On The Wings of Wind

By the time the next morning rolled around, Zephyr was back to normal. Being a mare when you're not supposed to be one felt like all shades of wrong when you're supposed to be a stallion. However, despite his joy at changing back, Zephyr still felt wrong about himself. More than likely because of what had transpired the night before.

True to Twilight's word, the Royal Guard that came to escort the crooks that attacked Zephyr-as-Gale and Scootaloo didn't know who was actually involved, only that they beat the perpetrators to a bloody pulp. Many ponies wondered who it was that rendered them incapable of escaping and even considered calling that pony a "one-shot hero" of sorts.

Twilight once again reassured Zephyr after confirming the potion worked that he shouldn't pick himself apart for something like that. What he didn't tell her is something that still frightened Zephyr. He wasn't fretting over nearly killing the stallions, though it was a contributing factor, but rather the fact that he flew into such a brutal rage he almost murdered somepony.

Thunderlane did try to reassure that what happened did was natural and, as a pony who's technically been a big brother longer than Zephyr, the green Pegasus trusted him. But in spite of all the reassurances, Zephyr subconsciously knew something was far too amiss with what happened last night. It scared him badly to think that he could lose it bad enough to possibly hurt friends or family.

When Fluttershy came back from the animal convention, she was clueless as to what had happened during that time. While Zephyr didn't want to tell her himself, it was necessary so he had to work up what semblance of courage he had to tell her. She was quite surprised to hear of the whole gender-bender situation, but told Zephyr she was proud of him for making the most out of a bad situation. He omitted the part including his psychotic breakdown that made Twilight's look like a mild case study for fear of what her reaction might be.

Because of how much it was tearing him up inside, Zephyr managed to arrange Scootaloo to live with Fluttershy for about seven nights. The excuse was that he wanted to go to Manehatten to visit Harpsong for a bit and Scootaloo still had school, even though she wanted to come with. As shallow as my mind-set right now may be, I want to let my little sisters, especially my younger one, have some distance between us. I know she still loves me, but after what had happened last night, being around me is the last thing she needs for the time being.

Afterwards, Zephyr got clearance from both Rainbow and Cloud to take a the 7-day break. They told him that they already had somepony on standby in case he was unable to do wind management for whatever reason. All Zephyr told them was his wish to see his mom for a bit, but while Rainbow didn't buy it she chose to not say anything.

When Zephyr did get to Manehatten, Harpsong was surprised to see him again so soon. While he did tell her the same thing that was said to Rainbow, Zephyr knew for certain this time she didn't believe him. Choosing to talk about it after he's calmed down a bit, Harpsong didn't comment on it but her worry for her colt spiked.

I know I temporarily left because I wanted to protect my friends and family from myself. So why do I feel empty because of it? Four days I've been here and it hasn't gone away. That's on top of me not sleeping very well and not feeling too well...

"Actually, Zephyr, Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Hm?" He looks up from what he was sweeping to look at Harpsong. Despite being there on a break, Zephyr insisted on helping around the house.

Determining the best plan of attack, Harpsong sighed. "I didn't want to bother you with this when you first arrived as it was clear you seemed somewhat shell-shocked, but I need to know the real reason why you came to visit me. Visiting for the sake of doing so is lovely of you and I appreciate it, but I know there's far more to it than you're letting on."

Knowing that her intuition was right on the bits again, Zephyr put down the broom with a dejected sigh. "I... guess there's no point in stalling." He tells her of the gender change situation and the events that followed after.

Harpsong's only response was to raise an eyebrow. "So you felt you needed to give everypony some breathing room from what had just happened? Are you excluding something from your story?"

"N-no, I'm pretty sure that--"

"Zephyr, please don't lie to me."

That caught him off guard. "Wha-- how did you know?"

"Your left ear twitches whenever you lie." Harpsong giggles a bit at Zephyr's dumbfounded look. "It's a mother thing, even if we aren't of the same blood. So what is it that you're so hesitant to disclose?"

