On The Wings of Wind

"I'm just... I'm so sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to scare you and your friends, it's just that... I wasn't thinking coherently in my mental breakdown!"

Zephyr was in Twilight's library home with Scootaloo at his side. Twilight had flagged him down earlier during an errand being ran for Applejack and asked him to bring his younger sister with him to the library, both to apologize to her and to talk to Zephyr about something.

Scootaloo seemed a bit unsure at first when she was first informed of the request, but decided to hear Twilight out over it. At the very least, Zephyr knew Twilight learned her lesson from that ordeal as well, so he was okay with it, but a part of him still felt reluctant. I'm wondering if it's my over-protectiveness trying to rear it's head again...

Scootaloo gave Twilight a cautious, yet trusting look. "I understand, Twilight. Just... please don't do that to us in the future. Plus, the way you made Zephyr put venom in his voice was... very startling."

That made Zephyr recoil upon hearing that. "W-was I acting scary? I didn't mean to. In fact, I didn't want to--"

"Don't worry about it, big brother. I know you were just trying to protect us from Twilight's... craziness. It’s just that hearing such a tone from you was... startling." She nuzzled her big brother in the foreleg to emphasize her statement.

Zephyr pats her on the head gratefully as Twilight shook her head. "I can empathize with Scootaloo. When I saw my older brother acting abrasive, we were in a similar situation and it was startling to me as well."

"So I'm not going insane? Good..."

That earned a bat on the leg from Scootaloo as Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yeah, if you consider THAT going insane, then what the heck was I?"

"Uh... not important at this juncture. Anyways, what did you want to talk to me about?"

She widened her eyes. "Oh yes, It's about when you were dodging the enchanted town ponies a second time. I saw you dodge out of attacks that you shouldn't of been able to dodge."

Scootaloo looks at her big brother with wide eyes. "Wow, you're that good at dodging?"

"I would say that... if I knew HOW I was dodging in the first place." This got a confused look from her.

Twilight shook her head. "I was hoping you knew. Every time you dodged, your secondaries looked like they... lit up? I couldn't tell. It was only for a split second before you started flashing during the dodge."

"Oh, so that's why they always felt tingly right before a dodge."

"Wait, is that true?" When Zephyr nodded she squeed in excitement. "Perhaps your secondaries channeled enough magic to allow you to dodge in that way!"

He was about to say something when Scootaloo cut him off. "You can use magic like a Unicorn? At this rate you'll be as cool as Rainbow Dash!"

"Eh... not exactly. See, I have no idea how to use said magic when I WANT to like a Unicorn. As of right now, the only time I "can" use it is when I'm in danger of being hit."

Twilight clopped her hooves together. "Oh, this is just so fascinating!" When she saw Zephyr's apprehensive look, she gave an embarrassed smile. "But maybe not yet. Perhaps sometime after Nightmare Night?"

That earned her a nod. "Let things cool down from that spell fiasco yesterday. I'll come back for... whatever it is you do when I'm good and ready."

"That's fine. I need to work on my costume anyways."

"Alrighty then. See you on Nightmare Night."

Two days later, Nightmare Night

"Scootaloo, are you done getting dressed up?" Zephyr called up to her from downstairs. "Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are already here and waiting for you!"

When he heard nothing, it got a groan from him as he went up into her room. "Scoots, you really shouldn't--"

"RAAAWR!"

She suddenly jumps on Zephyr while dressed in her werepony costume, much to his initial shock before realizing it was her. "Oh ha ha, Scoots. Were you waiting for me to come up for you to scare?"

"Yup, and judging by the look you had, I'd say it was a success!"

Zephyr rolled his eyes at her impish smile. "That's nice and all, but your friends are waiting for you downstairs."

She gasped. "Oh yes! But what about you? I kind of wanted you to be there..."

"Sorry, but I have something else planned for tonight. Don't worry, I won't be gone the entire night, just long enough for me to finish something."

She gives Zephyr a long, hard look before sighing. "Alright. Just don't take the whole night to do it, okay?"

"Don't worry. Just have fun with your friends." She nods and starts going down the stairs. "Oh, and one other thing."

She looks at her big brother. "What is it?"

He grins darkly. "Don't go dying on me..."

"Yeesh, don't do that! Hearing it in that kind of tone sends massive shivers down my spine!" Scootaloo shuddered again at the end of her sentence.

