As Zephyr released the hug of his parents, Fluttershy cautiously approached. “I’m so proud of you, Zephyr,” she stated in a sincere voice, but with concern deep in her eyes. Zephyr knew she wasn’t just talking about his recent graduation from mane therapy school, but with their mother nearby, not to mention Dash hovering overhead, he didn’t want to talk about … the incident … right now.
“It was only a matter of time before they recognized my true genius! But actually doing the work probably helped” he joked in a desperate attempt to divert attention away from the alternative outcome had it not been for his big sis and some fortunate timing. “And I wouldn’t have…” wouldn’t be here at all he silently thought “... if it weren’t for you”.
Lazy. Couldn’t follow the simplest of procedures correctly even if he tried. It was who he was. Of course, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. To Zephyr, laziness was a virtue - an incentive to find smarter ways of doing things rather than becoming wrapped up with the mundane. Zephyr didn’t want to become like his father, who had spent decades in the weather factory inspecting cloud samples, only to be replaced by a machine the Flim Flam brothers invented (granted, after forcing Mr. Shy into early retirement, the cloud factory had to hire another two ponies to tend to inspecting the machine). Sure, Zephyr’s schemes often had a few teething problems that made him look incompetent in the eyes of more simple minded ponies, but Zephyr understood that mistakes are a key ingredient of the creative process.
However, sometimes, ponies would say things that cut deep. The worst was Fluttershy’s friend Applejack…
Fluttershy had invited Zephyr along with her to sit and cheer on Rainbow Dash in the Best Young Fliers competition. Usually Zephyr would have protested at his big sister’s hidden bossy side presuming that she could drag him out of the house to wherever she wanted to go like this, but seeing as it was to see Rainbow Dash he would let his sister’s attitude slide this time.
Although he would never admit it out loud, Rainbow Dash was his inspiration. As a child, much like his sister, Zephyr took after Mr. and Mrs. Shy. On his report cards, his teachers would call him a “quiet achiever”. But being in the same school as Rainbow Dash had changed all that. She had the same amethyst eyes as he did, and was a close match for “the greatest napper of all time” award. But unlike him, she was confident, albeit a bit narcissistic, and didn’t let anypony boss her around. Every night as he went to sleep, he would wish on Luna’s moon that he could wake-up as Rainbow Dash. Yeah, that was the other thing, he hated that he had been born a colt. Mares were beautiful, intelligent and strong. Stallions were nothing. Even as a young colt he shuddered at the thought that someday long ugly hairs would grow from his chin unless he shaved every day. Although, as a pegasi who preferred to write with his mouth, using a razor wasn’t easy. Why fight nature?
He had been waiting in the stadium when Fluttershy’s friends showed up uninvited - apparently Twilight had found a spell that would let them walk on clouds. Zephyr knew Fluttershy would prefer to be with her friends rather than him, so he moved to one of the nearby clouds out of sight, but still close enough to be within earshot.
“Hey, didn’t you say that Zephyr was sitting with you?” asked Pinkie Pie, as she wondered to herself whether she could reclassify Zephyr as a gryphon so as to avoid her own “everypony’s my friend” policy.
“He umm… probably decided to go home” replied Fluttershy, “he just sits inside all day”.
Applejack spoke up, “Ah don’t know how ya put up with that brother of yours, Fluttershy. Now, Ah ain’t done the math, but from what you’ve told me about him, Ah bet that he wouldn’t buck enough apples in a lifetime to feed himself even for a day. He’s a cost with no benefits. Honestly, Ah’d rather be dead than be a burden like him.”
Fluttershy clasped her hooves over her mouth in shock at Applejack’s boldness. She opened her mouth out of an obligation to defend her little brother, but no words came out, so instead she just nodded slightly because she didn’t want to start an argument.
Over on the next cloud, Zephyr shrunk down into his cloud in silence, hoping that no one would notice him.
Despite other ponies frequently misinterpreting his cutie mark as a feather blowing in the breeze representing somepony who couldn’t hold a job, he earned his cutie mark for his talent writing, specifically, his introspective free flowing style that he developed when he started his diary. Of course as a pegasi, he preferred pencil to an actual quill. He placed a pencil in his mouth, and began to pour his thoughts out into the pages of his diary.
Dear Diary,
It has come to my attention that Equestria has more ponies than it needs. The truth is, with magic, we only need a few powerful unicorns to take care of everything, everypony else is just getting in the way. The princesses have tried to make up jobs for ponies, such as taking care of animals (although in honesty, it is the animals that care for lonely ponies), royal guards (as if Celestia can’t defend herself), or even water carrying (only Snails was dumb enough to think that this role was still important in an age of plumbing), but even with all these made-up jobs, a lot of ponies are still left jobless and homeless.
I have tried everything to convince myself otherwise, but taking all facts into consideration, I think that Equestria would be better off without me. Starting today, I will begin a research investigation into the most effective means of killing myself.
Mom and Dad, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. I know that you will miss me, but it is for the better in the long run. Fluttershy, you are a bearer of the elements of harmony. Don’t follow in my hoofprints, Equestria may not need me, but it still needs you.