Celestia’s sun slowly rose and sent its warming glare down on the city. The morning rays crept their way across Manehattan, bringing a new day to the ponies below. Even though the blazing star was countless miles away, its aim couldn’t have been more accurate as its intended target was found.
It was here, in one of the top floors of an expensive hotel somepony was about to be greeted by the solar rays. Though hidden by the drawn curtains, there was the tiniest sliver that allowed light to pass through. And it was here that the sun struck its target.
Sunny Sprout had rolled over in her slumber and faced the very window that would disrupt her dreams of heroic stallions. She contorted her face as the thin ray of sunlight met her closed eyes. Sunny slowly, reluctantly opened her eyes. She adjusted her position to see what had woken her. She sneered at the sliver of light before turning over and facing away.
She cursed the sun a final time before pulling the blanket further up her body.
’Blanket?’
Sunny Sprout opened her eyes and felt her heart rate instantly rise.
’Where am I? How did I get here!?’ She slowly turned under the covers to inspect her surroundings. Her hooves had moved under the covers and brushed against something, something hard but covered in fur.
Sunny sighed and retracted her leg. She’d gathered she was in a hotel, a fancy one by the looks of it.
’That pony must’ve just been a customer. Well, time for me to leave then.’
She quietly slid out from under the covers and landed her hooves on the carpet. Sunny gave a quick stretch, momentarily relishing the refreshed feeling she had from such a comfortable bed. Without so much as a glance back at her still-sleeping customer, she set about to finding her saddlebag.
After a short search, she found it still in the bathtub.
“Ah, here we go. Come to momma,” Sunny smiled and slid her bag on. Her grin increased at the jingling of bits inside and quickly made to leave. Sunny stopped in the bathroom doorway and shifted the bag a little. Something felt off. She slid it off her back and sat on the floor, opening the pouch and counting the coins inside. There were only sixteen inside.
’Wait a minute, this isn’t nearly heavy enough for the bits I charge for a place like this, and for overnight no less!’
She sat on the bathroom floor, fuming.
’That no good sonuva—I’ll teach him to try and scam me!’
Sunny grabbed the bag in her mouth and made her way into the main room. As she approached the bed, she spied some purple mane sticking out but that wasn’t quite enough to jog her memory of where she was, or with whom. The pony under the covers shifted slightly and made some noise.
’Good, they’re waking up. Time to demand the rest of my money.’
She was readying to throw her bag right in the other pony’s face, when they turned to look straight at her.
Sunny Sprout froze as her mind registered the face now staring right at her.
“Darling? Is... everything alright?” The pony under the covers sat up and regarded Sunny with a concerned look.
“Ra... Rarity?” Sunny Sprout’s mind raced. Everything came back to her in a flash. Meeting Rarity at her ‘home’, being taken for coffee, and agreeing to the insane plan of going to a new home with her.
“Sunny? You look like you just saw a ghost.” Rarity got out of bed and started to fix the covers almost right away.
“I, er... I guess I forgot where I really was, hehe...” Sunny sheepishly grinned and set her bag down.
“If I may... why did it look as though you were about to savagely beat me?” Rarity tilted her head slightly, watching her newfound friend shuffle in-place.
“I may have forgotten where I was, and I may have gotten just a little bit angry when I thought you were a customer trying to rip me off,” Sunny looked down to her hooves, which were proving very interesting to look at. The embarrassment made her cheeks flush and made her feel like an idiot.
“Ah, I see then.” Rarity looked her up and down for a few moments. “Funny, I didn’t quite take you as the type to throttle a pony in their sleep.” She teased.
“Hey, I may be a whore but I won’t leave without the bits I earned,” Sunny shot back with a bit of a sneer. She instantly regretted her harsh tone as she felt her ears fall flat. “Sorry, it’s just that I’ve been scammed before, like that pegasus yesterday and—”
“Say no more, I understand, dear.” Rarity interrupted. Sunny shut her mouth and simply nodded. There was an awkward silence in the air as Rarity finished making the bed. Sunny retrieved her pillow that fell off on her side of the bed and set it back, giving her something to do other than continue to shuffle her hooves in embarrassment.
