blowing Pinkie's cover, and sending said buttery mare packing towards the hills.

"I thought everypony liked my parties..." Pinkie whimpered, very close to crying. This added another knife to Zephyr's heart as he walked out of the bush and rubbed her as best as he could on her head. This only served to fuel the rage that was smoldering since Twilight was discovered having decieved Pinkie. They were trying to hide something from the two and Zephyr was growing more and more tempted to upturn the entire town just to see what the deceit is about.

"Hey Pinkie Pie, hey Zephyr!" Rainbow started walking by right then. I guess she wasn't--

"Uh-oh..." She dashes off like she had seen a demon from Tartarus. Zephyr mentally bucked himself for having any hope she wasn't in on the whole thing.

"Rainbow Dash... wait!" Pinkie tried hopping after her, clearly struggling to get out of the hay bale.

"I'll run her down." Zephyr immediately took flight after the prismatic Pegasus. When he lost sight of her, he flew higher to get a better view.

"Where are you going?!" That gave Zephyr a start before he looked where Pinkie's voice was coming. Seeing Rainbow streaking towards the school, he started following her again, only to hear Pinkie shriek again and the Pegasus fleeing the bell.

At this point, I'm feeling kind of useless. I knew Pinkie somehow had her own powers of teleportation, but--

"WHAT'S IN THAT BAG?!" Seeing the rainbow trail coming off the side of a hill towards the farm, Zephyr streaked after her, still wanting to give Pinkie additional support.

"RAINBOW! ANSWER US, CELESTIA DAMNIT!" Hr practically screamed at her. Rainbow heard him and, in her ever mounting panic at being caught, began flapping her wings even faster in desperation, dodging between trees. Because of her being weighted down by the bags she had, Zephyr was able to catch up to her with no issues. But when he tried grabbing her tail,he suddenly hit a tree branch with enough flexibility to not snap, sending him careening back into ponyville and crashing muzzle first.

The first thing Zephyr noticed after regaining consciousness was the red on his bleeding nose. The severe pain caught up a few seconds later, followed quickly by the blinding rage rage. After everything that happened, Zephyr's fury reached a melting point as he sharply in-took air.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Not only did it worsen the pain in his nose, but Zephyr coughed up additional blood from screaming at his loudest. He was told by many ponies, including his own mother, that he could yell louder than Celestia when enraged which was considered an accomplishment. It comes with the unfortunate side-effect of coughing up blood, like Zephyr just did, and also temporarily reduces his voice to a harsh rasp.

"There you are Zephyr," came the disgruntled voice of Pinkie Pie as she came back, a strange mark on her head and neck. "And how are YOU doing?"

"YOU try crashing muzzle first into a stone street at high velocity and see how well YOU fare!" Zephyr snapped a rasp back at her.

"You try getting your head slammed in a barn door!"

"You try-- oh..." Zephyr managed to calm down enough to recognize they were getting nowhere. "Shall we just call it square then?"

"That's just fine... besides, I know they're up to something!"

"Gee what tipped you off? The fact that they are no longer acting like half-flanked decent friends and are avoiding us like the blue flu?!" Zephyr had gotten up and was now holding his nose, trying to quell the bleeding.

"Quit the sass! We still need to know the 'why', and I know who's going to tell us. SomeONE who'll tell us BIG TIME!"

After another wince of pain, Zephyr match Pinkie's glare. "They better tell us big time, or there will be Tartarus to pay."

"Oh trust me, I know..."

It was that voice that made Zephyr make a mental note to never enrage Pinkie Pie to this extent. He wasn't scared since he knew full well he wasn't the target this time, but it was extremely spicy food-for-thought.

Why did Spike get picked to be the victim? Oh right, closeness to Twilight and Rarity.

While Pinkie was off getting an interrogation victim, Zephyr went to the hospital to his my nose patched up and splinted. Nurse Redheart made the off-hoof joke about his visits becoming more regular than Rainbow Dash's. Zephyr had to bite his tongue because of how much he was ticked off over her.

