The life of Zesty Zapwing

Chapters

The Very Beginning
The Growing Up
Teen years
Flight school
Love and Graduation

The Very Beginning

Zesty Zapwing
The beginning

Many years ago on this very date, a group of Ponyville residents was rushing through the Everfree forest. Their minds set for the worst scenario, as they raced through the thick forest.

Soaring above them was Pegasus ponies, shouting down to the Earth and Unicorn ponies, trying to make them run faster.

The cause of their search, Smoke was rising from the forest, a bad sign by any standard.

Eventually the group made it to the site of the smoke, but what they saw made them sad to the bones.

The Unicorn ponies quickly detected the danger signs and illuminated the area with their magic horns in different colors. Seeing one of the bloodstained Everfree forest monsters draggin something away, the Earth and Unicorn ponies scrambled to get the beast to release it's prey. With a Unicorn blast of magic, the beast dropped it's cargo and scurryed away.

Suddenly, one of the ponies realized what the beast had been trying to get away and let out a giant scream in horror.

Soon others realised what it was as well, some got sick n vomited by the sight on the spot.

There, infront of them all was the charred remains of a pony head, completely beyond recognition, mangled n burnt.

Then, a cry from someplace closer to the place, from where the smoke originated from, the ponies investigated and saw to their horror that the smoke came from an burnt-out airballoon, tiny unidentifyable pieces of balloon material lay strewn around, part of the gondela turned upside down, still burning, but the worst part, was of the 2 pony bodies, charred beyond regocnition lying scattered near the fire, most of one was missing, other was missing the head, previously recovered.

As the ponies started to scour the area, searching for survivors, one called out from the top of her lungs ”OVER HERE, SURVIVOR !!”
a few came to aid while others kept searching.

What the young lightbrown Earth pony with grey n silver mane had found was nothing short of a miracle.
Inside a greenly glowing protective forcefield was a tiny foal, very young, a month old tops. But there was something amazing about the foal, it wasent a Earth pony, nor a Pegasi or even a Unicorn .. it was a Alicorn, a pony foal with horn and wings.

When the mare who found the foal approaced the glowing force field, the foal glared at the pony,
and for some reason, it smiled, force field dissapeared before her eyes.

The Earth pony gently picked up the foal and took a look at it.

It had the weirdest colors imaginable, from a body of greenish color to a white nose and horn, with tan hooves, to a tri-colored mane of dark blue, grass green and firery orange, to the foals wingbits, orange and red, to the tail, looking more zebra like with black n white and a greenish stribe in the middle.

Clearly, this was a exceptional foal. They would do a search in the hospitals of all of Equestria for it when they got back.

What amazed the Earth pony was that the foal seemed completely unharmed by the experience.

”I wonder who you are” the pony said .. suddenly and without warning, the foals wings spread a bit and a lightning sort of magic ran from body to wingtip. The mare recieved a tiny jolt of the lightning but managed to keep the foal in her hooves, shocked as she was, she saw a name infront of her eyes for a few seconds, like the foal had tryed to ansver the name question.

”you okay ?!” asked a nearby Unicorn, shocked at the event.

”I'm fine, really .. was just a bit startling, is all” the Earth pony replyed. ”It was like he was trying to tell me his name by magic”

”The foal ?” the Unicorn asked, ”but thats impossible, no foal his size should have any knowledge of magic, surely”

”Be that as it may, but i got a jolt from him and i think he told me his name with it” she said, well aware of the truth in the Unicorns words.

”Well, what did he tell you then ?” the Unicorn asked

”He said his name was Zesty Zapwing” ....

The Growing Up

Growing up

It has been a few days after the balloon crash and the discovery of the foal known as Zesty Zapwing.

All attempt to discover the foals true identity via hospital records and birth certificates have been fruitless, the foal is simply a mystery .. or maybe he was simply born at home .. but since the 2 ponies in the balloon crash was both burned and mangled beyond recognition, it would be very hard if at all possible to find out more.

for now at least, the Alicorn foal was doing well in the local hospital wing for routine observations.

The staff at the hospital all looked in on the little foal from time to time, and everyone seemed to be at awe from what can only be described at slumbering talents. many times they would get a light Zap as his Alicorn powers was finding roots in his body, sending small lightnings around his wings and mane and sometimes his tail. Of course the staff recorded everything they noticed about the foal and soon had to divide their findings into more than one journal.

The journals now read Zesty health and Zesty powers .. and apparently there was much going on inside the foal ..

Many a time, the tiny foal would cry, quite possibly for his parents, but it always managed to settle back in with kind nurture from the nurses, and it seemed as if he got extra happy about visits from a certain silver-maned pony.

The other journal, Zesty Powers, was also being filled slowly from the foals seemingly unconscious acts of power.

Already added was the greenish force field seen in the Everfree forest along with the small zaps of lightning visually sparkling along wings, mane and tail. and it seemed like the force field was a built-in defense mechanism, possibly inherited from his parents.

One incident of force field occurred when the doc tried to take a blood sample from the foal, apparently the foal saw the needle and WHOMP, force field time .. after some reassurance from the nurses, the field did go down, but it was added to the list of specials in the powers journal.

Meanwhile, as the foal was cared for in the hospital, an examination was taking place of the balloon remnants and the 2 pony bodies, presenting some results.

The balloon remnants held no clues, as it was a generic built model available in massive numbers all over Equestria.

The half mangled pony discovered turned out to be of female Zebra relations, but not just that, Unicorn Zebra even. one would think that this would narrow the search, but no. No known Unicorn Zebras was found inside Equestria, deepening the mystery.

The same was true for the headless pony, who's head was dropped from one of the Everfree forest carnivores. remnants of a horn was found in the skull base, but this one turned out to be a male Unicorn. but due to the extent of the damage to the 2 bodies, it was impossible to tell anything of where they might have come from. the mystery deepen further.

