“Fine. I’ll just go live in the woods like my foreponies before me.”

Zephyr started to pack his essentials, ready to go to his new home.

“Guess the only Breeze this Zephyr can count on, is his own,” Zephyr said as he left the cottage, heading to the Everfree Forest.

Fluttershy watched her younger brother leaving till he was out of her sight. Sadness overcame the yellow pegasus.

Fluttershy was cleaning up the mess Zephyr had previously made with the help of her pegasus friend Rainbow Dash. While cleaning, Rainbow Dash noticed the depressed face her friend had on. “Aw cheer up Fluttershy. I know it was hard, but you did the right thing. You couldn't let Zephyr pull the same stuff on you that he’s always pulled on your folks.”

“I guess so,” Fluttershy replied sadly.

Suddenly, the sound of a bird chirping was heard. Fluttershy turned around to her window seeing her bird friend Constance.

“Oh. Hello Constance.”

Constance started to whisper into Fluttershy’s ear.

“Oh… oh dear.”

Rainbow Dash’s face said it all. She and Fluttershy knew what was going on. And it had something to do with a familiar pony.

***

“See Wickford,” Zephyr said to his mannequin. “The Breeze needs no pony. We’ve got food, shelter. Just need to put the old kettle on.”

Zephyr set the so-called kettle on what was going to be his campfire. He then rubbed two rocks together, throwing them into the campfire. Zephyr waited for the fire to go up but to no avail.

“Come on sticky sticky. Get with the sparks.” Zephyr banged the pot with a stick till it broke, making one half of it hit the pot, causing it to pour out some green fluid.

“Ugh! What’s a pony gotta do to find a decent stick around here?!” Zephyr kicked the stick but it bounced off the campfire hitting him right back in the muzzle. At this point, Zephyr couldn’t take it anymore. He went on an outrage destroying his camp. While destroying what was left of his camp, a rock hit his head at full speed knocking him out cold.

“Ugh. What happened?” Zephyr had woken up from the previously unexpected event. He had been knocked out for almost an hour. Zephyr looked at his surroundings to see that nothing had changed. His destroyed camp still lay where it stood.

“Welp, I think I’m gonna call it a day and catch some Z’s.”

As Zephyr was about to sleep, a voice was heard in the distance. “Zephyr.”

“Huh?!” Zephyr quickly looked to his left and right and saw nothing.

“I must be hearing things.”

“Oh no. You’re not hearing things.”

“Well then, uh, the only reasonable explanation would be that I’m dreaming. Right?”

“It’s not a dream either.”

Zephyr was scared. After looking around for some more, he saw where the voice was coming from. Between two trees was a pony. The only thing visible were its bright white eyes.

Zephyr started shaking. “Oh. T-There you a-are.”

“Follow me. I’ll help you with your problems.” The eyes of the mysterious pony faded into the dark. Zephyr then blindly followed the voice.

***

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were heading their way to Everfree Forest. Rainbow Dash started to make some small talk. “I know he needs to learn to do things for himself but-”

“No. I can’t let him live like that.”

“Yeah. You’re right. He’s not gonna make it through the night.”

The pegasi had arrived at Everfree Forest. After looking around for a couple minutes, Zephyr was nowhere to be found.

“Where could he be?” asked Fluttershy. “We’ve looked everywhere.”

“Maybe he changed his mind and is somewhere around Ponyville,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I hope so. Let’s go back and ask anypony who has seen him.”

The two pegasi headed back to Ponyville. Little did they know, Zephyr was hiding in a bush. The mystery pony was just hiding in the darkness with his eyes closed.

“That was close. Good thing they didn’t see us.”

“Why is that a good thing?” Zephyr asked in confusion.

“It’s important that no pony sees me helping you. Especially if they see me.”

“I guess it would be weird to see some eyes just floating around.”

“I’ll show you my true self when I’m done helping you. Now let’s go somewhere more hidden.”

The mystery pony faded into the darkness once again. The turquoise pegasus continued to follow the pony.

***

The two pegasi had arrived at Sugarcube Corner. As they entered, Pinkie Pie cheerfully greeted them.

“Hey Dashie! Hey Fluttershy! What brings you here?”

“Hey Pinkie. Uh, have you seen Zephyr?” asked Fluttershy.

“Nope, haven’t seen him. What’s wrong?”

“It’s a long story.” Fluttershy then explained what happened to Pinkie.

“Oh I’m sorry Fluttershy.”

“Come on Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash. “Let’s go ask somepony else.”

***

Zephyr and the mystery pony were farther into the forest.

“I saw that you were having troubles with living your life. Let me help you with that.”

“Really? You would do that?”

“Under one condition. You have to get me an apple from Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Really? Simple man I see. I like it. Something I can actually do.”

As Zephyr headed off to Sweet Apple Acres, the mystery pony quickly interjected.

“However, you need to get the apple without being seen.”