However, when he started making the trip back to Pinkie's place, a sense of dread replaced the rage in his stomach. The same dread he felt last night.

"They are all yours, Spike!" In Pinkie's room at Sugar Cube Corner, she motioned towards the heap of gems on a plate. Spike's eyes sparkled at the spread, but before he could reach them, she had Gummy grip his tail to keep him in place and shone a light on him for an intimidation effect. "All you have to do is talk."

I really hope this gut feeling is wrong. I don't want--

"That's it? Oh, you got it. Okay... uh, beautiful weather we're having..."

To say Zephyr almost feel over was an understatement. Not only did he fake me out, he completely missed the point...

Pinkie huffed in anger. "I mean talk about our friends!"

At this point, Zephyr was now more scared of Pinkie than anything else. "Uh, shouldn't you--"

"Quiet!" One backpedal later, Zephyr opted to keep his mouth shut. Spike was slowly losing his cool as well, with Pinkie's agitation not doing the young Dragon any favors. "Never mind that last question. I want you to confess!"

"Uh...uhm... I-I'm the one who spilled juice all over Twilight's copy of 'Magical Mysteries and Practical Potions'!" He braces himself as Zephyr mentally notes the irony.

"And?"

"And I'm the one who used up all the hot water in Ponyville yesterday when I took a seven-hour bubble bath!" Braces again.

"THAT'S why I couldn't have a hot shower last night." Zephyr couldn't resist that outburst, which cased Spike to shoot him an apologetic look.

"No, no, no, NO." Pinkie started going over the edge with all the useless confessions.

"W-what do you want me to tell you?"

"Tell me that my friends are all lying to me and avoiding me because they don't like my parties and they DON'T WANT TO BE MY FRIENDS ANYMORE!" She starts breathing heavily.

If Spike takes that literally--

"Your friends are all lying to you and avoiding you 'cause they don't like your parties and they don't want to be your friends anymore!" he quickly replied.

Of course...

Pinkie celebrated for a second, only for her mane to suddenly pop and 'deflate', fully giving in to despair. They... really don't...

Zephyr walked over to Spike with a worried look. "I guess you're still young that way, taking things too literally."

"D-did I say something wrong?" Spike was beginning to feel a bit bad.

"Never mind that for now. Let me ask a few questions before you get your plate." Spike nods nervously. "First of all, and I need you to be honest with me, did Twilight tell you ANYTHING about her plans for today?"

He thought long and hard before Spike shook his head. "Sorry, left before she got out of bed for once to go to Rarity's."

"Did SHE say anything about today?"

"Uh... not that I know of. I was just helping with things like her garbage."

Great, back to square--

"Wait, hold on... thinking more on it, I overheard her saying about... 'avoiding a few ponies by any means necessary'..."

No...

"...That 'everything should go swimmingly well if they aren't around her and everypony else'..."

No...no...

"...And finally; 'I hope to never see them'. She might of said something else, but I had to go outside at that moment. Admittedly rather strange."

"..."

"Uh... Z-Zephyr?!"

Zephyr's emotions had shot past the original boiling point and he was now letting out shudders of pure rage, eyes now pinpricks, and his mouth contorted into a vicious snarl.

It's always the same... IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME WITH SO-CALLED 'FRIENDS'. You can't trust them AT ALL, because they'll always fine new ways to UTTERLY STAB YOU IN THE--

"Z... Zephy?"

Pinkie's weak voice broke Zephyr out of his thoughts and he realized Spike was plastered against the back of his chair, looking like he was extremely frightened. "My... apologies, Spike. It's not you I'm mad at." Deciding to give the Dragon an out, Zephyr slides Spike the plate of gems. "Take it, and don't look back." Spike didn't need to be told twice as he grabbed the plate and vacated the premise.

Turning to the still depressed Pinkamena, Zephyr cooled his fury down enough to give her an apologetic look. "I'm... sorry to you as well, Pinkie. I at least had the benefit of low expectations and I STILL got blindsided, yet this is probably the biggest shock of your life..."

