Chapter 1: The Introduction to the Round Robin

Dear Will,

I hope you are doing well. You know how your mother always worried about you. I’m writing you today to deliver some sad news: Your mother has died, sleeping in her bed. She had been running a student hostel for the last few years, and she left it to you in her will. You’re free to do with it as you please, but I would like it if you could come to Canterlot to discuss your plan with me.
Yours in sorrow,
Principal Celestia of the University of Canterlot

Will Zephyr sat at his desk in his office of the student hostel known as the Round Robin. He always found himself reading this old letter from Principal Celestia whenever he was feeling particularly down. He had decided to take his mother’s place and continued to run the student hostel. And that was nearly a year ago.

Will was a twenty-two year old human man, with short brown-black hair, and jade green eyes. He had a few muscles on his arms and legs, but despite being exactly six feet tall and being a fairly physically active person, he never broke 140 pounds, always staying around 135 to 137.

He was wearing a cream colored sweater with vertical stripes and a dark blue pair of jeans. On his feet was a sturdy pair of brown work boots.

He was sitting at a mahogany desk with a set of drawers on either side of his rolling chair. There wasn’t much on the top of his desk, just a few books and a framed picture of his mother. The rest of the office was sparsely decorated, with an ornately designed blue rug covering most of the floor, a few potted plants in the corners and a full bookshelf off to the side.

Memories of his childhood had been on his mind that morning, so he read the old letter to give himself a little pick-me-up.

He stood from his desk and walked forward to the hall door. He padded his way down the carpeted hall and down the stairs to the kitchen. As manager, he took care of the hostel’s financial needs, paying bills, as well as performing necessary repairs. He also made sure to give his tenants the best treatment he could, meaning he made most of the food, did most of the shopping, things like that. Though he was content in doing so, otherwise, he would’ve thought he was a glorified butler for his guests.

He brewed a pitcher of coffee, but grabbed a plastic water bottle from the large fridge. While he liked the smell of coffee, Will couldn’t stand the taste. He took a long swig from his bottle, downing half in one go.

His thoughts then turned to his seven tenants. It’d still be a few hours before the first of them would be rolling out of bed. At least it’s Tuesday, he thought. They all have class today.

A knock at the front door drew him out of his thoughts. Stepping forward, he opened it halfway, finding the mailman on the other side. He was an elderly man in his mid-fifties with graying hair. He wore a blue button-up uniform, blue shorts and a pair of running shoes. He had a large gray mailbag slung over his shoulder as well.

“How may I help you?” Will asked with a soft smile.

“Sorry to bother you so early in the morning, but your mailbox is full,” He handed Will a large stack of letters. “These are all the excess letters that couldn’t fit.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Will set the letters on the table and stepped outside to the small square mailbox next to the door. He removed another large stack from that as well. “Thanks again, and have a good morning,”

“To you as well, laddie,” he replied before walking on to his next delivery.

Will finished his water bottle and set that on the counter for later. He took the piles of letters up to his office and sat at his desk once more. Let’s see what we have here. Death threats, Bills, mail for the others, normal fare. He muttered in his mind as he sorted the fifty letters or so into three piles.

He opened each of the death threats, noting the contents. He found amusement with a few of them. One of them wasn’t even a threat, really. It went something like this, You sun of a bitch! You have seven hawt girls living with chu! I hope u fall in a ditch and dye!

Will had to chuckle at that. He took the death threats and filed them away in the bottom drawer on the left side of his desk. The bills he filed away in the top drawer on the right; he’d be paying those on Saturday.

He looked up at the clock, a round white analog clock on the wall, and noted how an hour had passed since he’d been downstairs. He gathered up the four letters in the mail to the others pile and made his way back down the stairs, slowing when the dining room, at the bottom of the stairs came into view.

One of his tenants, Sunset Shimmer, was sleeping, sitting at the table. Her red and yellow hair cascaded around her peaceful yellow face as she rested her head on an open textbook. She was wearing a pink shirt with a graphic similar to her cutie mark on the center of the chest, just between and slightly below her breasts. She also had a knee high pink skirt on. “Someone must’ve been studying late,” he murmured with a smile. He set the mail on the counter and walked over to the closet. He pulled out a large red blanket, unfolding it and draping it over Sunset’s shoulders, making sure it covered her arms and back. “Sweet dreams, I hope,”

Will walked over to the fridge and double checked that the lunches he’d prepared for the girls were still there, which they luckily were, each sitting in a small brown box labeled with their names. He sighed in relief and pulled out a bottle of Mountain Dew. He stood by the kitchenette bar and stuck a pair of ear buds in his ears, turning on Last of the Wild on his iPod Touch. He stood sipping on the Mountain Dew as he waited for the others to awaken.

As he listened to the notes flowing into his ears, he thought about his situation, a twenty-two year old human man running a hostel currently housing seven drop dead gorgeous anthro ladies, with room for three more tenants, should the need arise. He smiled at all the letters he’d been getting. He tended to not take them too seriously, and he had to admit, he did make a good punching bag for the overly jealous types. Not a lot of things could make him mad. Will hasn’t had the best past, it was actually downright terrible, to him, but Will knew the value of a smile, so he made a goal for himself to smile as much as he could, and he grew quite the tolerance for anger.

After a few repeats of the one song, Will removed the ear buds and put his iPod away. He however had his back to the stairs and was slightly surprised when a yellow hand found its way to his arm, from somewhere behind him. He turned to see another of his tenants, Fluttershy, smiling shyly at him. She had long pink hair that curled slightly and a similar tail. Her hair hid half her face from his view, but neither of them seemed to mind. She had a faint blush about her yellow cheeks as she held onto his arm. She was wearing a sleeveless sundress of a gentle green color that went down past her knees and masterfully hid her tail underneath.

“Good morning, Fluttershy,” he murmured with a soft smile, his voice just above a whisper. “Helping Rarity with her newest fashion line?” She nodded with a deep blush. “You look lovely,”

“Good Morning, Will,” she sighed into his chest, continuing the embrace for a few more seconds before she decided to pull apart.

“Thank you for the compliments, darling. I’m soo glad you like it.” Rarity purred as she made her way down the stairs. The fashionista posed at the top of the landing in the stairs, (the stairs curved to the left and went up in the opposite direction of the first part.) Her skin was a pristine shade of white and her hair was a deep blue, heavily curled to accentuate her face. She wore a light blue sleeveless dress with a bit of poof in the skirt, kind of like a hoop skirt, only not as large. She also wore a pair of violet heels.

“Wh… H…Y… Gu…” Will stammered, causing both girls to giggle quietly. Will shook his head, he really did sound like a dumbass for a second there. “Good morning, Rarity. You look lovely, and your dress is amazingly designed.”

“Thank you, dear,” she purred, swaying her hips as she descended the rest of the way to the first floor, a faint blush coming to her cheeks as well.

Will held his index finger to his lips. “Sunset is sleeping down here, let’s be courteous and not wake her up on accident, if we can help it.”

“Doesn’t she have class?” Fluttershy asked, a finger on her chin.

“Not until 9:00,” Will replied. “Most of you have to leave at about 7:00 to make it to your classes on time,” He took a glance at his watch, a small silver band with a digital display of the time, day, and date. He has it set for military time, so he doesn’t have to worry about AM and PM, at least when looking at the time. It displayed 6:45. “The others better hurry, or they’re going to be late. I’m actually a little surprised to not see Twilight up yet.”

“She left already, Will,” Fluttershy murmured.

“…Come again?”

“She left already,” she repeated.

Will covered his face with his palm and sighed, “She forgot her lunch; it’s still in the fridge, that’s why I thought she was still here… Fine, I’ll add that delivery to my list of work to do today.”

“I’m sure she’ll be happy about that,” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Do either of you know if the others are up?” Will murmured with a soft smile.

“You really think Rainbow Dash is awake at this time of day?” Rarity asked with a snort.

“No, probably not,” he answers with a soft laugh. “I just wanted to make sure. So what about Pinkie Pie and Applejack?”

“Pinkie Pie is a mystery,” Rarity exaggerated. “She’s most likely asleep as well,”

A knock came to the door, and Will turned to answer it. Pulling open the front door with his left hand, he saw two people waiting for him. The first was an orange-yellow skinned woman with blonde hair spilling out from under a brown cowboy hat. She was wearing a green striped button up shirt and a pair of blue Levi jeans.

The second was a cyan skinned woman with rainbow colored hair, from red to violet, magenta eyes, and a mischievous smile adorning her lips. She had on a short jacket over a black sports bra, and a black pair of shorts. She also had a white cast over her right arm. Both were breathing heavily from the morning run.

“Good morning, Applejack, Good morning, Rainbow Dash,” Will smiled as he swung the door open wider to allow them access. “Color me impressed. Did you have a fun morning run?”

“We tied again,” Rainbow murmured as they stepped inside. Will had walked over to the fridge and offered them both water bottles, to which they gratefully accepted. He then passed out the lunches of everyone present and awake, to which they accepted thankfully, except for Rainbow Dash, she sat at the table across from Sunset Shimmer.

Everyone else waved goodbye and left for their classes.

“Applejack didn’t get much of a break,” Will noted.

“She would’ve been late had I not pushed her faster,” Rainbow added.

“I guess that’s something worth being thankful for,” He walked over to a nearby window and glanced outside. The others were already out of sight on their way to their classes. His eyes widened as he spotted something circling in the sky, and he wore the biggest grin ever as he tore his eyes away from the sky. “I’ll be right back,” he stepped out of the front door before Dash could question him about what was so exciting. She resigned herself to waiting, knowing it wasn’t going to be that long.

Will stepped out onto the front porch and a few paces down the path. His eyes were glued to the dark bird circling high above. It was a carrier raven, with the uninspired name of Raven. She had black, glossy feathers everywhere, except for her head, where she had a red stripe starting at the top and flowing down her back. She cawed a few times loudly, indicating her arrival. Will noticed the mound of yellow-white strapped to one of her legs, so she had a message to deliver this time and wasn’t just dropping in to say hi, which she was known to do from time to time.

He whistled sharply up to her, holding his left arm out with his elbow bent at ninety degrees. She heard him and sharply curved into a dive towards the grounds, pulling up and flaring her wings at the last second to land gently on his arm. She flapped her wings a few times to get comfortable as he unraveled the rope binding the scroll to her leg, letting the scroll fall into his other hand.

Will stepped back inside as Raven began preening her feathers.

“You went out… to get a bird?” Dash asked. This wasn’t the first time he’d brought in a bird, but it didn’t happen that often, so she was surprised when it did.

“Yeah… must be an urgent message.” He shook his head with a grin on his face. “I’m gonna go let her rest on my desk. Do drop by if you need anything,” he stepped lightly up the stairs and padded his way to his office. Once he entered, Raven left his arm and landed on the golden bird perch in the corner of the room. It was like a hanging birdcage, only without the cage part. There were several little perches over a circular base that bird could come and go from at will. Raven wouldn’t just leave him, anyway, so it was one way of showing his trust.

