• Member Since 22nd Dec, 2012
  • offline last seen Yesterday

Shakespearicles


The Man. The Legend. The World's Strongest Writer

Sequels1

T
Source

Discord does not particularly care for Fluttershy's friend, Tree Hugger. So when she comes over to have her monthly mane treatment session with her, Discord directs her to the one mane stylist that could possibly make her mane worse: Zephyr Breeze.

Written (overnight) for Freglz for Jinglemas 2021.


Audio Reading by Admiral Stoic Rum

Actually no notes on this guy! Another very good reader has been discovered and put on the list!

Oh boy. Zephyr Breeze. The worst pony, hands down. Can he hold a fic on his own? Honestly, yeah.
Shakespearicles™ plays up Zephyr's innate patheticness to the right note while also showing he has, against all odds, improved himself and is at least apparently able to survive on his lonesome. Good for Zeph, I guess.
What surprises me about this is that it isn't shipping-shipping? At least, not yet. The narrative is clearly headed in that direction, and while I wouldn't say Tree Hugger deserves this guy, she could probably fix him.
I did absolutely appreciate that she is both more down to earth in this story than her one episode, and also grows pot in her basement. Also, there was a fun gag about love spells that I very much appreciated.
In all, this is a very nice little story about two characters who you don't see used a whole lot, and it promises more in the future, by which I mean there's a sequel that I will definitely want to read at some point.
Recommended

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 60 )

You…..you just gave Tree Hugger and Zephyr more character development than I though possible! Despite the tendency of folks to equate her to make laced brownies and other means, I consider this canon! Very well done! Maybe you can extend on to this story more in the future

Perfectly Insane
Moderator

This was an extremely enjoyable read, and one of the few fics I’ve read where Zephyr isn’t an annoying asshole with 0 redeeming qualities. As low of a chance as it is, I’d love to see this get continued into an actual romance between the two like the ending sort of implies.

Wow, I wasn't really sure what you were going to do with this slightly odd pairing, but you managed to pull it off and make it heartwarming as well. I found their relationship surprisingly compelling.

Also,

"Welcome to the Curl Up & Dye salon," Zephyr Breeze greeted. "If you're looking for the mortuary, it's two streets over."

is the best line in the whole thing. I love your clever sense of humour, Shakes.

11097497
Truth be told, the idea for name of the salon came from my muse, Mrs. Shakes.

Petition for the "Curl Up and Dye Salon" to be an actual place.

really enjoyed this it nice to have fics that dont hate on zephyr, was nice to seeing the decent side of him

11097518
A good author knows when an idea is worth stealing. I'm sure my point still stands :moustache:

This is exactly the kind of story I wanted when I requested these two -- the airhead who sees worth in everyone and everything, and the airhead who thinks himself the hottest shit but deep down actually knows of his own flaws. And I'm glad you could see the potential for romance in them that I saw, even if it wouldn't be the most popular pairing.

11097531
No, I was straight up floundering for a name for the salon.
So I asked her, and she came up with that in like, thirty seconds.

11097546
Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. I jumped at the opportunity to do the pairing justice.

11097564
i have called it the zephyr cuts salon, it egotistical enough while also hinting at zephyr being mentally not in a good place

11097523
no need there over 20 called that in the UK alone just go look on google maps

11097494

Well, Zephyr's also focused on someone else throughout the fic, so I think Tree only got an oblique experience. Give him an inch beyond the brownies and think she'll face the brunt of him. Buuuuuut, I also think she's the right type to stop him cold while turning it around and really helping him.

I'd actually like to see how they develop beyond this one-shot.

That was adorable.

hadn't thought of this pairing before but here they work well together
I kind of want a part two of this

As someone who always pictured Tree Hugger and Zephyr Breeze becoming friends, if not a couple, I think you did that scenario justice. Excellen work.

"Yes," Discord quipped from the bench in the waiting area, "Congratulations on finally being a functional member of society. And even before you turned thirty!"

I wish Zephyr could've thrown back "and thanks for not betraying Equestria and Fluttershy again." Yes, Zephyr has done a lot of idiotic things, but Discord's stupidity and idiocy have done far more damage than Zephyr could ever do.

Bonding over a shared enmity toward Discord is weird way to build a foundation for a relationship, but you make it work so well. I can see this ship working.

I hope you build upon it.

He finished up her last lock. "Brownies sound a lot better than stale macaroni."

I think we all know what the main ingredient of those brownies is.

"Ponies like my herbs. Like, they really like them, you know?"

Yes... herbs...

11098200
I like to think that Zephyr will get the last laugh in the end when they visit Fluttershy's house some time in the future with Tree Hugger on his arm, and her saying to Discord, "Oh hey, thanks for sending me to that salon! I met my new coltfriend there! And now you can spend even more time with both of us!"

11098590

Love formed over sticking it to the God of Chaos is the best love EVER!

Ha! This was great! Always fun to see fics focused on less developed characters. These two might actually be good for each other.

It's all gnarly. But like the bad kinda gnarly. Where things are gnarled

Oh man, I recognize this line from somewhere but I can't think of where! It's gonna drive me nuts! What's it from?

This ship is cute, but why do I see Fluttershy doing everything in her power to break it up (save her friend from her brother, she would reason)?

