Author's Note

For sake of consistency, I'm going to pretend Equestria Girls doesn't exist. However, if anyone wants me to have Sunset Shimmer appear somewhere down the line, feel free to comment on it!

Chapter 61 - Wind Warden (Princess Twilight Sparkle)

A few days after Twilight was officially crowned Princess of Friendship by Princess Celestia, she was in the Canterlot Castle gardens practicing flying. It was clear that, despite ascending into an Alicorn and gaining wings, she wasn't given the knowledge on how to use them properly. While she did have books on flying, it was one of those things you have to learn by doing.

Rainbow was enthusiastic about training Twilight to be her "new flying buddy", but it was clear to Zephyr she was a little too enthusiastic. "Rainbow, you got to give more direction than "flap them really hard", alright? I get we're rushed for time, but..."

"Isn't that how flying usually works?" Rainbow asked that, but the couple had to save Twilight from crashing into the nearby tree, each holding one of her forehooves to stabilize her. "Okay, maybe you're right..."

Rarity rolls her eyes. "Rainbow Dash, not everypony has been flying their whole lives like you have."

"Ah' still wonder why flight lessons didn't come with the Alicorn package." Applejack dared to ask that out loud.

Zephyr shook his head as Twilight tried to steady herself. "That would be too easy... and a complete contrast to the kind of pony Princess Twilight wants to be."

"You're right. If I just... 'knew' how to fly, not only would it remove a learning experience, but it would be unfair to all the Pegasi who had to learn it themselves." Thanks to Rainbow and Zephyr, she was able to stabilize her flying before landing. "Also, Zephyr, please don't call me that."

"Darling, why not? You've already turned down wearing your crown all the time, at least wear your new title with pride!" Rarity was confused, knowing it would be something she'd be proud of.

"If strangers want to then fine. But it just feels wrong to have my friends call me that all the time... like there's a barrier between us now."

"If that is what you wish... your sparklyness!"

Twilight gives Zephyr a flat look as everyone else, including Spike, laughs. "You've been hanging around Discord too much."

"Maybe yes, maybe no. Joking aside, you worry too much about it."

Rainbow Dash grins. "I agree! No namby-pamby title is going to keep me from hanging out with my friend!" Ignoring the scathing look Rarity gave her, she psychs Twilight up. "Now let's keep practicing! If you're going to wow everypony at the Summer Sun Celebration, do so with a big finish!"

Pushing her worries to the side for now, Twilight nods with a determined smile as she takes off again. She started fine, but quickly lost control again as her audience grimaced at the display. Zephyr managed to catch her with his wind magic, giving her wings lift, before she swan dived into the ground. "This is going to be a loooong day..."

"Of course it is, just not the LONGEST day! That's in two days!" Pinkie Pie, never one to let context stop her, said that with a smile. All everypony else could do was roll their eyes.

While Twilight's friends went with her back into the castle to discuss something, Zephyr went to the train station ahead of them to see off his mother and father. He also made sure to keep his sister and her friends entertained to ensure they didn't get into trouble. After some time his friends and family arrived but it was clear Twilight didn't look overly happy, albeit trying to keep a smile on her face.

After Pinkie made everypony Pinkie Promise to write to Twilight, they all boarded the train and were waving goodbye to her. Once the city was out of sight, Rainbow sighed sadly. "I tried to keep a smile on for her... but it'll be so different without Twilight. I wish there was more we could do together..." Zephyr wrapped a wing around her comfortingly.

"Ah' feel ya', but we'd be dishonoring her if we were hung up on it." Applejack smiles at her friends. "Why don't we make this Summer Sun Celebration among the greatest in Ponyville?"

"It goes without saying! Plus, this'll be the first one Zephy will be celebrating with us!"

"I guess that's true. I might be a poor-pony's replacement of Twilight, but I'll do my best to help!"

Rarity tutted at Zephyr as Rainbow bats him over the comment. "Zephyr, you're no "poor-pony" replacement. You're just as important as the rest of us. Look no further than the stained glass depicting you, Spiky-wiky, and Princess Cadance saving the Crystal Empire!"

"I have one?" That was news to Zephyr since he doesn't frequent the Canterlot Castle without reason.

Fluttershy nods with her own soft smile. "Of course! So please stop thinking you contribute nothing to Equestria's safety, big brother. As the Crystal Ponies say, you represent something we don't: freedom."

