ZephyrBurst

Zephyr heard a bush rustle behind him and glanced back, noticing that it was probably the breeze causing the disturbance. A big surprise awaited his returning attention as the mare had suddenly knocked him over and pinned him down with her hooves. His first thought was to quickly get the mare away from him. In a back alley fight, he would never allow himself to get pinned down like this. Zephyr was just about to push the mare off of him, but her excited expression and quick verbal follow up signaled that she was not threatening in any way. Though the mare was stronger than anticipated, Zephyr felt he could probably push the mare off, definately with ease if he unbalanced the mare. After the mare pressed her nose against his, he quickly removed any further thoughts of pushing the mare away, rather enjoying her proximity. Her action was initially unwanted, but if this is the kind of relaxed feeling mares can bring, Zephyr had no objection to her pinning him back. A smile grew on his face as she continued to keep her nose on his while she spoke. He could definitely get used to this, bring from such a cute mare. Zephyr had missed a bit of what the mare said to him, he tried to focus, but his mind wandered a bit. Mostly about the two of them taking a tail wrapped walk through a breezy forest, enjoying strawberries. This very mare's strawberries no less. So she wanted to team up with him. Zephyr actually kind of liked the idea. Could be interesting and if it meant he would see more of this rainbow maned mare, he was all for it. Though something in his mind told him that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Could the mare actually be trusted to partner with? She could possibly just remove him from the picture when he wasn't needed anymore. And he didn't know anything about sales. As he thought about it more, partnering with this mare simply to see her more, was rather silly to him. He reminded himself not to get so worked up over some mare he barely knew and would probably just throw him out of her life at the earliest possible convenience. He remembered back to that mare he had gotten all gooey eyed over in Cloudsdale that suddenly disappeared. Zephyr reminded himself that even his own parents tossed him to the side. The mare backed off of Zephyr and started responding nervously, with her face flushed red. She must've gotten nervous after she realized what she did. Zephyr only had a light blush, had he not forced himself to remove these silly thoughts about the mare, it would've been much more noticable. He still wanted to be kind to the mare and he struggled to find a way to tell her that he couldn't help her. He brought his right forehoof up and rubbed his mane. "Well, I uh... I don't know. I mean that sounds like a great idea, but I don't think I can help you with that." Zephyr was suddenly nervous and simply spoke most of the words he was thinking. "I mean you're really cute and uh... yeah... You're cute, but I can't help you." He shakes a hoof quickly toward Holly. "I don't mean I don't want to help you because I like the way you look. I just don't think I could do much for you." Zephyr paused and realized that all of that was spoken to the mare. He couldn't believe he just said all that. Guess he was a lot more nervous than he thought.

Like Phil was saying earlier, I didn't find any problems with how Twilight was in this episode. We've seen a few times already that when a problem concerns Celestia, that Twilight will typically flip out more than usual. In this, it concerns her academics, which is the most important thing to her. It was shown as early as the pilot that her continued education is what she strives for.

He couldn't believe Mal was offering him the bed at first, but in giving it more thought, it wasn't all that surprising. His gaze softened again, though he wondered what was going on with this constant mood roller-coaster. Zephyr shook his head in response. "No, you can take it. I've slept in much worse places and the floor is only a bit cold." He eyed the sheet on the bed. "I just want this." He lowered his head and opened his mouth, ready to take the sheet off the bed, but stopped and brought his eyes back up to Mal. Zephyr froze a moment and thought about what it could mean for the mare if he didn't take the sheet either. The floor would be uncomfortable, but he wasn't lying when he said he'd seen worse, and thought on the upside of that. He lifted his head and took a short step back. "Well... you can have that too." Zephyr was pretty sure the mare would simply say something angrily again or accuse him of trying to get on her good side, but stuck to what he had set out to do now. Zephyr stared at Mal and sat down, then began to respond to what she said before offering him the bed. "You're right... about ponies not needing all these possessions..." He thought about what was going to happen to him after he was let out, and sighed. Mal was somewhat right, this wasn't the worst night ever, but it sure was turning out to be a really terrible one. His thoughts on how everything was about to get worse, wouldn't leave. "Now I'm even more glad I don't have much of anything." He turned around and began walking away from the bed, speaking more with his head down. "I'm not going to have this delivery job anymore and I'm going to lose my home." He stopped a few paces away and plopped down to the ground. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do now, but it looks like I've got a whole week to think about it." He lowered his to the floor. "I just don't want to go back to how I was before..." He didn't want to think about these problems, not in front of this unicorn. She didn't care about any of this and probably wished he would shut up. He had to get this off his mind for now. Zephyr poked his head up and glanced back to Mal, speaking softly. "What is the only thing that matters? I'm honestly curious what you think about that."

