WARNING: This chapter contains a lot of self-inflicted depression and self-hate. Viewer discretion is advised.
This is the last time I'll ever see this view…
As I flew over Ponyville doing my very early morning wind duties, I took my time to appreciate the scenery the waning night was providing. Not many ponies were out this early, giving an unobstructed view of Ponyville at it's most peaceful.
I had come to grips with my decision to move away last night, and informed Cloud Conduct that I could not continue wind management duties for Ponyville.
"Why are you moving away?"
"I... made a fatal mistake."
I sigh as I touch down in front of my house. Because I never had plans to stay in the house, I hardly made any changes from when I first moved in. Only one thing was different and that was a picture of me at Gummy's birthday party with the mares.
When I was ticked at them, I tried crossing out every one of them except for Pinkie as a way of reminding myself to never forgive them. When I realized my mistake, I tried to rub the red marker off as best as I could, but it was still clear something was there. It was only last night before going to bed did I finally cross myself out of the picture in a thicker line.
The fridge was cleaned out already and all of the belongings I brought with me here are already packed up. I tried to give most of my bits to Cloud as an apology for leaving so early, but she declined.
"All that's left is to wait for night-time..."
With my saddle bags on the table ready to go, I lay down on the couch to try and get more sleep, nightmares or not. Just as I got comfortable, I hear a knock on the door.
Who's up at this hour besides me?
Peering through the doors eye-hole, I see a brown pegasus stallion with a nonchalant look on his face. Breathing a small sigh of relief that it's not one of the mares, I open the door. "How can I help you?"
"Zephyr Earthwing? Cloud Conduct wanted me to inspect the house before we clear it for another Wind Manager's use."
That's a bit odd, but I suppose it's protocol. "Alright." I open the door and let him into the house. Keeping an eye on my saddle bags as he went about the house, I lay back onto the couch to try and relax once again.
It wasn't long before I heard him approaching. "The house passes muster, but I'm afraid something else requires attention."
I was about to respond when I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I immediately feel the location and found a dart stuck in my neck.
"Wha... what are... you..." was all I mustered before everything started fading.
"I'm afraid you're... needed for something else, Zephyr Windstorm." That was all I heard before I blacked out.
Three days later.
"Have either of you seen that coward anywhere?" Rainbow Dash had just entered the library where Twilight and Applejack were.
Applejack gave a look of confusion. "Coward?"
The pegasus gives an irritable groan. "Zephyr! Cloud told me he was to give her the keys for his house a few days ago, yet he didn't. Can you believe that jerk has the nerve to just leave Ponyville without saying anything, especially after what HE'S done?"
"Ah know that feeling, but perhaps he changed his mind abou--"
"That's not the case. The wind currents haven't been changed at all since that day, and nopony has seen him around town." Rainbow lands on a chair with another irritated huff
Twilight sighed as she went back to the book she had in her magic. "Perhaps you’re worrying a bit too much about it, Rainbow. Didn't you say you weren't going to mention him ever again after Scootaloo missed her chance at seeing him again?"
"I know what I said, but this is completely different! Because he up and left without anypony to replace him, the wind currents might go out of control again!"
Applejack groaned. "Then why don't we head towards his house to get some answers? Ah'm sure if we can confront him properly, he'll spill the beans."
"You two know that it could take a turn for the worse." Twilight put the book she was reading away. "Cornering somepony isn't going to guarantee he'll go quietly."
Rainbow raises an eyebrow at her unicorn friend. "It's the only way we're going to get answers. Besides, you said you were still confused over why he treated us like that, even though I told you time and time again that he's just an unappreciative jerk."
Twilight sighs. "I want to believe it's deeper than that. But if you insist, I'll go along with this hay-brained idea. Just don't blame me if the situation turns sour."
"That's fine. If it does turn sour, it'll give me an excuse to kick his flank."
Applejack rolled her eyes at that statement, but didn't comment on it. She herself had entertained the idea of kicking Zephyr's flank into submission ever since he quit apple-bucking, but knew it wouldn't be that simple.
