//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13 - Concert Ticket Shenanigans 
// Story: On The Wings of Wind 
// by Chazonic 
//------------------------------//





? ? ?





"How is the target doing?"

"Struggling. His attempts to avoid interaction have had mixed results."

"So, no way to know for certain?"

"Correct. Thing is, it has grabbed the attention of Princess Celestia, who will undoubtedly ask the Element of Magic to look into him."

"Urgh, and with the royal guard keeping our boys laying low, our own hooves are tied"

"Should we..?"

"No. Continue observing for now. Remember; we have that back-up plan for a reason."





Zephyr Earthwing, Zephyr's house





"WHAT THE BUCK WAS SHE THINKING?"

I knew that my mom was, bluntly put, a troll when she's feeling mischievous. But sending me ten tickets to her upcoming concert WITH conditions attached to them was just plain mean.

I look over the letter she sent me with the tickets again.

Dear Zephyr;

As you know, Harmonecence is going to be performing at a concert coming up right soon here in Manehatten. As such, I would like to invite you and 9 of your friends from Ponyville to attend the concert. Please attend; the rest of the band misses you, and it would be nice to see you after a while.

Also note that I will be expecting you to extend the invitations. You know I won't forgive you for squandering the tickets I worked so hard to procure for you. VIP tickets are hard to come by.

Love, Mom.

The silver and gold tickets doubled as VIP backstage access.

"Friends? What friends? I never told her about making any friends in any of my previous letters. What is she trying to get at?

"Worse yet, I care too much about my mom's opinion to really just give them out willy-nilly, especially if what she said on the back of the letter is true."

P.S:

If you question who I'm referencing when I say friends, I mean the six mares and the three fillies you wrote to me about. I want to meet them personally and ask them their opinion of you. So don't be mean-spirited in giving them out!

"Urrrrrgh, I really wish I didn't put that much detail into my letters. Even though I think I explicitly said they're not my friends, she still--"

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

I jolted out of talking to myself. The scare I got yesterday with the Princess visiting Ponyville personally had not gone away, so I was trying to be cautious. Sadly, it devolved to talking to myself for the rest of the day like a psychopath and it had carried over to today.

Deciding to humor who ever knocked, I answered. Twilight Sparkle was the one behind it.

"Hey Zephyr. Can I talk to you?"

Love of duck, can my luck get any worse? If she really is tied in with royalty, I can't really do much to refuse her...

"Sure... come on in."

When she got herself seated in the kitchen chair, she motioned for me to sit down as well.

"So, what have you been doing lately?"

I shrug. "Oh, nothing new. Do wind and weather, go to the farm and harvest some apples, then just do whatever for the rest of the day."

She gives a skeptic nod.

"So... you don't do anything with other ponies?"

I give her a slight glare. "Of course. I work with Rainbow Dash, and I occasionally see Applejack and Big Mac. What's it to you?"

She frowns. "Not much, I suppose." She suddenly smiles. "Got any problems, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues, major or minor, that I as a good friend could help you solve?

...What?

"I don't know about the friend part, but I do have one problem."

"Oh? What might that be?"

I gave a slightly nervous grin. "Would you kindly take these tickets off my hooves and give them to your friends?" I hold out nine of the ten tickets to her.

She gapes at them. "VIP tickets to the upcoming concert in Manehatten? How did you get these?"

"My mom. She wanted nine ponies from Ponyville to come along, and I figured, why not you and your friends?"

I forgot to flip the letter I got. Hope she doesn't notice.

She looks at me for a moment before smiling and lighting up her horn.

Yes!

She only takes one.

Wait, what?

"Why don't you hoof out the tickets yourself? You can get to know others a bit more through this."

"But...but..."

"No buts. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be just fine." She stands up. "Besides, there's a certain trio of fillies you should visit after school is done. They have been rather sad that you haven't been there for them." With that, she takes her leave, ticket in tow.

I, on the other hoof, felt like a complete jerk flank because of what she said.

The miniscule amount of time I spent with the crusaders, and they already grew attached to me... this was EXACTLY what I wanted to avoid...

I sigh as I look at the remaining eight tickets left to be handed out.

"May as well get it over with..."





Question is, who to start with?

I had taken to wandering around Ponyville, debating on my course of action.

Rainbow Dash would ironically be the easiest to give one to. I just have to disguise it as--

There was a 'WHOOSH' sound above me. When I looked up, I saw an all too familiar rainbow trail.

"Speak of Discord and she doth appear." I launch myself after her. Apparently she noticed me following her, since she stopped and turned to me with a slightly irritated face.

"What the hay do you want? If it's a race you want, then all you have to do is ask. I'll gladly kick your flank again."

Ignore it... ignore the irritation...

I sigh. "Actually, this IS about a race. More specifically, the last race we had."