Zephyr was taken aback by her statements and was lost on what to say. In nearly all of his encounters with others, it was just as Mal had said. But Zephyr had seen unexpected generousity from other ponies. What bothered him just as much was how she kept backing away. Now in the corner with no where to go. He knew approaching her would definitely provoke her to strike. Though he wasn't frightened of anything she could do without her magic, he still wanted to avoid it. He stood, with his mouth hanging open somewhat, listening to the mare's angry words. He took one more step forward, putting him within reach of the bed. Any closer, he knew, could possibly frighten her enough to strike, and he stopped there. Zephyr kept a soft tone, or at least as well as he could. This mare was scaring him somewhat. "You talk big, but you're still backing away as if I have the intention of hurting you. And I say your opinion is wrong! Not everypony is like you..." Zephyr paused a moment and fully took in what he had said on a whim and kept going with that tangent. "I bet that's what it is, isn't it?! You're just like what you despise!" He took another small step forward without realizing it, putting on a slight tone of anger. "Would you do that? Take advantage of somepony?" Zephyr stopped there as he was lost on how to say anything else that wouldn't come off as overly insulting. He only wanted to understand the mare better, and he simply couldn't believe she was all bad. Zephyr wanted to use himself as an example of change, but figured it only make her despise this whole situation more. He glared at the scared and angry mare. There was no where else for her to back off to anymore. He felt for her and thinking about it all, he couldn't blame her in this awkward situation.

Just when the situation seemed to calm down between the two and the evening seeming to go in a more positive direction, Mal shifted to her usual cold tone that Zephyr had come to know. It saddened him when Mal accused him of not caring, it stung a nerve. When it came down to it, he truly didn't care. What she said after sitting up, saddened him even more, and he disagreed heavily. He couldn't understand why she fought that the way she did. It was when Zephyr was able to help others that he felt the most fulfilled. Zephyr's first urge was to retort in anger and contempt toward Mal, but as he thought about everything that had happened so far, he felt sad for her. He felt compelled to befriend her even more, or at least come to an understanding with her. He figured her vile thoughts and opinions must stem from her lack of any real friends. Her accusation and backing away hurt him as well. He wanted to at least get her to understand that he meant no harm to her. Zephyr took two paces closer to her, and spoke in firmly. "You're in no position to threaten me. Out there, you may have your magic, but in here, you're nothing but a frail unicorn, scared and backed in a corner. I'm much stronger than you and in here, you're weakened. I don't have to even think you're easy prey, you ARE easy prey!" He took a small step closer and softened his expression, being only a couple paces away now. "But I have no intention of harming you. There's no reason to blame you for me ending up in here, my actions brought me here. As for stepping in the way, I did that simply out of kindness for another pony, but you keep thinking that everypony is out for themselves! I never expected any returned favors." He thought back on Max and how he didn't give Zephyr away even after he had nearly broken Max' leg. "I've seen even the worst of ponies extend help and understanding to others." Zephyr sat down where he was to present a less threatening stance and quickly continued so as not to be interrupted. "But I'll think about it from your point of view. I have nothing to gain by hurting you in here. If anything, all it'll do is get me even more time in this horrible place. That aside..." He felt no need to keep a certain aspect of his past a secret from her. "I don't steal from and hurt ponies anymore to get what I want." He kept his sitting position, wondering how the flow of the conversation would change this time, if at all. Zephyr was intrigued by this confusing pony.

