The life of Zesty Zapwing

by mrturbodk

Teen years

Zesty's Teen life

During Zesty's teen years and his many care taking family's, things was going well. Sure there would be the occasional mishap like a prank gone bad or one of his powers suddenly bursting into action, but all else taken into account, life was good.

The incident at Apple acres was also well known throughout Ponyville, and Mayor was informed about this during her travel to Canterlot. The timing was eerie to say the least, as she was going to be meeting up with Princess Celestia later that day. Mayor decided she would try and see if the princess could spare a minute with her.

As with most meetings with politicians, some ponies was always up in the other's faces about politics, but Mayor always kept her cool, always the figurehead of her debates. After a while of debating where the guards actually had to come in to separate a small group, it was decided that a break was in order. By luck, Mayor caught the princess and was able to speak with her alone for a bit.

Obviously, the princess knew all about the discovery of Zesty and was keen to know more about this young Alicorn.

"Thank you for having a private chat with me" Mayor started out

"Dont worry about it", Celestia replied, "I am keen to learn more about Zesty and i was hoping to meet him in person sometime, but for now, i can see they you have something on your mind, my dear. I hope nothing bad has happened ?"

"Well, you know teenagers, they don't always tend to think things through, don't ya know" Mayor said as she began to recap recent events.

This wasn't the first time that Mayor had to report on Zesty's living to Celestia, but the event with the barn was interesting.

"It would seem that young Zesty is growing up and finding out more of his inner strengths and weaknesses, but i am a bit scared of the story from the barn" Mayor said, her ears flop back "i would hate to see him have a outburst like that in school or elsewhere public, those caught in a outburst of such magnitude could be seriously wounded, killed even"

A lone tear ran down Mayor's cheek, the vision was horrible in her mind.

Celestia levitated a handkerchief towards Mayor, wiping away the tear. "yes, we saw the outburst from here in Canterlot and was quite awestruck to learn where it originated" Celestia said, pausing for a moment to let Mayor compose herself a bit.

Celestia spoke again "We have no intentions to interfere in Zesty's upbringing, but we would appreciate reports to allow us to follow his life, something is telling me that we haven't heard the last of his story, and we eagerly await more news as it develops"

Mayor was delighted to hear Celestia's thought and receiving her blessing to continue raising Zesty as good as she and the rest of Ponyville could.

Returning to the polotics debats after the break with Celestia, Mayor seemed much more confident and even got some good points layed out for the other politicians which gained support. She was absolutely glowing with pride after the talks, but her mind and heart was already thinking of her beloved colt back home .. "home" .. she tasted the word and felt like she was missing out on so much at home.

Returning home from Canterlot to Ponyville, Zesty was waiting for her at the trainstation, lovingly greeting her with a big hug before grabbing her bags and following her home.

Being the young colt that he was, he had no trouble carrying her luggage all the way home, gently placing it in the livingroom before joining his mom on the couch, where she had layed down moments earlyer.

Eagerly, Zesty began telling of his latest few days and mom would listen to how he was doing in school and how everyone was treating him.

"So, what was this i heard of a brokenhearted colt making a big scene out in Apple acres ?" his mom asked Zesty, who seemed to shrink in size from that experience being mentioned, unwilling to wanna talk about it in great details.

"I'm sorry mom" he started, "i guess i just lost my selfcontrol for a bit" Tears starting to appear in his eyes.

"Aww, sweety .. at least nobody got hurt and only minor damage done from what i hear, i think you got away very lucky from that" his mom said "I even heard people in Canterlot saying that they could see your amazing powers !!. . but what ever got you so frustrated in the first place sweety ??" .

she wasn't giving up that easily, she was determined to find out more about the event.

"Well, i guess you know most of the story already" Zesty said, knowing how fast events like these spread by voice.

Zesty gulped once before starting .. "It was because of a certain mare in school .. i have had the hots for a while and i gathered courage to talk to her, but she literally told me that i was .. wa .." his voice failing at the critical time "A MULTICOLORED FREAK", finally blurting it out, sending small zaps from body to wingtip, inadvertently chocking his mom a bit in both senses.

Instantly, he felt bad for again releasing a bit of power and again jolting his mom, but she was used to it, so it didn't surprise her that much, instead she just reached round him and held him tight. This always soothed him down and he regained control again.

