Changing Odds

by Melody Brush

Ch. 1-2: Celebration's Eve

Zuro closed his diary and put it away on the shelf built in his desk. He got up and trotted out of his room and turned left down the hall into the living room. He took a minute to stop and smile at the small number of pictures of the last two years of his life with Jet and a few other friends.

He trotted for the door and reached his hoof out to open it when he realized he was still in his natural form. With an 'oops' and a flash of green flames engulfing him, he was the blue pegasus he created before leaving home two years ago. He opened the door and shut the lights off before walking out of the house, closing the door behind him, then taking off into the air.

A few minutes after flying over the town in the cool night air, he felt a familiar emotion coming up to him. He smiled, but continued on as if nothing was going on. Soon, that emotion was next to him and he saw somepony flying next to him from the side of his eye. He turned his head to find Angel smiling at him.

"Hi." She said.

"Hey." He replied casually.

"Whatchya doing?" She asked.

"I'm just going on a little flight before I call it a night." He answered, turning to a stray cloud hovering over the old library. "Did you like that picture I did for you?" He asked as he landed on the stray cloud. Her face lit up at the thought as she landed next to him.

"I love it!" She answered. "You're really good at drawing." His cheeks flushed slightly.

"It was just a simple sketch, I'm not that good." Zuro said.

Three days ago he decided to draw her a picture. It was a rough sketch of him, Jet, and Angel's heads side by side smiling at what would be the camera. It was rough and amateurish, yet she acted as though it was a work of art.

"It's still good." She chimed. "Here, I did this for you." She reached back and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He took it in his hooves and unfolded it.

Imprinted on the paper was a hoof drawn picture of him and a little pegasus filly on his back. The filly was cheering while he looked back at her with a smile. "It's you and your sister. You never told me what she looks like, so I just winged it." He smiled at the drawing, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked up at her.

"This is... this is great. Thank you." He said as he fought back the urge to sob.

"You're welcome." She said with a smile. "It's the least I could do for what you did for me."

They spent the next few hours enjoying the night, exchanging stories about their interests, and skills in drawing. Zuro started drawing shortly after moving in two years ago. Angel had been drawing longer then him, so her skill was more practiced. As they spent time together he could feel the love from her growing ever so stronger.

Zuro did not want their time together to end, he was enjoying her company, but he started to get a little drowsy and let out a great yawn. "You better get home and get some sleep." She said.

"I know." He replied. "I just don't like walking out on somepony, and I'm so excited for the celebration." She placed a hoof on his shoulder, drawing his gaze up to meet hers.

"You should still get some sleep." She told him with a smile. "We'll see each other tomorrow." He smiled at her before giving another yawn.

"Okay, I'll see you later." He said. "Good night, Angel."

"Good night, Zuro." She replied as he flew off back towards his house.

The town was overflowing with love as Zuro roamed the streets after a good long nap into the afternoon. He felt more and more charged by the second, especially when some of the ponies he new came by and shared their love to him saying 'hello' to him before going about their day.

He looked up and noticed the sky was still filled with clouds and rolled his eyes up with a bit of a chuckle. Rainbow must be practicing her moves for the Wonderbolts, or napping on a cloud again. He thought to himself. He spread his wings and prepared to take off, to clear the sky himself when several streaks of cyan blue and ten seconds passed and the sky was clear. Zuro stood there with wide eyes, then let out a small chuckle. Ten seconds flat. He thought Ito himself.

He turned and started to trot off when he bumped into somepony who was speeding by. Zuro fell to his haunches and looked up to find a pink earth pony who sprang to her hooves with an excited grin on her face.

"Hey, Guardy!" She chirped.

"Hey, Pinkie." Zuro replied as he got to his hooves and brushed the dust from his shoulders. "What's the rush?" He asked. The party pony's eyes lit up with joy and excitement.

"Oh! There's a unicorn in Ponyville I've never seen before, and if I've never seen her before that means she must be new and she probably doesn't have any friends. So, I'm throwing a welcome-to-Ponyville party at the library just for her and I'm inviting everypony to come and meet this unicorn so she'll have lots of friends." She explained quickly, then let out a gasp. "You should come, too! There's gonna be cupcakes, streamers, balloons, and..."