Zephyr shuddered out a sigh. "I'm... scared of myself, mom. The other night, some members of a syndicate tried foalnapping me and Scootaloo. When I heard her distressed cries after they said they would take her as well, I... blanked out. Next thing I knew, all of the stallions were beaten unconscious and... I was the one who brutally beat them. I was the one who almost MURDERED them!"

This got a gasp out of Harpsong. "But... you never had a violent bone in your body for most of your life, even during the worst of the bullying!"

"That's why I'm scared of myself. I'm afraid... I'm afraid I'll lose it on my friends and family and do the same thing. I just... I just can't."

Uncertain what was happening to her colt, Harpsong drew Zephyr into a loving hug. "It's okay, Zephyr. You did what you had to in order to protect your little sister. I'm sure your friends will always be there to help you through anything, so have faith that they will be there for you should there be a repeat of the other night."

"T-that's what I'm so afraid of. I don't want a repeat of what happened on my birthday or worse."

"If they feel the same way, then I'm sure you'll be just fine; I think it's more important that you be there for your sisters regardless. Besides, you could always tell Pinkie Pie or Applejack to drain you, should you get too out of hoof."

Despite the subject matter, that suggestion got a snort of laughter out of Zephyr. "Yeah, then they have to live with draining my magic forcefully."

"It's the thought that always counts, right?" Harpsong gives an amused look before shaking her head and returning to a worried one. "You're here now anyways, you may as well stay for the rest of the duration. I just want you to think on how you can tell your friends so they can help you should it happen again."

"Thanks mom. How's dad been?"

"You bother to ask now of all times?" Ever the mischievous mother, Harpsong laughs at Zephyr's look. "You should know by now when I jest, Zephyr. Medi's fine, though he's been torn between moving in with me and staying in the house that holds the memories of your biological mom. I told him he could stay in Cloudsdale if that house mattered that much to him, but he still looked torn."

"I could try saying that to him, though I doubt it would make any difference."

That comment earned him a small smack to the leg. "Stop discrediting yourself. You need to have more confidence in yourself, especially when friends and family are present. Besides, I'm willing to bet my job that what you say to him holds sway, considering he thought he lost you so many years ago."

"Way to say I could take advantage of him..."

"You know full well what I meant," Harpsong groaned before shaking her head. "You should also stop being so negative. I thought you became more positive when you made friends in Ponyville."

Zephyr shook his head. "I could comment on what happened after that, but I'd rather not remember that." Picking up the broom, he started sweeping what remained of the floor. "Besides, if I did have more confidence in myself, I would probably be worse off."

As she started cleaning the table, Harpsong rolls her eyes. "Everything in moderation, Zephyr. You can be more assertive just so long as you don't fly past it into either obnoxious or mean."

That got her a worried look as Zephyr put the broom away. "But what if it's something that makes me mad? I don't want to fly into a brutal rage again..."

"You don't have to be mad at all. Do you remember back when you were younger, whenever you did something bad?" When Zephyr grimaced, she sighs knowing exactly where his mind went. "OUTSIDE of what happened that one winter?"

Shoving the scenario from his mind, Zephyr thinks back for a bit. "I do know I always felt either disappointment or calm annoyance from you."

Harpsong nodded with a small smirk. "Not so much the latter, but most ponies are very susceptible to somepony else's disappointment in them, even when they're older. Many hate to disappoint, making it a very good way to tell them that they truly messed up. Rage and anger can as well, but the potential consequences are far more severe than with quiet disappointment. Hay, look no further than when I almost lost you that winter."

"Really? I thought only foals were susceptible to it."

"Well... some ponies do gain more immunity to it with age than others. Ponies like you and Fluttershy are still susceptible because it hits you hard whenever it happens." That got a flinch from Zephyr before he nods in agreement. "Ponies like Rainbow Dash are susceptible because, to them, there is no greater failing than disappointment aimed at them."