Rainbow grins at that. "And it's not like freedom and harmony are mutually exclusive either because they share a lot of ideals. Besides, it's not like you don't represent some part of harmony anyways... outside of me being your girlfriend."

"I was wondering why Twilight pointed out my deep-seated loyalty to family. Maybe she was trying to tell me the same thing?"

Applejack gives Rainbow a smug look. "Since when were you a deep thinker, Dash?"

"S-shut up!" That got a laugh out of everypony.

After arriving in Ponyville, they all separated to work on their own preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. Zephyr made sure to inquire about his role in it all and, outside of typical wind manager duties, he was to assist Rainbow with weather clearing. Since it was more of a "before-the-day" job, the two helped out in other areas before retiring for the night.

Said rest was interrupted when Scootaloo shook her brother awake. "Hm, Scoots? What's wrong?"

"Is... it supposed to be like this?" She points out the window, the sight outside snapping Zephyr awake. Both the sun and the moon were out at the same time.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this..." The two rush out the house, only to see Ponyville getting overrun with strange black and cyan vines. "Scootaloo, get on. We're going to be busy and I don't want you by yourself with these vines everywhere!"

After getting his little sister on his back, he launched into the air to get a better view of the action. He quickly found Rainbow Dash not only failing to bust the strange, spiky clouds but they were shooting lightning bolts at her. "Stupid clouds!"

"Rainbow!" All the clouds got hit with a barrage of wind balls, destroying them. "Are you alright?"

"Better now that you're here! These clouds are immune to conventional removal techniques!"

"Big bro, your wind magic might be something these vines can't contend with!"

Zephyr quickly pondered the situation. "Whether or not it's true, we should-- WAH!" A vine shot up and grabbed Zephyr by his hind leg, forcing him to sever it with some razor wind. "Whatever these things are, they clearly identified me as a threat. Where's the evacuation point for Ponyville?"

"That's the thing, we don't have one!"

The exasperation Zephyr felt in that instant was immense as he severed another vine reaching for him. "Seriously?! Alright... guess we'll have to play it by ear. Except... how? What would Twilight do if she was here?"

"I know what to do!" Rainbow shot up high into the sky to scout the land quick before coming back down. "The area near Cloudsdale seems both unaffected and secure, so let's make that our evac point! We just need to inform everypony so they're not running around directionless."

Thankful Rainbow had plenty of leadership qualities herself, Zephyr came up with an idea. "Hold Scoots for a bit and cover your ears." That got a confused look from his girlfriend, but complied and manged to transfer Scootaloo onto her back before both covered their ears as best they could. Putting some distance between them, Zephyr shot up into the sky while sharply inhaling.

"EVACUATE TO THE CLOUDSDALE AREA IMMEDIATELY!!!"

Zephyr's voice echoed so loud, it warped the air around him and caused a few nearby windows to crack, even stunning the vines closest to him. Despite covering their ears, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo had to deal with ringing now as the Falconite came back down. "I forgot you had a serious set of pipes there. If anypony didn't hear that, that's their fault."

"What can I say? I have deep lungs and strong vocal cords..." Zephyr was reduced to a rasp for now as some blood leaked from his mouth.

"I hate to do this to you, but there might be ponies who got caught by the vines and need your help. Rescue as many as you can before heading to the evac point as well."

That got a concerned look as Scootaloo transferred back onto Zephyr's back. "What about you?"

"I need to meet up with my friends at the library. Not only to search for answers, but the Elements of Harmony are there as well. Hopefully somepony informed Twilight of what's going on, so that seems to be the best spot to meet."

Scootaloo gives her idol a worried look. "Be careful, Rainbow Dash! I know you're awesome, but these vines are something else!"

That got a chuckle from Rainbow. "You know me! I'll always come out on top no matter what!" With a Wonderbolt salute, she flies off.

Zephyr cleared his throat to remove the rasp somewhat. "Let's do a quick round before we head to the evacuation point ourselves. I'll need you to act as a second set of eyes for me, Scoots."

"Leave it to me, big bro!"

The first stop was Carousel Boutique and, sure enough, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were there. While it looked like they were dealing with out of control magic, Zephyr managed to fix that by canceling it out with his touch. "Thank you so much, Zephyr dear! please get my sister out of here!"

"Rainbow wants to meet with the rest of the Element bearers at the library while the rest of us--"

"I heard, you certainly make a good air raid siren with how loud you are." Rarity helps Sweetie Belle onto Zephyr's back. "Be careful! These plants are no joke, they even cause our magic to go out of control!"