“Why? And now thinking about it, why do you even need an apple in the first place?”

“I’ll explain everything later. Just do as I say.”

After the mystery pony finished, Zephyr headed out to find an apple.

***

“Nopony has seen my brother. I’m starting to worry. Where is he? What happened to him?”

“Now hold on Fluttershy. We haven’t asked Applejack. Maybe she knows where Zephyr is.”

“I don’t know Rainbow. Nopony else knows where he is so I wouldn’t expect her to know.”

“Well it’s worth a shot. Come on Fluttershy, let’s go.”

Fluttershy doubted Rainbow Dash’s statement but went along with it. She followed her friend to Sweet Apple Acres.

The two pegasi had arrived at their destination. They rushed towards the country mare.

“Well howdy there y’all. What brings you two here?”

“Hey Applejack. Have you seen my brother Zephyr?”

“Nope. Sorry Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy’s face turned into a sad expression. Almost as if she was about to form tears in her eyes.

“What’s wrong sugarcube?”

“Long story.” Rainbow explained the whole story to Applejack.

“Oh I’m sorry Fluttershy.” As Applejack went to comfort Fluttershy, the sounds of a bush rustling was heard.

“What in tarnation was that?” The three mares rushed towards where the sound was. When they reached the apple trees, they saw a pony in a black hood picking out an apple.

“Hey! Get back here you varmint!”

The pony quickly headed out of Sweet Apple Acres.

“Get after him!” exclaimed Applejack.

The three mares quickly chased down the thief.

***

“You’re back I see.”

Zephyr took off his hood and held out an apple. “Here’s the apple you wanted. So what do you need an apple for?”

“I made you get an apple since I’m gonna cast a spell on it to change your life for the better. Oh, and another thing. Were you followed or noticed by any chance?”

“Oh, uh, about that… Well, let’s just say I had to fly faster than normal.”

“Oh brother. You know what, it’s fine.”

As the mystery pony placed his hands around the apple, he made a quick interjection.

“Oh, one more thing. Could you turn around?”

Zephyr was confused but complied.

As the turquoise pegasus faced the other way, a strike from a blade cut into his neck, knocking him down with blood flowing out.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!” Zephyr screamed, clutching his neck to stop the bleeding. As the turquoise pegasus turned around to see where the attack came from, he was in shock.

The mystery pony had revealed himself. He was Zephyr but in all black with white eyes. He had a damaged wing and sharp teeth. The shadowed Zephyr let out an evil laugh.

“Did you really think I’d help a useless piece of shit like you?”

Zephyr’s adrenaline started rushing. He quickly flew out of there, wanting to get away from the forest and his shadow counterpart.

“You can fly, but you can’t hide!” exclaimed the shadowed Zephyr as he grabbed his knife, chasing down the turquoise pegasus.

***

The three mares were now in the Everfree Forest. Applejack looked at the floor and noticed a trail of hoofprints.

“The thief went this way!” exclaimed Applejack.

The three mares followed the trail of hoofprints. While they were following the trail, a horrifying scream was heard in the distance.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

“What the heck was that?” asked Applejack.

The mares followed the trail in a faster pace, seeing if it would lead them to the scream. After running for a few minutes, the trail had ended, leading them to a deeper part of the forest. The mares looked at what the trail had led them to, and had horrified expressions on their faces. What they found was Zephyr laying down on the forest floor in a puddle of blood.

“Z-Zephyr?” Fluttershy ran up to her brother to see if what she saw was really real.

“No no no no no no. This can’t be.” Unfortunately, the horrifying sight she saw was real. Her younger brother was dead.

“No… Zephyr no!” Tears formed into Fluttershy’s eyes as she cried into her brother’s chest. “Who would do th-his?!”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash comforted Fluttershy, patting her on the back.

***

The next day was Zephyr’s funeral. Everypony had gathered around the graveyard. Vinyl and Octavia played sad music as the funeral director, Mayor Mare, proposed a speech.

“Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today to say goodbye to our pegasus friend, Zephyr. Although he was a freeloader, he’s still a civilian in our town, and we love him very much.”

Fluttershy hugged her parents as they cried while Mayor Mare continued her speech. All of Fluttershy’s friends comforted her till the speech was over.

“If anypony wants to say their goodbyes, feel free to do so,” Mayor Mare said as she headed out.

Fluttershy went up to the tombstone with tears still in her eyes, ready to say her goodbyes.

“Zephyr, you were a smart and talented pony. Even though you freeload, you’re my brother and a part of my family. I just… I just wish you didn’t have to die like this.”

Fluttershy started to cry when she said that last sentence.

“Keep in my mind that… that I-I still b-believed in y-you. I believed t-that I still c-could’ve helped y-you, and that y-you would a-actually succeed in s-something. And one m-more thing. I… I… I l-love y-you… so much.”

Author's Note

I don't actually know how funerals work but I think I did good on it so yeah...