ANOTHER IMPOSTER!! I SHALL STRIKE YOU DOWN!! Okay, maybe not. Oh right, welcome to Canterlot! I believe we met once in irc. I hope you enjoy your time here, there's lots to see and do as well as fun people to chat with.

With all of her responses and negativity toward him so far, Zephyr was quite surprised to see Mal lighten up her words and demeanor. What she said did linger in his mind as he had responded to her previously. He did enjoy the freedom he once had of doing whatever he wanted and whenever he wanted. He thought it odd, due to her previous hostility, for her to say 'no offense'. "None taken." He had thought to add a bit in about the other pegasus probably being more talk than anything, but kept that to himself. As she spoke of the ward again, he slowly extended his wings and glanced to his right one. He was glad they unbound his wings when the two of them were secured in here. "I didn't know that. Are you sure I wouldn't be able to walk on clouds still? I mean, I suppose that makes sense." He gave Mal a quizzical stare, much like the one she had earlier. He gave his wings a gentle flap and did feel something that was very off from the norm. "You're right, it is different in here. I feel more weighed down." He sighed. "I'm just glad that's all it is. Being in this for a week with a headache like you said you were getting would be unbearable I imagine." He sat down and thought of her earlier question. "As for why I jumped in the way..." He pondered on it a moment and couldn't quite remember the exact reason he did that and sat down where he was. A few bits of it came up. "Well, you did say some really nasty things, but I didn't think it deserved what that pegasus was going to do. It seemed unfair and I'm sure she wouldn't have gotten in much more trouble than she did over it." He paused a moment and got up from where he was sitting and glanced over to see if the guard had moved. He had not, and was still reading and doing whatever paperwork it was that he had earlier. Satisfied, he turned a walked a few paces toward the bed. "Even that higher ranking unicorn was about to throw a spell at you, he'd have gotten no punishments for it either. If I ever catch him... I'll be sure to give him a real reason to put me in here." He stomped a forehoof down on the cold floor, creating a fairly loud echo. The guard didn't blow the whistle again luckily, but he hit something against the wall to announce his self proclaimed dominance and shouted. "CUT THE NOISE!" Zephyr's ears laid flat and he glared in the guard's direction. "That is going to grate on my nerves." He glanced back to Mal, softening his expression somewhat. "I don't remember exactly what I was thinking, but I couldn't just let that happen. You're a terrible and vile pony from what I've noticed so far." He pointed a hoof toward her. "But what you said had some truth. And I can respect that you don't hide your opinions." He sat back down a few paces away from the bed and eyed a sheet at the edge of the bed. Before the two of them turn in, he planned to take that. She can have the bed he decided, but he wanted some barrier between himself and the floor. "Even if it makes you look bad, you don't seem to care what others think of you. It seems there are very few ponies out there who are unwilling to be themselves all the time."