It was possible to collect small remnants of blood from both corpses, and when magically compared to the foals bloodworks, it was a match. one mystery down, the corpses was mother and father of the foal.

No pony has to this day come up with a reason for the 2 ponies, the male Unicorn and the female Zebra Unicorn, as to how they could have produced a Alicorn offspring, but maybe, just maybe, it could be a Pegasy gene from long ago, or Alicorn gene .. to this day, none knows.

About a week later, a Earth pony out by the crash site reported having found a chest of bits n valuables, believed to have been on-board the balloon, no hint of any location they could have come from though. The chest itself was charred n burnt, and broken apart at the crash. it could not help in finding out more info either.

The Earth pony delivered the chest and contents to city hall, who locked it up until further investigations was over, the pony did receive a finders fee, and word is that it helped the pony's family out of a economical crisis, seeing as their Apples wasn't quite enough to go around this year.

Meanwhile, there was debate about what to do with the young foal, should he be put in foster care or would some pony take care of him. Eventually, the same Earth pony that found the foal was selected to take care of him in the beginning.

There was talk of some familys having only tried to get nursing of the foal to get at the riches of the chest, and some accused the silver-maned pony of the same, but what she did next shut that rumor down fast. She deposited the chest in it's entirety into a locked account, from which it said that not until the foals 18 year birthday would access be given, unless in xtreme conditions. Many saw it as pure hearted care taking and the rumor was long gone.

The Silver-maned Earth pony mare, being in her 20's, then did another surprise move, by running for Mayor position. Many thought this was a bit much for her to handle, but despite odds, and some common reason, she managed to gain the voters ears and was eventually voted in as Mayor of ponyville. Storys about her achievement went wide n far, and over time, she helped Ponyville become the town it is to this day, bustling with happy ponys of all kinds and a healthy economy, very low crime rate and of course, home of the 6 ponies with the Elements of Harmony.

Long before that though, she was first and foremost Zesty's caretaker, and it wasn't long before Zesty started to grow up in the secure town of Ponyville, he started school and made friends and was also slowly beginning to get a little control over his abilitys.

only very rarely would someone tease him, but when they did, they would, quite literally, get the ZAP of their lives.

The teachers, knowing full well that it was in teasing self defense, would reprimand both partys on separate accounts. The teasers would be told off teasing and Zesty would yet again be told to try and control his powers.

Those was the days where he would come home to his home with the Mayor, knowing all to well that she would already know of his school activitys due to her strong connections with the school. but unlike the teachers at school, guardian Mayor mom would listen to him and afterwards, usually shower him with love to make him feel better.

One would think that living in Ponyville was all joy and no stress, but there was times where the Mayor had to go away for extended periods of time, and thus Zesty would be temporarily living with one of his classmates familys for a while.

But at that turned out, was only for the better.

being about same age as our famous heroes as fillys, Zesty had a brief living with all 5 familys among other familys in Ponyville. While each stay only lasted at mostly a few months, he each time got accepted into the family as one of their own. And he started to learn traits from all the familys.

Among other traits learned was honesty from the Apples family, Generosity from Rarity's family, also kindness towards all as he later spend time with Fluttershy, he came to love music and secretly had a crush on Octavia, but then again, who didnt. Partying and pranks was always done with Pinkie and Rainbow of course, those 2 would get Zesty into some hot water but was always there to help as well.

One day, while in the care of the Apples, Zesty came home, spread his wings and flew up to the barn hayloft, his private little hideout, which Applejack knew all to well, since it was her safe-place as well. but today it was different. The reason, a female rejection ...

As Zesty could feel a torrent of emotions go through his body, he thought it safe to distance himself a bit from his caretakers, as his powers could sometimes go a bit nuts in such a situation. Little did he know, he was right.

As he felt rejected and was crying, he could hear her words in his head spinning ..

"You're just a multicolored freak, be gone with you" ..

Rejection turned to anger of the filly and suddenly he lost his cool over his powers, violently zapping lightnings around his wings. He exploded in a hissyfit of very loud proportions, loud enough to get the attention of Applejack, helping buckin apples a field over .. just as Applejack heard the burst of emotions, she saw something else of horror. It was a large lightning bolt, and it was coming from the barn hayloft.

After the outburst, Zesty fell exhausted to the floor of the hayloft, remarkably he managed to not set the whole barn ablaze, even though being only feet from the hay storage. He could hear Applejack running to him, crying out his name. Moments later she appeared by his side, out of breath and staring at the black part of the loft and a big charred hole in the ceiling beneath Zesty who was crying on the floor.

*pant pant* .. "Zesty, you alright ?!?, what happend ??" Applejack asked, looking wildly at the slumped down Alicorn, "oh dear me, Zesty ??"

"I.. sorry.. lost control" was all Zesty was able to blurt out between sobs

Applejack didn't waste a second, she promptly lay besides Zesty and tried her best to comfort him

"there there" Applejack said "what in Equestria got you so riled up anyways ??"

Zesty looked up at Applejack, tears free flowing from both the chock of his powers and the burning of the rejection at school.

"I tried talking to her, but" Zesty stammered out between sobs "she just said i was a multicolored freak !!" and burst out into yet another wild crying fit.

"there there" said Applejack in her most comforting voice "if that filly couldn't see past your brilliant colors, she's no good for you anyways"

Zesty looked Applejack as best he could in her eyes, tears was obscuring his vision of sight, but he could swear that he saw a golden ring above his head.

Applejack could be very comforting when she wanted to be and it wasn't long before Zesty was calmed down to the point where he suddenly realized something important.

"Applejack, i think i just did something amazing" Zesty suddenly exclaimed and without warning to Applejack, jumped out the hayloft window. Before Applejack could even muster a yell to stop, Zesty was out in the air, spreading his wings and actually glided down to the ground safely.