"I can't even use magic yet and MINE went out of control!" Sweetie Belle made sure to mention.

"Lovely... well my ability to cancel out Unicorn magic will still help at least."

Sweet Apple Acres was next and Applejack was on her way to meet up with her friends. Big Mac was able to give both Granny Smith and Applebloom a ride, choosing to travel with Zephyr in case additional help was needed. Zephyr made sure to keep an eye on the Earth Pony Stallion to ensure he wasn't grabbed by vines. He was able to direct Pinkie and Fluttershy to the library as well after checking if they were fine.

Once the rounds were done and everypony they could find was rescued, the group headed towards the evacuation point as fast as they could. While non-Pegasi couldn't enter Cloudsdale proper, the area under it was still safe with all the Ponyville residents gathered there.

Both Zephyr and Big Mac let their passengers off as they looked at the overrun Ponyville. "This area is safe, but for how long?"

"Ah' don't know... those plants are relentless..."

Zephyr looked back at the townsponies. Many were scared, some were injured and getting tended to by the doctors and nurses who managed to set up medical tents. What stood out to him was the Cutie Mark Crusaders huddling in a small group, shivering with fright.

The sight caused him to make up his mind as he took off towards the town again, much to Big Mac's surprise. "Zephyr?!"

"Big bro... where are you going?"

Big Mac looks back at the fillies after Scootaloo weakly said that. Seeing the same sight made him look at Granny Smith. "Look after the fillies fer' us." He took off after Zephyr after saying that, much to Applebloom's own worry.

When the farm stallion arrived, he saw Zephyr staring down a mass of vines that had started making their way towards where everypony was gathered. "Why did you come out here by yer'self, Zephyr? Yer' little sister's going to be--"

"I know... but this is something I have to do to protect her!" He launches a razor wind ball at the vine that made a lunge for him, severing it at the base. "Go back and stay with them! You'll be the last line of defense should I--"

"Not on my watch!" A pink barrier formed in front of Zephyr when another vine tried to lash at him. Captain Shining Armor had arrived after he heard what was happening. "I came here with a contingent of Crystal Guards with a beacon containing the Crystal Heart's power. Once it's activated, the vines can't get close. Still, I don't approve of this recklessness, Private Windstorm!"

Zephyr severs another vine before landing next to the two other stallions. "I want to ask you something. Why do you think us big brothers are born first?" He looks back at them with a determined look. "So they can protect the little ones that come after them."

In that moment, both of them understood why Zephyr was making his stand here: to protect what he held most dearest. Big Mac gave the biggest determined smile he ever made. "Ah' have to agree. Applejack an' Applebloom are too precious fer' me to lose. Ah'm with ya'!"

Shining Armor also smiles. "Twily might be an Alicorn now... and more powerful than me besides. But that doesn't mean I can't protect what she values dearly, which is the lives of everypony here." He throws Big Mac a halberd, who swiftly holds it at the ready in one hoof. "Let's start weeding. My Guards need roughly a minute to get the beacon set up!"

"They need a minute? I'll give them three!" Zephyr's smile now matched his fellow stallions as the trio launched the defensive offense.

Now that Big Mac had a proper weapon to cut vines, he wasn't nearly as helpless as before. Zephyr made sure the spores responsible for causing Unicorn magic to go haywire never reached Shining Armor as he managed to form Griffon-like wind claws at his forehooves to do his own hack-and-slash. The Captain constantly switched between blocking the vines from advancing and blasting some of the clouds away.

After some time, the trio noticed a flash of light go off behind them which told Shining Armor their duty was done for now. "The beacon's active! Fall back!"

Big Mac did so after hacking a few more vines while Zephyr made sure to cover the retreat of the two on the ground. Right before he could enter the beacon's barrier, A vine managed to snag him by the waist, pinning his secondaries and preventing his wind magic. Scootaloo cried out at the sight, as he was slowly dragged back. "Don't worry about me! I'll come back once I can free myself!"

"BIG BRO!"

That was the last thing Zephyr heard before the vine whipped back and smashed him into the ground, stunning him. It then threw him like a fast ball towards the Everfree Forest during said stun. When he finally recovered, he knew there was no point in trying to go back now. Guess I'll see where this trip leads me...