"Pinkie!" Zuro shouted, knowing it would take a bit to get her out of one of her monologues.

"Yes, Guardy?" She said with a smile. He could still feel the ever flowing love the pony had for everypony radiating from her, but he could not help but feel a little bad for yelling at a pony.

"It sounds like a lot of fun," he said. "I'll be there."

"Great!" She cheered. "See you there!" And, with that, the was a cloud of dust in the perfect shape of the pink, part pony the slowly disappeared in the air. Zuro smiled as he shook his head with a chuckle. I don't know how that mare does it all, but I love her the way she is. He began to trot away before he felt a familiar brotherly love coming from behind, fast.

Jet landed with a thud in front of Zuro, kicking up some dust at his hooves that quickly disappeared and he smiled at his best friend. "Hey, Guard! Guess what's going on later!"

"Pinkie is holding a party at the library for a new pony in town." Zuro stated, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah!" Jet said with a look of surprise on his face. He opened his mouth to say something.

"I just literally bumped into Pinkie and she told me." Zuro explained.

"That Pinkie, always a step ahead somehow." Jet said with a chuckle.

When it was time to go to Pinkie Pie's party, Zuro and Jet were met up with Angel, who also received an invite from the energetic mare. They entered the giant tree made into a library, which was already filled with several ponies from all over the town. They were first greeted by Pinkie, who gave them each a party favor, then they were greeted by some of the others.

Applejack, an orange, tomboyish farm mare, told them she had already met the new unicorn and said her name was Twilight Sparkle and considered her a member of the family. Rainbow Dash said Twilight was a laugh and couldn't wait to hang out with her some more. The vibes Zuro was getting from his manager told him she really liked the mare, which he thought was rather enjoyable. Rarity, the town fashionista said that Twilight was in desperate need of help with her hair that looked like a twister blew through it, which made Rainbow laugh her flank off.

"She's coming!" Said a random pony, who was keeping watch through a window. Immediately everypony in the room found a place to hide and the lights went out. The door opened and a yellow pegasus mare flew in with a creature in her forelegs.

"We simply must get you to bed." Fluttershy said. Then a lavender unicorn came in and snatched the creature from her and pushed her out of the door.

"Yes, we'll get right to that. Well, goodnight." The mare said before closing the door.

"Rood much." The little creature said.

"Sorry, Spike." Twilight said. "But, I need to convince the princess that Nightmare Moon is coming."

Nightmare Moon? Zuro asked himself. He recognized the name, but his thoughts were soon replaced with the lights being turned back on followed by the entire room vibrating from everypony screaming out 'surprise' at once. Pinkie's party cannons went off, firing streamers and confetti through the air then fall to the floor. The party had officially begun.

Zuro felt overwhelmed with the amount of energy that just filled the room. He felt like he was about to loose control of his body, which did not go unnoticed by his friends. "Zuro, are you okay?" Angel asked. He just stood there wide eyed for a minute before turning his head to them. "Zuro ?"

"E-excuse me." He said as he walked past them and through the crowd of ponies, searching for someplace to take a moment to release some energy. He found an open door that lead to a bathroom and bolted for it, running inside and locked the door behind him, then allowed his disguise to disappear. He took in several breaths and looked around the room, trying to find something to help him calm down.

He illuminated his horn and just started picking up random things and levitated them around for a minute before setting them back where they were, then started going through different forms of the different ponies he knew in town. The love in the building was not directed at him, but it was still just as effective as if one were direct all their love at him.

There was a knock at the door that drew him from his releasing. "Zuro, you okay in there?" Came the voice of Angel from just outside the room.

"I'm fine," Zuro answered. "I just need a minute."

"Okay." Angel's voice was filled with a hint of concern.

