As the local rooster crowed to signal the beginning of a new day, Zephyr slowly drifted back into the waking world. Becoming aware of two soft breathing noises to his right, he opens his eyes and sees Fluttershy curled up with Scootaloo in-between the two older siblings, still sleeping peacefully.

Zephyr smiles at the sight with a warm heart. Last time he woke up with Scootaloo in the same bed, the older Pegasus was worried it would be taken the wrong way if anypony found out. Now that she's his newly adopted little sister, those worries weren't as strong anymore, though the potential for misinterpretation was still there. Besides that, I get to bask in the adorable sight that is seeing two sisters sleeping with one-another.

Shifting around so that he wouldn't wake the two of them up, Zephyr checked his clock. It was still early in the morning, about 7:15 AM, and Scootaloo didn't have school until 8:30AM. Because of that, Zephyr felt it would be a waste if he didn't let her sleep with Fluttershy as much as possible. After quickly getting out of bed without waking them up, he made sure they were properly tucked in before heading downstairs.

"Good morning, Sunshine." Zephyr looked over to see Harpsong having a cup of tea at the table with Medishy, the two clearly having been awake for a bit now. "How did your new little sister sleep?"

"Still sleeping, I didn't have the heart to wake her up just yet."

Medishy chuckled quietly. "That sounds like something I would say."

"Of course that would be the case, he's your son after all." Harpsong shot Medishy a wry smile that got a blush out of the older stallion

Thinking she still didn't consider herself part of the family, Zephyr quickly said, "Your still my mom as well! I'm grateful I reunited with dad and Fluttershy, but that doesn't mean I'll cut you out!"

"Well, certainly I'm not your actual mom... at least not yet."

This confused Zephyr. "What?"

"Well... we didn't know when to tell you since everything has been crazy but I guess now is a good time. Your dad and I are dating."

That bomb took a bit to 'detonate' on Zephyr before he gaped at her, unsure what to say. The look on his face got an amused laugh out of both of them. "Wait, when did this happen?"

Medishy spoke up this time. "I-it happened right before Equestria got hit by incredibly random weather. We wanted to tell you but, like Harp said, we couldn't find the time when everything crazy started happening."

"Ah... well... uh..."

Harpsong laughed mirthfully again. "Are you shocked over the fact that your adoptive mother will eventually become your step-mother?"

She fluttered her eyes at Zephyr, which broke him out of his shocked trance and made him shake his head. "I guess this is the week of making our family larger. Just be sure to let Fluttershy and Scootaloo know as well. "

"Will do. Anyways, is there anything you want for breakfast? And before you say anything along the lines of 'you're my guests', we're still your parents first and foremost."

Harpsong's straightforwardness caught Zephyr a bit off guard, but just accepted it. "How about your omelets? I haven't had one of those in forever, and there should be enough eggs for five of us."

She giggles. "Went right for the good stuff, huh? Very well, let me work my magic." With that, she went right to work. It wasn't long before the house was filled with the smell of her cooking. While he waited, Zephyr poured himself a glass of milk before taking a seat with his dad.

"Mmm, what's that smell?" the three of them look over to see Fluttershy coming down the stairs with a half-asleep Scootaloo.

"Mom's omelets. Trust me when I say they're divine, though how divine will be up to your tastes." That got a small laugh from Harpsong.

Scootaloo pouted at her big brother. "That's beside the point. Why didn't you wake me up when you got up?"

The tone got a chuckle from Zephyr. "How could I? You looked so peaceful." This got a groan from her. "Get used to stuff like that. It's baggage that comes from having an older sibling."

The exchange made Harpsong roll her eyes in amusement. "Now now, you two, play nice on your first full day as siblings. At any rate, what do you two want in your omelets?" She asked while looking over at Scootaloo and Fluttershy.

After breakfast was eaten and the situation between Harpsong and Medishy was explained, Fluttershy left for her cottage to feed her animals while the two parents left for Cloudsdale once again. Zephyr made sure to take Scootaloo to school, much to her fellow classmates' surprise and to her amusement. Zephyr figured that Rainbow would understand taking her to school before heading off to weather duties.

"So how was Squirt's first night with you guys?"

"She slept pretty well. Apparently she didn't like me waking up without waking her up." This got a snort of amusement out of her.