"Well, tonight is the night for thrills... and chills after all."

"Yeah, yeah." She waves to Zephyr before continuing down the stairs to meet up with her friends.

The older brother chuckled before bringing out a simple, white hoodie and black bottoms that he asked Rarity to make. She was confused over having such simple pieces of clothing as part of a costume, but she let it be.

Zephyr did ask Fluttershy what she was doing for Nightmare Night during the day, but all she wanted to do was hide in her home and not be scared by all the things going on. Zephyr accepted it as he knew she was easily frightened, even when compared to him. But, seeing most of the costumes out there now, most of the ponies looked pretty mild... at least compared to what I'm going to do.

Doing his best not to spontaneously chuckle in a sinister way, Zephyr quickly flew to the band's meeting place in order to prepare for their Nightmare Night "stunt". As of right now, Zephyr only hoped it would be effective at scaring everypony. If it doesn't, at least we can say we tried.

Entering the building, Zephyr was immediately greeted by Electron. She was already ready to go, dressed and done up like a gothic mare crying blood, and was currently helping Snare with her make-up. Snare was going for a more lizard-like appearance and already had most of her body covered in black and dark green scales.

"I think the only pony really left to prepare is you, Zephyr." He turns to Burst, who looked like a zombie-pony, with one eye completely white.

That got a small snort. "Not much in the way of preparation for me. Just got to slightly mod my piece of clothing here and apply enough make-up and cover to make sure no-pony knows it's me."

Snare roll her eyes as best she could without messing Electron up. "You would probably be the simplest out of us, so it shouldn't be too hard."

Electron scoffed. "Depends on what he wants applied. Alright Snare, you're good to go." Everypony else got a better look at Snare and she really did look like a creepy lizard-pony, eyes and all. "Now what is it that you want, Zephyr?"

By the end of his make-over, Zephyr's head was chalk-white, save for his mane which was now jet black and the corners of his mouth which were painted to look like he was constantly smiling because of a scar. Zephyr also asked Burst to modify the hoodie so that it looked like there were bloodstains on it and that there were stain lines forming a blocky heart on the chest. Additionally, his eyes were done up to make it look like a pony that hasn't slept for ages.

Zephyr had decided to go as a pony from a horror story Harpsong used to tell him. The memory of the name was hazy at best, but he was pretty sure he had his appearance down.

Burst gave me a once over. "Simple, yet pretty creepy when viewed up close."

Giving it a shot, Zephyr gave him a deranged grin. "You think so?"

"Yeesh, you really look scary like that. I think it's perfect for what you have planned."

"I know we're all ready, but one question." Snare walked over to the two with a quizzical look. "How are we supposed to move our equipment without anypony seeing us?"

Electron rolled her eyes. "By using the mist generators borrowed from the weather factory. We just have to be careful about how we move it all."

Zephyr nodded at that. "Yes, but we should get moving. The night is still young after all."

The mist provided enough of a distraction for the band to set up in the middle of town, close to where there was a stage. They overheard some hubbub over the return of somepony, but ignored it.

Taking a few deep breaths to prepare himself, Zephyr gave his deranged smile again as he signaled Electron to start. Hearing many ponies gasp in fright when the first few notes of the song hit their ears, the band knew they were going to give the nearby ponies the show of a lifetime.

Zephyr in particular had to stifle his mad giggling as his part slowly came up. Slowly walking out of the mist in front of where most of the ponies congregated, he began to sing:

Would you believe me if I told you the reasons why,
you can't rest and drink yourself to sleep at night?
Not like it matters, you can't escape,
don't even try,
we speak what no-one knows.

Zephyr continued giving a deranged smile, frightening more ponies into slowly backing away. They looked even more shocked when they heard Burst say from the mist:

Oh, I've got to get to sleep.

Advancing on different ponies at random, Zephyr continued:

You lie awake and hope it's all in your head.
You're counting teeth with your tongue,
"are they all there?"
There's no relief in the dark from what isn't there,
but you don't feel alone.

As he swept his gaze for more ponies to frighten, anypony who noticed the unknown pony looking at them instantly started cowering. Noticing Rainbow dressed as a shadow bolt while on a cloud, Zephyr flew up to her and landed on the cloud, startling her, while continuing:

We are the ones you should be fearing,
come in the night and take your teeth away.
Now sew up your mouth and go to sleep,
'cause we'll be there soon to break your heart and spite your face.