On the way to his house, they were joined by Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Rarity herself had hard feelings about Zephyr, yet after what happened at the Gala she was now mixed in her feelings. Sure, he was a bit of a brute, but he had shown more gentlecoltly traits than that horrid prince, especially when he prevented a 'Caketastrophe' from happening, as Pinkie put it.
Fluttershy was the only pony besides Pinkie who wanted to give him another chance from the beginning despite what he did. What made the situation worse for her was when she had a run-in with him back at Manehatten. The way he was scared of her and what he said had subconsciously hurt her more than when the animals at Canterlot avoided her. She kept quiet about it because she feared inadvertently invoking her friend's wrath towards him.
When the group reached Zephyr's house, it was eerily quiet.
Rainbow was the first to speak. "So how do you figure we're going to get in? I say we bust the door down!"
Rarity huffs. "Rainbow I know your feelings towards him, but we should at least try to be civil about this." She knocks on the door, only for it to start swinging open.
Applejack deadpans. "Huh... that was easy."
The mares enter the house and the first thing they noticed were the saddlebags sitting on the table close to the entrance.
"Huh, why didn't he take his bags with him?" Pinkie made the connection since Rainbow told them the keys for the house were never relinquished.
Twilight shivered. "I don't like this. let's check upstairs." Applejack joined her as they climbed.
"Hey I remember this!" Pinkie held up the picture that was taken on Gummy's birthday.
Fluttershy looked at it. "W-why is it that somepony tried to get rid of marks on this picture, only for them to cross out..."
Rainbow looked around the house impatiently. "I don't care about that. He need's to show his flank or else we risk having Ponyville's wind currents go out of control again!"
"You sound more concerned about the wind currents than you do about his actual disappearance." All six mares give a surprised look at the light-blue pegasus stallion who had just entered the house.
Rainbow narrows her eyes. "You're in the same band as he was."
"That's correct. I'm Yamaha Strings, main guitarist of the band Dead by Sunset."
Rainbow rolls her eyes. "I already knew that, but that's besides the point. As for Zephyr, we could care less about what happened to him! I just want to know where the buck he went." Twilight gives her a small glare for being included in that sentence while Applejack scrunched her muzzle in minor contemplation. Rarity looked torn while Fluttershy and Pinkie looked saddened.
Strings sighs. "I'm afraid to say he doesn't have the luxury of coming back and that he won't be going anywhere at all."
Fluttershy immediately got aggressive. "What did you do with him?" Seeing the looks she got, she whimpered and sank to the floor.
"I wish I could say I didn't do anything to him." Seeing the confused looks he shook his head. "I'll be brief; he was foalnapped by a conspicuous group who needed him for their goals."
Rainbow gave him a flat look. "Okay, firstly; how do you know this and secondly; why would you think we care after all he's done?"
"To answer your first one, my real name isn't Yamaha Strings, that's my everyday and under-cover name. For security purposes I won't disclose my real name, but I can tell you that I had secretly infiltrated that same group under Princess Celestia's orders." This got a small gasp from Twilight.
"Secondly, I'll have to answer that with another question; is that how you truly feel?" Rainbow recoiled a bit before glaring at him. "If you're under the assumption that he is unaware of what he did, then you are wrong."
Applejack was the first to respond. "Ya mean he admitted to being in the wrong?"
"You make it sound like he instigated it, but I digress; yes he admitted to being wrong and started to become depressed because of it." Strings looks at his watch. "Explaining will take too long and I have somepony to pick-up. If you even carry a shred of hope he could still be your friend, I recommend listening to this." He pulls a tape player out of his own saddlebag and promptly leaves the house.
Twilight looks at it with a worried face. "I don't like where this is going, but..."
"Don't we have better things to do?" Rainbow was stretching her wings, eager to leave and fly around.
Pinkie gasped. "Rainbow! What a thing to say! Can't you at least give this a chance, especially if what Strings said is true and Zephyr really was foalnapped?"
Rainbow came to a stand-still. She hated Zephyr's guts for throwing their friendship away so haphazardly, yet she couldn't just ignore somepony in trouble. In the end, she decided to stay and hear what the tape had on it.
Twilight pushed the play button after confirming it was at the beginning. At first there was only a bit of static until an unknown stallion's voice cut in with familiar yelling in the background.