He sat at his desk and slowly unrolled the scroll, smirking at the symbols on the inside. The message was written in a mixture of Neighponese and Saddle Arabian, which he was able to read, but not many people could.

“To Lord Zephyr,” it read. “What’s up, man? It’s been a while since we last corresponded. But I’m afraid I’ve got a favor to ask and some dark news to pass on. My father, the king of Saddle Arabia, has been gravely injured, by you-know-who,” Will grit his teeth and clenched one hand into a fist at the news, crumpling the edge of the scroll in the process. “I’ve already left the country, but I need a place to stay and hide. I know that my presence may put you and others around you in danger, but… I really need help. And of course I’ll help around the house, oh wait it was a hostel, so around the hostel. I look forward to hearing from you soon. From, Prince Kain.” Will sat back in his chair and preceded to stare off into space as he thought over what he read.

Prince Kain is one of my best childhood friends. He didn’t care what background someone came from, as long as they were nice people, he was happy to be around them. He’s one of the few people I stayed in contact with after I ran away from home. I really want to help him, but… Can I run the risk of putting my friends in danger by harboring him? I really want to, but I also don’t want to talk about my past. There’s too much pain and hatred there. I don’t want to burden them with my problems. And of course there’s always the problem of introducing new people to a tight-knit group of friends. AND the fact that I’ll only have room for to other people if he does come. Will shook his head. This is giving me a migraine. He stood from his desk and began pacing in front of the large piece of furniture, muttering to himself under his breath. This was one of the few times where Will wasn’t smiling, as he thought long and hard about how to approach this situation.

“I need Celestia’s opinion on this,” he muttered, starting for the door. As he swung it open however, he found himself face to face with Rainbow Dash, poised and ready to knock on the door. He smiled softly at her. “Yes, Rainbow? How may I help you?”

“You seemed stressed,” She noted by his agitated movements. “I could hear your pacing all the way from downstairs. I was hoping to find out what’s wrong.”

“Just… going over the possibility of getting a new face in here,” he answered. “And all the implications that come with it. Do try to relax, Dash. Your arm will appreciate it if you do. I need to have a chat with Principal Celestia, so I’ll be out of the house if you really need me for anything.” He patted her shoulder with his left hand as he brushed past her and down the stairs. As he reached the front door, he heard a soft voice and turned to see Sunset mumbling in her sleep. He smiled at his sleepy friend and gently exited the building, letting the door close with a soft click to signify his departure.

Chapter 2: Voicing Concerns

View Online

Will strode through the halls of the University of Canterlot, heading towards Celestia’s office. He exchanged a few casual greetings with whoever passed by, getting smiles in response.

His fun would soon come to an end as he found himself face to face with the light brown, wooden-looking door to Celestia’s office.

Will rapped the knuckles of his left hand across the surface of the door three times. “Come in,” Celestia’s voice flowed from the other side. He gently opened the door and stepped inside. “Oh, Will! I’m so glad you came to visit. I was just about to go find you myself.” Celestia was tall, even by Anthro standards, standing at least a head above any others, sometimes even more. She had pink hair with teal and turquoise stripes, looking like an aurora one might see in the northern lands at night. A caring look adorned her magenta eyes as she watched Will enter her office. She was wearing a long, flowing white dress that showed off her figure well, or at least it would if she were standing and not sitting behind a giant mahogany desk, not unlike Will’s own back at the hostel.

“Oh?” He gave his signature soft smile. “What’s the trouble?” The entire wall behind Celestia was crammed with bookshelves absolutely stuffed with various books and documents. Other than that, a few potted plants sat in the corners of her office and a few smaller ones were placed on the windowsill. She did enjoy looking after them in her spare time.

“It’s not trouble, per say,” she responded, holding out a few papers for him to take. Will sat across from her and while he instinctively reached for them with his right hand, he quickly drew it back and took them gently with his left. He noted that they were transfer forms for two students to enroll at UC. Will put two and two together and his eyes searched down for their brief descriptions and the accompanying pictures.

“A successful model from Prance… and a martial arts master from Manehattan? At that young of an age?” he asked, more to himself than to Celestia. “Let’s see… Fleur de Lis…” The picture showed a happy and attractive looking woman with very pale white skin and snow-white hair, flowing freely down her head. A pair of purple eyes was glancing playfully through the photo, “…and Lyra Heartstrings?” The other photograph showed a mint green skinned woman with hair of a slightly lighter shade. Her golden eyes shone through the photo, displaying the confidence that came with being the master of a craft. He glanced up to Celestia. “How long would I have, before they arrive I mean?”

“A week,” she reassured him.

He crossed his arms and glanced out the window. “That means we’ll be full up,” he muttered.

“Wouldn’t adding those two only make nine tenants? I thought the hostel had room for ten.”

He shook his head and leaned forward. “The Prince wants to stay a while,” She jolted up in surprise, even though she was one of the few people who knew about Will’s origins.

Will pulled his chair a little closer to he desk and let his head rest on the cold hard surface. He sighed in exasperation, “I just… don’t know what to do,”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning,” She soothingly murmured to him, resting a hand on the back of his head, gently running her fingers through his unruly hair.

“I got a letter this morning from Kain,” he mumbled, so only Celestia could hear. “Apparently, my father,” his words became laced with venom at the very mention of the word. “Gravely wounded the king. Kain isn’t even in Saddle Arabia anymore, and he’s looking for a place to stay. Too many uncertainties plague my mind, I can’t seem to come to a decision,”

“Go on,” she cooed supportively, trying to reassure the young man in front of her.

“If I don’t accept, then I’ll worry about what happened to him. But if I do accept to let him stay here, then what will I have to tell the girls? What if my father comes after Kain? How can I protect my friends, both old and new?” He tapped the papers in his hand to emphasize the new part. “Regardless of my decision on Kain, I do believe that there won’t be a problem with letting Fleur and Lyra stay at the hostel.”

“Why don’t you just tell them the truth then?”

“I know it’s selfish, but I just can’t tell them about… Him,” he swallowed heavily, the weight of the words more than he realized. “There’s just too much pain. And would alerting them to his presence change anything? Well, they might get the hare-brained idea to attack him with their magic. That will only end in their demise, an outcome I would not be able to stand. I can speak from… personal experience that he will wipe the floor with them. No one can stand against… his might and win, not even someone as wise and powerful as you.”

Celestia contemplated her options, and after a few seconds of deduction, she came to a proposal, “Would it help you if I was there? For the explanation, I mean?”

Will pondered that thought, and it appealed to him greatly. “More than I realized,” he answered, raising his head and giving her a grateful smile. “I have decided that, against my concerns, I will allow Kain to stay with me,”

“When will you leave?”

Will thought for a second. “I’ll send a letter today, and I’ll leave first thing in the morning… well, third or fourth thing in the morning,” he amended, chuckling. “I will return with Kain at the latest, two days after that, though it shouldn’t take that long.” He passed the enrollment forms back to Celestia. “You’ll be needing to file these, no doubt,” he murmured, standing. “Thank you for indulging my little bout of self doubt,” he bowed respectfully. “It has helped me clear my head on the matter,”

“I’m always here,” she murmured, standing and walking around her desk to envelop Will in a hug, “should you ever need to talk,”

“Thank you, Aunt Celestia,”

She giggled at him, knowing she’d acted as his main source of emotional support when his mother died, “You’re welcome, little Zephyr.” They stayed in the embrace for about a minute until Celestia pulled them apart. “You’d best be getting ready. Kain will want the good news,”

“Right,” he nodded turning towards the door. Just before he opened the door, he added, “Though I dread the upcoming talk… I also look forward to it.” He gave one last smile to Celestia before he turned and quietly exited the room, leaving a light click as evidence to his departure.

Chapter 3: A Normal Day and Getting Directions

View Online

Will stepped quietly through the halls, keeping a small smile plastered on his features. He noted it was a bit after ten as he passed by a wall clock in the halls. He exited the University’s main building and quickly made it back to the hostel. Looking over the exterior, he was glad to see no visible damage to the walls.

The hostel was a deep, wooden brown two-story building, although there was a section of the first floor wall, to the right of the red front door that had been recently repainted, where someone had spray painted graffiti. An unassuming sign was nailed above the front door, simply reading, “The Round Robin.”

Stepping inside, Will found Rainbow Dash sitting at the table, quietly munching on her lunch, a leafy salad with chunks of fruit and a dressing she enjoys. She gave him a questioning look, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge his presence.

“I need to send a letter,” he spoke softly. “Then I’d like to take a walk with you.” That caught her interest.

Rainbow swallowed the bite in her mouth before speaking. “Where to?”

“Just outside. You know, to get some fresh air, to let you stretch your wings, things like that,” He shrugged as he started for the stairs. “Don’t worry, you still have time to eat. I need to draft the letter and send it off first,” He climbed the stairs and padded his way to his office. Raven cawed a greeting to Will as he sat down at his desk. He searched through the many drawers of his desk for a blank scroll, eventually finding one buried deep within his desk.

“To Prince Kain,” he started, writing in a mix of Neighponese symbols and Saddle Arabian glyphs, using the two languages as a makeshift encryption as he continued the letter. “After having a chat with a good friend of mine, I’ve decided that the best course of action is to let you stay with me at the hostel. I know you’re not in Saddle Arabia, but I need to know the rendezvous point to pick you up at. Oh and obviously don’t think you’ll get any special treatment from me. I’ll be watching you, so no messing with my tenants.” Will smiled mischievously as he wrote the last part. “I’m just giving you shit. It’ll be good to see you, and I need that location quickly. I’ll be leaving tomorrow to come get you. Anyway, try not to attract any undue attention in the meantime. Here’s to seeing you face to face. From Zephyr.”

He slowly rolled the scroll as tight as he could and bound it with a black ribbon, before binding that to Raven’s leg. He held out his left hand and Raven climbed onto his index finger, grasping lightly with her talons.

“Did you have a good rest?” he murmured softly, affection in his voice.

She poked at a wing with her beak before cawing an affirmative.

“I need you to take this to Kain as quickly as you can. Are you up to this?”

Raven flared her wings and cawed loudly, pretty much saying, “Bring it on!”

Will chuckled as he descended the stairs and stepped out onto the front lawn. Just as Raven was about to launch off, Will pushed up with his hand, giving her extra lift and speed and he watched her become a speck in the distance within seconds.

“Ready for that walk?” He asked kindly to Rainbow Dash, who was standing in the doorway, watching him.

“Are you all finished?” she asked, walking up next to him. He nodded and smiled.

“After you, Dash,” She pulled off her jacket and flung it back inside before Will walked over and closed the door. That left her with just a sports bra and a pair of shorts. Will didn’t care much though, as long as she wasn’t stark naked, he really didn’t care. So she’s a woman with a big chest, barely wearing anything, big whoop. That isn’t to say he wasn’t… interested, he just wasn’t going to become a blushing mess. He chuckled in his mind; he really was too kind, as Kain once put it.