"Right well, letting you know now that Fluttershy and I are going to a picnic with our friends later on. Unfortunately, Rarity and Pinkie wanted to make it "girls only" or something. I really don't know why..."

Zephyr raised an eyebrow. "Don't think I'm insulted, Rainbow. You girls don't NEED to include me in everything you do. I mean, hay, I'm just the out-of-place male in your circle of friends."

She rolls her eyes. "If you’re sure about it."

"Yes I'm sure. Firstly because of what happened the LAST time I did take offense to it." That got a grimace from Rainbow. "Secondly, I should visit my band mates as I haven't seen them outside of getting their help during the "Chaos Incident"."

"Right, forgot you were in a band. See you around then, I'm off to help Applejack with something." With that, she flies off.

Shaking his head in amusement, Zephyr flew off towards the band's meeting place. On the way, he spies Twilight and Spike heading in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner, with the latter holding the longest scroll ever seen. While Zephyr was tempted to go ask, he figured it was their business and not his.

Upon arrival and entering the unit, Zephyr found Snare practicing on her drums, Burst tuning his bass, and Electron fiddling with her equipment. Burst was the first one to notice their lead singer. "Hey Zephyr, how have you been?"

"Pretty good. I just got myself a new little sister."

Electron looked up from what she was doing. "I was hearing a lot of hubbub at one point last night. Was it because..."

"It was her birthday and my family's gift to her was adopting her."

She cooed. "Aw, that's sweet."

"Yeah, yeah, gag me..." Everypony looks over at Snare who wore a look of irritation.

Burst rolled his eyes. "Snare's still a bit sour over you making her fly more than she's used to."

"Am not!"

Zephyr sighed. "Snare tell me, how was I supposed to know that all of our work that day was going to be wasted because of a mad spirit's power?"

"Wait, that was caused by a mad spirit?"

"Discord." That made Snare deadpan at Zephyr before whistling nonchalantly.

Burst shook his head in amusement. "Now that that's out of the way, do you have any plans for Nightmare Night, Zephyr?"

There was a brief delay before Zephyr widened his eyes in shock. "Wait, Nightmare Night's coming up!? I don't have anything planned!"

He used to hate Nightmare Night when he was younger because of how easily scared he was, not made any better by the way other foals always alienated him. Now that Zephyr had a filly younger sister, it suddenly became something more that he had to worry about.

Electron patted Zephyr on the withers. "Don't worry too much if it's about your sister. Besides, we wanted to do something as a band... or at least between the four of us."

"Speaking of, where's Iron and Strings?" Zephyr had noticed that the two of them were missing.

"Strings hasn't returned from Canterlot and Iron went to Vanhoover to visit a relative." Snare spoke up this time, clearly over her little vendetta now.

"Hmm... I wonder..." Suddenly, due to built-up resentment from previous years of his life, Zephyr came up with a very evil idea. "You know... seeing as it's going to be Nightmare Night and all, why don't we give the town ponies a scare?"

Burst raised an eyebrow. "You look like you have an idea."

"Whether you guys agree to it or not is up in the air. Here's the deal..."

Zephyr couldn't help but chuckle ominously as he left the building. I know this town never really did anything to me, but I was never able to fully enjoy Nightmare Night to it's fullest in the past. That included giving others a scare, but because I was more of a scaredy cat back then and that nopony wanted to help me, I couldn't.

Grabbing lunch at Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie reminded Zephyr that they were having a picnic but that she just wanted the 6 of them. He told her the same thing he told Rainbow, though he was now wondering if the girls were trying to tell him something indirectly. Ack, this thought process is the same pitfall I fell in on my birthday! Give them more credit! They just want a 'Mare's Day Out' type-of deal.

With nothing better to do, Zephyr decided to fly around the outskirts of Ponyville just to kill a little bit of time. Who should he see, but Twilight sitting on a park bench talking to herself.

Zephyr started flying down cautiously to check on her. Last time he saw her like this, she was not in the best of moods. "Uh... Twilight?"

She completely ignored him as she continued her theatrics. "It will all be over! My time in Ponyville--"

"Wait what? Twilight, snap out of it!"

Trying to bring her back to reality, Zephyr shakes Twilight by the shoulders, which worked and broke her out of her trance. "Oh, what? Zephyr, I'm glad you came to see me!"