"Audio log #342; subject has been captured and brought into lab Sigma P-V for study. Despite the lab's limited capabilities, we will be able to confirm and discover the subject's capabilities, as well as inherent connections and reactions. Currently subject is reacting violently to confinement, sample collection is not viable."
"That's horrible... trying to tie somepony down like they are some kind of rogue animal!" Fluttershy outburst again, except this time her friends agreed. Rainbow stayed silent.
"Audio log #343; within the same day of admittance to the facility, subject has quieted down to acceptable perimeters. The leader is worried, as the subject calmed down far faster than original projections, leading to concern over the subject's mental and psychological health from before admittance. Blood, feather, and magic samples have been taken and are undergoing research. Leader will communicate with the subject tomorrow."
Now Applejack spoke up. "He... gave up so quickly?"
Twilight shakes her head. "I'm concerned over how they immediately regarded mental and psychological health over why."
Pinkie whimpered. "Was he... unhappy?" once again, Rainbow didn't comment, though she bore a softer look on her face at this point.
"Audio log #344; the leader has requested this audio log to record the conversation between the subject and himself."
The tape fell silent for a bit before fizzling back the audio.
"How are you holding up, Zephyr Windstorm?" Fluttershy let out a gasp at the name.
It took a bit before the voice everypony in the room recognized spoke up. "Does it matter how I feel in the end?"
"Oh, I was wondering because of my next question. As apologies for suddenly admitting you to this facility, I'm willing to release you in any city you wish with a substantial apology. You only need to--"
"Would it matter if I were to simply stay put?" This confused the mares in the room.
This also confused the unknown stallion. "Are you saying you'd rather not be released at all?"
"Would anypony even care if I just disappeared off the face of Equestria? Would anypony even bother looking for me?"
"I care about you disappearing, Zephy!" Pinkie cried out despite knowing he wouldn't hear it.
"I... see. I suppose you will be accommodated accordingly in lab Alpha C-L. Before I go, is there anything you would like to say?"
"..."
"No? Then I suppose--"
"I just..."
"Hm?"
"I wish I could take it all back. I honestly do, I honestly do wish... I could take it all back... and not just because I found myself in a laboratory to become a test subject. Anyways... if I were to ever see them again... do you know what I would say? I would say... 'I'm sorry'... sincerely... I am sorry I was bossy... a jerk... and monstrous... and I am genuinely sorry..."
Is this... what he meant in Manehatten? Fluttershy thought as she fought back tears as hard as she could because of how much the words hurt.
"If... that's how you feel, then why didn't--"
"Why didn't I apologize before this? It's because... I’m a coward. I feared their retribution... at how I wronged them... how I threw their friendship back in their faces. I knew... none of them would ever forgive me... not even Fluttershy, the kindest pony I have ever met..."
"Why did all of this happen?" The unknown stallion's curiosity was piqued and he pressed on, knowing Zephyr was laying his soul out on display.
"It happened because... I let the past blind me to the present. I've had so many friends turn their backs on me as a colt that... I was unable to see genuine friendship. When my birthday rolled around and they did... what they did to give me a birthday party... I simply saw it as another betrayal, not realizing I would be the ultimate hypocrite."
"So you threw away their friendship?"
"Before Ponyville, I treated friendship as a hinderance... as something worthless. Even after I made friends, I treated it like an obligation; expecting them to adhere to what I felt was acceptable.
"I left Manehatten to run away from my past. I ignored and shunned my friends because I was running away from the fact that I might be wrong. Even after I realized I was wrong, I ran away because I feared retribution... I feared getting what I deserved. That's all I've ever done... is run away.
"I'm tired of running... I'm tired of everything... I... give up."
"You give up?"
"Yes... I doubt anypony... including my adoptive mother... would care if I disappeared. Especially those... six mares, who hate me with every fiber of their beings. I never realized how much I valued them as friends... until it was too late."
There was a silence before the recording cut out. The elements were struggling to come to terms with what was said when an orange hoof rested near the tape recorder.
Rarity was the first to recognize the owner. "Mrs. Harpsong?"
Harpsong simply looked at the tape player with sadness in her eyes. "My sweet, little colt... why did you keep everything to yourself?"