Dash used her magic to manifest a pair of cyan feathered wings coming out of her back. She was an Anthro, meaning she was half human, half animal. She was a Pony, with her derivative subspecies being that of a Pegasus, meaning that she could manifest a pair of wings to allow her to fly and her magic was based around that. Things like, speed, wind, lightning, cloud and mist manipulation, and a few others are just some of the spells a Pegasus like Rainbow Dash could pull off.

She flapped her wings a few times without lifting off, working out the stiffness and aches, which can occur when one’s wings are not used for a while.

And none of his tenants have been using their magic for a while now. While only a very small part of the city’s population, there are some very outspoken humans who don’t like seeing magic was being used, and they can be quite the assholes when they catch someone using magic. They just love to harass people about how society doesn’t like magic. Which is bull, considering all Celestia’s done for her country. It was hard for her, but somehow she juggled being Princess, the leader of Equestria, being a Principal of a university, and being a woman with her own needs; at least, that’s what she confided in Will.

He watched as Dash slowly lifted off the ground, satisfied with how her wings felt. She performed a few lazy loops, climbing higher into the air. He walked down a forest path while Rainbow flew ahead of him, doing tricks in the fluffy white clouds above, loving the feeling of flying fast, but always staying within Will’s eyesight. It wouldn’t be good if her audience lost sight of her; that’s just bad form.

Will watched her for a few hours, smiling and cheering when she completed a difficult trick. Noticing a small crowd gathering, he kept an eye out for anyone he recognized. They were university students, probably taking a break upon seeing the display above them.

Dash kept her show going for ten more minutes before she finished it and landed next to Will. There was much cheering and praise from the crowd before they dispersed, but one man headed for them. Will pushed off the tree he was leaning on and stood next to Rainbow.

The man stopped before them and Will could see the intent in his eyes. The man was one of the magic-haters. The man opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter even a single syllable, Will had walked forward and placed his right hand on the man’s left shoulder, getting his soft smile up close to the other man’s face.

“I’ll give you a choice: leave now and forget what you saw, or you can go to the hospital with a broken jaw,” His nonchalant tone, coupled with his blunt and threatening words caught both the man and Rainbow Dash off guard. The man looked deep into Will’s eyes, seeing the icy cold edge of his look. The man swallowed heavily, and stepped back out of Will’s reach.

“B-B-But, Magic use is frowned upon in society,”

“Oh, please. You’re in the wrong country for that argument to be valid,” That shut him up. The man couldn’t think of a single retort and so, he turned away and walked off dejectedly. “Curious,” Will murmured.

“What is?” Dash asked, snapping out of her shock.

“Usually, they hate being told their argument is invalid,” he shrugged and turned back to the direction of the hostel. “Come on, I’ve got a surprise for you… and it involves your wings, so don’t put ‘em away just yet.”

She raised an eyebrow curiously at that, but followed him back to the hostel, folding her wings to her back and walking next to him.

As the hostel came into view, delicious aromas struck their noses like a battering ram. Will chuckled, “Pinkie must be baking again.” He stepped up and opened the door, only to be tackled to the ground by a pink-skinned woman, with fluffy pink hair and blue eyes, a pink shirt and a pink skirt, slightly covered in cupcake dough in a few spots, including right on her cheek.

“Welcome back, Willy!” she cried excitedly.

“Pinkie… air…” he wheezed. Pinkie’s hugs were no joke. She stood up and gave a sheepish look before darting back inside at the alarm of a timer.

Will sat up, his right hand on his chest, trying desperately to regain all the air Pinkie knocked out of him.

“Having fun there?” Rainbow asked, offering her left hand. He accepted it and she pulled him up to his feet.

“I guess you could say that,” he panted. Stepping inside, he noticed that all the counters were covered in cupcakes. “Did you go overboard again?”

“No, this is the perfect amount!” Pinkie called.

“What’s the occasion?”

“I heard we were getting new faces around here!” Pinkie bubbled.

“Ah,” Will murmured. “Overheard me this morning?” Pinkie nodded. “I appreciate the thought, Pinkie, but… they aren’t coming tonight.” Her mane deflated a little bit. “They are coming, just not tonight,” Will reassured her. “And besides, I’m sure the girls will love the cupcakes,” he winked at her, letting her know that nothing was wrong. He then turned to Dash. “Please sit somewhere comfortable and unfold your wings.”

She sat on the couch and unfolded her wings. Will knelt down in front of her right wing and reached forward before Dash asked, “What are you gonna do?”

“Preen your feathers,” he answered softly as he began.

“You know how to…?” she asked, already getting a little lost in the feeling of the preening.

“I was taught how to, growing up, and I had plenty of chances to practice,”

Pinkie brought over a cupcake for Dash and she watched as Will worked on Rainbow’s wings, being very slow and methodical. He made sure he did everything to perfection, and corrected any and all mistakes that he made. Both wings took him upwards of twenty-five minutes to complete.

When he was done, Will sat back in satisfaction and let out a sigh of relief. A cupcake hovered in front of his eyes, beckoning to him. “Hehe, thanks, Pinkie,” he swiped up the cupcake in his hand and took a small bite. Dash just sat there in a state of pure bliss, unaware that he’d finished. Phantom feelings remained, leaving her with a happy but not completely there, look in her eyes as she munched on her cupcake..

“So how are they?” Pinkie asked expectantly. Will turned his gaze to her and her ridiculously wide grin.

“Still the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. That fact is not going to change. No one can beat your cupcakes, Pinkie,” they shared a smile. Well, there actually is one kind of cupcake I can think of that would beat the ones you bake… His eye darted, just for a fraction of a second, to Pinkie’s generous chest. But those are taboo… for now.

His eyes glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, and found out it was 1:54 in the afternoon. “Uh oh, that’s… not good,” he murmured, picking himself up and heading for the fridge. “I forgot to bring Twilight her lunch when she forgot about it this… morning?” He opened the fridge and found a surprising lack of prepared lunches. “Wait… I was sure it was in here. Pinkie, do you know what happened to Twilight’s lunch?”

“Sure I do! I ran it to her a while ago. No one deserves to go without food, you know!” she bubbled.

“Heh, thanks, Pinkie,” he enveloped her in a hug. “What would I do without you?”

“You’d be a sad wad, frowny wowny, stick-in-the-mud?” she supplied in her usual energetic manner after they pulled apart.

“You know, I think you might be right!” Will replied with a laugh. “I’ll be reading upstairs should anyone need me,” he turned and, with a wave, ascended the stairs out of sight.

Up in his office, Will sat at his desk, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs across the face of the desk. He idly unscrolled Kain’s old letter, and he let his mind wander.

It’s been so long… It’s going to be strange meeting him again. How much has changed about us both? And how much hasn’t? Is he alone, or did he bring anyone along? I know he’ll be able to get along with my friends but will they be able to do the same? And what of the new girls coming? Will they be ok with the crazy antics that sometimes go on around here, or will we eventually drive them insane? A light scratching came to the window behind him, but he was too deep in thought to hear it. I just hope whatever trouble’s going on in Saddle Arabia blows over soon. The less I associate with my past, the better. I really want to keep my father away from my new friends. Will shuddered at that thought as scratching came to his window again, louder this time, but still unheard by Will. He brought his legs down and leaned forward over his desk, a hard look coming to his jade eyes. But if my hand is forced, things will not turn out like last time. He glanced down at his right hand, which was slightly shaking from the thought of having to fight his father. I will kill him, next time. I won’t let him hurt my friends… A thunderous caw snapped Will out of his musing and he twirled quickly to see Raven perched on a tree branch outside his window, giving him an annoyed look.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there, Raven,” he murmured as he unlatched the window and slid it open, allowing her access. She landed on his desk as he closed and latched the window, giving him an exasperated, ‘I know,’ look.

He unknotted the rope and grasped at the scroll tied to her leg, unrolling it slowly.

“To Lord Zephyr, that’s wondrous news! I seriously can’t thank you enough! I’m currently camped at the junction of Equestria’s, Draconia’s, and the Crystal Empire’s borders. I’m really looking forward to getting some good rest soon. I’ve been hearing strange noises at night. Strange growls, roars; I even think I heard moaning once. I think there might be a bear cave nearby, or maybe even an Ursa cave. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow man. From, Prince Kain. PS. You don’t need to respond to this letter in writing, just bring Raven with you.”

Will leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. Many thoughts and questions raced through his mind, but one in particular stuck out to him. What could those noises mean? He didn’t have an answer for that, and that frustrated him. He crossed his arms over his desk and dropped his head on them a little more forcefully than he’d intended, making a small thud. He let out a small sigh, I hope I didn’t just worry anyone downstairs…

Chapter 4: Evading Explanations and Preparing for Departure

View Online

Will rested on his desk for about an hour and a half before he moved again. He blearily rubbed his eyes, stretching his neck and rolling his shoulders. He learned it was nearly four in the afternoon when he glanced at the nearby clock. “Well, time to make dinner, I guess,” he mumbled as he rose to his feet. He took a cursory glance at Raven as he passed the bird perch, and smiled slightly when he saw her fast asleep. He quietly left the office, sure to not disturb the sleeping bird and padded his way down the hall and stairs and into the kitchen. Pinkie had cleared most of the counter space from the disaster it was earlier, leaving him more than enough room to work with.

Speaking of Pinkie Pie, she was sitting on one end of the couch, chatting with Rainbow Dash while Fluttershy listened intently from the other end of the couch. Rarity and Sunset Shimmer could be heard from upstairs, giggling as Rarity was styling Sunset’s hair, and doing both their nails.

Applejack was drinking cider while she worked on her homework in her room. As for Twilight, Will never knew when she was going to be home. She got private lessons from Celestia, on top of all her university classes; so saying her schedule was erratic would be the grossest of understatements.

While he was musing about what the others were doing, he’d pulled out a large metal bowl, a head of lettuce, a large knife and a few other fruits and veggies, which was a bit more time consuming thanks to him having to grab everything with his left hand, his right just not being strong enough to lift anything, well, except for the package of herbs, but that weighed next to nothing, so that doesn’t count.

Expert chopping noises could be heard filling the kitchen as he finely cut the head of lettuce for the salad it was to become and the other veggies soon joined it. Lettuce, olives, apples, and carrots were just a few of the ingredients that made their way into the bowl. Just about everything went in, except for raw tomatoes. Will couldn’t stand the taste of raw tomatoes, so he always left it out. He also cooked a pan of mashed potatoes for the side dish. It was a simple meal, to be sure, but the girls seemed to enjoy it, so he wasn’t going to argue.

“Girls, it’s dinner time,” he called softly, bringing the large bowl of salad and then the pan of potatoes to the table, along with a stack of plates. Rainbow and Pinkie were there in an instant, taking their seats, and beginning to serve themselves while Fluttershy walked to the stairs and called up to the others upstairs.

A knock came to the front door and Will answered that as Applejack shot down the stairs. A lavender-skinned woman stood on the other side. She had short purple bangs, with a pink stripe adorning one part. She stood in a white lab coat over a purple tee and a black skirt.