Those words made Zephyr go from completely concerned to half-concerned and half-confused. "What do you mean? And what do you mean by your time in Ponyville will be over?"

"That's not important! You came to me because you had a friendship problem, yes?"

"... Actually, yes I do. It's that my normally calm and collected friend is acting so spontaneous!"

She flinched. "Y-you have a problem with me?"

Zephyr chewed on his cheek in frustration. "Don't twist my words, you know full well that's not what I meant!"

"He's just worried about you, Twilight." The two of them look over to see Spike walking over with a box in his claws. "You shouldn't panic yourself so much."

Grateful for the backup, Zephyr turned back to Twilight. "Look, Spike's right. You yourself told me that panicking won't help in most situations. If you’re uncertain about something, talk it over with your friends. I'm sure they’ll try to help the best they can."

Spike nodded. "That's right. You can talk it over with them at the picnic--"

"The picnic!"

I'll be seeing that smile in my nightmares tonight...

"I should go see my friends!" She grabs the box from Spikes claws with her magic and runs off.

"Make sure you tell them clearly and coherently!" Zephyr called after her, but both him and Spike were certain she didn't listen. Both males look at each other with worried eyes.

"I hope she came to her senses... enough to actually be coherent anyways." Despite saying that, Spike knew deep down there was a high possibility of that not happening.

Zephyr let out a sigh. "As dark as this may be, I think that smile of hers gave me an idea for what I'm doing on Nightmare Night." He shakes his head before looking in the direction she went. "I wonder what's gotten into her..."

Spike groaned. "Oh, today's the day she is supposed to send a friendship letter to princess Celestia. She's been panicking over it for half of the day, worried that this one time she misses a letter will end her."

"I forgot about that. Still, as much as I know that being a student under a powerful Princess has it's own demanding requirements, I'm sure her highness would understand." Seeing Spike's inquisitive look he explains, "I met her right after the Chaos Incident when I was in the hospital for serious injuries."

"Oh, so that's how you got out so fast. What's your impression of her?"

"If I had to be blunt... she strikes me as 'motherly' with the patience of somepony who's lived for a long time. However, while she can get disappointed or irritated, she'll never get outright angry unless it's something truly egregious."

"Huh... I also feel like that sums her up. Great minds think alike?"

"Yeah... still I hope things turn out okay." Spike nods in agreement. There was a few seconds of silence before Zephyr sighed. "Perhaps, as a security net, you should inform the princess about this."

He blanched. "I was thinking the same thing but... what if Twilight thinks I told on her."

"Spike, it's better to inform somepony about a major problem than do nothing at all. Besides, if push comes to shove, Celestia may be the only pony Twilight truly listens to, as much as I wish for it to not be true. If it makes you feel any better, you can send it under my name and--"

"Not happening, I'm telling you now!" Zephyr looks at Spike with surprise. "I heard about what you did to help during the Chaos Incident. Why is it that your idea of helping always ends up being some measure of self-sacrifice?"

"I... I don't know. Either it's because I'm shoddy at making better plans or I have a masochistic streak... maybe even both." However, Zephyr knew why Spike stopped him cold with that idea.

"Yeah if anyone should take the fall, it's me. I at least have more leeway with Twilight and the Princess. If you REALLY feel like you need to help in some way, you can write the letter as I tell you what to write." Spike realized something. "Huh, it'll be the opposite of what Twilight does with me..."

That got a chuckle out of Zephyr. "Alright, I'll write the letter for you. Let's get going, I have to pick up my youngest sister from school soon."

With the letter written and sent off, Zephyr made his way to Scootaloo's school. He would have left sooner, but apparently him writing the letter with his primary wings made Spike geek out over it. He kept saying it's almost exactly like how he writes with his claws.

Zephyr managed to arrive at the school when the bell rang, signaling the end of classes for the day. Scootaloo was surprised to see her big brother there, though she quickly became happy about it as well. "You came to pick me up?"

"Of course. You think I'd just let you walk home by yourself?" She nuzzled Zephyr with a giggle. "Besides, we still need to discuss what you're doing for Nightmare Night."

Sweetie Belle gasped. "Oh right! Rarity did say she would help us with our costumes if we needed it."

Interesting, I should see if she can help with mine.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "We can worry about that later. Anyways, I don't feel like crusading today, but I do want to enjoy the day outside."

