1: A Friendly Pegasus
Standing up, Kamari reached a hoof down to brush the remaining specks of dirt and small rocks out of his coat. The stinging pain from the newest small cuts and bruises scattered around his forelimbs and chest was constant and unending. He sighed, just because his stripes marked him as different, any zebra that saw him would immediately scorn him. Within just one minute of him walking into that hotel, the zebra that owned the place had kicked him out, both figuratively and literally. The hoof marks on his flank still slightly red from the harsh blow.
With only the dim light from the moon to see with, he couldn’t tell if any of the cuts were deep enough to warrant further care. Not that he could afford it anyway. It was going to be another long night without anyplace to sleep.
A few seconds later he heard the clatter of hooves against the ground from the far side of the street where a pegasus had just landed. Slowly she walked over to him. As she got closer, Kamari could see the royal crest of the Equestrian princess on her saddlebags and the clasp of her cloak. He stood up a little straighter. He didn’t want to look bad in front of one of the most powerful ponies in the land. Only the princess and her close personnel were allowed to wear that crest. There were only five or six ponies in all of Equestria that had one.
“Are you ok? That looked like it hurt,” she said in a soft, gentle voice.
He flinched, not expecting the question. “Umm. Yeah, I’m fine,” he said quietly, lowering his head a little. There seemed to be an aura of regality in the air that made him feel smaller in her presence.
“What even happened?” She asked while reaching a hoof up and pulling the hood of the cloak off of her head. The hood fell off to reveal her pink mane, combed carefully and laying straight down the right side of her face. Her eyes were a bright purple color that reflected the light of the street lamps. “I was flying home and saw you crash through those doors.”
Kamari just stared at her for a little while, mesmerized by her. Even for a pony of regal status, she was beautiful. “Uh, yeah… I’m used to it. It’s not a big deal. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“Are you sure?” She asked as she drew closer, looking at him in the dim moonlight. “Oh my gosh! You're bleeding! Here, I think I might have some water you can use to wash those cuts with” She quickly reached behind and pulled a small flask out of her saddlebags and held it out to him.
Seeing the flask, Kamari relaxed a little bit. She didn’t seem as self centered as he thought a member of the Canterlot elite would be. “Thanks,” he said, before grabbing the water from her, pouring some over some of the newer cuts, then passing the flask back to her. Rubbing his sore limbs, he looked at the pegasus as she returned the water to her bags. “You really shouldn’t worry about me though, It’s nothing new.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what did you do? What caused you to be thrown out so violently?” She asked, glancing over at the large door he had come out of before quickly turning her attention back to the injured zebra in front of her.
He lowered his head slightly and lightly sighed. “Years ago while I still lived in the Zebra lands, I did something that went against the zebras religion. They branded and exiled me because of it.” He gestured towards a set of two curved scars on the side of his muzzle. “Now any zebra that sees me treats me like that.”
The pegasus leaned in closer to look at the scars. “If you don’t mind me asking, what did you do?”
Kamari sighed, “It’s fine. I didn’t do anything big. In the Zebra lands the moon, the stars, and the night sky in general are seen as a source of evil. They found me reading and hiding a book about princess Luna, and exiled me,” he explained.
She blinked, “That seems like quite a harsh punishment for just reading a book that goes against their religion.”
“Not to zebras, they are very strict when it comes to their religion.”
“They? You’re a zebra aren't you?” She asked, confused by how he had worded that.
“Only technically. When you’re exiled, you lose your rights as a zebra. I’m not even allowed to reference myself as a zebra anymore.”
The pegasus seemed to think that over for a few seconds before shaking her head as if to clear it. “I should have asked a while ago, but what’s your name?” She asked. “I’m Sunny.”
He paused for a second before replying. “My name is Kamari.”
“Well, hi Kamari. I’m guessing you don’t have a place to stay?” Sunny asked, glancing up at the building he had been kicked out of. There was an old wooden sign showing a sleeping pony. “If you want, you can stay at my place. I have plenty of guest rooms that I aren’t being used for anything.”
Kamari glanced at the royal crest on her cloak again. “Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”
“It’s fine, like I said I have tons of extra rooms.” She smiled. “It would be nice to have somepony over for once.” Sunny turned and started walking down the street then glanced over her shoulder at Kamari. “Follow me! It’s not very far from here.”
Kamari watched her walk a few feet further before trotting to catch up to her. The scrapes on his chest aching a bit from the sudden movement. It would be nice to sleep in an actual bed again.
After a confusing path through the multitude of roads that comprised upper Canterlot, occasionally hitting dead ends or having to turn around, they found Sunny’s house. The building was large enough to be considered a mansion. A few similarly sized buildings could be seen to either side of it.