He corrected his body so he could recover faster if he got too close to the ground. Eventually, Zephyr noticed Twilight by herself in a clearing, getting blasted with some kind of pollen from fly trap-like flowers that were part of the vines. Knowing what to do, he managed to use his current momentum to slam into one of the flowers, severing it. "DYNAMIC ENTRYYY!"

"Wha-- *cough* Zephyr?!" Twilight was quickly dragged away from the other two flowers as a third one joined, allowing her to recover her senses. "What are you doing here?"

"Not by my own intention, I swear. As for a status report, all of Ponyville is evacuated and your brother arrived with a beacon to ward these vines off at the gathering spot."

"Great to hear, but we should deal with these plants first!" Twilight couldn't use magic yet due to the disrupting nature of the pollen she was getting sprayed with.

After severing two more flowers, Zephyr noted more vines coming in to assist the last one. "We're sitting ducks if we stay. Sorry, Twilight, but needs must!"

"What are you--" Twilight yelped as Zephyr threw her onto his back and took off, dodging vines as he flitted through the infested forest. She was able to inform Zephyr of the Tree of Harmony, its purpose, and that it was potentially somewhere in the Everfree.

As the flight continued, Twilight became more aware of Zephyr's wing-beats, somehow calming herself down to close her eyes and listen to them. Each beat was powerful, but also slow and rhythmatic without loosing too much altitude. Observing them after opening her eyes, she made one final remembrance. His wings are built like Alicorn wings... like MY wings!

After observing Zephyr's flight, noticing he's keeping his secondaries open but not flapping for more flight control, Twilight began to get a feeling for it herself. After deftly slipping between a few vines, she started standing on his back, throwing the Falconite off. "Whoa, Twilight, don't do that mid-flight!"

"Sorry, but I wanted to do this!" With a powerful beat of her own wings, Twilight took flight herself much to Zephyr's concern. It turned to shock when he realized Twilight was not only flying properly, but doing so at a good clip. "Thanks to you letting me ride on your back, I finally got a feel for how I should fly!"

"You never cease to amaze me with how fast you can learn. Now let's find that Tree of Harmony-- GAH!" More vines erupted in front of the duo. "Since you can fly now, change of plans! I'll cut a path forward, so make sure to ride my slipstream!"

"I got my magic back and it's pointing me THAT way!"

Zephyr salutes and launches a razor twister in front of them before continuing the flight, with Twilight close behind. Not too long after, they come across the ruined castle that Twilight identified as the Castle of the Two Sisters. Their friends and family were getting pushed back out of the nearby chasm cave that had a slight glow. "Over there!"

Rainbow was doing her best with Applejack to fight back against the vines after Spike informed them that Twilight was getting escorted by Zephyr. It wasn't working until a sudden light-green whirlwind cut down the vine tormenting her. "You guys made it!"

"Sorry we're late to the party!" Zephyr lands with Twilight as her friends all hug her. "Granted, I'm an uninvited guest considering I was FLUNG here instead of coming with you 7, but what can I say?"

"You can say a lot more! How did Twilight suddenly figure out how to fly?!" Pinkie was shocked by that of all things, not Zephyr's sudden drop-in assistance.

"I can explain later. We have a tree to save!"

"Actually... ah'... we want to apologize, Twi..." Applejack holds her stetson over her chest. "We sent you away because we didn't want Equestria to lose another Princess, but..."

"In doing so... we bereft ourselves of any guidance you could have given us." Rarity shook her head sadly. "We were... lost without you."

Rainbow smiles at Twilight. "We sent you away thinking Equestria may have needed its princess..."

"But we need our friend!" Fluttershy finished as they all hug again. Zephyr smiled at the sight.

"While it's good we reunited, we have a different issue now." Pinkie pointed out the wall of vines that had kicked the group out earlier. "I don't think even Zephy's wind will be be able to cut all that down."

That got a small smirk from Zephyr. "No problem at all. Spike?"

"On it!"

Twilight was about to question them when Spike breathed his fire into a wind ball, turning it into a vortex of green flames that the Falconite made bigger. "You're going to do THAT?!"

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Zephyr threw the ball of flaming death right at the vine wall and it exploded in glorious fashion. The kicker was when both he and Spike faced away from the sight with both wearing sunglasses. Rainbow and Applejack had a mix of shock and glee on their faces.

Pinkie let out a giggle-snort. "What is this, a "Cool guys don't look at explosions" thing?"

"Way to ruin the moment, Pinkie." Spike said that while looking at her over his sunglasses.