She yelped and fell off her cloud as Zephyr continued to stare at her with a deranged smile, causing her to fly away in a panic. Noticing Applejack, dressed as a scarecrow, approaching to see what's going on, Zephyr flew off the cloud and landed a fair distance away from her. She got into a defensive position, but it was broken with fear when I once again continued:

Now they're finally here
and you know what they're looking for.
With their empty grins
they proceed in taking what you owe.

And you move your lips
but the words
they just fall to the floor,
so this is how it ends?

Noticing Rarity approaching, she became the next target as Zephyr landed right in front of her, getting a small squeal from her before singing:

Crawl to the mirror
and see all that you've become.
A grim reflection
of all the things that you have done.

You try to weep
but no tears have or will ever come.
So this is who you are?

Rarity fainted on the spot as Zephyr made a little sound effect for emphasis. Within the mist cloud, Burst managed to project the words "GO TO SLEEP" in red lettering through the mist in a way that was readable. Once again sweeping my gaze over the now terrified town ponies, Zephyr spied Pinkie Pie with a group of foals including Scootaloo and her friends. Getting the drop on them before they could scream in fear, Zephyr continued while advancing:

We are the ones you should be fearing,
come in the night and take your teeth away.
Now sew up your mouth and go to sleep,
'cause we'll be there soon to break your heart and spite your face.

They finally screamed and ran away. When other ponies tried to move in on the creepy pony, he turned his smile onto them, which made all of them balk in fear. Spying the cloud Rainbow fell off of, he landed on it and, attempting not to blink as part of the costume, lip-synched Burst's next part:

All the stars will burn out sometime,
we hang by our own rope.

All the stars will burn out sometime,
we suffer from inward growth.

Zephyr once again looked over the town. Anypony within range of the song and his antics was cowering on the ground in fright. It was then he noticed Twilight, wearing some kind of robe and hat, approaching with a pony he never expected to see: Princess Luna.

Deciding to make them his final target within a degree, Zephyr landed in front of them a fair distance. Both of them looked surprised but, out of not wanting to get blasted by Princess Luna, Zephyr didn't advance on them. All he did was merely finish the song off the same way he lip-synched Burst's lines:

We are the ones you should be fearing,
come in the night and take your teeth away.
Now sew up your mouth and go to sleep,
'cause we'll be there soon to break your heart and spite your face.

Both of them continued to bear surprised looks as the Black and white pony slowly walked backwards into the mist as Electron made it sound like the electronics were freaking out, like they were haunted. This finally made the towns ponies start running around in a panic, screaming in fear.

"I think it's high time we got the buck out of dodge." Zephyr whispered to his band mates, who nodded and quickly got everything packed up and out of the mist without anypony noticing. At one point they heard an echoing shout, but none recognized it.

Snare set down her drums in the meeting place. "Whew, didn't think we would be able to pull it off, but we did!"

"You know, Zephyr, I never took you for being this evil before." Electron gave Zephyr a look that's halfway between surprised and annoyed.

That statement simply earned a chuckle. "I've got to do something like that at least ONCE in my lifetime, right? I'll probably never do it again, though."

"I'll be surprised if this town isn't scarred for life after tonight." Burst shook his head. "Regardless, if the plan was to give the entire town a scare, it worked."

"You sure did give everypony a scare." All four of them froze on the spot upon hearing a new voice. When they looked, Twilight was standing at the entrance wearing a face of irritation.

Seeing as they were already this close to being caught, Zephyr decided to take the blow for his band if they did indeed get caught. "Uh... hey Twilight. What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just the fact that one of my friends just pulled the biggest town-wide scare I've ever seen. Isn't that right, Zephyr?"

That got a nervous cough. "C-come on, Twilight. Not only was it my idea--" This got a surprised look from her. "-- But it's Nightmare Night. Can't we cut loose with the fright tonight?"

"I'm surprised you of all ponies came up with that, but that's not the point. Princess Luna had come to Ponyville to try and reconnect with her subjects more." She points an accusing hoof at Zephyr. "They were already scared because of her attempts to save somepony and how she still speaks, yet your little act caused the town ponies to fully drive the nail in the fact that she is a frightening pony."

This left Zephyr at a loss for words with a distraught look, not realizing his stunt caused so much damage, especially to a Princess.