If there was a award for the biggest drop-jaw in history, Applejack won it right then and there. Still unable to fathom what she just saw, she halfway ran, halfway stumbled down the stairs into the barn and out the door, aiming straight for Zesty.

Zesty was himself in his own little happy place and watched Applejack sprint towards him, only Applejack forgot to stop and tackled Zesty to the ground in a heap of Earth pony, Alicorn and a apple stack which was behind Zesty.

"Dont you EVER do something that wreck less again, you could have gotten seriously hurt !!" Applejack was shouting at Zesty at a hoofs distance. Zesty looked scared up into Applejack's eyes, he had never seen her that mad.

Then, it happened .. Applejack just hugged Zesty and started bawling out. Suddenly, the roles had reversed, now he had to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, i didn't, i .. i" Zesty started "I didn't mean to upset you, honest"

Applejack regained herself a bit, "Dont you know how devastated we would all be if you got hurt, think next time you dolt" she winched at him.

The 2 ponies comforted each other and soon they got a bit back to normal, and walked inside to explain for the Apple family what had happened.

After Zesty and Applejack explained everything, all that the rest of the Apple family could say was that Zesty shouldn't worry about the barn, it could be fixed and he would help doing the fixing.

Racing outside to try his flying again, he found that he could only set off and glide, but apparently it was enough to get him started on more adventures of his youth, certainly Rainbow and Fluttershy was happy to get a new flying friend to train flying with.

A while passed by and with skills and knowledge increasing almost daily, Zesty was soaring high .. emotionally and literally ..

Teen years

Zesty's Teen life

During Zesty's teen years and his many care taking family's, things was going well. Sure there would be the occasional mishap like a prank gone bad or one of his powers suddenly bursting into action, but all else taken into account, life was good.

The incident at Apple acres was also well known throughout Ponyville, and Mayor was informed about this during her travel to Canterlot. The timing was eerie to say the least, as she was going to be meeting up with Princess Celestia later that day. Mayor decided she would try and see if the princess could spare a minute with her.

As with most meetings with politicians, some ponies was always up in the other's faces about politics, but Mayor always kept her cool, always the figurehead of her debates. After a while of debating where the guards actually had to come in to separate a small group, it was decided that a break was in order. By luck, Mayor caught the princess and was able to speak with her alone for a bit.

Obviously, the princess knew all about the discovery of Zesty and was keen to know more about this young Alicorn.

"Thank you for having a private chat with me" Mayor started out

"Dont worry about it", Celestia replied, "I am keen to learn more about Zesty and i was hoping to meet him in person sometime, but for now, i can see they you have something on your mind, my dear. I hope nothing bad has happened ?"

"Well, you know teenagers, they don't always tend to think things through, don't ya know" Mayor said as she began to recap recent events.

This wasn't the first time that Mayor had to report on Zesty's living to Celestia, but the event with the barn was interesting.

"It would seem that young Zesty is growing up and finding out more of his inner strengths and weaknesses, but i am a bit scared of the story from the barn" Mayor said, her ears flop back "i would hate to see him have a outburst like that in school or elsewhere public, those caught in a outburst of such magnitude could be seriously wounded, killed even"

A lone tear ran down Mayor's cheek, the vision was horrible in her mind.

Celestia levitated a handkerchief towards Mayor, wiping away the tear. "yes, we saw the outburst from here in Canterlot and was quite awestruck to learn where it originated" Celestia said, pausing for a moment to let Mayor compose herself a bit.

Celestia spoke again "We have no intentions to interfere in Zesty's upbringing, but we would appreciate reports to allow us to follow his life, something is telling me that we haven't heard the last of his story, and we eagerly await more news as it develops"

Mayor was delighted to hear Celestia's thought and receiving her blessing to continue raising Zesty as good as she and the rest of Ponyville could.

Returning to the polotics debats after the break with Celestia, Mayor seemed much more confident and even got some good points layed out for the other politicians which gained support. She was absolutely glowing with pride after the talks, but her mind and heart was already thinking of her beloved colt back home .. "home" .. she tasted the word and felt like she was missing out on so much at home.

Returning home from Canterlot to Ponyville, Zesty was waiting for her at the trainstation, lovingly greeting her with a big hug before grabbing her bags and following her home.

Being the young colt that he was, he had no trouble carrying her luggage all the way home, gently placing it in the livingroom before joining his mom on the couch, where she had layed down moments earlyer.

Eagerly, Zesty began telling of his latest few days and mom would listen to how he was doing in school and how everyone was treating him.

"So, what was this i heard of a brokenhearted colt making a big scene out in Apple acres ?" his mom asked Zesty, who seemed to shrink in size from that experience being mentioned, unwilling to wanna talk about it in great details.

"I'm sorry mom" he started, "i guess i just lost my selfcontrol for a bit" Tears starting to appear in his eyes.

"Aww, sweety .. at least nobody got hurt and only minor damage done from what i hear, i think you got away very lucky from that" his mom said "I even heard people in Canterlot saying that they could see your amazing powers !!. . but what ever got you so frustrated in the first place sweety ??" .

she wasn't giving up that easily, she was determined to find out more about the event.

"Well, i guess you know most of the story already" Zesty said, knowing how fast events like these spread by voice.

Zesty gulped once before starting .. "It was because of a certain mare in school .. i have had the hots for a while and i gathered courage to talk to her, but she literally told me that i was .. wa .." his voice failing at the critical time "A MULTICOLORED FREAK", finally blurting it out, sending small zaps from body to wingtip, inadvertently chocking his mom a bit in both senses.

Instantly, he felt bad for again releasing a bit of power and again jolting his mom, but she was used to it, so it didn't surprise her that much, instead she just reached round him and held him tight. This always soothed him down and he regained control again.

"Sorry mom, i didn't mean to jolt you" he exclaimed sadly, but mom just shook it off, saying "Don't you worry about me, I've had worse jolts from you".