Appleboom tilted her head. "Ya mean you jus' want to play today? Ah have a beach ball at home we can hit around."

"Of course. I want Zephyr to join us as well!"

Zephyr raised an eyebrow playfully. "Oh? Here I was thinking you girls didn't want me to join this time."

Scootaloo gave him a pleading look. "Come on, it'll be the first time I get to play with my new big brother!"

Sweetie Belle giggled. "You've certainly been happy about that today."

"Why not?"

Shaking his head in amusement, Zephyr motions towards the farm. "If you're certain then let's go get the ball. The day isn't getting any younger."

The group saw Granny Smith while at the farm, who pulled Zephyr to the side to say something to him. Because he took in a filly that needed a family, Zephyr gained the Apple Family's respect and that he was now an honorary Apple, regardless of his magic make-up.

He asked Applebloom about it a bit later and she explained that the Apple Family puts high value on family ties and relationships. This meant Zephyr's adoption of Scootaloo resonated with Granny Smith when Applejack told her about it.

Blowing up the ball because of how much of a wind bag he was, Zephyr started a bit tuckered out but not enough to prevent him from joining the fun. "Why don't we make this interesting? Lets see how long we can keep the ball in the air."

Scootaloo scoffed. "Please, that'll be easy peasy."

Sweetie Belle gave her a cheeky grin. "Don't jinx it!"

Sure enough, Scootaloo hit it awkwardly enough that none of them were able to reach it in time, forcing a restart right off the bat. It's actually stressful in a way, how you’re pretending the ball is something precious and the floor is lava. It was the fun kind of stressful though.

Suddenly, when the ball was heading towards Zephyr, it suddenly started dropping faster like it gained weight. Thinking it was just the ball losing some air, he went to hit it again with his head, only for it to feel like a flower pot dropped on it. "Ow, what the?"

Scootaloo snorted. "Way to drop the ball, big broth--" She stopped herself short when the ball suddenly started getting bigger and looking like something was trying to break out.

The ball pops and in it's place is Twilight, looking like she desperately needs a mane re-style. "Hi, girls... and boy!"

Wow, way to make me feel like an afterthought, Twily...

Applebloom spoke up, sounding somewhat intimidated. "H-hi, Twilight. How are--"

"Gr~eat. Just great."

Zephyr rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes? Then how was the picnic?"

"We don't. Speak. Of the picnic!" That definitely tipped him off that things did not turn out okay as he had hoped. She turns to slowly advance on the fillies. "Anyways, you three look like you're doing great too! Looks like three good friends who obviously don't need the help of another good friend."

The way she was advancing on them did not sit very well with Zephyr as he started narrowing his eyes. "Twilight, maybe you should--"

She suddenly brings out a raggedy, old doll. "This is Smarty Pants. She was mine when I was your age, and now I want to give her to you! She even comes with her own notebook and quill, for when you want to pretend she's doing her homework!"

The sudden u-turn made Zephyr facehoof hard. "I hope you don't become a salespony. Don't quit your day job..."

She gives him a withering glare at that remark. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"The fact that you did not sound convincing. At. All."

"What's it to you?" She snapped, slowly losing more sanity.

"The fact that, if you're trying to do what I think you're trying to do, I am NOT amused." Zephyr didn't realize it in the moment, but the way Scootaloo and her friends looked borderline scared made him put venom in his voice.

"It's free isn't it?" Twilight looked even more crazed now, but that didn't make Zephyr flinch one bit.

Applebloom spoke up. "Ah don't know... maybe Sweetie Belle should have first turn?"

The mentioned filly looked insulted. "No, I think Scootaloo should play with her first!"

"What?! Why me?!"

Zephyr kept a level glare at Twilight as he groaned. "Girls, you don't have to accept it if you don't like it!" All three give Zephyr an uncertain look before backing away again.

"Oh? If the problem is the fact that you don't like her, then I'm sure you'll absolutely love her more than--"

"ENOUGH!"

Everypony present looked at Zephyr, who had shouted rather loudly for a pony, as his glare deepened at Twilight. "I certainly don't know what kind of stress you're going through at the moment, but I have one question for you. Is getting a subject for your letter to the Princess really worth harassing some fillies over?"