"Sorry mom, i didn't mean to jolt you" he exclaimed sadly, but mom just shook it off, saying "Don't you worry about me, I've had worse jolts from you".

This was true, he did remember once a while back where a argument about her travels got a bit too heated, inadvertently releasing a tiny lightning at her. While not causing any damage, his mom did get a zap of a lifetime but remained standing and quickly pinned him down so he couldn't move, hissing "NO LIGHTNINGS" at him. Zesty had been surprised by how she was still standing after the zap and at how she reacted, collapsing completely into a crying heap on the floor.

After a few moments, his mom had taken him back to his room, placed him on the bed and comforted him as best she could. After that, he had tried as best possible to control his outbursts with varying efficiency.

Feeling a change of subject was in order, his mom said "Come on, lets go to Sugarcube corner for a snack, might help to take minds of things for a bit" .. Zesty quickly agreed, thinking it was a smashing idea, jumping up and waiting outside for his mom. Shortly after, they was walking to Sugarcube corner ..

The Sugarcube corner was bustling with life, so many other ponies to look at and so many treats. Pointing out a azure blue cupcake to his mom, she ordered 2 and went to a table, Zesty joining her. Seconds later, misses Cake was there with the 2 cupcakes, politely Zesty thanked her and both him and his mom dug in, they both always liked treats like these.

The leisure walk back home was a good way to get some fresh air and stir some muscles, Zesty was at first bouncing n play running, but it seemed his energy was now running low and tiredness set in slowly as they reached the house.

"Phew, i'm tuckered out" Zesty announced revealing a bit of Applejack's choice of words. "I'm gonna hit the hay, goodnight mom" he said and with a hug, he went upstairs to bed.

"Pleasant dreams sweety" Mayor replied. She still had some work to do, unpacking and writing a few notes for her upcoming letter to Celestia.
_______________________________________________________________

"Dear Princess Celestia" she started.

"I am writing you as instructed with what i have learned so far about the incident with young Zesty.
As the rumor suggested, it was apparently pent-up frustration over a young filly's rejection that had caused his emotions to run amok.
It is saddening to think how young pony can sometimes blurt out the most devastating things to one another, but i am also quite confident that young Zesty has learned a lesson from the whole ordeal, as he did consciously remove himself from nearby ponies before his emotions overtook him.
I will keep you updated if more happens.

Your loyal Mayor of Ponyville"
_______________________________________________________________

She put the letter in a envelope and wrote adress on, walked out the house quietly and mailed it.

Upon returning home, she decided enough for today and found her bed very enticing. Moments after lying down and pulling the cover over her, she was fast asleep.

A few months went by with little to no news worthy of mailing to Celestia, but then it was time for Mayor to go on another trip, which meant that Zesty had to go live with another family for a while, this time it was with Rarity's family.

Zesty knew Rarity from school where they shared class with Applejack and he was excited about the idea of living alongside her, it meant to him that he could study the filly more closely and maybe get some tips and pointers for next time he would try to approach a potential special some-pony.

Rarity herself, already being a bit of a snob when it came to fashion, was also delighted to have Zesty living with her for a while, he would make the perfect test-subject for her many fashion ideas.

While being a fashion test-subject was not one of Zesty's best ideas of their time spent together, he didn't complain much, as it gave him time to speak with Rarity and sometimes get her into deep conversations about the ponies in school and around town.
it seems that Rarity was a bit of a blabbermouth, she practically had some dirt on every-pony. Zesty lapped up the knowledge like a thirsty dog, storing it inside his brain for later possible use.

As Rarity's parents had taught her to use basic magic for stuff like levitating items and such, it seemed only natural that Zesty asked them to help him learn a bit of magic as well, which they happily set to works with. Within a week, Zesty was multitasking levitation and somehow it all seemed to come second nature to him, once instructed on proper safe use.

Perhaps it was his nature livening up a bit, but Zesty seemed almost second nature to learn the everyday quick and easy spells like levitation, opening and closing doors, drawers and what not, and it seemed that he was also quite enjoying the possibility of using magic more often.

The friendship between Rarity and Zesty was good, they talked, smiled, laughed and generally had good fun together, but there could be dark days as well, as is with all friendships. He got a scoulding once for mouthing off to a visitor who was interested in a article from Rarity's collection during a bad friendship day. Not that it mattered much to him, but Rarity was basement level mood for a day or 2 before she forgave Zesty.