Electron suddenly spoke up for her band mate, "Miss Sparkle, please understand that it was not his intention to do that. He had this stunt planned a few days ago and, on top of that, he never realized that Princess Luna was coming to Ponyville right before we did that."

"That isn't enough to excuse--"

Snare cut her off. "Kid, I know that the Princess has been away for a thousand years and has difficulty reintegrating into today's society. That, plus that the town is easy to scare." She waved a hoof in irritation. "That's no reason to throw us, especially Zephyr, under the carriage for a town-wide prank that inadvertently caused more fear towards somepony we didn't know was here."

Twilight chewed on her cheek. "Okay, maybe it wasn't a fair thing to do, but that little stunt did kill what progress she DID attain with the town ponies."

Burst sighed. "So you're saying our timing was far worse because of the damage inadvertently done, correct?"

"Correct, though I guess I still shouldn't of come unglued at you guys for trying to pull off a harmless prank on the town. I'm sorry."

Zephyr shook his head mournfully. "Don't be. you had every right to be mad at us for doing that. That doesn't mean I won't sit back at let things continue as they are, though."

Twilight smiled at me. "So you're going to help princess Luna?"

"I've met her before, so I should be okay... more or less. I'll do it myself as representative of the band, since it was my prank idea to begin with."

Electron widened her eyes. "You realize you don't have to do it without us, right?"

"I was the only pony the town saw during the prank and I don't want you guys coming under fire for my decisions. I'll call on you guys if I do need help, though."

Burst shook his head. "If that is what you wish, but we won't just sit by idly as you try to fix a problem. The rest of us will try to calm the panicking town ponies as best as we can."

Twilight nodded. "That's probably a good strategy. Zephyr, I'll lead you to Luna." He simply nods before following her out the door.

The two of them found the Princess on one of the stone bridges going into town, walking away dejectedly. Zephyr signaled Twilight to stop as he approached. "Your highness?"

Luna took a look at him. "Zephyr Earthwing?"

This made Zephyr recoil in surprise at being remembered. "I-it's actually Windstorm now, not Earthwing. Anyways, how did you know it was me?"

"We remember thy voice from the concert and, as clev'r as the disguise both then and now, we can see some of thy natural fur color to the side of thy ear."

Zephyr looks at Twilight in surprise and she nodded. "I don't think anypony else really saw it. I had the advantage of seeing you under a light source, so it really was a good costume."

"That's not why I'm here, though." Looking back at Luna, Zephyr bowed in respect. "I must humbly apologize for my prank causing you so much distress, your highness. I never intended to--"

"Raise thy head." He did so and gave her a worried look. "We know thou did not mean to cause us distress intentionally. Our. . . overreaction to being treat'd by the other towns ponies and forcibly canceling Nightmare Night may hast been much."

Despite her reasoning, Zephyr still felt guilty. "That still doesn't excuse the fact I made the others fear you even more by doing what I did right then."

"Please don't blame thyself, Sir... Windstorm? We do wish to know why thou changeth thy name."

"Earthwing was just my adopted name when I had amnesia, but after regaining it I discovered that Windstorm is my true name. I can say more later, but now I want to help you regain favor with the town ponies."

"Actually, I think I have just the thing to help." I look over to see Twilight approaching from a back ally. "Perhaps if we can have princess Luna poise as Nightmare Moon again and scare the foals one last time, maybe she might regain some favor."

The absurdity of that plan made Zephyr give her a doubtful look. "Or that could just drive the ponies fear further home with that act. Methinks it would be better to have her highness--"

"Please, call us... I mean me, Luna."

"... Have Luna be in a more positive spotlight. Say, have another pony be so immersed into their costume's role that they become an actual threat to the community. Luna could save the day... um night, and get rid of the pony in a way that isn't too harmful."

Twilight gave me a thoughtful look. "That idea also has its negatives. The others could think she set it up like that, or they might be even more scared of her because she got rid of a big threat with no problem."

"Hm... true. What do you think, your high-- *ahem* I mean, Luna?"

The Princess gave it more thought before finally nodding. "Twilight Sparkle, while thy plan has merit, we... I don't wish to have ponies believe I've regressed back into being Nightmare Moon. Zephyr's idea has some more merit to it, so it shall be so."

Twilight nodded. "That's fine. The problem now is finding a pony who is willing to fill the role of being the one for Luna to 'banish'."

Luna looks at one potential pony right in front of her. "Perhaps Zephyr can? He is dressed as the killer who haunted the still-developing town of Manehatten over a thousand years ago."