Twilight had backed off a bit, some level of normalcy coming back to her face. Zephyr's face was beginning to remind her of her brother, Shining Armor, when he starts getting angry over somepony harassing her. "I-I, uh. J-just give me a chance! I really do think they'll love Smarty Pants!"

Zephyr groaned in irritation. The whole scenario had put him in a bad mood. "If you're going to try to pass it off again, then-- what in tarnation?" Foals were around, so he had to borrow a leaf from Applejack's book.

The doll in question suddenly looked like tiny hearts were going inside of the doll, which baffled him.

At least until Scootaloo suddenly gasped. "I want it."

What?

"I NEED it!" Applebloom suddenly said.

"I REALLY like her mane!" Sweetie Belle sounded off. They stared at the doll for a second before disappearing in a ball of violence.

Zephyr, immediately knowing who was responsible, turned to Twilight with a growl. "WHAT did you do?"

"Eh heh, the Want It, Need It spell. Works every time!" Twilight had returned to her more crazed look.

"Yeah and if by it works you mean it causes foals to start beating each other up over a stupid doll, I'd have to agree with you. Now cancel it!"

Twilight, to the limit her currently neurotic mind allowed, made a mental note that Zephyr was definitely acting like a big brother to the foals. "Uh, right just... let me do something first!"

She went over and said something about a lesson to be learned, only be promptly denied by a no from Applebloom. She dived in as well, only to get rejected. Zephyr merely gave her an unamused glare. "How'd that plan work out for you? Shouldn't you just, oh I don't know, CANCEL the spell?"

She whimpered. "B-but I don't know how!"

"You don't even have a counter-spell?! Love of-- I guess if you want something done..." Zephyr leaped into the dust ball of violence himself and pushed Sweetie Belle and Applebloom away from each other with his wings while holding Scootaloo in one foreleg. "Break it up, you three!"

He briefly saw hearts in their eyes before they went back to normal with confused looks. Scootaloo took one look at the doll before hiding underneath he big brother. "Eep! What did that doll do to us?!" Sweetie and Applebloom joined her, much to Zephyr's discomfort.

Once again glaring at Twilight, who withered under it, Zephyr started sarcastically clapping. "Congratulations, you just tr--"

Everypony was caught off guard by a red blur taking the doll. Zephyr looked to see Big Mac, with the same hearts in his eyes. The way he came out of nowhere like that baffled Zephyr so much, his accent changed to a rougher one. "Aye... what jus' happened?"

It didn't take long before he was in a mountain of ponies who all fell under the doll's spell. Zephyr looked to Twilight, having switched to panic now that a whole gaggle of ponies got affected. "Twilight, do something-- ANYTHING!"

"I'm trying! I can't seem... to--" Her attempts to get the doll were interrupted by the mayor taking the doll from Big Mac, who proceeded to knock everypony else away with a "nope" before pursuing.

If Big Mac is that strong by default, I'd sooner break my wings than have to deal with his raw power... Shaking that intrusive thought from his head, Zephyr looks at Twilight. "Will you be able to disengage the spell if I get you the doll?"

She gives me a worried look. "Won't you fall under the spell as well?"

"I was looking at it earlier just fine."

"A-alright. I don't know the exact counter-spell, but I'll try my best! If nothing else, we need to contain it before the problem gets any worse!"

Zephyr nodded quickly. "That's all I ask!" he flies up to address the fillies. "You three head back into town and, whatever you do, don't look around!" he got a round of nods from them before they scamper off. After one more nod of affirmation to Twilight, Zephyr flew off after the group with the doll.

Spying the mayor and keeping his weakness to earth ponies in mind, Zephyr quickly swooped in and snagged the doll from her mouth, ignoring her voiced protests. It didn't take long before other Pegasi tried taking it from him, which ended up causing him to do the equivalent of an air-ballet in all attempts at dodging.

Sadly, Zephyr wasn't able to keep up the dodging long enough to get it to Twilight, as a pony managed to land a hit on his head which caused the doll to drop with an "augh" of pain. Seeing where it landed briefly before it disappeared in the brawl below, Zephyr circled around looking for an opening. He kept getting glimpses of it, but wasn't able to keep a lock on it.

When he finally did, Zephyr managed to snag it before it disappeared again, but once again had afflicted ponies on his trail. This time, he wasn’t able to take off in time as an Earth Pony leaped into the air to intercept him.