Rainbow being another example caught Zephyr off guard. "Rainbow Dash of all ponies? What makes you say that?"

"She strikes me as a mare who's stuck with only one option: to win at whatever she is doing and gain the attention from it. From what I observed from afar, she seems very much like the kind of pony who sees success as the only way to get positive attention. Take that way and you wind up with a mare being very harsh on herself for being a failure, even if it's out of her control. She comes off as egotistical because of it, but strip that off and you've got a pony with self-worth issues."

Observant as usual, even I didn't see that. When I first went to Ponyville, I only saw her as an egotistical try-hard who needed her head to be deflated. I never realized how much failure affected her, even up to and after the chaos incident when she was punishing herself for getting me injured. Tch... and I call myself a friend.

Harpsong noticed Zephyr's dark look and knew exactly what he was thinking. "If you're bucking yourself for not noticing, don't be. Mothers are usually observant like that, almost to a fault. All I need to say is this: be there for her you no matter how annoyed or angry you get at her. In the end, it's lonely at the top and the fall is the most painful from there. If either or both happen, she will need good friends to pick her back up and help her start over and you can be one of them."

"Jeeze, I come here to help you with various things and you're throwing life lessons at me. I appreciate them but still!"

She giggles. "Fair bit of warning should you consider being one: a parent's job is never done, even if their children have left the nest. Also always remember that there is no greater failing than simply giving up without a fight."

Zephyr sighed before giving her a smile. "Thanks, mom. I'll try to remember that as best as I can."

One thing against what she said: I doubt anypony would want a freak like me to be their special somepony...

"That's all I ask. Now stop dawdling and help me with these dishes." Zephyr rolls his eyes in amusement before doing so.

After everything he learned, Zephyr decided to go back to Ponyville after another restless night, heeding Harpsong's advice to always be there for friends and family. The argument being that if he truly cared about them, he won't lose himself like what happened with the syndicate members. Zephyr also still felt incredibly empty just leaving them all like that with no extra word.

However, upon returning to Ponyville, there was some kind of parade being set up. Everywhere Zephyr looked, there were pictures of a pony clad in purple with the name "Mare-Do-Well" on them. There were even fillies clad in the same purple hat and cap.

"Hey Zephyr!" He looks over to see Berry Punch trotting towards him. "Are you here to participate in the parade in honor of The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well as well?"

Zephyr's only reaction was mild confusion. "Care to fill me in?"

"Why, she has done so much for Ponyville in such a short amount of time that we just HAD to do this. You might not know because you were away a lot for some reason, but because of how heroic she is--"

"Let me get this straight: you threw a town wide parade for a mare that, for all I know, only saved the day a few times and nopony knows who she is or why she's doing it?"

Berry gave Zephyr a surprised look. "Well... one of the reasons why we love her so much is because of how mysterious she is. She's also very selfless, so who and why isn't really important."

I do not have enough suspension of disbelief to not think something's off here.

"Right... I'll let you get back to it..."

She shrugs at the turned-down invitation. "Your loss." She continues trotting towards the town square.

Shaking his head, Zephyr continued home since he didn't have the same attachment as the rest of the townsponies did to 'Mare-Do-Well'. Along the way he kept getting asked by various ponies if he was attending the parade as well. While he only gave them all vague answers, Zephyr quickly grew annoyed with it all.

What stopped him in his tracks was when a stallion off-hoofedly said something along the lines of, "At least she's better than that braggart, Rainbow Dash." He didn't notice it, but Zephyr gave him a very shocked look because of what he said, realizing that there was indeed more to this situation than initially thought.

I need to find her to get some answers, as none of the towns ponies would seem to know. Question is... where?

Zephyr's search took him closer to to the outskirts further away where the parade was. It turned out to be where Rainbow was, sitting on a grey cloud. This worried Zephyr as he got closer, only to hear, "Have I changed? Same sleek body, same flowing mane, same spectacular hooves."