This was true, he did remember once a while back where a argument about her travels got a bit too heated, inadvertently releasing a tiny lightning at her. While not causing any damage, his mom did get a zap of a lifetime but remained standing and quickly pinned him down so he couldn't move, hissing "NO LIGHTNINGS" at him. Zesty had been surprised by how she was still standing after the zap and at how she reacted, collapsing completely into a crying heap on the floor.

After a few moments, his mom had taken him back to his room, placed him on the bed and comforted him as best she could. After that, he had tried as best possible to control his outbursts with varying efficiency.

Feeling a change of subject was in order, his mom said "Come on, lets go to Sugarcube corner for a snack, might help to take minds of things for a bit" .. Zesty quickly agreed, thinking it was a smashing idea, jumping up and waiting outside for his mom. Shortly after, they was walking to Sugarcube corner ..

The Sugarcube corner was bustling with life, so many other ponies to look at and so many treats. Pointing out a azure blue cupcake to his mom, she ordered 2 and went to a table, Zesty joining her. Seconds later, misses Cake was there with the 2 cupcakes, politely Zesty thanked her and both him and his mom dug in, they both always liked treats like these.

The leisure walk back home was a good way to get some fresh air and stir some muscles, Zesty was at first bouncing n play running, but it seemed his energy was now running low and tiredness set in slowly as they reached the house.

"Phew, i'm tuckered out" Zesty announced revealing a bit of Applejack's choice of words. "I'm gonna hit the hay, goodnight mom" he said and with a hug, he went upstairs to bed.

"Pleasant dreams sweety" Mayor replied. She still had some work to do, unpacking and writing a few notes for her upcoming letter to Celestia.
_______________________________________________________________

"Dear Princess Celestia" she started.

"I am writing you as instructed with what i have learned so far about the incident with young Zesty.
As the rumor suggested, it was apparently pent-up frustration over a young filly's rejection that had caused his emotions to run amok.
It is saddening to think how young pony can sometimes blurt out the most devastating things to one another, but i am also quite confident that young Zesty has learned a lesson from the whole ordeal, as he did consciously remove himself from nearby ponies before his emotions overtook him.
I will keep you updated if more happens.

Your loyal Mayor of Ponyville"
_______________________________________________________________

She put the letter in a envelope and wrote adress on, walked out the house quietly and mailed it.

Upon returning home, she decided enough for today and found her bed very enticing. Moments after lying down and pulling the cover over her, she was fast asleep.

A few months went by with little to no news worthy of mailing to Celestia, but then it was time for Mayor to go on another trip, which meant that Zesty had to go live with another family for a while, this time it was with Rarity's family.

Zesty knew Rarity from school where they shared class with Applejack and he was excited about the idea of living alongside her, it meant to him that he could study the filly more closely and maybe get some tips and pointers for next time he would try to approach a potential special some-pony.

Rarity herself, already being a bit of a snob when it came to fashion, was also delighted to have Zesty living with her for a while, he would make the perfect test-subject for her many fashion ideas.

While being a fashion test-subject was not one of Zesty's best ideas of their time spent together, he didn't complain much, as it gave him time to speak with Rarity and sometimes get her into deep conversations about the ponies in school and around town.
it seems that Rarity was a bit of a blabbermouth, she practically had some dirt on every-pony. Zesty lapped up the knowledge like a thirsty dog, storing it inside his brain for later possible use.

As Rarity's parents had taught her to use basic magic for stuff like levitating items and such, it seemed only natural that Zesty asked them to help him learn a bit of magic as well, which they happily set to works with. Within a week, Zesty was multitasking levitation and somehow it all seemed to come second nature to him, once instructed on proper safe use.

Perhaps it was his nature livening up a bit, but Zesty seemed almost second nature to learn the everyday quick and easy spells like levitation, opening and closing doors, drawers and what not, and it seemed that he was also quite enjoying the possibility of using magic more often.

The friendship between Rarity and Zesty was good, they talked, smiled, laughed and generally had good fun together, but there could be dark days as well, as is with all friendships. He got a scoulding once for mouthing off to a visitor who was interested in a article from Rarity's collection during a bad friendship day. Not that it mattered much to him, but Rarity was basement level mood for a day or 2 before she forgave Zesty.

Her parents reminded Zesty that when Rarity didn't make a sale, it was a dip out of her allowance, so to speak, and that meant that she couldn't go to the Spa or Sugarcube corner until next sale. Zesty hadn't given that side much thought and decided to cheer Rarity up with a free trip to the Spa and a snack at Sugarcube corner.

Needless to say, Rarity was besides herself from the generosity from Zesty and happily accepted, thus tightening their friendship even more. They both had a good time in both places and friendly hugs was a plenty.

Sometimes in Ponyville, accidents would happen, mostly it was small stuff like broken limbs at most, but life has it's little ways of reminding you of what once was .. thus one day after a near crash with a tree while gliding, as Zesty still could not fly properly, Zesty got a chilling reminder that life is not always what it seems,

As he limped in to Ponyville hospital with a big scrape on his leg after the near crash, his mom, having returned for a short break, came rushing to see him. Intent that is wasn't anything bad, which the doc actually agreed on, they took a detour home, visiting the local graveyard.

Zesty knew that Mayor wasn't his real mom, the story had been told so many times that by the time Zesty could understand much for himself, he was told of the crash. He had obviously cried his heart out, but as always, "mom" was there for him.

After that time, he just decided that she was his mom and that was that.

In the graveyard stood 2 gravestones for them selves, their inscriptions simple.
"Unknown adult female zebra unicorn", a date and below "Zesty's mother" ..
Similar on the stone next to it, "Unknown adult male unicorn", a date and below "Zesty's father".

In between the 2 namestones was a smaller stone with the words chissled into it "Airballoon crash, Evergreen forest, date"

No matter how many times they came by, Zesty would always lie in front of the 2 stones, almost instantly overcome to tears.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Mayor layed a hoof on Zesty's back, that he snapped back to reality again, turning and hugging mom tightly, seemingly never wanting to let go of her.