"Wait, this costume was partially inspired by the nightmare stories my adoptive mother used to tell me. Don't tell me they were..." Remembering Discord's words about legends always being true, Zephyr let out a massive shudder.

Luna nodded. "The very same. The only thing missing from thy costume was the knife the killer always carried. Mayhap, touching up on that ear would be recommended as well."

"I guess, if you also consider how I scared plenty of ponies witless with my massive prank earlier." Zephyr hits his chest with a hoof. "I'll do it."

Twilight gave him a worried look. "Are you sure? You don't seem like the kind of pony to do things like that, even if you’re faking it."

Zephyr was about to retort before he stopped, realizing she was right, and deflated. "You're right, I got all of my... "evilness" out of me with that massive prank. I don't think I can handle doing things like that to others..."

"Thou don't hast to." The two look at Luna with surprise. "We... I can cast a spell to make you act like the killer did back then. It would knock the real you unconscious, unfortunately, for the duration of the spell so..."

Zephyr was about to agree to it when Twilight cut him off. "Your highness, Zephyr is highly resistant to magic. I don't think we can--"

"Twilight, first of all I'm pretty sure Luna is powerful enough by default to override my resistance. She IS the Princess of the Moon." The sudden praise stunned Luna. "Secondly, my resistance only applies to unicorn magic. Alicorn magic bypasses my resistance entirely, which princess Celestia proved by mending me with her magic with no opposition."

Making the connection, Twilight gains a surprised look. "That's how you healed so quickly?"

"Yeah. As such, I agree with the plan. It probably will make it more realistic and more believable as well."

Luna nodded. "Very well. We... I must warn you, this might sting a little." After gathering some energy, she shot a blue beam of magic at Zephyr. All he felt before blacking out fully was a stinging pain in his mind.

Well, I guess this is about as close as I'm going to get in interacting with anything for now. Might as well utilize it as best as I can.

Zephyr suddenly woke up when he felt something cold touch his face. Catapulting up with a yelp, he quickly realized it was just Snare with what looked like a wet towel. "Jeeze, warn me before you get up like that."

"Sorry, it's not often I wake up to something cold to the face."

"I'll say." Zephyr looks to see Burst getting his own makeup removed by Electron. "Besides, it was nice of you to do what you did for Princess Luna."

The fact that his band mates knew the plan he made with Princess Luna shocked Zephyr as Snare got back to work. "How did you guys know?"

Electron looked at him. "Twilight explained the situation when we found you out cold in here. Thanks to your puppet-like stunt, everypony now likes princess Luna. She's been interacting with the town ponies just fine."

A sigh of relief sounded out, though Zephyr shuddered a little bit when the sentences "Am I beautiful?" and "Go to sleep!" started lingering in the back of his mind.

"Aaaaand done. No-pony will ever know you were that killer pony." Snare stepped back, looking like she was admiring her work.

Zephyr nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Snare. I probably better get back home. If my youngest sister got caught in that incident, she might still be scared."

Electron shook her head. "I doubt it, but good to check up on anyways. See you around!"

Waving good-bye to his band as he exited the building, Zephyr flew towards home. As it turns out, while Scootaloo did get caught up in it, she wasn't too scared over it and was gushing about how cool princess Luna was. He simply humored her until the two went to bed.

Canterlot Castle

Celestia looked lovingly at her younger sister. "Have the residents of Ponyville accepted you?"

Luna nodded. "At first they were too scared of me, but thanks to young Twilight Sparkle and Zephyr Earth... Windstorm's help, they fully welcomed me."

"From what I understand, you cast a spell on Zephyr to make him act like the pony he was dressed up as, correct?"

"He wished to make up for the prank he pulled that further ruined my attempts to connect... except..."

Celestia gave her sister a confused look. "What is it, Lulu?"

"The spell worked... perhaps a little too well. It was as if there really was another personality within Zephyr's psyche, hidden away from Equestria..."

Celestia frowned. She had heard from her student that Fluttershy had a dangerous alternate personality, but it only came out in extreme conditions. That personality wasn't really hidden in her psyche so much as it was borne from her fears. "If it worries you that much, perhaps you can keep an eye on him through his dreams. It might just be something minor, but we can never be too sure."

Luna nodded. "Perhaps. I can only wish it doesn't turn into a massive problem..."