As coincidental as my mom discussing Rainbow with me might be, this all sounds like an attempt to try and... reaffirm herself.

"Nope, I'm still awesome. They're wrong!"

Zephyr decided to interject right then. "And who exactly is wrong, per se?"

That caused Rainbow to whip around in shock, only for her face to fall. "Oh, are you here to laugh at me or to tell me how Mare-Do-Well is so much better than me?"

This confused Zephyr tremendously. "What? I just got back today and I have no idea what is going on."

"All you need to know is that I was being a hero just fine until SHE showed up. After that, it's been humiliation after humiliation to the point that the entire town abandoned me in favor of her." She plops back onto the cloud with a sad sigh. "They all forgot about me..."

The new information shocked Zephyr as he gaped at her. "But... what about our friends? My little sisters?"

"They abandoned me as well. Even Scootaloo, who I thought would remain loyal to me, ditched me in favor of that caped pony. I'm all alone." She lays down, very close to crying despite her attempts at a tough demeanor. "I hate being alone..."

Once again, the mare Zephyr had always known to have a strong spirit was utterly crushed, which brought his own mood down as well. It was then he made the boldest move he ever unconsciously did. Laying down next to her, Zephyr draped a wing over her, which caused her to flinch. "But you're not alone, Rainbow. You have me."

His conscious thinking caught up a moment later as he realized what was just said. Rainbow was looking at Zephyr with a blush and a shocked look. Instead of throwing him off, like he was somewhat expecting, she slowly started laughing. "That... has got to be the corniest thing I've heard all week and I'm the one who spouted superhero one-liners."

Zephyr shifted away from her a bit, face burning in embarrassment. "W-well I d-didn't mean i-it in that sort of way!"

"I know, but that doesn't stop if from being so corny." Rainbow bops him on the nose with a hoof, making him scrunch it in confusion. "Still, thank you for reassuring me."

"Well... in an entire town, there should be at least one pony who still believes in you. However, I do wish to know the full story behind this." Noticing her worried look, Zephyr shakes his head. "I'm not going to just drop you for listening to what happened. I just want to know what happened is all."

She started slow, but as Rainbow went on, she became increasingly agitated. It started two days ago when she rescued a filly from an old well and she, for some reason, got recognition for it. Then she saved a baby from careening off a cliff at the bottom of a hill, with Zephyr commenting on why there is a drop right there with nothing there for safety. At this point, what Harpsong said to Zephyr yesterday was true: Rainbow's whole need for approval was so she could feel good about herself.

It was when she told Zephyr how she saved elderly ponies that he recognized the problem, but decided to give Rainbow the assessment after she was done. She did have a lot of ponies being fans of her, but it all fell downhill when Mare-Do-Well showed up. Ever since, Rainbow suffered humiliation after humiliation until the entire town practically forgot her. Even her friends turned on her, praising Mare-Do-Well for various things, some of which were the same thing Rainbow showed. Zephyr questioned how this Mare-Do-Well not only was strong, but also could use magic and fly, but only got a disgruntled shrug in response.

After Rainbow finished, Zephyr put a hoof up to his muzzle in contemplation. "So that's what happened... seems like an awful lot of things to happen within a span of two days. What happened during the last three?"

"I heard Applebloom contracted something called cutie pox right after you left. Don't ask me because I know nothing outside of it being resolved on the next day. Day after that, I got myself an awesome pet!"

"I'll ask about that later since it sounds interesting. However, I must give you an honest assessment of your current circumstance and it's that you more than likely needed an ego check right before Mare-Do-Well showed up."

Rainbow gives Zephyr a baffled look. "Are you turning on me now?"