Zephyr sat listening to Mal's story and rant with a bit of interest. She sure did talk a lot, though his ears flickered at various interesting points in her mini monologue. He wanted to interject at the mentioning of Celestia, as he didn't like it when other ponies put her down. He had nothing against the Princess, though he really didn't know anything about her. Zephyr stopped himself when Mal mentioned she said the princess was worthy of respect. Perhaps the mare isn't THAT crazy and out there then. Either way, he knew this was going to be interesting with her as a cellmate for the evening. As she spoke of the wards and them giving her a headache, he thought back to a few moments ago when Mal had trouble breathing. They were probably connected. That would mean she was unable to use magic as well, which means she wasn't any threat to him. She had such a frail body, or at least it looked like it. He figured there wouldn't be any problems with her trying to provoke him, for whatever reason. He decided to leave the ward bit alone for now and focus on what she said about the guard picking on her. He did agree with her, but also wanted to focus on that for the moment, as they had some common ground there. If anything, it could make the evening a bit less of a hardship if they could at least get along. "Well, you do make a good point about that. The guards do throw their very misplaced authority around. I can think of a lot of times when they would..." Zephyr paused, thinking about a few times in the past where he a major fallout with the guards. His somewhat relaxed expression twisted to reveal anger and he stomped his right forehoof. "Well, it doesn't matter, but that red unicorn from before just..." He growls lightly. "He better hope we don't run into each other alone..." Zephyr paused for a moment, looking down. He stared at the floor just in front of Mal's forehooves, thinking momentarily, before shaking his head. He thought on her comment about it being the worst night ever. Was she meaning the headache completely, or did it include him too? Zephyr didn't care for Mal's approval, but he certain didn't want the evening to wind up with the two of them arguing with each other. He wanted a more casual conversation with Mal, something to make the time pass easier. "I can think of much worse nights than this." He arcs his right forehoof around. "A well maintained cell and they're going to bring us a meal later, at least I think I overheard something about that. The confinement isn't the greatest feeling, but this cell certainly beats sleeping in some dark back alley gutter, wondering where your next meal will come from, and who you're gonna have to take it from." The thought of revealing such a thing to somepony bothered Zephyr. Letting on to his past life isn't something he wanted most ponies knowing, for fear of the consequences and possible rejection, should they apply. But he wanted to talk about his past, or at least mention it. The more he talked about it, the easier it always is for him to deal with his past. While Zephyr definitely didn't trust Mal, as she was very off in some mental way, at least to him. He felt he could trust her with something like this. She may be a vile pony, but he felt she would understand this kind of thing and would know that it wasn't something to share with anypony else.

(( OOC: Yay, I'm back, responses will be quicker now. )) Zephyr was surprised again that Mal pushed the blame to him and used something in the situation as a way to do so. This mare was definitely stubborn and Zephyr couldn't figure her out. She seemed so hateful and resentful to everything. His expression displayed anger as he was about to answer her question when a loud shrill noise pierced his ears. Zephyr twitched, closed his eyes, and laid his ears flat to the side of his head. As he reopens his eyes to see Mal, he was again about to answer her question when she lowered her voice and blamed the whistle blowing on Zephyr. He started to see that the whole conversation was going to go this route. Zephyr retorted and spoke in a low voice as he took a step forward. He wanted to make sure the mare heard him. "At least the whistle isn't as bad as your screams." He grinned momentarily before changing to a more stern expression. "And that stupid package is yours. I was delivering it that late because it worked well with my schedule tomorrow, which is none of your business. AND you had special instructions on there that if you were not present to receive the package, to just leave it on your roof. Which would mean it's fine to deliver any time." Zephyr sat back and thought about it. "At least I think that's what the special instructions said." He returned his attention to Mal, keeping his voice low. "None of that matters anyway. Why would you want to upset the guards like that? Sure, I don't like them either. They're so... full of themselves." Zephyr put his weight forward, visibly frustrated. "But why do what you did? It makes no sense to try getting some random guard in trouble." Zephyr awaited the blue mare to resort to blaming him yet again.