"Yeah, what about it? You going to get on my case over it?" She sneers at me.

Grind my gears, will you? "Ugh, no. What I wanted to say was--"

"Spit it out already. I'm on a tight schedule, and I got stunts to perform!"

I scowl at her. "Hock the ego for one minute, PLEASE?" She scowls back at me, though it quickly diminished when I showed her a concert ticket.

"This is your reward for beating me back then. Don't tell anypony else where you got this, otherwise I'm going to kick you so hard, you'll be flying backwards for a week." As soon as she took the ticket with a surprised look on her face, I flew off.

Now, I hope I don't regret this decision...

I land in front of Sugar Cube Corner, still grumpy from my encounter with the prismatic pegasus.

"Hi!" I look over to see--

Oh sweet merciful Celestia, what did I ever do to you? All I did was shirk from your attention!

"What do you want Pinkie?" The pink party mare was standing there with a big smile on her face.

"Nothing! I'm just glad you didn't disappear on me again!"

I thought for a moment before realizing what she meant. "If you're talking about yesterday, I got to see the whole town at once from the air, thanks to you."

She paused. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

I groan in response. "What I meant is that you scared me into the sky."

"Oooooooohhhhhhhh... was it fun?"

I facehoof. "Yeah, I was about as joyful as a monkey in a banana famine."

She giggles. "Silly! Just give the monkey a banana then."

All the facehooves in Equestria could not express my feelings towards that statement. Is she naive or is she just doing it deliberately? I doubt she's stupid.

"Pinkie, can I ask you something?"

"Sure!"

"If I give you this ticket --" I pull it out and show her "-- will you please leave me alone?"

Next thing I knew, I was in a crushing death grip from Pinkie Pie. "Oh Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You!" She takes the ticket out of my grip and rushes into Sugar Cube Corner, leaving me to fall to the ground without any support.

She still scares me...





"Three down, six more to go..."

As convoluted as my order was, I found myself going to Applejack's farm next, even though Fluttershy was closer.

Have I mentioned enough times that I hate headaches? Because I don't think I have.

"Well, howdy pard'ner! Ferget somthin'?" Scared out of my wits, I turn to see Applejack coming out of the barn, probably finished with loading apples.

"O-oh, uh... hi Applejack. I just... uh, happened to pass by here on an enthusiastic walk!"

She deadpanned. "An' this... 'enthusiastic' walk jus' happened to bring you right up to the barn?"

I foresee my flanks getting burned in the future. Still, as thin of a lie that was, I wonder if she actually saw through my other lies.

"Alrighty then, then I have one question." She straightens up. "What kind of music do you like?"

This apparently caught her off guard. "That's it? Jus' asking what music ah like?" She sighs when I nod. "While ah typically like country music, ah will listen to other kinds if the band is good enough. Why are you suddenly curious?"

This... might be a bit awkward.

"I'll cut to the chase. Did you want to go to the concert going on in Manehatten?"

She mulled over it for a bit before nodding with a smile. "It would be nice and all. After all, There's a few...few..." She started gaping at the concert ticking I suddenly held out to her.

"Yeeeeaaaahhhh... my mom sent me a bunch for some reason, and I figured 'why not give one to my employer'?"

Applejack shook her head, like she was snapping out of a trance. "Are ya sure, sugahcube? Ya don't have to if ya don't want to."

"Nay, I chose give you one." More like I was kinda-sorta forced to... maybe.

She gives be a big grin. "Well, ya certainly made this farm pony happy! Ah'm not much for concerts, but the one going on in Manehatten is said to be the biggest one yet! Thank you kindly fer a chance to go."

Wait till she finds out that's a VIP ticket.

I shook my head. "It's no problem, Applejack. I'm going to be running along now." I turn to leave the farm.

"Actually, there's one last thing ah want to tell ya." I look at her with a puzzled expression. "Be sure to give Applebloom a visit. That filly actually misses you, ya know?" With that, she practically skips into her house.

Strike number two. Did I really make that much of an impact on their life? All I did was watch over them!

Giving a heavy sigh, I continue to my next destination.





"Figures she's be out..."

I had arrived in front of Rarity's boutique, only to find it closed in a 'temporary leave of absence'.

Now what am I to do? From what I can tell, Rarity gets along well with Fluttershy, so I figured I'd get both of them out of the way by giving Rarity Fluttershy's ticket as well.

"You looking for Miss Rarity, sir?" I look over to see a light blue mare with a mane that was blue and white.

Colgate, Ponyville's dentist if I recall. "Yes I am."

"Ah yes. She usually goes to the spa with Miss Fluttershy at around this time. Perhaps you can find her there."

Perfect. I can give the both of them their tickets right then and there. "Can you point me there? I wanted to give her something as payment for something she worked on for me."