Zuro took a few more minutes to calm his nerves before he came back out. The love filling the room was more bearable now, and his two friends both came to make sure he was okay, Angel showed the more concern. He smiled at them and insisted he was fine, which took a little convincing for the mare, but came in saying that he did the same thing for all of Pinkie's parties. The worst of it was the first party the pink mare threw for him. He had no idea what to expect and the amount of love directed to him from so many random ponies nearly caused him to faint.

After a while of convincing, Angel accepted his words and the three went off to enjoy the party without the guest of honor, who had vanished upstairs shortly after Zuro took off to calm his nerved. Spike, the little baby dragon who came with Twilight said how she never really liked to socialize with other ponies and kept her muzzle buried in her books, which explained why she was so closed in.

The whole night was spent at the party in the library and Zuro, and his friends all had a blast. Now it was time go and watch the sun rise. Zuro had noticed how the new unicorn, Twilight was really on edge the whole time he had been around her. The only emotion he could sense coming from her was frustration, annoyance, fear, and a hint of hope. The only love that he felt from her was buried in all of these other emotions and most of it wasn't fore anypony. He did not know for what, but it was there, none the less.

They all got to the town hall, which was filled with everypony in town, waiting for Princess Celestia to come and raise the sun. Before entering the building, Zuro stopped and took several steps back. Angel and Jet noticed their friend had stopped and went back to check on him.

"Guard, are you okay? You've been acting weird all night." Jet observed.

"I... I think I'll watch the sunrise out here." He answered.

"Why?" Angel asked. "Don't you want to see the princess?"

"I just need a bit of fresh air for a while, the party took a lot out of me." Zuro answered.

"Are you sure?" She persisted.

"Parties have that effect on him, cous'." Jet came in. "After that first party I didn't see him for several days until he came too."

"You two go on in and have fun." Zuro said. "I'll just wait out here."

"Okay." Jet replied. "C'mon Ange." Jet started to walk off, but stopped when he noticed her soft glare.

"One, don't call me Ange. Two, I'll stay out here with Zuro." She mused. Zuro smiled and enjoyed the emotion directed to him from her. Jet shrugged.

"Suit yourself. I'm goin' in," and with that he trotted inside the building, leaving his best friend and cousin alone outside.

Soon after the two took off over the hall and found a nice, quiet spot on the roof facing the east so they could get a good view of the horizon. Zuro turned to look at Angel with a smile, and she looked back at him. "What?" She asked.

"Well, I was wondering..." Zuro started, nervous about asking his next question. "Do you have a coltfried?"

"I used too." She answered. "I've had a few relationships, but none of them worked. I'm just about to give it up."

"Don't do that." Zuro stated.

"Why? All the guys I've dated didn't want me for me. They wanted me for..."

"You don't have to finish that." Zuro interrupted as he looked away into the distance. I'll wait until she's ready. He thought to himself.

"How 'bout you? Do you have a marefriend?" She asked.

"No." Zuro answered as he shook his head. "I want one though. I've been on the lookout for a little bit now with no luck."

"Well, Zuro, You'll find her." Angel said. "Sometimes it'll happen when you're not expecting it."

"I know, but... that makes me not want to expect it, and I don't want that. If that makes any sense." She smiled at him.

"Who ever gets you will be a lucky mare." She said.

Before another word could be said, there was a commotion coming from inside. It was almost time for the sun to rise and the mayor was announcing Princess Celestia. This was it, the sun will rise, beginning the longest day of the year. Something was wrong, though. The sun never rose, which raised a little fear in both of their minds. The love and joy radiating from the ponies inside was replaced with fear, shock and horror as a new set of emotions came to Zuro's senses. Not joyful emotions, but negative emotions of hate, rage, and more.

Zuro moved over to an open skylight on the roof to look down inside and find, not a white alicorn meant to be the monarch of Equestria, but a black alicorn with deep blue star spangled smoke for her mane and tail and armor dawned on her chest, head, and hooves. Zuro recognized this alicorn from history texts and legends he heard years ago when he was about Dili's age now. The name rang loud and clear in his head, the name he heard only earlier this very evening.

"Nightmare Moon."