It was a frightening thing to be drug along by the guards. While Zephyr didn't struggle, his hooves reluctantly brought him forward. His ears and entire demeanor drooped the farther along he went with the guards. This was the first time, even counting his time as a thief, that he had been apprehended by any guards. There were a few close calls, but nothing a bit of quick hoof work and flying prowess couldn't get him out of. He thought back on the moment and wondered if he could have escaped had he not been concerned with keeping himself integrated with pony society. Probably not, the guards in Canterlot seemed a lot more organized than those in Manehattan. The side chatter of the guards as Zephyr was brought along frightened him more. He couldn't clearly hear anything being said. Not that it mattered if he was the subject matter, but the atmosphere chilled him. He made an effort not to make eye contact with any of them. Upon taking a glance to the blue unicorn, he noticed she was quite upset. Couldn't blame her though. As they were told their sentencing, Zephyr gasped at the mention of one week. He could lose his delivery job in Cloudsdale over this. Especially considering he was arrested on the job and with the very pony he was supposed to deliver to. That thought would have frightened him more, but it slid to the back of his mind somewhat, as the fear of just being captured by the guard had taken a bigger hold. The thought that they could possibly dig up his past was frightening. Before this, his records were perfectly clean, but the huge gap in his life up to a few months ago could be suspicious. He had no prior work or personal records and references. He had begun to think that losing his job was the least of his worries. While being escorted down to the cells, the blue unicorn had suddenly stumbled and began breathing somewhat erratically. He stopped to look at her, wondering what had happened to her. He began feeling a bit concerned for her and then another worrying thought approached. Did they do something to her, and would they do it to Zephyr too? She seemed to get her breathing under control, that was a relief. He was about to ask her if she was all right when the two of them were shoved into the cell. The door slammed shut and was locked magically and mechanically. As the guards left down the hall, Zephyr glanced around his new temporary home. It was surprisingly clean and not at all what he imagined. There was a single wooden table in room and two wooden chairs. So this cell was for holding two ponies then. He ignored any further contents the table might have and took his eyes elsewhere through the room. There was a problem that he immediately saw. There was only one bed. Perhaps as some cruel joke to make ponies fight over it and force one to sleep on the cold floor, or it was an oversight by the guards and they forgot. Either way, it could be a problem. Zephyr's eyes brought him lastly to his cellmate, who at this time was glaring at him. Wait a minute, why were they both put in the same cell? Sure it was a two pony cell, but it seemed the other cells were empty. It didn't matter as those thoughts diminished upon hearing what Malediction said to him. The question was silly and she even blamed him for the cause of her being in this place. That was upsetting, after trying to keep her out of harm's way earlier, she says this to him. And to think he felt any concern for her well-being. There had to be some reason for this, but Zephyr's immediate answers hinted that he was angry, that and his returned glare. "Oh well EXCUSE me for looking out for anypony! How was I supposed to know that's what you wanted to do?! It's not like I can read minds!" He made a slight eye roll with that last statement. "And it's not entirely my fault we're in here! You JUST said you were trying to upset that other pegasus, which if I'm not mistaken, would have probably led you here anyway considering the reason they threw you in here. I'm not dismissing the blame, but you have yourself to blame too." The unicorn better not keep trying to lay all the blame on Zephyr, that was the most upsetting part of her snarl to him.

Without much notice, the mare's horn began to glow. With her statement, "I'll uh...I'll get those stingers out for you, no problem." he knew what she was doing. Suddenly his back end felt weird, as if somepony was feeling around his rump. His back end lifted up a bit, which caused him to lose his balance for a moment, and he quickly pawed at the ground with his fore-hooves a few times. Once he realized he wasn't going to fall, he relaxed somewhat, there was still the fact that she was feeling around his back end with her magic. He had to admit to himself, that despite it being a little awkward which caused him to blush, it felt rather nice. He looked at the mare exclusively at first, forgetting what it was she set out to do, and silently enjoying this little feat, till the first 'pluck' occurred. Zephyr didn't yelp, but it certainly sent a shock around the area the stinger was removed. He changed his glance to his rump, which was slightly elevated. Now that he remembered what she was doing, he braced himself for the next few that would be removed. Small stings shocked the areas again, around where she removed the stingers. She had removed them all rather quickly, but for some reason she didn't stop searching. Perhaps she didn't know they were all removed and wanted to make sure they were all out. Zephyr didn't protest and returned his glance to the mare, letting her decide when to stop. He certainly wasn't going to stop her early now that all the stingers were removed. He figured she was just being thorough in her search, but just then, he felt her magic reach to his inner thigh. He tensed up his front end in reaction, digging his fore-hooves into the soft grass a bit. Why was she searching there? Was it a mistake, was she really being that thorough, or was she flirting? Zephyr couldn't tell. His face grew warm and a deep red blush could be seen, even through Zephyr's dark green pelt color. He didn't ask and didn't have much time to think about it before she stopped her 'search and pluck' spell. He noticed her nervously rubbing her front legs together and smiled while he waited for her to finish her statement. "You definitely got them all." He glanced back to his rump, which he had planted on the ground once again. Small red spots could be seen where he was stung, but it was nothing bad. Zephyr looked back over to Holly, smiling. He gave a sigh of relief as the prickly feeling was gone. "Thanks for that, it would've taken me forever to get them out." He thinks back to what she said while he was busy trying to remove the stingers, somewhat remembering what she said. "You want to present your fruit to the Princess'? That sounds really nice. I've never had any ambitions quite like that. I hope you get to do that, it would be uh... interesting to do that." He taps a hoof to his chin. "You want to bring them to Cloudsdale?"