She gave me the directions to the spa, as well as a request to come in for a 'complimentary check-up' when I find the time of day. It came out of left field for me, but I agreed to it. I'm odd like that; I like getting my teeth worked on.

When I flew to the spa, I skirted around Rainbow Dash, who seemed... preoccupied? Regardless, I didn't want to deal with her again until the next day.

When I entered the spa, I was greeted by a light blue mare with flowing pink hair. Seems to be a lot of light blue mares in this town...

"How may I help you?"

I looked around, slightly nervous. "Is miss Rarity here? I wanted to give her something."

"Oh, yes. She's currently in the middle of her session with Miss Fluttershy. I could give it to her if you would like."

"Sure." When I pulled out the two tickets, she gaped at them, but quickly regained composure. I took my leave after she assured me they would get to their intended recipients.

All that's left are three fillies. I still love how specific my mom was when she told me who to invite. Still... how will they react when I see them after how many days?

I look at the clock tower. If the time foals get out is similar to Manehatten's schools, it was pretty close.

Oddly convenient...

However, when I got to the school and waited for a bit, nothing happened.

... Or not. Huzzah for my memory lying to me.

Apparently, school wasn't out for another thirty minutes, so I simply waited underneath a nearby tree, with nothing better to do.

Actually, I could of went for a snack... that's besides the point though. I guess a nap will have to do.

As soon as I curled up, I was out like a candle.





Cutie Mark Crusaders, thirty minutes later.





A lot of foals liked the sound of the school bell ringing at the end of a day. It always meant no more classroom boredom. Cheerilee always made sure the foals had a good learning experience, but most still couldn't wait for day's end.

Prime examples being the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were always silently thinking up different crusade ideas for after class to try out.

Except this time, as they left, they all concluded that they all drew blanks for the day.

"If this keeps up, we will be redrawing ideas from past crusades!" Scootaloo gave an exasperated sigh.

Applebloom shook her head. "We've got to keep trying! We won't get cutie marks from doing nothing."

"Keep trying past crusades or trying to think up new ones?"

"Both!"

This went on for a bit until Sweetie Belle stopped, eyes wide.

Applebloom was first to notice. "What's wrong, Sweetie Belle?"

She lifted a shaky hoof to point. "L-look who it is."

Sleeping right underneath one of the trees was a familiar green pegasus.

Applebloom went wide-eyed as well. "Zephyr? But we haven't seen him since he took us home during that one storm."

Scootaloo frowned. "Last I saw him was when he took me back to the orphanage to tell them I was ok." She had already told her friends about her situation. They vowed to never let anypony else know until she was ready for it. It certainly didn't change her standing with her friends.

"What is he doing sleeping here of all places?"

Sweetie Belle put a hoof up to her chin. "I don't know. We could ask when he wakes up."

"Or we could just wake him up ourselves, then ask." Scootaloo grinned. "Besides, we haven't seen him in a while. May as well give him a wake-up call."

The other two fillies looked at each other before nodding and dashing towards Zephyr.




Zephyr, two seconds later




Next thing I knew, I felt three weights suddenly reveal themselves on my back. I gave an 'oof' as my eyes snapped open. My sight didn't last long, as I felt hooves cover my eyes.

"Guess who?"

"Hi, Scootaloo." The hooves retract and I twist my neck to see the three crusaders on my back, all sporting innocent grins.

Scootaloo's grin quickly turns into a frown. "Where were you for the last few weeks? We always tried searching for you, but we could never find you."

Sweetie Bell had a sad look on her face. "We... missed you. We thought you didn't like us anymore."

Strike three for me. The guilt cannot be denied.

I sigh. "I'm sorry about that, girls. I have been dealing with... difficulties. Some of them centered around you three. Unfortunately, they lead me to avoiding you girls until now." I bowed my head as best I could. "All I can really say right now is... sorry."

I have no idea how to approach this kind of situation. Certainly shows my social-awkwardness.

All I got was a bat on the side of the head from Scootaloo that didn't hurt. "Just don't do it again."

Applebloom had a thoughtful look. "Is that why ya came 'round to the school?"

I simply smile. "Mostly. Perhaps you girls could forgive me if I give you these?" I held out the last three tickets currently on me. When they showed confusion, I explained, "tickets for the concert in Manehatten." That definitely got them excited.

"Yay, we can go to a concert! Except..." Applebloom gave me a worried look. "Ah can't go by mahself... Mah sister won't let me." This 'wilted' Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as well.

"Don't worry about it. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are all going as well. Scootaloo, you can ask Dash if she can be your acting 'sister' for the day." I wondered If my mom actually thought that through before sending the tickets.

"YAY!" was all I got out of the fillies before they started hugging me.

"Now... how about I take all of you for ice cream?"