“Welcome back, Twilight,” He murmured with a smile, holding the door open wide. “You’re just in time for dinner.” She gave a tired smile as she sat at the table with the others, who were already digging in. Rarity and Sunset were levitating their forks with their magic, so that they wouldn’t ruin their newly done nails.

Sunset and Rarity, along with Twilight, were Anthro ponies, with the subspecies of Unicorn. Unicorns are the most magically talented, in the traditional sense, of the pony subspecies. Telekinesis, elemental spells, beams, shields, and other spells of that kind of variant are what a Unicorn could specialize in and utilize. Rarity, for example, was more skilled at multitasking and using her telekinesis, while Sunset is better at fire spells… not that she’s used any recently, but the option is there for her. Twilight specializes in magic in general, she can cast most spells with relative ease, just not to the level of expertise that Rarity or Sunset have in their respective areas.

Will sat at the end of the table, opposite the stairs, and took a few bites of salad before setting down his fork, resting his elbows on the table, with his hands resting in front of his mouth, and gazing off into space.

Fluttershy was the first to notice that something was off. Sure, he normally sat quietly during dinner, usually listening to the conversations at the table, but he normally munched as he did so, not sit there and stare half-liddedly into space.

“Will?” she asked, barely able to be heard over the din of conversation. “What’s wrong?” she murmured, instantly gaining everyone else’s attention. They turned to Will and found out that he barely even reacted. Rainbow Dash, sitting just to his left, waved a hand in front of his face. Again, no response.

A mischievous grin formed on her mug as she launched out her hand right in front of his face and snapped her fingers, to quite literally, ‘snap’ him out of it. He flinched back from the noise and looked up into their faces. “Hmm? What’s up?” he asked.

“Why were ya jes’ starin’ into space?” Applejack asked.

“Oh… I was just thinking about the best way to phrase some news I have to pass on, that’s all. I must’ve gotten distracted,” he scratched at his head before lowering his hand. “Anyway, I have good news and not-so-good news. The good news is that were going to get three new faces around her within the week.” The girls chattered excitedly at this little tidbit before Will spoke again. “The not-so-good news is that I will have to leave in the morning to go pick up our first new arrival.”

“Why would that be bad?” Rarity asked.

“Cause he isn’t going to be at the train station,” Will answered, knowing where she was going. “Meaning my trip is going to take a few days. No more than two days, but not just an hour to the station and back. I know you girls can take care of yourselves while I’m gone…”

“So, you’ll be back before Friday?” Twilight clarified.

Will nodded, “I expect to be back before Thursday, but even if something comes up, I should be back with our guest before Friday.”

“So who are these new friends of ours?” Rarity asked curiously, getting a similar response from the others.

“In a week, we’ll all be going down to the train station to greet one Fleur De Lis and one Lyra Heartstrings,” Will supplied, earning gasps from Rainbow and Rarity.

“Do you mean THE Lyra Heartstrings, the martial arts master?!” Rainbow shouted.

“And do you mean, THE Fleur De Lis, the world famous model from Prance?!” Rarity breathed.

“Yes to both counts, though for Lyra, I only know what was in her profile, and for Fleur, today was the first time I saw a picture of her,” he answered, with an apologetic shrug towards the end. “As for whom I’m meeting tomorrow…” they all leaned in closer. If they were getting two new faces of such renown in a week, who must this new person tomorrow be? “HE… is a secret,” Will gave his best 'I know what I did, and I loved every second,' grin, until Twilight and Rainbow’s face scrunched up into a pout, to which he softened his grin. “Kain has always enjoyed having his secrets, girls. I need to figure out how much he wants to reveal before I go spoiling everything about him.”

He stood, and carried his plate over to the kitchen sink, getting a curious look from Twilight on the way over. “You know this… Kain?”

“Yeah,” he murmured. “He and I are childhood friends.”

“What else can you tell us about him?” Sunset asked.

“Not much, I’m afraid. Last time we talked face to face was over nine years ago.” Will began mixing up lunches for the next day as he mused. “He’s human, like me, and he’s from Saddle Arabia. Sorry, but that’s all I’m willing to say at the moment. Or maybe the better thing to say, is that those facts are the only ones I can share that won’t have… unforeseen consequences…” He finished with the lunches and loaded them into the fridge. “Don’t worry, he’s a nice guy,” he murmured halfway up the stairs. “Good night,” he called as he reached the door to his office.

Stepping inside, he sighed and leaned his back against the door, glancing out the window to the sunset outside in the process.

Will only stayed there for about ten seconds before he turned to his left and slipped through the door there to his bedroom.

His bedroom was quite small, with little more than a bed and a closet. The walls were a dark maroon color and the curtains on the window were a dark blue.

It was early, the sun had not even fully set as Will sat on the end on his bed, boring a hole into the palm on his right hand with his gaze. He could see the involuntary trembling of the muscles. His arm was growing weaker. He sighed and let his head fall back onto his pillow, pulling his legs up onto the bed.

He knew Rarity would be furious should she ever catch him lying on his bed fully clothed in his boots. “Ugh, You’re getting your muddy boots all over your perfectly god sheets,” She’d say in a pout. He let out a few tired laughs at that thought before turning his gaze to the dull white ceiling above.

That note about noises still disturbs me, he muttered. I doubt that a bear cave would make so much noise as to cause Kain to write about it… Nor have I heard reports of any such caves being in that area…! He sat up quickly, his eyes widening at his revelations. Well, at least on the Equestrian and Crystal Empire’s side of the line. I don’t know about Draconia… He shook his head. I’ve only met a few dragons in my lifetime, and they were less than friendly, though I’m not sure how to judge their society as a whole. They’re certainly more barbaric, at least some of them. I don’t think I’ve met a dragon with an intelligence to match an Anthro like Twilight… Except maybe their Queen… Though I can only judge based on a round of three chess matches between her and Celestia that I was an audience to, where she actually won the first round, and was close in the other two. He snorted and lied back down. I’d better get some rest. It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow. He closed his eyes, resting his hands behind his head.

*********

It’d only been a few hours when Will’s eyes opened again. He turned over onto his right side so he could groggily gaze out the window up at the night sky. Beautiful, he murmured, his mind trying to come back into a conscious state. I’ll have to compliment Luna on her craftsmanship sometime. He swung his legs over the bed and stretched his arms into the air, heading for the door, when he stopped. I really don’t want to tell them about my father. I’d rather not have to force the issue with Twilight. I’d rather not do that to her, even though it’d be about my… father… His hand suddenly pulled away from the doorknob as his eyes shrunk to pinpricks. What… What if… the noises Kain mentioned weren’t just bears? What if he was trying to tell me something? What if… The realization dawns on him as he’s standing there. What if it’s a trap, set up by my father, and Kain’s just being used as bait to lure me out? Is Kain’s whole plight just a ruse? Is my father, or perhaps one of his lackeys, lying in wait for me to show up? Is Kain in on it? Such questions plague at Will’s mind as he steps into his office. He slid into the chair of his desk and swiveled it around to gaze out the window.

Would Kain do something like this? Well… no, no he wouldn’t. But it’s also possible that he’s an unwitting party to all this. I wouldn’t put it past my father to have his lackeys tailing important Saddle Arabians. This… This is not going to be enjoyable in the slightest.

He sighed, taking a moment to glance at the clock before returning to the night sky. Ten thirty, huh? He sat, leaning on the knuckles of his right hand with his cheek before he stood and returned to his room. Time to prepare all my equipment.

*********

Meanwhile, the Mane Seven sat around downstairs, milling about and mingling.

“I wonder what was wrong with Will?” Fluttershy wondered.

“He did seem distraught,” Rarity added.

“Do you think we hit a nerve?” Sunset asked. The group looked downcast until they heard a click from upstairs and a metallic jingling noise flowed down the hallway. They all watched as Will, clad in a long black cloak with the hood over his head descended the stairs.

He stood at the base of the stairs, giving them a warm smile that had a slight sinister edge to it. His jade eyes shone out from under his hood, with the barest traces of a hard look coming through.

“W-Will?” Twilight asked. “What’s with the getup?”

“Just a contingency plan. It seems my friend may have gotten himself into a bit of trouble. I’m gonna go bail him out.”

“Hey, Twi?” Sunset whispered into her ear. “Is it just me, or does that outfit look familiar?”

Will raised his right hand. “I’m sure you have many questions. I will answer them to the best of my ability when I return. The timeline has not changed. I still plan on returning before Friday. Until then, girls,” He bowed his whole body with a large flourish. “I must be going,”

From under the dark cowl came a mischievous smirk, as he seemed to melt into the darkened floor, disappearing with cries of alarm from the others.

They stared at the spot where Will had been standing, all of them stunned into silence.

It was Fluttershy who broke the silence, with the simple question of, “...What just happened?”

Chapter 5: Meeting an Old Friend

View Online

“Heh, heh, sorry girls,” Will mumbled as he stepped out of the dark side of a tree on a hill a ways away. “I know that was mean, but I must be going, and I wish for you all to not follow me.” Raven sprang down from the branches above and landed on his right shoulder. She’d flown out of his window earlier that night to wait for him outside.

Will grasped at his right forearm as pain shot through the limb, gritting his teeth as he started off towards Kain’s location. But he had to stop and sit against a nearby tree as a wave of nausea nearly crippled him, leaving him sitting in pain for nearly two hours.

He sighed as the pain past. “Phew, that was close, especially back at the hostel. I had to use a Shadow Cloak spell to keep them from seeing my stuff. I can hardly imagine how freaked out they’d be by the sword at my side or the gun at my hip. Heaven forbid they get a good look at my armor, though it seems that Sunset might’ve gotten a glimpse. Oh well, I was going to tell them when I get back anyway.” He picked up his pace to a light jog. Thank goodness this armor is enchanted with muffle and silence spells. I wouldn’t be very sneaky otherwise. He gave a wry grin as he leaned forward and increased his speed again.

********

Will slowed to a stop in a clearing when he noticed the sun rising. I guess taking a rest wouldn’t hurt. I’m a little over a third of the way there, so time isn’t an issue. He’d already taken several short breaks in his run to regain his breath, but now he sat under a tree and just let the forest atmosphere relax him. My gut keeps telling me a fight is coming up, so I’ll need as much energy as I can muster.

After half an hour, he stood and rolled his shoulders, stretching as many muscles as he could before charging off again. I’m coming for you, Kain. Whether it’s to save you or kill you; that remains to be seen.

********

When he estimated he was about a mile away from where Kain was, he slowed to a walk, letting him preserve the rest of his energy. Passing by so many evergreen trees, Will began to ponder if he was moving at all, or if the trees were just repeating to mess with him.

Coming across a large forest clearing dispelled his doubts as he flattened himself against the trunk of one tree and he peered around it into the clearing.

A crimson tent was pitched in the center, next to a small campfire. There was a spit with a dead boar roasting over the fire, and a man quickly emerged from the tent to continue the rotation of the spit.

His skin was tanned and his hair was the color of sand. A silver broadsword was strapped to his back, the hilt resting comfortably just above his right shoulder. He wore a full set, nix the helmet, of fancy, gold-inlaid red plate armor.