"L-low expectations?"

"Ah, I never told. Considering it seems you were affected by my curse, I'm obligated to let you in." Zephyr sat down on the chair Spike was in as Pinkamena took her own.

"The short of it is this: All throughout my colthood, all the way up until high school graduation, I was always bullied for being 'special', which was a nice way of saying I was always called a freak. There were, however, foals and ponies tried to be friends... with massive emphasis on the word 'TRIED'."

It didn't take long for Pinkamena to connect the dots as her depression slowly ebbed away to her own fury. "They all betrayed you, didn't they?"

"Understatement of the bucking century..." Zephyr hissed out, rage rising once again. "Every time I thought I had made genuine friends, they always turned on me when it was most convenient for them. Some of them even went so far as to JOIN IN on the bullying, both physical and psychological..."

Pinkamena could only watch as Zephyr started twitching, eyes constantly staring forward while still in an enraged, pinprick state. She slowly developed her own snarl before asking. "Is that why you said I was affected by your 'curse'? You feel responsible for all my so-called 'friends' suddenly abandoning me?"

"In a way, yes. It both saddens and enrages me to no end that you got caught up in it and I'm--."

"Don't be. I get the feeling this would have happened even if you weren't here." Zephyr got the distinction that she was, somehow, looking through parallel universes. "Thank you for letting me in, Zephy. At least I know you're still a REAL friend!"

Rage once again ebbing away, this time into apathy, Zephyr shook his head. "What will you do now?"

"I'll continue what I originally wanted to do. I don't need THEM! I'm going to have a wonderful party with my REAL... ahem, OTHER real friends!" Pinkamena looks at Zephyr with an accepting expression. "If you don't want to stay, it's fine. You probably have some things you need to do now that your expectations have finally been met."

"Right. A letter of resignation to... ugh, 'Sweet' Apple Acres and a request to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory to get wind current forecasts sent straight to me. I'd skip town, but I'm unfortunately contractually obligated to stay put... no offense to you by the way."

"None taken, don't worry. I'm tempted to do so myself." Pinkamena got up and went to her supply closet to start fishing out party supplies. "In the event you do, however, I'm more than willing to join you. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy this party in spite of THEM!"

Shaking his head, Zephyr took his leave and headed home. At this point, his eyes have dulled over with apathy, unable to feel angry for the time being. I never knew this kind of rage was so tiring...

When he got home, he resisted the urge to sleep and got to work writing two letters. One was a letter of resignation to Sweet Apple Acres, refusing to face Applejack again especially this soon. The other to Cloud Conduct for the wind schedule so he doesn't have to deal with Rainbow Dash anymore.

Just as he finished the second one and sealed it in an envelope, he heard a knock at his door. "Great, who could it be this time..."

Standing at the entrance, ignorant of all that has happened, was Twilight Sparkle. "Hey Zephyr! Did you want to--"

"Oh... it's you..." Those words and that tone immediately set off warnings in Twilight's head as she looked surprised. "Wait... have we met before? I swear you look similar to a former 'friend' of mine..."

"Zephyr, wha-- it's me, Twilight Sparkle! The pony who--"

"Ooh, that was her name... normally I don't remember the names of back stabbers, but it seems the name stuck around somehow." Zephyr clears his throat, agitation slowly rising. "Regardless, can I help you? Or are you here to annoy me?"

"Back stabber?! I assure you, nopony stabbed nopony in the back!"

"Funny, I remember things differently..." Zephyr grabbed the door, never losing his flat look. "Anyways, if that is all you need, please go away. I have other business to attend to." With those words, he slams the door shut on the Unicorn and heads back deeper.

Twilight suddenly teleported inside, much to Zephyr's surprise, and gave him an exasperated look. "Seriously, what's wrong? I thought you were recovering!"

"Oh for the love of-- GET OUT!" Zephyr's rage got reignited, though not to the same extent as before due to the lack of metaphorical fuel. "If you REALLY need to be reminded of what you've done, a little birdy told me that you and your five other 'friends' never actually wanted to be around us!"