Her parents reminded Zesty that when Rarity didn't make a sale, it was a dip out of her allowance, so to speak, and that meant that she couldn't go to the Spa or Sugarcube corner until next sale. Zesty hadn't given that side much thought and decided to cheer Rarity up with a free trip to the Spa and a snack at Sugarcube corner.

Needless to say, Rarity was besides herself from the generosity from Zesty and happily accepted, thus tightening their friendship even more. They both had a good time in both places and friendly hugs was a plenty.

Sometimes in Ponyville, accidents would happen, mostly it was small stuff like broken limbs at most, but life has it's little ways of reminding you of what once was .. thus one day after a near crash with a tree while gliding, as Zesty still could not fly properly, Zesty got a chilling reminder that life is not always what it seems,

As he limped in to Ponyville hospital with a big scrape on his leg after the near crash, his mom, having returned for a short break, came rushing to see him. Intent that is wasn't anything bad, which the doc actually agreed on, they took a detour home, visiting the local graveyard.

Zesty knew that Mayor wasn't his real mom, the story had been told so many times that by the time Zesty could understand much for himself, he was told of the crash. He had obviously cried his heart out, but as always, "mom" was there for him.

After that time, he just decided that she was his mom and that was that.

In the graveyard stood 2 gravestones for them selves, their inscriptions simple.
"Unknown adult female zebra unicorn", a date and below "Zesty's mother" ..
Similar on the stone next to it, "Unknown adult male unicorn", a date and below "Zesty's father".

In between the 2 namestones was a smaller stone with the words chissled into it "Airballoon crash, Evergreen forest, date"

No matter how many times they came by, Zesty would always lie in front of the 2 stones, almost instantly overcome to tears.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Mayor layed a hoof on Zesty's back, that he snapped back to reality again, turning and hugging mom tightly, seemingly never wanting to let go of her.

He wasn't the only one sad on the Graveyard though, many people came through here, remembering old times, bringing in flowers and candles, sitting around and just talking to themselves like they was having idle chit-chat with the dead below.

After the trip to the graveyard, the 2 returned to Rarity's home, since he was still living there and had his stuff there. Rarity was in a cheer full mood, but when she saw Zesty's face, deep in sadness, her heart fell like a rock. She slowly walked over to Zesty, simply asked one thing

"Cemetary ?" .. They both nodded and Rarity just hugged Zesty like no tomorrow, trying to cheer him up, although she knew it was far from that easy.

"You know where i am if you want company, dear Zesty" said Rarity with a voice that could calm a raging bear to sleep in a instant. Zesty didn't know how she did it, but behind her white fur and purple mane, deep inside her was a heart of gold, filled with compassion for her friends."Thanks" he simply said, "It means a lot to just know that" Mayor chimed in.

Wandering up to bed, mom tuck him in and said goodnight, having told him that she was off again later in the evening for a long journey. He knew he couldn't stop her, so he just said "OK mom, be safe and send some more postcards". "Be strong my young Zesty" she said at the end.

That night, while sleeping and having a bad dream, he suddenly awoke to find himself hovering a feet above the bed, When he realised that it was himself doing it, he gave out a gasp and fell to the bed again. Slowly gettin up, he tiptoed to Rarity's room, nudging the door open. She was awake, looking at Zesty with wide eyes. "Did you just" she blabbered, startled "levitate me ??".

Zesty had no idea he could do that, asking quizzically "You too ??, you're not hurt, are you ?"

"Nope, i'm fine, but it did give me a bit of a scare, waking up to find me flowing in the room like that" she said

"Uhm, i guess i might have been to blame about that, awfully sorry Rarity" saying apologetically. "I was just looking by to see if you wouldn't mind a bit of company" .. Rarity scooted over and clapped a hoof on the now empty bedside, Zesty crawled up and gave her a hug, she was soo sweet ..Before long, both was asleep.

It was morning and Zesty found himself waking up as Rarity was moving around in the bed, accidently kicking him out into a freefall straight into the floorboards.

The bang awoke the parents and the came to investigate, and they couldnt stop laughing at what they saw.

There on the floor was Zesty, face planted and rear legs up high, Rarity turning over and sleeping on like nothing had happened. A trapped OW could be heard as he now would be having 2 horns for the day, one real and one big bump.

And there was much laughter from the hallway ...