As she spotted the man, Raven launched herself off of Will’s shoulder, flapping her wings quickly to reach the man.

Well, I guess that’s my cue, he murmured, pushing off the tree, lowering his cowl, exposing his face, and walking forward.

Raven cawed loudly in greeting as she landed on the man’s shoulders, causing him to start in surprise. He glanced around until he noticed Will raise a hand in greeting.

“W-Will?!” he cried out. “You’re here already?”

“Yep,” he replied with a soft smile. “I left about midnight,”

“But I heard you were coming from Canterlot!”

“Well, I’m pretty tired from running here,” Will chuckled. “How’ve you been, Kain?”

“I was just fine until about a week ago, when my father was gravely injured,” He sat in shock. “You didn’t have to run here, though. It’s not like I’m in any danger,”

Will’s eyes narrowed but he kept his smile. So you got away? For my father and his underlings? Are you oblivious to their possible presence? Or are you in league with them to capture me? Only one way to find out… Will sighed. “Were you followed?”

“No… At least I don’t think I was…” He grew a troubled look and he gazed into the fire in contemplation. “I covered my tracks as best I could,”

“Not quite good enough, though,” A female voice came from behind where they were sitting. Kain twisted to his left and reached back for the hilt of his sword, crouching down into a defensive position. Will, on the other hand, stood quickly and twirled to his right, aiming his 9mm pistol, now in his left hand right for the woman’s heart, his back to Kain as they both glared at the new arrival.

She had long, brown hair, pale skin, and was covered in black leather clothes.

“Well, if it isn’t Valerie, one of my father’s whores!” Will called to her.

“I should just kill you now, but knowing what Victor wishes of you, I will settle with detaining you,” She uncoiled a whip from her back hip. “I hope you like pain, cause that’s all that awaits you!” She charged forward.

Will jumped away in one direction and Kain jumped back in another.

Valerie targeted Kain first, launching her whip at his neck. “Don’t think you can get away from us, either, little prince! There is no escape for you!” Kain blocked the attack with his sword, but the end of the whip wrapped around his sword blade, and they stood in a power struggle, Kain trying to keep his blade, and Valerie trying to disarm him.

Will solved it for them, shooting at Valerie, forcing her to uncoil the whip from his blade and jump away.

“Come on out, boys! Let’s show them what it means to cross the Zephyr Clan!” Valerie shouted to the woods. Four burly men emerged from the treeline, carrying various kinds of blunt weapons, from a wicked spiked mace, to a policeman’s baton, to a thick tree branch, of all things.

Will snorted at her remark, the irony not lost on him, pelting the group’s location with bullets, making them scatter. Finding his pistol to be less than effective, he holstered it to his hip and drew a black-bladed katana from under his cloak, where it had rested on his right hip.

The man wielding the tree branch charged forward, swinging a giant overhead strike towards Will’s head. Will sidestepped and nonchalantly swiped upwards, shearing the branch in half. The man stared blankly at his broken weapon until a sword through his chest obscured his vision. He looked up at Will’s uncaring face before he crashed to the ground, dead.

Kain was holding the attention of Valerie and one brigand, clashing weapons with the brigand while trying to keep his balance from Valerie’s attacks. Will rushed forward and engaged the other two brigands before they could overwhelm Kain.

Will backstepped away from their attacks, blocking and dodging. The attacker to his left launched an overhead strike, and Will caught it with his sword. He pushed with all his might and threw his opponent off balance. His attacker took a tumble in the dirt and took a few seconds to get back to his feet.

In the meantime, Will blocked a vertical slam from his other attacker, his arm muscles groaning in protest from the impact. He redirected the club into the ground and stabbed forward.

His foe stepped to his right, avoiding the thrust from Will. Will quickly sliced to the side, opening a gash on his attacker’s side. His attacker fell to the ground, incapacitated for the moment.

His other opponent had regained his footing and charged back into the fray. Will matched him blow for blow, clashing mace and sword each time. Will put a little more force into his blows, and pushed the brigand backwards. His foe tried desperately to block the slashes thrown towards him, and his arms groaned under each impact.

With a flick of Will’s wrist, he brought his blade down on the brigand’s hands, cutting them deeply and forcing his foe to release the death grip he’d had on his mace. It clattered to the ground with a loud clang as the brigand stared blankly at his hands. He barely noticed the pommel of Will’s sword until it bashed into the side of his head. His eyes glazed over and he fell in a heap to the dirt below.

A noise from behind attracted Will’s attention and he turned to see the brigand with the club just now stumbling to his feet, clutching at his side with one arm to stem the blood. He gave a feeble swing, missing by a mile, and Will clonked him over the head with the pommel of his sword, sending that brigand into dreamland.

Will returned his gaze to Kain, and pulled out his pistol once more, sheathing his sword in the meantime. Kain’s sword was wrapped by Valerie’s whip and it was all he could do to keep it in his hands. The last brigand, brandished his police baton, and prepared to blindside Kain.

Will raised his arm, sighted, and sent a single bullet spinning through the air, where it sliced through the brigand’s skull. The brigand stiffened up and slumped to the ground, dropping his baton as Kain and Valerie separated again.

Valerie hadn’t expected Will to take out all her brigands, and she hadn’t expected Kain to press his advantage, charging straight towards her after they’d separated. She shot out her whip, aiming for his neck. Kain raised his left hand and let the whip wrap around his wrist. He ignored the pain and swung in an upward arc, slicing through her shoulder; shearing through the bone and muscle and disarming her, literally. She fell down to her knees, gripping at the hole where her right arm used to be and screaming in agony.

Kain contemplated what to do with her, but Will acted first, rushing forward and driving his elbow into the back of her head, letting her unconscious body faceplant to the ground.

Kain stared at Will for a few seconds before slowly shaking his head and sheathing his sword onto his back. “You’ve definitely changed over the years, Will. I remember when you wouldn’t think twice about killing someone like her. Someone connected to your father…”

Will just shrugged, “I guess this is what happens when you live in a peace-loving country like Equestria. It starts to affect you after a while…”

“Your combat skills seem as sharp as ever. That’s at least a good sign,”

“I’ll admit, I haven’t done much training or fighting in the past two months. I will need to rectify that later. But for now, let us bandage these brigands. It wouldn’t do for our prisoners to bleed out before they reach their prison, would it?” He knelt down next to Valerie’s body and pulled out a roll of bandages.

“Prisoners?”

“Well, yeah. Did you think I was just gonna leave them here to report back? I’m gonna take them back to Canterlot and turn them over to Celestia herself. Speaking of which, do you have some rope?”

“Luckily for you, I do have rope. I’ll go get it,” Kain strolled back towards his tent as Will wrapped up her wounds. He wandered around, tending to the two others who weren’t dead. Kain returned and they tied up their three prisoners.

“Hey, Kain,”

“What’s up? Something on your mind?” he asked as the two friends sat across the small campfire, Kain nursing the wrist Will had recently bandaged.

“That… noise you mentioned in your letter… which direction did it come from?”

“Umm… The North… I think? What’s this all about?”

“Valerie and her group came from the East… and the noise was important enough to you to write about. At first, when Valerie showed up, I thought that they were the one’s causing the racket at night. But something in the back of my mind kept nagging me. It didn’t sound like my father to send someone so careless… That being said…” Will slid his gaze to the North and pointed his pistol at the bushes. Raising his voice, Will called out, “You there, in the bushes, come out where we can see you,”

Much to Kain’s surprise, a small girl with green scales on her arms and around her face shakily stepped out into the open, going “Eep!” and throwing up her arms at the sight of Will’s gun. She was visibly shaking; the fear was almost too much for her.

“An Anthro,” Will supplied. “Species: Dragon. Subspecies: Green Scale.” He stood very slowly and holstered his gun at the same speed. Stepping forward and kneeling down, Will addressed the new arrival, “What are you doing out here?”

She whispered something and Will leaned forward, catching her words. “I was dragged from my home by evil dragons. They do horrible things to me and the other slaves at night. We’re to be sold on the black market to the highest bidder. They had us camped out about a mile to the north. I just managed to slip away when I heard fighting here. I was hoping you could help my friends.”

Will whispered a question to her. “What kind, of slaves?”

She was unable to speak for a while, not wanting to tell him the embarrassing truth. She steeled her resolve and whispered an answer that made Will’s blood freeze. “…S-Sex. Sex slaves,”

Will was stunned; he’d heard no reports of slavers during his time as a wandering vigilante. He’d killed and murdered thousands of people during his life, but this was appalling to him. His mind wandered slightly down a dark path. What if… images of his tenants flashed by in his mind. His blood boiled at the thought of them being caught in such a situation.

Will had kept his face a mask, but he let a look of alarm slip out for just a second before he regained his calm look. “Let us discuss this,” He stood and returned to the campfire with Kain, who kept shooting him questioning looks.

“What was that about? What did she need to say?” Kain asked, unable to hold it in any longer.

“She’s very shy about the subject, so I let her whisper, as she was comfortable speaking at that volume. I’ve found the answer to my question, but now, a situation has reared its head in our faces. To put it bluntly, she’s a sex slave. She, along with several others, were taken from their homes, and forced to do unspeakable acts. The slavers are camped about a mile to our north,”

Kain had listened quietly so far, and he took an opportunity to speak up, “So, do you want us to go free the other slaves?”

“Ultimately, yes. Theirs is a fate far worse than death. I’m just trying to think about the best way to go about this.”

“Oh… are you sure you want to consider using magic? Especially with that seal on your arm?” Kain gave him a worried glance.

“I’m going to have to. These are dragons we’re talking about here. They aren’t something to take lightly.”

“Yeah, but neither are we,” Kain reminded, “And neither were those brigands, but you took them down pretty handily… without magic, I might add,”

“We don’t know how many slavers we’ll be dealing with,”

“Ten,” the girl replied from behind them, where she’d scooted closer to listen to their conversation. She gave them a smile, seeing as they’d be helping her and her fellow slaves, but that soon broke when she saw the three tied up unconscious brigands. “A-Are you slavers, t-too?” she squeaked frightfully.

“If we were, you wouldn’t be free right now,” Kain replied nonchalantly.

“We’re just two travelers, taking down brigands. These three will be taken to prison, as they are criminals.” Will answered, rolling his neck. “Listen, girl. We need to ask you a favor,” She looked up in confusion. “We need you to watch our prisoners while we… deal with the slavers. Consider it your payment for our services. It might not seem like much, but it is vitally important.”

She nodded, “What do I have to do?”

“Sit here and watch them. They shouldn’t wake up while we’re away, but incase they do, just watch them. Ignore what they say, they’re trying to trick you, just make sure they aren’t doing anything suspicious,”

“I understand,”

“And one last thing,” Will added as both humans stood. “Don’t be surprised if I have to be carried back by Kain. I’m going to be ‘cutting loose’, as it were,” With one last wave, Will and Kain dashed into the forest to the North.

Chapter 6: Returning "Home"

View Online

It did not take them long to find the camp the girl had mentioned. Rows and rows of dark tents awaited their eyes as the two peered from the shadows of the forest. A rank and musky scent hung in the air.