Twilight noted he said 'five other friends' and realized with internal horror that Pinkie Pie was probably doing the same thing. I really hope Rainbow Dash will be alright! "When do you mean? None of us ever said that!"

"Oh really? Then why did Rarity say, and I quote: 'Avoiding a few ponies by any means necessary', 'That 'everything should go swimmingly well if they aren't around her and everypony else,' and 'I hope to never see them'. Explain, NOW."

Twilight realized that there was a horrible miscommunication going on. "Why didn't you talk to us directly, then?! Weren't you the one who--"

"WE TRIED, but you and everypony else avoided Pinky and I like the Blue Flu! Also, you can thank Rainbow Dash for this splint on my nose because HER first instinct was to fly away when we tried to get answers!"

"If you would just come along, you would GET your answers."

That got a massive scoff out of Zephyr. "What, so you can make excuses? No thanks, I've heard it all before."

It was at that moment Twilight decided to would be better if she just forced him to come along as she opened the door. "No ifs, ands, or buts, mister! You're coming with-- huh?!"

Twilight tried to grab Zephyr with her magic, only to see her aura flicker on him before vanishing ineffectively. The only good this did for her was Zephyr feeling the magic wash over him and, thinking Twilight was trying to do something, planted himself against the floor to further brace himself. She tried again with the same result. Is... he immune to my magic somehow? Augh, I guess I'm doing this the hardest way rather than just the hard way.

With that thought, she grabs Zephyr by the tail with her mouth and started dragging him all the way to Sweet Apple Acres. This confused him a bit since he figured she'd try to move him with magic considering she was a Unicorn. He was clearly unaware that she DID try, but he was currently not on speaking terms.

"You too, Twilight?" By the time Twilight had dragged Zephyr part-way to the barn, she had met up with Rainbow Dash doing the same to Pinkamena "Why didn't you just use your magic?"

"I'll *hiff* explain later. For now *huff*, let's get these two to the barn."

Pinkamena looked over at Zephyr. "You got forcefully dragged along as well, huh?"

That got a scornful scoff from Zephyr, who refused to say anything. He was waiting for the perfect chance to bolt, but now that Rainbow Dash was here, he recognized that the window of opportunity had narrowed. The only silver lining on this particular dark cloud for him was the fact that his letter to Applejack ended up in his mane somehow.

When the group painfully reached their destination, Rainbow dropped Pinkamena's tail, clearly worn-out, and pushed the barn door open with a rather tired "we're here" while Twilight decided to keep Zephyr's tail in her mouth as insurance. The two unwilling ponies chanced a look inside the barn.

"Surprise!" Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack were all wearing party hats, much to the confusion of Pinkamena and Zephyr. Rainbow nudged her quarry along while Twilight managed to get Zephyr on his hooves and inside as well.

While their smiles were initially bright, the three mares who were waiting in the barn switched to more nervous ones when Pinkamena and Zephyr glowered at them.

"W-we thought you would be more excited about this..." Fluttershy was using all her willpower to not bolt.

Zephyr let out a low snarl before finally saying something. "Oh we knew it was coming alright. You can thank Rarity for THAT little number..."

"What?! I have not said anything-" Rarity was interrupted by Zephyr directly quoting what Spike heard. That got horrified looks from everypony but Zephyr, Twilight who heard it being quoted already, and Pinkamnea. "Dear me, that's horribly out of context and missing the entire picture!"

"As far as we know, you're just saying that..."

Applejack chose to step in. "Now, look. Rarity ain't lying alright? Ah can tell--"

"Suuuuuure, this coming from the pony who oh so conveniently decided to LIE TO MY FACE EARLIER?!" Pinkamena's outburst put Applejack back on her rear hooves. "Besides, WHY on Equestria would we want to attend our 'we're no longer friends' party?!"

Now the five of them looked confused. "A... 'we're no longer friend's' party? What are you talking about?" Twilight asked for the other four.