11098590
this is actually a ship I totally get behind because me and my girlfriend have this dynamic, nearly.
I'm zephyr lmao

11098681
ARGH! Yes! Thank you! Of course! I don't know why I was blanking on where it was from so badly!

This was a very nice story about a developing friendship which could potentially become something more in the future. I have often seen fanart of Zephyr Breeze x Treehugger on DeviantArt and Derpibooru, but I have never seen a fanfiction depicting the ship until now. You did a great job giving Zephyr Breeze and Treehugger some decent character development and interactions as friends while leaving the door open for them to potentially become a couple.

In addition, another popular ship I have seen for Zephyr Breeze involves his friend Pixie Cut from Issue #74 (January 23, 2019) of IDW's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic books. In that story, Zephyr Breeze and Pixie Cut met as attendants at the All-Equestria Manestyling Conference or ManeCon. The story gave Zephyr Breeze and Pixie Cut some laudable character development and interactions where they befriend and help each other face the challenges and stresses of manestyling.

derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/1/24/1942973.png

Perhaps as a spin-off / sequel to this fanfic or as a standalone story, you could consider writing a fanfic about Zephyr Breeze and Pixie Cut's friendship from IDW #74?

I didn't realize this fic would involve zephyr breeze and treehugger becoming friends and hanging out, but now I kinda ship them.

This was a ship I had never considered, but now I think it's awesome!

If Zephyr heights in G5 is named after Zephyr Breeze, and he's remembered as some legendary Pegasus hero? That would be goddamn hilarious. :rainbowlaugh::rainbowlaugh::rainbowlaugh::rainbowlaugh::rainbowlaugh:

Almost everything that is featured right now is a Jinglemas story. Where's MY Jinglemas story on the feature list?! XD, great job on getting featured!

11099290
I'd have to say, that'd be awesome lmao!

I never thought of shipping these two, but it works. Tree Hugger showed more forethought than I would have expected for a pony who seems to go with the flow, but she may have picked it up from her conversations with Fluttershy and Rainbow. Overall this was an enjoyable read.

Oh gosh, there are so many great things about this story. The character development is amazing, the "Curl Up and Dye Salon" actually made me lol, and...wait...how many brownies did Zephyr scarf down? That'll be an interesting trip.

I LOVE this. I love this ship but I've never really figured out how their relationship started and there's not many out there!

This had, like, really good vibes, man.

11099290
"Everything changed when the Maniac escaped an enchanted comic and wiped out Canterlot. The EUP was helpless until their greatest mane therapist stepped in and saved the day. And that is why we honor Zephyr the Brave and Glorious to this day."

"Welcome to the Curl Up & Dye salon," Zephyr Breeze greeted. "If you're looking for the mortuary, it's two streets over."

Heh. Clever.:rainbowlaugh:

11127980

Well, I just remembered there was a "Curl Up & Dye" salon in The Blues Brothers, and that's where Carrie Fisher's character worked, and now I remember that scene with her kissing John Belushi and DAMN YOU SHAKE I HAD MANAGED TO FORGET THAT.

11130759
I haven’t seen The Blues Brothers in ages. It’s an.. interesting name.

If Cheech and Chong wrote a kids' cartoon.

(Not so far-fetched: Vaughn Bode did children's books)

images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/718EkfeldaL.jpg

images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71G3adqddvL.jpg

(They're good, too)

When you're spending time together doing stuff you both have an interest in. That's why me and Fluttershy vibe so well. We're just mellow. She has her animals, and I have my herb garden.""

Well, that, and Tree Hugger is a member of the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures, and her being able to connect with the Smooze suggesting she actually does know a thing or two about weird critters...

"Oh fo sho!" she said. "We go way back, like five-ever."

Oh so tree hugger knows about that term 5ever good to know

"Oh, it'll be a whirlwind romance! We'll lay by the fire for Hearth's Warming and have a big wedding with lots of food and wedding gifts. She's got the Wonderbolt money, you know? So she'd be able to support us. And then the honeymoon! Like, a really long honeymoon!"

... my eyes are twitching right now

Wow this was a really nice story and very interesting shipping between those two and it looks like Fluttershy and Discord are pretty busy with the holidays but treehugger came over for her haircut appointment but Fluttershy is too busy so it looks like Discord gave her the address where Zephyr Breeze work which she went there but somehow they hit it off pretty well and they even hang out for hearths warming eve which that was pretty nice and apparently those brownies are not ordinarily brownies are they I kind of figured that would happen but other than that I really like the development between Zephyr Breeze and treehugger this was really nice keep up the good work

11144999
Run on sentence.

11145014
I'm sorry what does that mean

11145025
Your comment was a run on sentence. No punctuation (no periods, commas, etc.)

Looked like pinkie was talking.

I was cringing so hard at so many points and in a weird way, that's a compliment - because I'm doing that every time with Tree Hugger and Zephyr Breeze. The way they talk, how they behave, their entire attitude. You nailed it. And I never got them. I don't understand this... ehhh... 'chill'. (And I cringe even harder every time I hear someone say it in my presence, because English isn't even the primary language here.)
You did a great job with all characters involved, especially Discord. And the pacing was superb.

Thank you.

Login or register to comment