"Don't misinterpret, Dash. I will concede that the first two deeds you did were purely because you wanted to save somepony and I'm happy for you there. The problem comes from when you did your third deed. You did it half genuinely, half because you wanted more attention, though admittedly I'm just speculating from what I've heard. After that, you got so much attention you became arrogant because of it. Look no further than when you didn't immediately try to save the pony in the hot air balloon."

"So you're saying this is all MY fault?"

That got a groan from Zephyr. "Let me finish, please. Metaphorically speaking, your ego wound up digging a hole for you to eventually fall in. However... having this Mare-Do-Well come out of nowhere and practically shove you into it is something I don't agree with. Did ANYPONY at all try to talk to you about your ego or attitude at the time?"

I'm starting to feel a bit hotter... must be leftover embarrassment.

Rainbow thought back over the events for a second before shaking her head to the negative. "Nothing of that sort. My friends didn't really like how I was acting, but they never really said anything about it so I figured they didn't really care."

That got a grimace. "I was afraid of that. If there was a pony who took issue with your bragging, they did something no-pony should ever do: turn a last resort into a first resort. I'd understand going that far if somepony tried to talk to you about your ego at all and got shot down every time-- I'm not speaking about if you would or not -- but that isn't the case here."

"Now you're saying I should of been more humble about it? That's what--"

Zephyr held a hoof up to stop her. "I'm not saying you should of been totally humble because that's, in most cases, impossible. Nopony is perfect, and my personal opinion is that if you can do something no-pony else can, that does give you the right to brag. In the words of other ponies, 'it's technically not bragging if you can back it up'. My problem with this comes from the fact that you LET it overstay it's welcome, rather than a small amount of bragging here or there then just shrugging it off and moving on with life."

Rainbow tried to retort, but her face fell a bit after she was silent for a short while, recognizing what Zephyr was getting at. "I... suppose I did brag a bit too much..."

"If you understand, then I won't hold it over you. What matters is that you keep trying to rebuild yourself back up from the ground. My mom told me something that I think you already know: there is no greater failing than giving up."

"Yes, I know." For some reason, Rainbow felt warm in her chest which subconsciously confused her.

Zephyr nods with a smile before looking more serious. "As much as I would like to say that's the end of that chapter, the one rogue element in all of this that still remains is this Mare-Do-Well. Yet I have no I idea how to go about doing anything regarding her."

Both of them lapsed into silence, thinking over it. A little while after, the silence was broken by somepony from below. "Rainbow Dash!" It was Scootaloo.

"I knew it!" Rainbow immediately flew down to her in joy, much to Zephyr's slight dismay when he saw what his younger sister was wearing. "No need to apologize, squirt. Anypony could make that mistake."

"What mistake?"

Figures...

This immediately made Rainbow regress back to disgruntled. "Wait, why are you here?"

"To invite you to join us at Mare-Do-Well's thank you parade, of course! Who wouldn't want to attend to honor Ponyville's greatest hero?"

Zephyr chose this time to fly down himself. "Not just a parade, but a THANK-YOU parade? Talk about rubbing salt and pepper in the wounds."

Scootaloo gave her big brother a shocked look. "Zephyr? When did you get back?"

"Not too long ago, really. I found a stray fuse that needed to be smothered, so I didn't have time to tell you or Fluttershy I was back."

She gives a confused look at the wording. "I'm not sure what you mean by that."

"I'm in a metaphorical mood today, that's all I can really say."

Yay, rhyming... why am I suddenly possessed by an urge to say "now it's rhyme time"?

"Alright... then would you like to come along as well?"

Rainbow looked like she was going to rebuttal, so Zephyr quickly jabbed her in the side hard enough to get her attention. "We would love to go! I just wonder what it's going to be like!"

Scootaloo gives the two a happy smile. "Great! It's starting soon, so we better hurry." With that she scampers off with a few other foals.

Rainbow gives Zephyr an insulted look, wondering why he did that. "Why would we go to that thank you parade after everything I told you?"