He wasn't the only one sad on the Graveyard though, many people came through here, remembering old times, bringing in flowers and candles, sitting around and just talking to themselves like they was having idle chit-chat with the dead below.

After the trip to the graveyard, the 2 returned to Rarity's home, since he was still living there and had his stuff there. Rarity was in a cheer full mood, but when she saw Zesty's face, deep in sadness, her heart fell like a rock. She slowly walked over to Zesty, simply asked one thing

"Cemetary ?" .. They both nodded and Rarity just hugged Zesty like no tomorrow, trying to cheer him up, although she knew it was far from that easy.

"You know where i am if you want company, dear Zesty" said Rarity with a voice that could calm a raging bear to sleep in a instant. Zesty didn't know how she did it, but behind her white fur and purple mane, deep inside her was a heart of gold, filled with compassion for her friends."Thanks" he simply said, "It means a lot to just know that" Mayor chimed in.

Wandering up to bed, mom tuck him in and said goodnight, having told him that she was off again later in the evening for a long journey. He knew he couldn't stop her, so he just said "OK mom, be safe and send some more postcards". "Be strong my young Zesty" she said at the end.

That night, while sleeping and having a bad dream, he suddenly awoke to find himself hovering a feet above the bed, When he realised that it was himself doing it, he gave out a gasp and fell to the bed again. Slowly gettin up, he tiptoed to Rarity's room, nudging the door open. She was awake, looking at Zesty with wide eyes. "Did you just" she blabbered, startled "levitate me ??".

Zesty had no idea he could do that, asking quizzically "You too ??, you're not hurt, are you ?"

"Nope, i'm fine, but it did give me a bit of a scare, waking up to find me flowing in the room like that" she said

"Uhm, i guess i might have been to blame about that, awfully sorry Rarity" saying apologetically. "I was just looking by to see if you wouldn't mind a bit of company" .. Rarity scooted over and clapped a hoof on the now empty bedside, Zesty crawled up and gave her a hug, she was soo sweet ..Before long, both was asleep.

It was morning and Zesty found himself waking up as Rarity was moving around in the bed, accidently kicking him out into a freefall straight into the floorboards.

The bang awoke the parents and the came to investigate, and they couldnt stop laughing at what they saw.

There on the floor was Zesty, face planted and rear legs up high, Rarity turning over and sleeping on like nothing had happened. A trapped OW could be heard as he now would be having 2 horns for the day, one real and one big bump.

And there was much laughter from the hallway ...

Flight school

"Really mom ??!, no joke ??!" Zesty was asking in a i-cant-believe-it kind of voice.

"It's true, the forms are right here, all you have to do is sign them" his mom replied, and almost faster than you can say apple fritters, Zesty had already signed them, his entry papers for Flight school.

Like most Pegasus ponies and Alicorns, there comes a time where they should learn to use their wings and where else do they learn this, but at Flight school.

The beginners Flight school is a land based school with many towers and of course, many safety bags below each tower, in case some student fails to get going correctly, so there is really not much that can go wrong at the school, but still, accidents do happen and thus the hospital is located close by, should a student be injured, they can be rushed to medical aid in a minute usually.

Zesty was looking around along with his mom, taking in the sights and locations of everything.

He had a little bit of flying training from running of hills and talking to other winged ponies, majority of them Pegasus ponies because apparently, there was not a lot of alicorns around ponyville at least, maybe they was more spread out than he realized, but that didn't bother him for the time being, he was sure to find some other alicorns at flight school or maybe later at the advanced classes up in Cloudsdale.

"Wauw mom, this is gonna be awesome" Zesty said with a enthusiastic grin.

"I just hope they know what they're doing" Mayor said, being a earth pony herself and apparently afraid of heights, she was quite nervous about it all.

"Dont worry mom, i'm sure they got everything under control" .. Zesty didn't make it to say more before 2 pony came racing by with a gurney and a Pegasus on it, suffering from what looked like a bad leg scrape.

"Oh my" Mayor exclaimed horridly, "I am not gonna get much sleep tonight, i'll be a nervous wreck, why i'll..." being cut off from saying any more with a calming hug from Zesty.

A whistle was blown and a Pegasus was calling for them all to rally to his position. He was a older Pegasus, looked like 50's or more, lightgreen color and bright yellow mane and having a limb walk and a cane to support him.

After they all had settled down in front of him, he began to speak to them all, welcoming every pony and insuring their parents that the utmost care and attention would be taken at his flight school.

Zesty was looking around to look for other alicorns, but he couldn't see any else, which saddened him slightly, but not noticeably enough for his mom to notice it.

This flight school was located a hours walk from ponyville, so all the winged ponies was assigned sleeping areas, like in a army barrack, this amused Zesty a bit, making him feel like it was a big camping trip with a important purpose.

There was also sleeping quarters for the parents who couldn't make themselves leave their kids alone, but Zesty didn't have a problem with mom not being around, as he was used to her being away for times at a time, staying with other family's in ponyville. So far that tactic had worked fine and he was eager to get started.

After the welcome, each pony was interviewed with family and assessed into a grade so the teachers could be best set to work teaching them everything.

One might think that even though Zesty had recieved some tips and pointers from other winged ponies, that he would be in a bit more advanced class, but not so, as the teachers evaluated his knowledge and physic, they noticed big holes in what he knew and decided to play it safe and but him down a grade from where they initially had placed him.

Zesty being a bit sad about this, had no option than to follow their assignment and knew that it would be a while before actual flying was achieved, due to lack of basic knowledge and theory.

Mayor hearing this was a bit relieved, but could easily understand Zesty being a bit sad about it, but as she explained it to him, he knew that it was for the best of all parts, be it student, teachers, mom or medics.