"That's for the best, they sting like, ow!" Zephyr was trying to pull the hornet stinger out of his rump with little success. He looked to be ignoring Holly in favor of that. He wasn't meaning to, the stingers had just dug in deeper, and were starting to sting more. He definitely must've sat on them after he ate that delicious strawberry. He must've looked silly curled up the way he did, reaching back in a vain attempted to get those stingers out. The possible ridiculousness of it wasn't a concern, stopping that prodding pain in the flank was on his mind. On the other hoof, he didn't want to be rude to the lovely mare before him. He overheard her saying that he could have as many strawberries as he liked. His attention was split, he had a willful desire to get on the mares good side, though it wasn't something Zephyr was good at, and he also wanted those stingers out. He replied to her while trying to reach back to remove them. "Thanks uh..." He glances at her momentarily. "Holly Dash, right?" And returns to his fruitless task. "But I won't eat too many, and they're really more than delicious, they're..." He stops and ponders a moment. "Well I don't really know the word." Again, attempting to remove the stingers while trying to compliment the mare. "But you really do make the best strawberries." Stopping to look back at Holly. "Probably the best in all of Equestria." His task of removing the stingers and his divided attention was proving to be difficult and he stops his wasteful attempts with the stingers and returns his attention to Holly Dash, most anyway. He wanted to ask for her help, but he felt awkward when the thought surfaced and instead, chose to try and ignore the prickly feeling in his rump. He sits down carefully, facing Holly Dash. "Sorry, I can't seem to get them loose, I'll try again later." He took a strawberry out from the basket and plopped the fruit into his mouth, tasting the sweet fruity sugary mixed flavor. It was a perfect blend and Zephyr was quite enjoying himself. The scenery was nice. The sun shined warmly on the two ponies in the woods, while a gentle breeze whisked through their mane and tail. It was quite the perfect afternoon out there with a beautiful mare and great food... or at least it would be perfect. That prickly feeling was bothersome and with his previous display, he probably looked foalish to the mare.

No worries, it would probably be better to wait for others to get back into it anyway. I was expecting the After Part to fire off a bit more than this.

((OOC: Wait, this isn't a private RP between Zephyr and Holly Dash? [Achievement Unlocked] Hijacked a Thread! )) Zephyr smiled while Holly magick'd a delicious looking strawberry toward him. He waves a hoof toward her. "It's okay, I understand what you mean." He caught the wink... Zephyr never understood winks and could never figure out what the intent behind them was. He sat back on his rump and ate the strawberry offered to him. His face beamed with delight and his wings began rustling at his sides. The strawberry tasted amazing and he ate it slowly to hold the taste in his mouth longer. He closed his eyes momentarily and gave a satisfied sigh after finishing it. Smiling still, he looks at Holly. "Wow thanks. That was the best tasting strawberry I've ever eaten!" He adjusts his sitting posture a little to lean back more. "You're both lovely and tal... OW!!" Zephyr stood to his hooves quickly as a sharp pain rose around his lower back side. He took a step back from Holly and looked back to see what had caused the sudden pain, and saw the bumps. It was the hornet stings from before, one of which, still had the stinger in it. He must've irritated it when he sat differently. Zephyr sighed when he realized he would have to remove it himself. He turned to Holly and gave a fake laugh. "I forgot I had gotten stung a few times during the race. It's nothing to worry about."