"None of you wanted to see us as friends anymore, so you decided to abandon us, JUST LIKE THAT! A 'go away Pinkie Pie and Zephyr Earthwing' party..." Pinkamena elaborated before she frowned sadly again.

"Now why did ya'll think we're abandonin' you like that? Ah'm sure if we REALLY didn't wanna be friends anymore, we wouldn't do it in such a roundabout manner!" Applejack trotted over to the two sour grapes with a small smile.

"Why don't you think about it for a second?" Zephyr had walked closer to the exit while glaring back. "You lied to us, avoided us like were were infected, and let's not forget Rainbow Dash choosing to RUN while, as Pinkie said, Applejack lied right to her face. Hypocritical of you, Applejack, when you clearly hate liers."

Rainbow gives a nervous grin. "Because we wanted your guys'--"

"Save it, I'm not interested in any further deceit. With friends like you, who needs enemies?" Before anypony could say or do anything, Zephyr grabs the letter in his mane and flicks it at Applejack. "Read it at your leisure after your 'get together'. If we speak again, it'll be too soon."

With that, he launches out the barn door. Rainbow tried to follow him, but tripped over herself due to Pinkamena tiring her out too much earlier. "I can't believe this... did he really think so little of our friendship?!"

"Maybe you should re-evaluate yourself first, Rainbow Dash." Pinkamena knew why Zephyr left. The only reason she's sticking around is because she wanted to make sure these mares absolutely knew it.

Fluttershy let out a sad sigh. "Rainbow was... about to say we w-wanted your joint b-birthday party a s-surprise..."

"Our... birthday..?" Those words gave Pinkamena pause.

Rarity walked forward with her own sad look. "We'd been planning this party for such a long time, we had to make excuses for why we couldn't attend Gummy's party, or why we didn't want to see either of you so that we could get everything ready..."

"If this really was a 'go away' party for the both of you, then why are there two cakes, one saying 'happy birthday Pinkie Pie, and the other saying 'happy birthday Zephyr'?" Twilight showed the respective cakes with a sigh. She was beginning to think that they went about the whole thing completely wrong.

"Because it's my birthday! Oh, how could I have forgotten my own birthday?!" Pinkie's mane had re-fluffed, though it deflated a bit again when a realization kicked in. "But... with Zephy's past experiences... I don't think he'll come back..."

"D-did he tell you something, Pinky?" Fluttershy had moved to re-cover Zephyr's birthday cake.

With a very heavy heart, Pinky told them everything Zephyr told her. "I... think past experiences taught him to never give 'backstabbers' the time of day ever again, lest he opens himself to further wounds from said stabbers..."

"That still doesn't excuse the way he blew us all off!" Applejack felt frustration welling up in her heart. "By doing that, he's no different from the ones who hurt him! Ah get we should have done things a bit differently, but--"

"Yeah, no. He can go buck himself." Rainbow Dash let out an angry huff. "If that's really the way he wants to play, then I guess he can play it that way: by himself!"

Rarity, while wanting to voice her own resentment, held herself back. She had heard rumors that the schooling system in Manehatten had been in a state of chaos for a long time due to rampant bullying, even before she was born. I can't imagine growing up in such a divisive system...

Twilight sighed as she brought over a different letter addressed to her. "Sorry, Harpsong. I don't think we'll be able to give your son the birthday party he wanted..." Fluttershy merely let out a whimper of sadness.

Pinkie Pie did her best to cheer everypony up after that display and to help them enjoy the party, but she made a mental note to do her best to convince Zephyr to come back around. She didn't want him isolated again, not so soon after his grandfather passed.

Author's Note

Here's the next major chapter rewrite. Like the one dealing with the episode "A Bird in the Hoof", I felt Zephyr was too passive in the original version. In addition, his inability to forgive the Mane 6 (sans Pinky of course) felt like it came out of nowhere. Here, I at least gave him a Freudian Excuse to base it on, as well as showcasing the mutual resentment from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Also allowed me to introduce Zephyr's immunity to magic earlier.