Knowing He couldn’t get out of the way in time, Zephyr tried to dodge anyways. As he did, his secondaries suddenly felt tingly and, all too suddenly, he whipped out from under the mare. The dodge was so unexpectedly smooth that it nearly resulted in a faceplant right after.

What… what just--

Zephyr couldn’t ponder it too much when another mare, this time a unicorn, tried ramming into him. Once again she was too close to dodge normally but when the attempt was made again anyways, the same thing happened again, although this time he kept his balance.

Using the opening and the fact that any other pony affected by the spell was too far to try and do anything, Zephyr took to the air again. The same thing that happened on the ground happened in the air as well, with every single Pegasus that tried tackling me too close for normal dodging gets dodged anyways.

The dodging spree was ended when a Pegasus managed to blindside Zephyr with a tackle to the head, causing stars to explode across his vision and drop the doll. When he managed to recover after a few seconds, the doll got flung over to where Rainbow was and, in a fit of panic, Zephyr attempted to drop down to get it out of her sight. Twilight managed to save her friend from the spell by covering her eyes. "Don't look at it!"

Rarity walked over, confused "What do you mean?"

"Enchanted doll that makes you fight for it!" Was all Zephyr got out before he disappeared in the brawling dust cloud.

Seeing the looks of confusion, Twilight quickly explained, "I enchanted my doll and now everypony is fighting over her!"

Fluttershy spoke up this time. "Why would you enchant your doll?"

After getting ejected from the brawl, Zephyr covered for Twilight this time. "Because she needed to solve a friendship problem for a letter to the princess." With that, he leaps back in.

She nodded. "I thought if I couldn't find a problem, I'd make a problem! Look at how THAT turned out!" She cowered on the ground. "Not only did I make Zephyr mad earlier, the day is almost over!"

"Not almost," Applejack managed to say before the sun dipped over the horizon and a white light ignited over everypony in the park.

"Twilight Sparkle!" The voice of the Princess made Zephyr drop to the ground in surprise. With the light from her horn, she cast a spell that made everypony stop fighting, seemingly breaking the enchantment.

The ponies that were affected gathered around the doll with confused, annoyed, or embarrassed expressions before dispersing. Zephyr redirected his attention towards the Princess, remembering the letter he and Spike sent earlier. The feeling of dread suddenly welled in his stomach.

She landed in front of Twilight with a disappointed look. "Meet me in the library." Was all she said before walking off.

Twilight let out a heavy sigh. "Goodbye, everypony. If you care to visit, I'll be in magic kindergarten... back in Canterlot." Her words struck Zephyr like a lightning bolt as he realize--

"We're never gonna see Twilight again!" Pinkie said in an outburst, which drove the realization and feeling of dread home.

"Oh no no no, it's all MY fault!"

Applejack gave Zephyr a concerned look. "What do you mean, sugahcube?"

"I wasn't clear with her when I told her to talk it over with you girls. Then, when she was trying to make a problem, I started acting overly aggressive with her when she confronted Scootaloo and her friends!"

Rainbow looked surprised. "YOU acted aggressive? I have a hard time believing it, but why?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that I should of tried talking her out of her plan instead of blowing her off! Now look what happened!"

Rarity put a hoof on Zephyr's muzzle. "Darling, you shouldn't throw all of the blame on yourself. None of us gave her the time of day when it counted either."

"That's not--"

Fluttershy nuzzled her brother. "Please, Zephyr. We're all to blame for this one. We all didn't take her feelings into consideration..."

"Still, Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!" Rarity got weird looks from everypony but Zephyr. "What? I really mean it this time!"

The stallion adopted a confused look. "Did I miss something?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "She did that earlier when she realized she forgot plates." That got a deadpan from Zephyr and an even more nervous smile out of Rarity.

Pinkie jumped up. "We can worry about that later. Twilight needs us!"

Shaking his head to clear it, Zephyr nodded. "Yeah, we need to get there ASAP. Come on!" Four of the group started galloping towards the library while Rainbow and Zephyr flew over them.

Everypony reached the library quickly and Zephyr suddenly flew towards the door in a burst of speed. "Battering ram!"The only problem with his plan was the fact that he used his head instead of his hooves. Stars once again exploded across Zephyr's vision and the pain followed shortly after, with Fluttershy tripping onto him with an "eep" of surprise. She managed to quickly shake it off and join her friends surrounding Twilight.