Zephyr realized he had practically interrupted the mare with his question when she gave her gratitude for the compliment. First he gave an awkward compliment out of nowhere about her tail, which she gave a visual response to by swishing it around, though Zephyr didn't quite know what that meant. Now he's interrupting her. This wasn't going so well in Zephyr's mind. He was agitated, yet again, at his social inabilities. The mare hadn't answered right away, she seemed to have been in thought for a moment and she shook her mane again which waved in a beautiful colorful arc around her neck. Maybe her delayed response to his question meant she was trying to remember where those strawberries were. They passed a few of those puddles of sap, though getting stuck in them wouldn't be a problem at all since they weren't galloping about. Zephyr nearly giggled out loud when she had stepped around a puddle with various strands of colored hair. Did she get stuck here? "They're over here...Ah magicked them here when Ah got stuck," Zephyr was relieved to here it and again, had to keep back a laugh when it was confirmed. As he followed her toward the maple trees, he walked next to her silent, trying to think of something else to talk about. He kept his mouth shut this time, he didn't want to blurt out something like before. Just then, there they were. The strawberries had some sap on them, but what she said was probably true. He was about to eat one of the sappy strawberries when she mentioned she could sell them and he hesitated. "Are you sure it's okay for me to eat these when you're going to sell them?" He completely missed the point when she said she would have to start selling them. "I don't want to take anything from you that you use to make your bits from."

(( OOC: The image is fine there, it's not showing on the others though. )) Zephyr hadn't though about the possibility that the mare would be nervous about making an impression until she too, started fumbling a bit. 'It's go time?' Zephyr found that humorous. He realized he needed to keep himself composed, it was just a simple mare is all. A really cute one with a nicely colored mane and tail, but definitely no need to get so worked up. He took a deep breath while she spoke. 'She's just showing me her hidden strawberries, that's all.' Zephyr chuckled lightly at her odd statements before as she started her trot toward her strawberries. He followed alongside her, trying to think up a conversation topic. They went off the path, cutting through the woods. It made sense, she wouldn't hide her strawberries where other ponies could find them easy. 'Come on, think! What can I say to a mare like this? What do I know about her? ... Nothing... great. She grows strawberries, talks weird, has a nice fla... no no, don't think about that. I shouldn't compliment her on her beauty. That would be silly, she already knows that, besides I just met her. Just... say... SOMETHING!' "You have a really nice tail." ... 'Uuugh. I'm so dumb!' Zephyr wanted to jam his head into the ground to hide. 'It's not like I have to actually impress her, we're just going to part ways after this and never see each other again... She's looking at me, gotta act like a normal pony.' Zephyr smiled at Holly. "How close are these strawberries of yours?"

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The guards didn't waste any time bounding Zephyr's wings. After his stunt, two guards remained at his sides constantly and kept a tight watch on him in case he tried lashing out again. Zephyr had no intent to do so, any other actions to resist would be wasteful and only result in him being struck again. He had nothing against the other guards anyway and felt he was rightfully struck after what he had done. His thoughts and anger were focused squarely on Bonfire, whom he had more to say to. However, there was nothing to say, Malediction had delivered what he had in mind far better than he could ever say, though far more extreme. Linguistics were not his specialty in the slightest. If he wasn't so angry at Bonfire for their unfair treatment, he would have disagreed with going as far as she had stated it. As he was being dragged away by the guards, what Bonfire said to Radiant bugged him. It felt incredibly condescending and even though it was not aimed at him, he felt somehow insulted by it. He was brought right by Radiant, and looked straight at her... "Private, you see these wings?" He said mocking Bonfire's tone and voice. "These wings mean pegasus, in case you forgot basic pony anatomy. Wings mean Flight." Zephyr changed his tone to a more dire one. "You should never let anypony talk down to you like that, even if they outrank you, or whatever. Nopony deserves to be treated how he's treating you. He's no better." Zephyr turned away after he spoke to Radiant and complied with the guards... for now.

Well then, you definitely seem happy to be here, and we're glad to have you. This is definitely full of clean, fun RP, and there's quite a variety with more stuff in the works by the staff. Welcome aboard.