"Think pragmatically here, Rainbow. If I did what little homework I had correctly, then this is the only time this Mare-Do-Well will show up without putting anypony in danger." Zephyr looks at her to see what her reaction would be.

After mulling over it for a bit, Rainbow she widens her eyes in understanding. "We can expose her here and now for Ponyville to see!"

"And also get the reason why she decided to steal your thunder. It's a reckless plan, but it's all I got. I seem to be fond of those."

She grimaces. "Don't remind me. Anyways, if we want to do it we better hurry."

Zephyr simply nodded and flew with her till the two caught up with Scootaloo. He lands next to her with a flat look. "So do you have anything planned after this parade, Scoots?"

She gives Zephyr a confused look. "Not really. Why?"

Time to use my newly acquired weapon. Leaning in to whisper into her ear, Zephyr shook his head slowly. "You and I need to have a little chat after this."

Scootaloo definitely heard the slight disappointment in her big brother's voice as she gave him a frightened look. "W-what did I do?"

"All in due time, provided you don't find out yourself. All I'm going to say for now, it's not so much something you did do as it's something you shouldn't of done." That certainly left Scootaloo scared as to what's going to happen. Zephyr felt self-admittedly bad about it, but it needed to be done otherwise she wouldn't learn.

When the group reached the location of the parade, it had yet to start, so Rainbow and Zephyr simply tried to squeeze as close to the front as possible. He looks at her inquiringly. "Closer proximity is nice and all, but what IS our actual plan of attack?"

Rainbow waves her hoof in a "keep it down" motion. "I've already figured some of it out. I'll be the one to initiate the chase, since I've already gone as low as possible with everypony else. I want you to try and sneak in the direction I chase the pony in and join me afterwards. If we do catch him or her, we'll try to get as much info as we can without taking the pony hostage to one of our houses."

"In laycolt's terms, try to avoid outright becoming the villain in this instance."

"Essentially, but there won't be any guarantees that it won't be interpreted like that. Be prepared for anything." Zephyr nods as the two continued to wait.

Eventually, when the mayor announced it, Mare-Do-Well burst through the backdrop of the stage and posed as the crowd cheered. Zephyr crouched a bit as Rainbow went up to confront the pony and try to expose them. She missed and chased after him or her and Zephyr quietly snuck out of the confused crowd, suddenly feeling hotter and a bit worse because of it.

Why now of all times?! I have to focus because Rainbow needs me!

Zephyr managed to catch up to Rainbow after she chased Mare-Do-Well into an alley, where she saw him. "Go around as fast as you can and try to cut her off!" Zephyr didn't need telling twice. he encountered her on the way around, much to his dismay, and attempted to chase her as well. After he somehow lost her, after barely glimpsing her cape disappearing around a corner he tried to give chase but before he could, a whistle was heard. Turning, Zephyr sees Mare-Do-Well getting chased by Rainbow in another direction.

That explains how she could use magic and fly. It wasn't all just one pony, there were many in on this.

Zephyr landed on a roof and, even though he was feeling even worse than before, managed to flag Rainbow down to get her to disengage. This got an irritated look from her as she rejoined Zephyr. "I almost had her, why did you--"

"That's not important. We're being played for fools because there isn't one Mare-Do-Well but multiple. Don't ask me how many."

She gapes at him. "So it was a collaborative effort? Guess that explains how she did all of that different stuff. It was a different pony each time. Though a part of me is glad because I don't know what we would have done if Mare-Do-Well was actually an Alicorn..."

"That's what I thought. For now, let's try and focus one down."

Rainbow nodded before looking down and seeing a Mare-Do-Well standing near the hiding spot. She managed to get the jump on the cloaked pony and pinned her down. "Gotcha! Now lets see what under the mask!"

Zephyr flew down and landed with a small stumble just as Rainbow rips the mask off, only for the both of them to be stunned at what lay underneath. "Pinkie Pie?!" They looked around to see two other Mare-Do-Wells coming out and revealing themselves to be Twilight and Applejack. "What in the actual-- all three of you were working together?"