When Zephyr finally joined the rest after recovering, the girls were ringing out their arguments as to why it was their fault instead of Twilight's, ending with Fluttershy saying, "Please don't take her away from us just because we were too insensitive to help her."

Zephyr managed to walk forward while still slightly disoriented. "Especially me. I treated her like total garbage and got too defensive against her when she needed support most! I got angry for no good reason and... and..."

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. "So that's why Twilight said you got mad at her." Seeing Zephyr's confused look, she simply sighed in amusement. "I'll explain in a minute. So I take it all of you learned an important lesson today?" She got agreement from us all. "Very well. I'll forget Twilight's "punishment" on one condition.

"From this day forth, I would like you all to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship, when, and only when, you happen to discover them. That includes you as well Zephyr." That kind of came out of left field for the green Pegasus, so all he could do was give a shocked cheer with his friends and sister, much to her amusement.

Twilight looked like she had a thought. "Wait, how did you know about--"

"Your troubles? I received a letter from Spike that made me aware. I commend him for taking your feelings seriously." Zephyr suddenly found the bookshelves very interesting, though this did not fool Celestia at all. "Though I can hazard a guess as to who actually wrote the letter."

Spike piped up, trying to keep Zephyr out of the firing lane. "What do you mean? it was signed in my name, was it not?"

"Oh Spike. I know your claw writing very well and that letter had none of it. Could it be, maybe, the writing of a certain Pegasus with the enhanced ability to grip things in his wings that acted as your transcriber?"

Zephyr flinched when all of the attention was on him. He wasn't expecting the Princess to instantly recognize his writing style. “I-I effectively helped tattletale on her and got her into trouble with you…”

“You still took her feelings into consideration when you helped Spike write to me about it.”

"B-but... in the end I still blew her off for no good reason..."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "No good reason? Is acting like an older brother with a protective instinct around fillies no good reason?"

That got the Princess a shocked look. "But I've only been a big brother for... a week-and-a-half tops! How could I have--"

"My understanding is that you were a big brother to Fluttershy before your separation, correct?" Zephyr nodded in affirmation. "Some instincts never truly leave us, even after many long years of never using them. You were just... abrasive in your execution. Though I expect that out of a Pegasus big brother." Zephyr continues to look at her with surprise as she gives me a soft smile before flying out of the library.

Applejack whistled. "Well ain't that something? Granny Smith was right when she said she had a good feeling about you as a big brother. Anyways, Spike, take a letter!"

"A-are you sure I'll be okay?"

Zephyr was busy tucking in Scootaloo for the night after the 7 of them wrote a 'Friendship Letter' to the princess. When he got home, Scootaloo was in a slightly scared state and it took much convincing to get her to go to bed.

Making sure she was comfortable, Zephyr sighed before patting her on the head. "Don't worry about it too much, Scoots. If you need me at all, my room's right across from yours, okay?"

"O-okay..." She snuggled into her bed in an attempt to get comfortable.

Zephyr smiled softly and gave her a kiss between the ears. "Sweet dreams, little sister." She let out a soft hum at that and he left for bed as well, praying to Luna that she did indeed have sweet dreams.

If only I could help her more tonight...

Author's Note

I should probably explain the mechanics behind Zephyr's immunity to the Need It, Want It spell, since some of you may get confused.

In regards to unicorn enchantments (not magic artifacts, those are another can of worms I'll be covering later), if the effects of the enchantment is to affect a pony within proximity of it, he will resist it like a normal unicorn spell, even with contact.

However, the enchantment doesn't cancel out when he touches the object, meaning in this case, he could hold the doll with no negative effects, but it can still make ponies fall under it's spell.

What he CAN cancel out is the effects of the enchantment on ponies through contact as well. This is how he managed to snap the CMC out of it so quickly when he broke up their fight.

If the enchantment was to be cast on him, his normal rules apply; he resists it unless the caster puts enough power into the spell.

I'll cover how his dodging 'skills' work at a later point due to spoilers.

Anyways, this might be a more... disjointed chapter because I didn't really have an idea as to where to go with it when I got into the crazy Twilight segment. I wanted to cover the morning after the birthday in some way that didn't feel even more disjointed than it already was, so... yeah.