"Now now, the path is clear thanks to that, so let's get moving!" Twilight made sure to usher everyone in before the vines could recover and block the entrance again. The Tree of Harmony was in a sorry state because of all the vines. After some discussion and thought, she came to a decision. "We need to return the Elements of Harmony back to their rightful places."

This shocked everyone, but Applejack spoke up first. "But Twi... the Elements of Harmony are what connect us! Yer' just going to--"

"Give our friendship more credit than that, AJ!" Rainbow and Zephyr had shared a look over Applejack's comment, which caused the Element of Loyalty to glow a bit. "Sure, the Elements are what brought us together, but we became more than that through our friendship! What I'm more worried about is losing Equestria's primary means of defending itself!"

Rarity had a worried look as well. "Let's not forget Discord. Without these, we won't have anything to keep him in check!"

"I understand your concerns, but we can't rely on these forever. However, I have the utmost confidence that, through the strength of our friendships, we can overcome future adversity. We will be tested, we might even bend a bit, but we will never break!" Twilight looks back at her friends. "Everypony ready?"

As Twilight moved to return the Elements, the vines did their best to interrupt the process. Zephyr and Rainbow made sure to distract the vines as best they could in the air while Applejack and Pinkie did their best on the ground. Thanks to their help, the Elements were returned to the tree safely, which energized it enough to destroy all the vines existing in Equestria.

It also revealed where Princess Celestia and Luna were as Twilight happily embraced them. Not long after, seemingly in thanks for returning the Elements of Harmony, the Tree of Harmony sprouted a flower that contained a box with 6 keyholes. Celestia mentioned it being a mystery she won't solve alone, but Twilight remained somewhat worried about the implications.

When everyone exited the forest, who should greet them but Discord. "Bravo to all you ladies-- oh my, I didn't realize you were here, Zephyr!" He quickly adds a face depicting Zephyr onto the sign with Rainbow's

"What can I say? I just get flung everywhere life wants to fling me towards."

"And that is why I enjoy hanging out with you! You get taken in the most unexpected of directions!" Discord quickly notices a key detail missing. "Say, where are your little trinkets? You know, the ones that make me stoned out of my mind?"

"Phrasing."

Applejack rolls her eyes at Zephyr's interjection. "Gone, returned to where they belong."

That surprised the Draconequus, only to make him start thinking mischievously. Fluttershy quickly nipped that problem in the bud. "But our friendship remains, especially with big brother. And if you don't want to lose that, you'll stop thinking whatever it is you're thinking and help us clean up."

Discord, despite knowing full well Fluttershy was playing him like a fiddle, abandoned his original thought process and dressed up like a maid. "Oh fine. But I don't do windows, I charge extra for that."

Zephyr smirks. "So you'll do ceilings?" That got a laugh.

After figuring out where the vines came from, and another trickster moment from Discord to Twilight, the group sans the Draconequus went to where the evacuation point was for Ponyville. Zephyr got knocked out of the sky in short order by an orange blur. "Big bro!!!"

"Sorry to worry you like that, Scoots. At least you can't say I was intentionally doing that."

"I can because you left us to start with!" Zephyr scrunched his muzzle at that as both Rainbow and Fluttershy give him flat looks.

"He's safe now, so all is well." Twilight beamed as Shining Armor approached. "He was able to fight as long as he did because he wanted to protect one of the ponies who he valued most. It was thanks to that we could properly set up a safe zone."

"Eeyup!" Big Mac had Applebloom on his back, who refused to leave her spot after watching her own brother leave to help Zephyr.

As Rarity got glomped by Sweetie Belle, Princess Celestia smiled at the group. "Thank you all for helping safeguard everypony affected by this disaster. Since it will take some time before Ponyville will return to normal, I'd like to invite all present to the Canterlot Summer Sun Celebration!"

"We can celebrate with Twilight after all!" Pinkie cheered that as she somehow managed to draw the entire group into a group hug. With the disaster now behind them, everyone felt relaxed enough to put their mind towards the Celebration.

So... Equinekind's 'weapon' has been shown the door...
The time is ripe, I can now put full effort behind breaking my seal. But I underestimated the architects of this seal, the level of oversight over its creation is astounding. Honestly and ironically, I'm kind of proud of the ingenuity.

I'll work on it from the inside, but now I require some... outside assistance. Discord won't do it for fear of losing his "friends". But now that there's no other threat to my return, my work begins anew.

Though.. I could have sworn I destroyed that tree in my original rage...