After the interview and having said goodbye to mom, Zesty wandered the flight school grounds and was surprised to see a Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane. Having never seen anything like that before, he wanted to investigate and approached the light blue pony, noticing a yellow pony with long pink mane also talking to her.

"Hi, i'm Zesty" he said to the 2 ponies, "that's a really cool mane you got there" pointing to the light blue pony.

"Hey, thanks. I'm Rainbow Dash and this is Fluttershy", she said and pointed at the yellow pony. "Say hi Fluttershy" Dash said with a grin on her face. "Oh, ehm, hi" was all that Fluttershy could muster to say.

"Dont worry about her, she is very shy as her name suggests, well until you get to know her anyways" Dash said, smiling.

"Why come you have a horn, oh my, you're a Alicorn, how wonderfull" Fluttershy said, admiring Zesty's horn and wings "Those look like big and strong wings, have you been practicing alot ?" she asked.

"Nah, not that much, i can glide a bit, but thats about it" Zesty said with a smile, "I bet you 2 are far better than me"

"You're damn straight" Dash exclaimed, "I'm the fastest flyer EVER" saying the last bit even louder, causing Fluttershy to bend down a bit. "Ooh, not so loud Dash, you'll scare the cutesy wutesy animals off" Fluttershy said having seen a few animals around. Dash's remark was a short tungue flip and a "Pfff, see how she is ?, she sees a animal and she goes into her loving all creatures mind"

"Heh, i can see that she likes animals, i hope flight school will be a breese to go through, maybe we could do some flying together" said Zesty, looking at Fluttershy, who found a animal while Dash sighed at her.

"So, would you mind being friends ?, i dont see any other Alicorns here and it would be neat with someone to talk to" .. Fluttershy was surprisingly faster that Dash at saying "sure, we'll be best of friends, right Dash ?" .. "Of course, we have to stick together and become the best ever" Dash said with a big smile.

"Suddenly they heard a ringing sound, glancing to the school buildings, they could see a cook holding a triangle metal bar and violently banging a big metal spoon inside it, making the ringing sound, while yelling loudly "Dinnertime, come n get it". Instantly all the ponies was in full race mode, all but the 3 friends who was moving slower but still in a light run.

After the dinner, the 3 sat and talked more, tightening their new friendship with talk and story's.

Zesty explained his story to Dash and Fluttershy, who felt sad for Zesty and decided to go and give a big hug, Dash on the other hand pointed with a hoof to his mouth while Fluttershy was looking the other way, she was definitive not into all her lovey dovey stuff, all she wanted to do was become better and get out of the flight school, back to Cloudsdale where they both came from. But apparently Fluttershy was in no hurry to finish the school to Dash's annoyance,

Fluttershy told Zesty the story about how she and Dash was both born and raised in Cloudsdale and that they rarely got down here on firm ground. They had learned to know each other since kindergarten and was near inseparable since then, always sticking together no matter what. Zesty could understand their friendship and in return told them about Applejack and Rarity, just to mention a few.

After a while, another bell rang and a loud voice called bedtime .. the trio found 3 free beds in a row and claimed them quickly, Dash in one, then Fluttershy and Zesty on her other side. It wasn't long before they all fell asleep, tired from their first day of friendship.

The next day came by much too fast and another bell rang to wake them all up.

Sadly, the 3 friends was not in the same class together, but they managed ok anyway. Dash was in a advanced class, flying around outside, while Zesty was in a middle class, learning about sustained flight and all the things about aerodynamic and lifting off, hovering and so forth, but Fluttershy, being the shy one, was afraid and was still only covering the basics, even though she could fly briefly.

But once she came to par with her fear of heights (among other things), she was ramped up to Zesty's class and they shared desks next to each other and sometimes waved at dash, blasting by outside in the air.

Dash was doing fine, but she could get a bit too cocky and did have a fair few crashes, although never anything serious. She said something about a magical protection field around Pegasus while flying, and while it sounded cool, none had ever given definitive proof of it's existence.

Zesty noticed that with Dash outside showboating, Fluttershy was easy to talk to during the day and more restrained when they all 3 was together, but with Dash's super-confidence, he figured that was normal.

There was something that Zesty was also good at besides learning to fly, and that was using his magic abilitys. He trained them with the levitation and other small spells that he had learned and he found that both friends was amazed when he used his powers.

Specially Fluttershy was amazed at the magic tricks that Zesty could perform, and as time went on, he liked his friends more and more .. mostly Fluttershy though .. he and Dash was friends on a much more male stage, while he would sometimes pick up a flower and put into Fluttershy's mane, she would maybe flinch at first, but when she saw Zesty and the glowing horn, she could usually quickly figure out what he was doing .. for the gazillionth time ..

On weekends, the 3 would sometimes come home to Zesty and Mayor for relaxation before going back to flight school. They met up with Applejack and Rarity and all had a fun time talking, playing, having fun and so on and so fourth.

Of course Applejack told about the barn incident and Rarity couldn't keep quiet about what she had experienced while Zesty was there, and so Zesty had to show a little light show of electric sparks dancing around his body while they fell flat from the story of how Rarity had kicked him onto the floor in her sleep.

While Zesty was away on flight school, a new earth pony had arrived to town and was staying on top of Sugarcube corner with the Cakes family. Appeljack and Rarity had seen this new pony, pink colored with a poofy pink mane and they all decided to go and have a treat and maybe meet this newcomer at the same time.

As luck would have it, the newcomer was also there at Sugarcube corner and she was bouncing around the place, her own way of getting around was interresting to say the least, and shortly after arriving, the pink pony came bouncing over to the group, introducing herself as Pinkie Pie.