Twilight spoke up first. "I guess Rainbow filled you in already. Yes, we played the role at different times."Applejack grinned and Fluttershy and Rarity approached as well, which made Zephyr realize all of them were in on it. In turn, all of them were surprised he was there, but listed off their feats with a little too much gusto for being 'humble'. Zephyr was hard pressed enough to keep a flat look with his increasing weakness.

Rainbow finally regained her voice. "B-but I don't understand. Why did you do all of this? Do you not want me to be a hero?"

Twilight shook her head. "Of course we want you to be a hero. The thing is, real heroes don't brag."

Rainbow was about to say something when Zephyr interjected, "If you girls are going to lecture her on how 'real heroes are modest and that you shouldn't brag', You're about thirty minutes late for that. She's already learned her lesson in that regard. As for the five of you, I'm VERY disappointed in you." That got a variety of different reactions, but Fluttershy seemed to react the worst.

Rarity spoke up with slight disdain, "Well, I can't see how you're more disappointed in us than Rainbow. She was the one who was rubbing her feats in everypony's faces."

"Again, I already ran that past her. Besides, can you spell out h-y-p-o-c-r... i-s-y?" Zephyr almost trailed off from the weakness affecting him, something both Fluttershy and Rainbow took notice of.

This confused everypony except for Twilight, who looked flabbergasted. "Why are you calling us hypocrites?! I'm pretty sure we exemplified good qualities as Mare-Do-Well!"

"If what Rainbow said to me is true, all of you spouted something about 'Mare-Do-Well' the other day. It's hypocritical because it was you the entire time. You knew that full well, but you said it anyways while fully knowing Rainbow was starting to crack because of it. Don't get me started on the fact that you all just bragged about yourselves AGAIN... right front of us.

“The icing on the cake is the fact that you got a thank-you parade. Rainbow did not.”

Pinkie looked very taken back. "But... we just wanted to let her know that she shouldn't be bragging too much!"

Zephyr gave her an 'are you kidding me?' look. "And what was wrong with, oh I don't know, directly talking to her and asking her to watch her bragging?"

Twilight started looking a bit defensive. "I planned this way because I knew she wouldn't listen."

That was about the worst thing Zephyr heard all day. Rainbow immediately looked very insulted. "Gee, THANKS for the vote of confidence, Twilight! That really hurt!"

Despite the action making him dizzy, Zephyr nodded. "And that's not even getting into one thing: at least Rainbow started out just fine and had pure intentions. For all anypony knows, every pony you saved was saved for the sole purpose of 'teaching Rainbow a lesson', not because they were in real danger."

Now the five of them look horrified. Applejack tried speaking up, "B-but we didn't mean to come off that way."

Rainbow shook her head. "I didn't think of it that way, but I have to agree with Zephyr there. While the two of us could give you the benefit of the doubt, I'm not sure the rest of the town would."

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow in surprise. “S-so you forgive us, Rainbow?”

“While I am pretty bitter about getting everything swiped away from me and getting humiliated on top of it, I also understand it’s partially my fault as well. I forgive you, but you have to let everypony know what happened. The entire town will get on my case thinking I ran Mare-Do-Well out.” This got worried looks from the other five mares.

Zephyr let out a tired sigh. "If you girls had... had..." He holds a hoof up to his head briefly, getting a small gasp from Fluttershy. "Excuse me for that. If you had thought your plan through better and at least tried to talk to Rainbow before it, I wouldn't be so disappointed. Instead, you used… a last resort...*huff*... as your first action..."

When Zephyr suddenly fell over while breathing heavily, the mares cried out in shock as they rushed over to him. Twilight put a hoof to his head and flinched. "He's burning up and sweating like crazy. We need to get him to his home, fast!"

The last thing Zephyr remembered was being lifted onto somepony's back before blacking out from sheer exhaustion.