“So, what happened to me last night? Last thing I remember was walking into the hotel.” Sunny quirked an eyebrow at Rarity.
“We talked for a minute, then you went to take a bath.” Rarity explained. “You were taking an awfully long time so I decided to check on you. Turns out you got pretty comfortable, enough to fall asleep even,” She let out a slight laugh at the end.
“But how did I—”
Rarity motioned to her horn before Sunny could finish her question.
“I lifted you out, dried you off and put you in bed,” Rarity nodded, a thin smile tugged at her lips as she remembered her feat of moving a sleeping adult pony without waking them. Sunny let it sink in for a moment before speaking.
“How did you do all that without waking me up?” She asked, perplexed. ’Normally I’m such a light sleeper...’
“I have a sister who lives with me from time to time. I often have to carry to her bed,” Rarity smiled and lightly rolled her eyes. “Though I must admit I’m a tad proud of myself for being able to move you darling.” Sunny donned an unamused expression and lifted an eyebrow at the statement. “Er, I meant I’m used to Sweetie Belle, she’s only a filly.”
“Oh.” Sunny said, a bit relieved her new, only ‘friend’ hadn’t just called her fat.
“Well then, I propose we get ready to leave and grab some breakfast on our way to the Ponyville train.” Rarity said as she walked over to her suitcases, which hadn’t even been opened for the most part. She stopped and bit her lip, remembering yesterday’s agreement. “That is, if you still want to go to Ponyville. You still have that check I gave you, correct?”
Sunny had completely forgotten until now about the slip of paper. She opened her saddlebag at the foot of the bed and quickly found the check buried under the small pile of bits.
’I must’ve been so upset earlier I didn’t even notice the thing.’
“Yes, I still have it.” Sunny pulled the check out and looked at it in her hooves.
’It’s a lot of money, but how long would it really keep me going? What if I lose them? I could just as easily be robbed when somepony notices them too.’ She sighed to herself. Looking back between Rarity and the check for one hundred bits. Rarity gave her a silent look of curiosity, clearly noticing something was on the homeless mare’s mind
’But, if I go with her... I’ll be richer and have an actual home, and a chance for a real job. Maybe then I can—‘
“Sunny Sprout?” Rarity broke the mare’s train of thought. “You are still coming to Ponyville with me, right?” She asked with a hint of worry.
Sunny looked Rarity straight in the eyes.
“You swear you’ll help me find a job in Ponyville and won’t just kick me out?” Sunny asked seriously.
“You have my word as a lady.” Rarity smiled and made a mock salute. “I’ll do everything I can to help you get back on your hooves.”
“But... why?” Sunny Sprout couldn’t help but ask again. Rarity hummed to herself for a moment before answering.
“Is it not the right thing to help those less fortunate than you?” Rarity asked rhetorically. She let that sink in as she went to get her travel bag, leaving Sunny to her thoughts. She was brushing out her mane when—of all things—a voluminous laugh interrupted her. “What’s so funny over there darling?”
“Oh nothing,” Sunny wiped a tear from her eye. “I can just see you as the type who took in a lot of stray animals when you were younger.” She continued to giggle, her spirits higher than they’d been in too long a time.
“Mmm yes, you could say that,” Rarity smiled and thought back to her feline friend back in Ponyville. She was about to continue on that thought, but was quickly silenced by a familiar rumbling from the pony across from her. “A little hungry are we?”
“Yeah. Just ignore me though, I don’t wanna slow you down on the way to the station.” She smiled weakly.
Rarity raised an eyebrow and responded with the slightest tilt of her head. “Slow me down? But we have plenty of time, and I shan’t let you get on the train without something to eat,” She looked to her own stomach, feeling the familiar emptiness slowly become known. “Besides, I could go for something myself.”
“Well, alright.” Sunny said. “I just don’t want you spending more money on me than you need to. I can spend some of the bits you gave—“
“Nonsense,” Rarity didn’t let her finish. “The bits and check I gave you are going to be saved for your future. I will take care of our meals; don’t worry about a thing, dear.” She gave her best smile and lifted her saddlebag onto her back.