Whilst Pinkie had already meet Applejack and Rarity, she was amazed at Zesty, possibly the first time she had seen a Alicorn, and she was bouncing around and talking silly like, mentioning all the colors than he had, before moving on to Fluttershy, who hid a bit behind Dash and Zesty, naturally shy as she always is around new ponies, but soon she warmed up to Pinkie and was smiling, Pinkie noticing Dash and her rainbow mane bounced over and went all "uuUUUOOOhhh" at the colors and asked Dash where she could get one like it. Dash had to explain to Pinkie a few times that that was how she was born and that one could not just "Buy a rainbow mane" as she said it.

After a while, they all 6 went outside and played and talked. Applejack was showing Pinkie some apple handling and Rarity was talking with Fluttershy, who was visited by a few squirrels from a nearby tree, while Dash and Zesty did some light flying.

At evening time, they split up again, each pony going to their home, except the 3 winged ponies, who all went to Mayor's house, since Zesty knew where the key was under the welcome mat. He had permission from mom of course to bring the 2 Pegasus home for the weekend, provided they didn't destroy the home.

Mayor would be coming home a day later from a trip, then she could meet his new friends.

Mom had setup a big inflatable mattress on the floor with sheets by the side, ready for use. the mattress was big enough for all 3 and they slept together in peace after having fed themselves with some cookies and juice from the fridge.

Dash, bring the not so lovey pony, was sleeping a little to the side, but Fluttershy was a bit nervous, first time in a foreign house, and she was hugging Zesty in her sleep which he certainly didn't mind one bit.

Early morning and the 3 friends was woken by mom returning home from her trip, thankfully she had slept on the train home in a sleeper car, so she was as fresh as the 3 friends. When she got to the room where they slept, she couldn't help but do a little "Awwww" at the sight she saw.

There, on the air mattress, was Zesty with Fluttershy resting her head on his chest and Rainbow off to the side. Her Awwww woke them up and Zesty introduced them to mom. Mom then went back below after telling them that breakfast would be ready in a few minutes. The friends got ready for a new day and Fluttershy said a quiet thanks to Zesty for not minding her during the night.

At the morning table, some light idle chit chat was held, talk about the school and what they was gonna be doing during the day that lie ahead of them. Some light flying, playing and so on like the day before.

Zesty was a little unattentive as he was looking more at Fluttershy than Dash and as mothers do, they notice these things, excusing herself and asking Zesty to follow her to his room.

She started with a sly remark . "Sooo .. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash .. i can see why you like Fluttershy, just be carefull and dont hurt either's feelings if you some day find the courage to tell her"

Zesty jumped back "SSSHHH .. mom .. they might hear you" .. "hah, bulls-eye" mom replied victoriously.

Truth be told, Zesty was in love with Fluttershy for a while now, and he was pretty sure she felt the same way, but he had not had the courage to talk to her about it. Mom simply said "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and left Zesty to think about her, that lovely yellow pony with long pink mane ...

Later that day, as Zesty and Dash was flying around, he lured her behind the house and stopped Dash. "I have something to say", he started . "I think i got a crush on Fluttershy" .. Dash missed a few wing beats but corrected herself letting out a rather violent "WHAT" before composing herself.

Amazingly, Dash they broke into laughing fit and after a minute told Zesty that she already knew that, she had noticed how happy he was around Fluttershy and gave the sisterly OK about it with a warning that if he would somehow hurt her in any way, he would be knocked out of the sky. Zesty knowing what Dash could do promised that he would never hurt Fluttershy.

Returning to the house, Fluttershy was looking up at them with a ring of flowers around her neck, looking more beautiful than before .. "Go time" he whispered to Dash, who took the hint and vanished for a few minutes.

Meantime, Zesty was talking to fluttershy and eventually he started ..

"Fluttershy, you know i like you as a friend, but i would like to like you as my very special some pony too .. would you like that ?" .. Words hard to say was simply acknowledged by a giant hug from Fluttershy, hanging around his neck, unable to contain their happiness, tears running down their faces.

And then it happened, she gave him his very first kiss ..

Love and Graduation

They had been totally engulfed in their moment of bliss to realize that Mayor and Rainbow had arrived and was looking at them intently, maybe even wondering how long they could stay like that.

Several by passers gave a sigh and some mentioned young love. eventually Zesty and Fluttershy started to notice the cheers and comments and broke their long kiss.

Moving over to Mayor and Rainbow, they all got a big group hug before they went inside and helped Mayor with making dinner.

Mayor soon shooed the young lovers off to the living room where they sat and just nuzzled into each other, exchanging small talk and "I love you"'s.

Rainbow was happy by her friends admitting to love, but she was also somewhat of a tomboy, and as such, she didn't like all that lovey dovey stuff much, instead staying and helping Mayor with dinner.

At the dinner table, Mayor gave her knowledge about love and it seemed like Rainbow was gonna hurl soon from the atmosphere, although she was overjoyed. Excusing herself, she went out for a flight to clear herself a bit before returning to another dose of lovey dovey observing. "Well, at least they're happy together" she sighed with relief.

Later in the evening, they all went out for a evening flight, well all who had wings anyways, Mayor obviously didn't, being an Earth pony and the adult, she decided to leave them some room and cleared the kitchen until next use. looking at the good work, she went to the living room and found a good book, but she was soon sleeping on the couch with the book on the floor where it had landed, after she dropped it dozing off.

The trio of Fluttershy, Rainbow and Zesty was lounging around on a cloud for a while, just enjoying their friendships and love, and obviously Rainbow was bragging about her speedy ability as usual.

Enjoying the sunset and their company, the trio decided to go home and be with Mayor before crashing for the night. Returning to the house, Zesty called out gently for Mayor, not getting a answer back. after looking in the living room, he couldn't help but giggle a bit of the sight, and he gently called the girls to see it, before he started to use his magic and float Mayor into her bedroom, Fluttershy going ahead to lift the covers, while Rainbow turned out the lights in the house.

After a big deal of magic use from Zesty, they managed to get Mayor into bed with only one or two light bumbs against the bedside before success.

When Zesty finally managed to finish his magic use, he nearly collapsed on the floor right there and then, but Fluttershy was quick on her hooves and snatched up Zesty before he could hit the floor.