The mare hadn't run off or tried to come up with some reason to leave, so she must be enjoying his company. He thought about that. She had even invited him to walk with her to retrieve some hidden strawberries. His wings rustled lightly at his sides. "A walk... the two of us?" Zephyr was dazed a moment, but quickly snapped out of it and stood to his hooves. He extended his hoof forward toward the mare. "I'd really like that!" He smiled. "I would agree that hiding some strawberries for yourself is smart." Zephyr thought about all the implications of her offering to get her strawberries with her. Zephyr would never have allowed himself to be anywhere possibly alone with any pony that could be a threat to him. Does this mean she's trusting him? Then he realized that most ponies did not have ill intentions and he was simply scaring himself from his own actions. His past life seemed to be in the minority. The mare simply wanted to enjoy another pony's company is all. It wasn't about trust. He stopped his over-thinking and returned his thoughts to the mare. "Just lead the way." He kept a smile and hoped the mare would strike up some sort of topic for conversation. He was always at a loss and he didn't want to seem boring.

She sure did have that competitive fire in her, which Zephyr admired a little. It sounded odd with her accent, though it felt friendly and genuine. He grinned at her challenge and was going to tell her that he would gladly accept once he had rested. He didn't need to though, and nearly giggled when she laid down and confessed to needing rest herself. Zephyr slide his front legs forward and laid down as well, laying just a pace in front of the mare. It would be much better than his sitting a moment ago. "Yeah, I'll race you again. Just say the time and place and I'm all for it!" He kept a smile and made a little gesture with his right fore-hoof. "I need to rest first as well." He giggled, and thought about what she said her talents were. Fruits, she said. Zephyr glanced down at her cutie mark, and stared for a moment... It was a strawberry. His face lit up with excitement. "You said your talent is in fruits? You can make strawberries?" Zephyr thought about the taste of strawberries and his mouth watered a little, despite just snacking on the buffet food. "I'd love to taste yours, strawberries are my favorite!" He said, raising his right fore-hoof a little. This was turning out to be fun. Cute mare with a fun accent, AND she could make strawberries... well hopefully. Zephyr had to know more.

'Did she say plum forgot?' He thought to himself. Zephyr found her way of speech to be odd, not bothersome, just odd. After his disaster of an introduction, Zephyr was surprised to find that it was her that apologized to him. With his mind settled, he responded calmly, and waved a hoof. "It's all right, you don't need to apologize, but thanks. Uh, my name is Zephyr Burst." He paused a moment to think. When his thoughts gathered, he spoke with more enthusiasm. "Oh yes, the race! You did really well yourself. We were neck and neck there at the end. You run really fast for a unicorn." He did a double take. "I mean, not that unicorns are slow or anything, it's just..." He stops to ponder the next thought, he was already not sure where to go with that. He figured he'd try his introduction again from before. "Your name is Holly Dash, right?" Zephyr stood up and extended his hoof in greeting. "I heard you say it earlier, it's nice to meet you." Zephyr decided it would be best if she did the talking.

Zephyr continued to rest and eat slowly. He remembered eating too fast after a large amount of physical activity made him sick to his stomach, that wasn't a desirable state. There weren't any ponies at the after party that Zephyr knew. Since the griffon wasn't much for chatting, and the rainbow unicorn seemed to ignore him, he kept to himself. He glanced around to the ponies seeming to have a good time and enjoy one each others company. Then he saw Swift Breeze. Zephyr had a few curious questions for him and thought to go ask, but then, the rainbow unicorn was approaching him. Maybe she had heard him and was just fixated on the griffon, or maybe she was just as bad at introductions as he was. It didn't matter, she was approaching, so Zephyr looked toward her and waved a forehoof in greeting, still keeping his sitting position. He spoke a bit louder than normal, maybe the unicorn was just hard of hearing, though there was a lot of noise in the area. "Uh, hi there. Finally decided to acknowledge me?" Zephyr instantly put his right forehoof to his mouth and leaned back a little, he didn't mean to actually say that, the words he was thinking just came out. He slowly lowered his hoof back down and drooped his ears. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that..." 'Great, she's actually coming to talk to me and I screw it up right away.'

Yay, a new pony joins in! Welcome to the herd and come say hi in irc sometime... oh wait, you're in there now!