“I’m so glad I was upwind from this,” Kain muttered. “This is outright putrid,”

“A lot of rape has happened in this clearing, and something tells me slavers aren’t good at cleaning up their own… excrement,”

“Thank you for that wonderful mental image,” Kain mused drily.

“Anyway, I want you to stand by the forest edge, and kill any stragglers that come after the slaves. I’ll be slaying all the slavers and funneling the slaves towards you. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell the difference between the two parties.”

“Yeah, yeah,”

“I’ll have at most 5 minutes… probably not even that,” Will murmured, flexing his arms. “Before I can’t hold consciousness anymore,”

“I see you’ve made up your mind. I’ll handle the stragglers. Just go wreak some havoc, Zephyr,”

“As you command, Captain,” Will replied drily with a mock bow. “I’m off,” Holding out his right arm, he closed his eyes and concentrated. I’ll only be able to cover one arm… I don’t think I can handle both arms for any length of time yet.

His right arm began glowing red as a wave of nausea and exhaustion tried to overtake him. He fought through it as sharp green wind magic covered his right arm, giving him a hand of razor sharp claws made of wind. Slamming his wind-covered arm into the ground caused all the tents and their inhabitants to be flung into the air. He rushed forward and jumped into the air, spotting the first of many slavers. The slaver was a burly man with ripped arms and shoulders, and with a shocked expression on his mug. Will slashed through them with his claws.

Time seemed to slow down as Will used wind magic to push his body faster and faster. Six of the slavers were dead by his claws by the time everything fell back to the earth. One was lying unconscious from where his head had impacted a sharp rock. Will used the opportunity to stab his claws into the man’s side, killing him.

Fighting through another wave of pain, Will charged at another slaver, who was manhandling a slave, using her as a meat shield. Will slid underneath the pair, raking his claws upward just as he past through, ripping into the slaver’s abdomen and crotch. After standing quickly, Will impaled the man with his claws with a quick twirl before he got the opportunity to retaliate. Releasing the grip on the slave, the body fell to the ground.

Will pointed to Kain and told her to run as the final two slavers charged at him, one from either side. Will rushed to the side, grabbed the leg of one slaver and tossed him into the other. They slammed together and slammed into a tree.

Will turned to Kain and began walking, the wind magic dissipating from his arm. When he heard crashing come from the tree where he threw the slavers, he tried to turn but found himself struck by exhaustion as he fell to the ground. As he was falling he turned his eyes back to Kain and pointed his arm, mouthing one word, “Enchant,” before his face hit the dirt and he was unconscious.

A sheath of sharp green wind magic wrapped itself around Kain’s sword as he drew it. “Oh hell yes,” the eager Prince breathed. “Thanks, Zephyr,” Kain charged as the slavers came into view, swiping at them horizontally, driving the two into dodging back. Kain attacked ferociously, slicing through the two slavers with glee, chuckling excitedly at the action.

He sighed in satisfaction as he looked over the slavers, reduced to piles of giblets and flesh from the barrage of attacks. “It’s been far too long since I’ve had a really good fight.” Spinning in place, Kain strode towards Will’s unconscious body and hefted him onto his shoulder, noting with concern that his arm was still glowing bright red.

It’s still steadily draining his magic. “Damn it man,” he muttered, shaking his head as he returned to the forest, finding himself being followed by the now free slaves. He returned to his camp, finding everything in order, reuniting the girl with her friends.

Kain set Will on the ground inside his tent.

“Ok, everyone,” Kain announced, instantly gaining everyone’s attention. “Seeing as it’s close to sunset, I will let you all sleep here for the night. Should anyone not want to sleep on the ground, I’m going to have to ask you to salvage what you can from the slaver camp.”

“What about tomorrow?” someone piped up. “Do you have a plan for then?”

“It’s not a good plan, but tomorrow, I’ll be turning everyone loose, so they can make their way back home, to where that is. I, on the other hand, will be carrying my friend and our criminal friends over there to Canterlot. If I come up with a better plan, I’ll announce it in the morning,”

“So, we’ll be free to do what we want?”

“As long as you don’t ask us to give you a place to stay, yeah. I’m the guest in this situation, so I don’t know if Zephyr would be alright with that,”

“Zephyr?”

“Yeah, that’s his name,” Kain sat outside his tent and idly spun the spit some more. Glancing around, he noticed the hungry stares the hog was getting. “You guys can have this, as long as you all share,”

Fifteen minutes later, all the meat was gone, and the girls were gnawing on the bones while they rested on the ground.

Something tells me this is going to be a long night, Kain sighed as the last hint of the sun slipped passed the horizon and the moon took its place. Still gives me a chuckle when I remember that it’s an Anthro woman that raises the sun and moon everyday. I wonder if I’ll get to meet them? Perhaps, perhaps… Who was it again?

Kain was left to his musings as the night passed without much incident.

As the sun rose, some of the girls stirred. They found Kain standing by his tent, where he was all night as he stood watch. Within fifteen minutes every girl was awake.

“The first part of the plan is simple,” Kain said, announcing the plan he came up with for the girls. “Like I said yesterday, I want you all to salvage from the slaver camp. Find clothes, food, anything you all can use to travel. I want you all to return in an hour.” They set out from the camp.

“Well, isn’t that just disgustingly sentimental,” Valerie spat.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Kain noted with disdain, “Good, that means you can walk yourself, and I won’t have to drag you,”

“You’ll never get me to Canterlot alive!”

“We’ll see about that,” Kain murmured, “Or did you not see the two subordinates of yours that are strapped to you?” She gasped in horror when she saw and felt that she couldn’t move at all. “Exactly,” Kain brushed her off, tapping the pommel of his sword to the back of her skull. She fainted a few seconds later. “Much better,”

********

A while later, the girls returned, dressed in what they could find, a few of them toting backpacks.

“Listen, the other part of my plan is to have you all leave for Draconia,” Kain raised a hand to stop any outbursts. “I think it would be best if you stay in a country you’re all familiar with, and you’re more likely to make it if you travel in a group, even if it’s slower than going it alone.” He paused. “No doubt your families are worried to death about you all. Go be with them, alleviate their fears,”

“Who are you?” the same green-scaled girl asked as the group prepared to leave.

“Me? I’m Kain… of Saddle Arabia,”

“…YOU MEAN THE PRINCE?!”

Kain shrugged as he retrieved Will from the tent, sitting him up on a nearby log, letting him slump forward a little. He broke camp and snuffed out the fire. “That’s for me to know and you to contemplate,” he replied with a smile, “Now get going. You’ve got a long journey ahead,”

Some of the group pouted at his answer but they all marched out anyway.

Kain sighed in the now empty forest clearing as he hefted Will onto his shoulder. He then kicked one of the brigands in the side, waking him up. “Get walking,” he growled to the criminal, who begrudgingly complied when Kain pulled on the rope acting as a leash.

They plodded down a forest path in silence. Kain was following Raven, who had decided to lead him to Canterlot.

They stopped after two hours, barely a fifth of the way there. The brigand was breathing heavily from having to drag several people with him.

Kain let the brigand rest for a little bit before he kicked awake his companion, who grumbled but helped walk cause he couldn’t do anything else.

As they continued through the forest, the brigand pair kept themselves occupied with a conversation about whatever struck their fancy at the moment. Kain just tuned them out, ignoring them completely as he brought them through the forest.

Kain kept walking, not really able to tell if time was even passing, until the Sun started to set on the horizon. He stopped and propped Will up against a nearby tree.

The brigands slumped into a sitting position and got as comfortable as they could, being as tied up as they were.

Kain stood against the tree next to Will. He gazed up at the moon, ignoring any complaints the brigands tried to throw to him.

********

Meanwhile, the last member of the Mane Seven had just returned to the hostel from their school day.

The air in the hostel was filled with quiet tension, excitement for the return of their friend bright in their minds, but with an undertone of worry making itself known.

Fluttershy and Pinkie were in the kitchen, preparing the lunches for the next day while they dealt with the remnants of the dinner they’d made a little bit ago.

Twilight was sitting on the couch, glancing over her shoulder out the window to watch the road coming from the forest.

Sunset was slumped at the desk in her room, resting her head on her folded arms as she gazed out the window to her left, focusing on the moon in the sky.

Rainbow was lying on her bed on her back with a pair of earbuds in her ears, listening to her iPod on Shuffle as she stared up at her ceiling, trying her best to distract herself.

Rarity was seated in front of a vanity in her room, and she was gently brushing her hair, judging her work in the mirror, making sure she looked absolutely radiant.

Applejack was sleeping like a log, needing to awaken early in the morning.

“Are you all right, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked quietly, taking a seat next to her friend.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” she replied, tearing her gaze away from the outside to meet Fluttershy’s gaze. “I’m just worried, is all,”

“We all are,” she sympathized. “He was kinda scary when he left… like he was when we first met him,”

“Yeah… It was amazing to see what a change he went through. He’d been much happier these past few months.”

“It also felt like he was holding himself back,” Sunset interjected, having descended the stairs to join their conversation. “And I have found a possible theory as to… why,” She produced a two year old newspaper article from the Crystal Empire.

The title read, “Vigilante Zephyr strikes again! Crime syndicate taken down!” A faded picture showed a black blob with one piercing green eye as the only thing visible.

“It’s possible… that this could have been Will,” Sunset murmured. “But it’s also possible that it’s someone else. Just another thing to ask him about when he does return.”

“He should be back by now,” Twilight glanced at the wall clock. “It’s coming up on ten thirty.

“Perhaps his friend was in more trouble than he thought?”

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy murmured, standing. “We need to be up early tomorrow morning. I suggest we retire for the night,”

The two others sighed as they followed her upstairs, where they stepped into their separate rooms.

Twilight sat at her desk and drafted a letter to Celestia, notifying her of Will’s absence. It took her ten minutes, fretting over what details to put in, which words to use, until she was happy enough to send it off with her magic.

She found herself sitting in a silent hostel, as the others seemed to be asleep.

A letter appeared on her desk and she tore it open. “Thank you for the notification. I’ll post a pair of guards outside the hostel in the morning, and another pair at each entrance to the city. They’ll let us know when he returns. And he WILL return, don’t you worry about a thing. He’s stronger than he seems.”

A smile adorned her face as she turned to her bed and prepared to sleep. She blew out the candle on her desk, snuffing out the last light in the building and settled into her bed, drifting off to sleep.

********

Will awoke to agony: His arm pulsed with waves of pain and exhaustion; a migraine festered in his head, making him unable to comprehend things around him. He had no sense of location or sight, only the feeling of pain burning away at his life.

He had no voice to scream out his pain. He tried to move and felt something impact his right arm, hard, making the pain spike worse than it was before.

“Will?” came the muffled voice of his friend.

“Kain…” his raspy voice hissed out, barely audible.

Kain muttered to himself under his breath as he watched Will curl up from the pain. This is the worst reaction he’s ever seen.

“Everything… gone… can’t… see… PAIN…” Will spat out.

“Can you walk?” Kain asked his delirious friend.