The fashionista looked over to her other bits of luggage; too much for her to carry.
“Let us see if we can’t find some nice bellhop to take these to the station while we get breakfast.”
Sunny nodded and made sure her own saddlebag was secure, and its precious cargo safe. “Alright.”
<><><><><><><><><><>
Breakfast had been a fairly quiet event for the two mares. After Rarity had assured the hotel staff her early departure was for other reasons and not her dissatisfaction with the establishment, they quickly found a nearby place to eat. It wasn’t anything extraordinarily fancy, more of a diner to be precise. Sunny Sprout and Rarity ate in silence for the most part, only exchanging a few words here and there over their sandwiches.
Sunny was still thinking over the previous day and how things were evolving. Rarity however, quickly picked up on her friend’s disinterest in talking and settled to let the mare be for the morning; after all, Rarity herself had a lot of thinking to do.
Fortunately the hotel staff had been kind enough to refund Rarity the majority of her bits, seeing as how she only stayed for one night out of the five she had planned. With an unexpected, extra amount of bits on-hoof, the fashionista opted to upgrade her and Sunny’s train tickets to the highest class, which included a private cabin.
Sunny curiously inspected the room, silently marveling at the cabin’s elaborate décor. It was designed to comfortably hold six ponies, though neither of them minded the extra room. After a quick once-over of the room, and thorough raid of the complimentary fruit basket, Sunny was now sitting comfortably by a window; a thin smile on her lips refused to leave.
Comfortably sitting in her own bunk, Rarity had tucked away her legs beneath her as she skimmed through a fashion magazine she had picked up earlier at the station. She stole the occasional glance at her traveling companion, relaxing in her own bunk and staring out the window on her side of the cabin. Though the poor mare had hardly touched her mane during her short bath, Rarity couldn’t help but quietly admire the simplistic, natural beauty her hazel mane had. Her eyes settled on Sunny’s Cutie Mark; a patch of dirt with a lush green sprout bursting through. It was then she realized that she didn’t actually know much about her: her past, her story—anything at all really.
Rarity’s interest piqued as she quickly planned to change that.
With a small whisk of magic, she set her magazine down and cleared her throat, ready to end the silence.
“So, Sunny,” Rarity got her attention, taking a moment to realize somepony was talking to her. “We still have a few hours until we reach Ponyville. I would very much like to take this opportunity to learn a bit more about you, dear.” She turned her body to face Sunny, all her attention focused on her now.
Sunny shifted a little to face the mare opposite to her. “What do you wanna know? I’m afraid there isn’t a whole lot of interesting things about me…” Her eyes began to slowly cast downwards as she trailed off.
Rarity’s expression sank into a soft concern at the mare’s display. “Oh darling, don’t be so hard on yourself. All that negative energy is absolute murder to one’s complexion.”
The fashionista's response earned her an odd look from Sunny.
Rarity shook her head dismissively. “Sorry. But... however did you find yourself in that dreadful situation you were in anyway?”
Sunny fidgeted her forelegs together awkwardly. “You wouldn’t be interested in it—nothing special; just... a lot of simultaneous bad luck, that’s all.” She laid her muzzle down on the head of the bed with a sigh.
“Yesterday, you thought I was a pony from the bank, coming to take more of your possessions,” Rarity recalled sadly. “So, it is safe then to assume that you once had a home, dear?” Sunny nodded softly without looking up to the fashionista. “Then please... whatever happened to you?” Rarity gently pleaded, but Sunny neither moved nor responded in any way.
Rarity paused, taking a moment to breath deep, and slowly exhale. “Listen dear, if this is going to work, I’m going to need you to trust me...” She spoke in her most comforting tone she had; a tone normally reserved solely for her younger sister in times of tender need. “Talking about what happened may very well give you some peace of mind from it, so please, Sunny Sprout...”
Rarity slowly slid off the bed, seating herself just a few short inches from her companion's bunk.
“...won’t you talk to me?”