They then decided to go to bed and went up to Zesty's room with the big air mattress and like before, Rainbow distanced herself a bit from the lover couple, who was nuzzled up close and relaxing while Zesty stroked his hoof through Fluttershy's mane, sighing about how happy she looked when he confessed his love for her at the park earlier in the day.

Within 5 minutes, Zesty was out cold and Rainbow admired the sight of Fluttershy snuggled up so close and tender to him, silently she wanted a Colt like Zesty as well.

Rainbow got Fluttershy's attention by softly tapping her hoof with her own.

"I just want to tell you how happy i am for the 2 of you" Rainbow started, not sure how to continue, but she didn't have to, as Fluttershy just looked at her and said silently "Don't worry Dash, there is one for you too out there somewhere". She giggled a bit and then said "And we'll help you find your special someone".

Rainbow was at a loss for words, Fluttershy could read her like an open book and had calmed her right down to earth. She rolled over and joined the snuggle and soon they where all sleeping soundly with Fluttershy in the middle.

The next day was announced by a pair of birds flying by outside, singing morning praise to the sun. Fluttershy was the first to stir and mumbled a "Good Morning" to her friends both in bed and outside.

After a half hour, all pony's in the house was awake and having breakfeast in the kitchen, when Mayor noticed that it was Sunday and that the trio would have to go back to basic flight school later in the day.

Still there was a question on her mind, as she could not remember going to bed the night before.

"I thought i had passed out on the couch last night" Mayor said.

"You did" Fluttershy said, "we all saw you lying there and Zesty used his levitation to float you into bed with our help"

"Goodness, i didn't feel a thing, you really got those spells learned good, my dear."

Zesty blushed and ducked down at the praises coming from Mayor, he was happy that he didn't have to explain it all in too much detail, like how he almost broke his concentration a few times, thankfully he didn't.

"Now remember, you will need to be back at school by night, so get a early start" Mayor reminded the trio.

"Yes mom, we will" Zesty said, the girls nodding in agreement.

The rest of the morning and midday went with playing outside, but now with more special moments between the young lovers, giving Dash more time for herself to try a few stunts she was thinking off.

The trip to the flight school was done almost before it had begun, and they found themselves being some of the first there, so they flew around and made fun, but Fluttershy mentioned to Zesty to have a talk.

"Yes dear" he said smiling. "Ssssh" she shoo'd him, "I'm not sure that the school takes kindly to romances, so for now, let's just save our love for weekends and alone moment, ok dear ?"

"If that is what you desire, my sweet, that is how we'll play it" he said with a friendly smile, inside he knew he just wanted to scream their love out from the top of his lungs, but he knew that Fluttershy was right, an awfull lot of teasing could also follow in the wake of a announced romance.

They gave a passionate kiss and hugged before too many other students arrived to catch them and played it cool.

The nights at the school was quiet, but Zesty knew he'd be alright, cause he had his love right beside him in the next bed, Rainbow on his other side, rolling and kicking into the air properly dreaming about something acrobatically airworthy.

As time slowly went by in flight school, the trio gradually got better and better at flying, accidents did happen from time to time, but it was mostly just sprains and scrapes from landings and smaller crashes, generally all was doing well at school, and even Fluttershy finally got into the same class as Rainbow and Zesty, thus being able to enter the graduation finals as the last student to enter the last class.

The final it self was a test of aerobatics and knowledge, and not a single student failed, causing much joy and a big Graduation day party where all the parents was invited to as well.

Long into the night, everybody danced ans laughed, a few pairs sneaked off for some private time and Zesty managed to get Fluttershy with him up onto a hill, where they spent some time lying body to body, enjoying kuddles and kisses and watching the night sky where a few star shots flashed by.

The following day, as they was walking / flying home with Mayor, Zesty was nervous about the future, raising some concern with his mom.

"I wonder what is next for us" he said out loud, hinting a uncertain look ahead for the near future, but that soon turned out to be for naught, as mom just smiled and said "Why my dear, Cloudville and advanced flight school of course".

Zesty almost tripped over his own hooves by her response. "Really mom ?" he somehow got blurted out.

"But of course my dear" Mayor almost sang to him, "I did promise you the best of what i can do, didn't i ?".

Zesty didn't have time to think, he just bounced over and gave his mom a giant hug and dragged Fluttershy and Dash into the hug as well.

After a bit, a thought occurred in him.

"Mom, what will we do about living quarters in the sky ?"

"Not a problem, i have had words with both your parents" gesturing to Dash and Fluttershy "And they are more than happy to have you or all staying at their places during school"

"Awesome" Dash blurted out and even Fluttershy cheered in with a big "Yay"

"For now though" Mom said "We'll go home to Ponyville and debate what is best and such" "Agreed" the trio said with almost a single voice, walking back home for a few weeks of relaxation before next school called for them.

The next week's time went by with some practice flying and some gentle loving by kisses and cuddling, and as usual, Dash was trying to avoid too much of the lovey dovey stuff, spending more time in the air where she felt that she truly belonged.

But as life is, all good things must come to an end, and as such it was getting close to the time where the Cloudsdale Advanced flight school would begin.

"It's not so bad, i got my good friends with me and i know we'll look after each other as best we can"

The scene was the party before their sendoff to Cloudsdale, and Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie was here along with Zesty, Rainbow and Fluttershy, Mayor was serving drinks around and other ponies was dancing and chatting.

Zesty was trying to sound like all would be well in front of their non-winged friends, but of course they could not stop worrying about how big a chance was coming soon.

"Do send us some souvenirs from Cloudsdale" Rarity chimed in, "Yeah, and don't forget to mail us every so often" Applejack said "Nah, just come visit us, it's better and easier to have party's then" Pinkie motioned, everyone laughing and having good times.

Tomorrow was the day, the skies was waiting.