“Y-yeah,”

Kain lifted Will to his feet, slinging one of his friend’s arms over his shoulders. Kicking awake the brigands and Valerie, Kain growled, “We’re leaving,”

“It’s still dark out,” Valerie complained. “It’s not even morning! I need my sleep.”

“It is morning,” Kain deadpanned. “And too bad about your sleep. You can sleep all you want… in jail.” He yanked on the rope and the other brigands followed after him, forcibly pushing Valerie along.

“What’s gotten into you two?!” she asked incredulously.

“I remembered a rumor,” one of them replied.

“Apparently, Equestrian jail food is really tasty,” the other concluded. They both glanced at Kain for an answer. He nudged Will to see if he could get a response.

“Three star…” was all Will muttered, his head hung low, his eyes barely open, and his legs plodding along.

“Three star food?” they asked. “It must be good then,”

“When you’re used to slop, anything would be good to you,” Kain retorted harshly.

The group traveled in silence, until the sun rose above the horizon a few hours later.

“Kain…” Will groaned. “Hood…” Kain pulled his hood over his friend’s head and frowned at him. He wasn’t improving at all and the glow on his arm hadn’t dimmed.

Kain grimaced after a little more walking. He just couldn’t fathom how Will had ran the entire way there, and only taken about half a day. Kain was walking at a pretty brisk pace, as fast as he would allow himself to go without aggravating Will’s wounds.

Kain glanced up at the nearby mountains, taking a second to gaze at their beauty before returning to the task at hand and starting off again.

Doing some mental calculations, using his location relative to a map of Equestria he had and about how fast his group was moving, he estimated that he was about an hour away from Canterlot. He grinned at this as they picked up the pace slightly.

********

Corporal Silver Shield yawned as she stood by the entrance of the forest on the outskirts of Canterlot’s northern border along with another guard, who stood stoic against the opposite tree on the other side of the path.

She was excited, though, as this was her first real assignment from Celestia since coming out of training. Sure, it was standing around, waiting for someone who might not even show up, but it was an important duty the Princess had given her: Stand at the entrance of the forest, and send word if her idol shows up.

She’d met Will before, and talked to him a few times, on the days where he goes down to the training grounds to observe. She never found out why he did it, other than to be friendly and have a nice chat, but she didn’t mind.

Each guard had been given a summary of what everyone knew of the situation: Will had gone off to pick up a friend of his, promising to return before that morning, but he never showed up, and the Princess’ personal student panicked. After snooping around his office, they found a letter on his desk saying he’d gone to the northern border of the country.

So, Silver stood with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Would he be all right? If he were so delayed, would he be mangled and covered in wounds? Or was-

Crunching of leaves from the forest snapped her out of her thoughts and startled both guards. Turning with their hands on the hilts of their swords, they stood pensively side by side as a group of five people plodded up to them stopping when they were about thirty feet away.

A pregnant silence fell over the two groups as the guards stared. The man in the lead couldn’t hold his straight face anymore and he burst out laughing, nearly doubling over in mirth.

“What’s so funny?!” Silver demanded.

He seemed to ignore her as he turned to the hooded man he was supporting. “Hey, Zephyr, you never said there’d be trouble with the guards when we arrived.”

“I’m… late… Kain,” he muttered, just loud enough for the guards to hear. He tried addressing the guards, “Take… criminals… away… Bring… us… Celestia…” He grunted and groaned in pain, doubling over and nearly losing the last shreds of consciousness he had held on to.

“…Huh?” Silver asked, to which her partner turned to her.

“I’ll take the criminals, and I’ll lock them up in jail to await the Princess’ judgment. You need to take them to Celestia, now.”

“Wait, who are they?!” she asked.

“My name is Kain,” the man bowed. “And this is my friend Z- er, Will,” he lowered his friend’s cowl to reveal the very person the guards had been waiting for.

Emotions exploded through Silver after the shock her system received. On the one hand, there was her idol, just a few feet away, but also, he was in really bad shape. She shook her head, letting her training take over.

“Hand the rope over to my associate. They will handle the criminals. Follow me to the Princess,” Silver ordered, turning on a dime and shooting away, only to look back a few seconds later and see Kain plodding along at a slow speed, Will shuffling his feet next to him. “What are you doing?! We must hurry!” she shouted.

“I’m keeping him alive,” Kain replied. “You must remain calm,”

“Calm?! How can anyone be calm at a time like this?!”

“Very easily,” Kain deadpanned with a smirk. “Just lead the way. I know what I’m doing… Or would you rather have my friend her die?”

She couldn’t come up with a suitable response and so grumbled to herself as she led them slowly through the city to Celestia’s office.

“We’re meeting a Princess, right?” Kain wondered when he saw the school building they were entering.

“Yes,” Silver replied curtly, still grumbling about earlier. She threw open the door and indicated for Kain to go ahead, which he did after rolling his eyes.

She led them through the halls, luckily devoid of students, who were in their respective classes. They rounded a few corners and approached Celestia’s office. Throwing the door open once more, Silver gestured for Kain to enter.

The woman he came into eye contact with hid any emotions behind a mask of calm, and she took the time to turn her gaze to the guard.

“Thank you for bringing them here,” Silver bowed once. “I would like you to go around and tell the others that Will has arrived and that they can come down from High Alert.”

“Of course, Princess,” she replied, her voice the epitome of professionalism. She backed out of the room and nearly collided with a worried Fluttershy, who looked into the room with concern.

“I’m sorry, I’m a little busy right now, Fluttershy,” Celestia apologized. “I’ll have to ask you to stay outside. I don’t want to, but I have to.” Fluttershy gave one more agonized glance before she nodded and walked off down the hall, closing the door behind her.

“Quite the hectic school life you lead here.” Kain commented as he stood off to the side, still bracing Will. Why does she feel so familiar?...

“I’ll admit it has its moments,” She let out a small breath, before turning a sharp gaze on Kain. “Come. We must go to the hospital. We have much to discuss…”

Chapter 7: Recovery

View Online

Kain and Celestia walked Will to the Canterlot Hospital, as that was as fast as Kain would go. They forced their way into the emergency room, and set the unconscious Will on an exam table.

Several doctors rushed into the room, all of them spouting different things all at once.

“I have two warnings for you,” Kain announced to them all. “First, I’m not leaving, no matter what,” he idly brought his hand up to the hilt of his sword for emphasis before lowering it and continuing. “Second, you’re wasting your time using magic on him,”

“We can’t treat him without magic!” one of them protested, a doctor new to his job.

“I’m telling you, magic of any kind is not going to work,” Kain sighed. “Look at his right arm. Do you see the glowing red thing?” He received several confused nods. “That is a powerful magic seal. It’ll… absorb any magic used on him…”

“Well… what do you suggest, Princess?” one of them asked.

She had stood to the side so far remaining quiet. “I suggest that Kain explains exactly what needs to be set up and why,”

Kain slowly shook his head. “I’m sorry, Princess, but I’m not going to tell them how to set up an unnecessary safety net,”

“An unnecessary safety net that may just save his life,” She argued.

“If Will found out, he’d kill us all, especially if something tragic happens. And besides, I’ve known Will for over twenty years, he’s not going to die from this.”

“Tell it to them as a last resort, just incase anything happens,”

“Fine,” Kain muttered, turning to the assembled doctors. “But you’re only allowed to execute this plan if I give the signal, got it?” He got a few skeptic and begrudging nods. “First off… Will is a Mage, a human who can use magic. And this seal is constantly eating away at his magic. A mage cannot survive extended periods of time without magic. The same can be applied to an Anthro. The safety net we mentioned is having another magic user literally pump magic into his body. The thing about that… is that the seal will lash out at the new magic and eat away at that… eating away at the donor, which could potentially kill them if it eats too much too quickly,”

“By the way you’re phrasing it, you make it sound like Will has no chance of survival,” One Nurse Redheart noted.

“Will is gonna be fine, he just needs bed rest and to not be exposed to magic. The seal will naturally weaken how much it eats away until it is back to its normal level. Will’s body naturally creates stored magic energy at a slow enough rate that the seal won’t normally notice. The only way he would die is if his seal ate more than his body could create.” Kain paused. “We should move him to a room and get him out of the emergency room. He needs rest.”

“If he needed rest so much, you should’ve gotten here quicker,” one of the doctors spat.

“…You want to run that by me again?” Kain asked, his voice deceptively calm, his hand resting on his sword hilt, making all the doctors very nervous. “I’m been around Will like this before, and he himself told me why one must move slowly when drained of magic. When someone is in such a state, their brain more acutely registers the pain nerves when they fire off, meaning the added jostling and roughness of running really fast just ends up aggravating his wounds. I knew exactly what I was doing.”

“All right, then,” one doctor in the back rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward. “I’ll have to ask you to step back, sir.”

“Why?” Kain asked. “I thought I was clear…”

“Yes, yes, you were quite clear that we should not use magic on him, we got that. But we are doctors, sir. Magic is just one way of healing. If we can’t use magic, we use machines. A patient was brought before us, and he isn’t leaving the emergency room until we know he’s stable. A fact some of our younger member have apparently forgotten about.”

“But-,”

“I trust the readings of the machines, sir, not some stranger’s testimony,” he replied pointedly.

“Fine, do your damn job. I’m still gonna be watching you,” Kain unstrapped Will’s gun and sword, and held them off to the side for safekeeping.

The doctors set about readying the different machines and they quickly began performing tests, after Will was changed into a hospital gown, of course.

One hour later, Will was carted into a plain, white-walled room and hooked up to a heartrate monitor, which was a little white block that clamped over his index finger connected to a screen. An IV was pumping fluids into his left arm as he slept. Kain sprawled on one end of the couch that was in front of the window in the room. Celestia sat gracefully on the other, folding one leg over the other as she breathed calmly.

“How many visitors should we be expecting?” Kain asked in a bored tone after a while.

“A horde,” Celestia giggled.

“How are we gonna keep them from casting magic in here?”

“There is a safety net in place: guards are at every entrance and my sister and I will be guarding the door to this very room. We’ll be switching off and on every so often.”

“Oh, goody,” Kain muttered. “How much do you know about his past?”

“I know most of his past,” Celestia replied. “I even know about the stunt you pulled as a vigilante helping him.”

“That wasn’t exactly princely, but whatever. It was fun when it happened.” He paused for a while. “Is it true that the prison food here is tasty?”

“Why? Want to be thrown in there?” she questioned with a snicker.

“Not really. Did the guards not inform you that we brought three prisoners with us?”

“No they did not,” she frowned.

“Well, we did and they were asking about it.” Kain replied. “One of his father’s underlings,”

“Is that…?”

“No. Will used his magic for something else,”

“Like what?”

‘Nah, I’ll wait until he reawakens to share that little tidbit,” he smirked, earning him a bop on the side of his head.

They then watched in silence as many people, humans and anthros alike, filtered into the room. Some stood quietly, some knelt down and prayed, some wept, and some left Will bouquets of varyingly colored flowers, resting them on the bed next to him.

Most of them filtered back out after a few minutes, but a rare few of them brought in chairs and sat on the other side from Kain and Celestia.

Ignoring the stream of ever-changing faces, Kain focused on the three, seated women on the other side of Will’s bed, narrowing his eyes and receiving the same reaction from the woman on his right.

“Who are they?” he wondered quietly, so only Celestia could hear.

“Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, and Rainbow Dash,” she replied, surreptitiously indicating each one as she listed their names. “Three of his tenants and three of your soon to be housemates,”

“Curious,” he muttered, rubbing at both his eyes with one hand. “Damn, I’m tired,” he gave out a weak chuckle. “I’m gonna close my eyes for a… while…” Having stayed up for over forty-eight hours straight and having lost the adrenaline of getting Will to safety, it did not take Kain long to lose himself to sleep.

********

A silence surrounded the three friends on the other side of Will’s bed. They gazed back at Will’s unconscious form, emotions roiling inside.

Sunset was deceptively calm as she sat with her hands in her lap, idly watching as the passers by slowly buried Will with flowers. So many were brought that the nurses had to come in and clear them off the bed.

Rainbow wore a mask across her features as she scrutinized the other visitors, glaring at any who she felt deserved it… which was mostly everyone.

Fluttershy’s worry was written all over her posture, from the way she was wringing her hands together to the way she was fidgeting to the way her legs crossed over each other at the ankles.

All three of them looked on in abject shock, however, when one Prince Blueblood begrudgingly strolled in. He stood at the end of the bed, glaring down at Will, though he did not make a scene, thankfully. He did not even speak, showing he might have a functional brain after all. Though Blueblood was peeved, being dragged out to the hospital to meet a commoner, a nobody to the Prince. He would’ve voiced his indignation were it not for Celestia scrutinizing him to his left, her gaze always calculating, and Luna’s glare boring into his right temple as she watched him from the doorway.

Blueblood stayed for just under a minute before he turned on a dime and beat a hasty retreat out of the room.

A collective sigh of relief passed by everyone as the Prince left. He seemed to breed stress with every step he took.

“Do…” Sunset started, pausing as she formulated her thoughts. “Do you think we should go gather the others?”

“I’m not leaving,” Rainbow muttered flatly, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Umm… I told Rarity about it before I left class to come here. I don’t know where she went. Should we go searching for them? I don’t want to leave… but…”

“There’s no need, darling,” A voice from the doorway drew their attention. There standing was Rarity, with a slight grimace on her face as she glared at something out in the hall, before turning back to her friends and softening her gaze, followed by a very subdued Pinkie, who could only manage the faintest of smiles. Her hair had lost some of its curliness, but it wasn’t completely straight.

“Rarity, Pinkie,” Fluttershy sighed happily upon seeing her friends. The two new arrivals drew up chairs and Rarity smiled.

“I texted the others the news. I got no response from you two,” She glanced at Rainbow and Sunset. “But that makes sense now, Pinkie found me and we talked a little before coming here, Applejack said she’d be over after work, but that she’d have to work late into the night, and I got no response from Twilight. I don’t even think she heard her phone at all.”

They heard giggling and twisted around to see Celestia at the doorway, trying and failing horribly at hiding her smile. “She does have a one track mind sometimes when it comes to studying or conducting research. I’ll be sure to get her before the night is over,” With that she slipped out of the doorway and replaced her sister as the door guard.

Luna, for her part was perturbed. She didn’t know whether to do her job or not. She leaned against the wall facing the end of Will’s bed and gazed down at his unconscious form with furrowed brows. Her ethereal hair flowed down her shoulder to one side, highlighting her dark blue skin perfectly.

Should I try to dream dive into his mind? She pondered, crossing her arms. Will that affect his seal in any way, even over a large distance?

She, along with most of the others in the room, were snapped out of their thoughts by a loud caw coming from the bird that had been resting on Kain’s shoulder since he’d arrived, the sleeping man himself having barely acknowledged its presence, other than a pat on the head or a stroke of her feathers from time to time.

Fluttershy made her way over to the bird after a quiet, “Oh, my.” She was cautious and fearful that the man would start moving, but she crept closer and conversed with the bird.

“How are you, little one?” she asked softly.

“Caw! Caw!” Raven cried, extending her wings and flapping them for effect. “My name is Raven! I’m really hungry!”

“Oh my, you poor thing!” Fluttershy scooped Raven into her arms. “Let’s go get you some food, Miss Raven,”

She cawed in approval as Fluttershy carried her outside to find some food for her.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. Fluttershy returned with a satisfied Raven about an hour later, Applejack joined them close to dusk, and the two Royal Sisters stepped out of the building to lower the sun and raise the moon, respectively. Luna returned to the door quickly as her sister went off to find her protégé.

When everything was said and done, The Mane Seven sat around, having rearranged their chairs into a circle, and were chatting amongst themselves quietly. Celestia and Luna were holding their own private conversation off to the side, and Kain was still slumped on his spot on the couch, breathing evenly.

Raven wriggled her way out of Fluttershy’s lap and glided over to perch on Kain’s shoulder.

“Oh, Miss Raven, let’s not disturb the sleeping person,” Fluttershy murmured, climbing to her feet.

Raven poked at his hair with her beak, searching for anything and everything to eat.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard him, I’m up, I’m up,” Kain muttered, waving his armored hand gently where Raven was, pushing her away from his head. He raised his head and gave her a hard look. He stood and stretched his arms into the air, forming a haphazard Y with his body. He clanked over to the side of the bed, painfully aware of the suspicious glares he was receiving, and gazed down at Will’s body. Will’s head had been turned towards him the entire time and his arms imperceptibly twitched each time the heart monitor beeped. His right eye was cracked open and had been for a while. His mouth barely moved, sending Kain a silent plea.

Kain reached down, ignoring the cries of alarm coming from in front of him and he removed the heart monitor from Will’s finger, turning off the console completely before it could alarm as well.

“What are you doing?!” several members of the Mane Seven cried.

Kain knelt next to Will, ignoring the others and asked as simple question, “Better, Will?”

Will slowly raised his left hand to his head, sighing, “Sweet Celestia, that incessant beeping is finally gone,” he breathed, his voice a whisper.

The room was blanketed by silence, as everyone other than Kain realized that Will was awake and very much alive.

A collective whoop flew through the room as the Mane Seven scrambled to get to Will. Kain stepped back out of the way and looked on at all the joyous crying faces.

“Girls, please, I can’t breathe,” Will wheezed, getting sheepishly released from several death grip hugs.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, propping pillows up behind him with a little help from Luna. “Arigatoo (Thank you,)” he murmured before raising his right arm so he could study it more closely.

He breathed in and out deeply several times, watching the red glow as it dimmed until the pattern no longer glowed at all. Emblazoned on his arm was an intricate red double helix pattern that wrapped around his arm all the way from his wrist to his elbow and to his shoulder.

He smiled softly as he felt a gentle breeze blowing through the room brush across his face and arms, his legs could not feel the touch of the wind as they were covered by a white hospital blanket. Twilight gave a quizzical look, as both the door and window were shut tight.

Will turned and gave Kain a questioning look. Kain pointed a thumb over his left shoulder towards the corner of the room, next to the couch. “All your equipment’s right over there. I made sure to grab it for safekeeping,” he murmured, gaining a sigh of relief.

Will then turned to the others in the room. “Sorry to make you worry-!” He was quickly drowned in a group hug before he could even finish his sentence. “Uh, girls? I know I’ve been mysterious…” He let out an involuntary big yawn. “Sorry about that,”

“You need to rest,” several people spoke at once, pushing him back into the bed.

“Why not wait for tomorrow for your explanation?” Celestia suggested.

“Wait, what day is it tomorrow?” He asked quickly, pushing himself up onto an elbow.

“Saturday,” Twilight answered.

“I’ll have to push it back to Sunday,” Will replied shaking his head. “I have to pay the bills and inspect for any repairs tomorrow,”

“We can help with that, you know,” Fluttershy spoke up. “You shouldn’t be working in your condition,”

Will slowly shook his head. “You seven have been planning a trip to the beach for weeks now, heck, it’s nearly been a month. Go and have your fun in the sand. And besides… I’ll have a lot of help,” he nodded to his right, to Kain.

“We’ll help, too,” Luna announced.

“I can’t ask you to do that!” Will sputtered.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t ask then,” Celestia replied smoothly with a mischievous grin.

Will sighed, lowering his head and body back to the bed. “Hai, Hai, (Yes, Yes,) I give,” he conceded, closing his eyes.

********

“Who are you?” Twilight’s voice came into Will’s ear canal after a while of silence and he cracked his eyes open to watch. She was addressing Kain, who Will just noticed hadn’t removed his armor since he arrived. They were standing on opposite sides of his bed. He could observe each of them with sidelong glances to each side.

“Who, me?” Kain asked innocently, receiving a nod from Twilight as her friends joined her.

“Yes, you,” she replied.

“Well… let me ask you this: Who do you think I am?”

“You’re either a friendly traveler who saved him from who-knows-where… or you’re his Saddle Arabian friend Kain,” Twilight answered after deliberating with her friends.

Kain’s face remained a mask as he turned towards Will. “Really?” He sounded genuinely confused. “You didn’t tell them?”

Will wisely chose not to speak and closed his eyes.

“Let him sleep. We’re the one’s talking here,” Rainbow snapped.

Kain sighed with a palm against his forehead, turned and paced three steps away before stopping, making sure they got a good look at the sheath on his back. He lowered his hand and returned to his position next to the bed. “I wasn’t planning on hiding this,” He murmured to Will, who was still cheekily appearing asleep. “I just didn’t want a big deal made out of it,” Kain then addressed the Mane Seven. “I am Prince Kain… of Saddle Arabia. You may all call me Kain,” he paused. “And when your minds reboot, you can all introduce yourselves.”

Most of them were standing slack-jawed at the news, but Rarity was lost in thought. “If you’re a Prince, darling, then what would that make Will?”

Kain stopped, having not expected that question. He thought back, “Uh, that would make him a Lord, like the Lord of a Noble House… I wouldn’t know where to start, trying to explain that. All will be explained on Sunday it seems.”

“So Will is Saddle Arabian?” Rarity clarified.

“Yes and no,” Kain answered after more internal digging, a hand resting on his chin. “Yes, he lived in Saddle Arabia long enough to be considered a citizen from there, but his family is originally from Neighpon. Again, all will be explained on Sunday, and we all better get some rest. Good night, everyone,”

“Good night, Prince Kain,” they all replied.

“Just Kain is fine,” he called back as he reached the couch. A hostel, huh? Quite the lively and fun life you’ve built here, Will. He slowly drifted off to sleep. I’m looking forward to more…

Zephyrus Turmoil

by Drake Razorfang

Chapter 1: The Introduction to the Round Robin

Chapter 2: Voicing Concerns

Chapter 3: A Normal Day and Getting Directions

Chapter 4: Evading Explanations and Preparing for Departure

Chapter 5: Meeting an Old Friend

Chapter 6: Returning "Home"

Chapter 7: Recovery