“Sorry for taking so many wrong turns, I’m used to flying to my house not walking. The city looks so much more confusing from down here.” She turned to look at Kamari “Are you ok?” Sunny asked, seeing how Kamari had his head hanging and was panting slightly.
“Yeah.” He said, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I’m fine. Considering I haven’t slept in 18 hours and just walked nearly five miles.”
“It was maybe one mile.”
“It felt like five miles.” Kamari said while glancing up at the house they had spent the last 20 minutes looking for. It was a grand structure that looked like a lesser version of Canterlot Castle. There were large alabaster pillars with marble bases to support the weight of the structure, and the walls had huge stained glass windows that depicted unicorns studying ancient scrolls and casting spells. Sunny had already walked in the house and was holding the large doors open with her hoof. Kamari trotted quickly inside so she wouldn’t have to hold the heavy door open for too long.
The inside of her house was almost more impressive than the outside. The main room was an open dome shaped room with a balcony connecting to the second story floor and going across half of the round ceiling. In the center of the ceiling there was a large crystal chandelier that cast light dancing across the room with it’s enchanted candles. These candles were actually very common in most houses across Equestria. They were enchanted by unicorns so they wouldn’t burn out for years. The room had one other door leading out of the left of the room. The right side just had a large opening that led to what looked like a dining room with a kitchen further back. There was no way Sunny had a house this big just for herself.
“Who else lives here?” Kamari asked. “It’s such a large house, surely you don’t live here by yourself.”
“Oh, It’s just me. This is actually a pretty small house, my old one must have been at least twice as big.” She stopped and looked around the room before letting her eyes rest on Kamari’s shocked expression. “Hah, I’m just kidding. This is definitely the biggest house I’ve ever had. Honestly I have no reason to have a place this big, Tia just wanted me to live like royalty.”
“Who?”
“Oh, Celestia. You know, Princess Celestia, the ruler of all of Equestria. You do know who she is right?”
“Of course I know who Celestia is! I have lived in Equestria for the last year. I’m just surprised that she would give anypony something as grand as this.” Kamari said.
Sunny yawned, “Can we talk about all this tomorrow? It’s really late, and I have to go back to work in the morning.”
“Of course... Where should I sleep?” He asked after waiting for a bit.
Sunny just pointed a wing towards the door on the left side of the room, then flew up onto the second floor balcony and walked out of sight. Kamari walked to the door she had indicated and walked inside it. The door led to a short hallway with a door on either side, and one at the end. He guessed that she meant the door at the end, otherwise she would have given him better instructions.
The door on the right side of the hall was open, and after a quick look inside, Kamari could see that it was just a bathroom. The one on the left however was shut and, upon further inspection, locked. Kamari sighed, he probably shouldn’t be snooping around Sunny’s house anyway, she had been really kind in letting him stay even for just one night. As expected, the final door led to a guest bedroom.
The room was probably close to the size of a living room in any other pony’s house. The bed of course was king sized, because it seemed that everything that Sunny owned was the best it could be. On the far side of the room there was a dresser and two large bookcases. They were filled to the brim with books, and the covers seemed to imply that they were all somehow related to magic. Kamari decided that it would probably be best to get some sleep. As he had said earlier, he hadn’t slept in hours, and the bed felt as plush as it had looked. He quickly got settled into the oversized bed, and fell asleep soon after.
*****
The following morning Kamari woke up as a blinding ray of light poked through the windows. With how tired he was the night before, he hadn’t even thought to check if the curtains were shut. He quickly pulled the blanket over his eyes, before being greeted to a new sensation. The delightful smell of a fresh breakfast.
After finding his way out of the mess of blankets and pillows, he stumbled out of the gigantic bed. Who needed that many pillows? He probably could have made a comfortable bed on the ground using just the pillows that were in the room. After a few moments of glaring at the open curtains that had so rudely let the sun wake him, he made his way out of the room.
He followed the hallway back into the entry-chamber. Like he had guessed yesterday, the room on the other side of the chamber was indeed a kitchen. Sunny had made some toast and was on her way out of the kitchen, balancing a plate on her wing as she made her way towards the room Kamari had slept in. Before she had even left the kitchen, she saw him and stumbled a bit in surprise.
“Oh, hi. I thought you were still sleeping.” She said, while trying to regain her balance, before setting the plate down on the large table behind her and turning back to Kamari. “Here” She gestured for him to come over. “I made you some breakfast.”
“Thank you.” Kamari said sitting down in front of the plate Sunny had given him. He looked up and saw the empty place on the table in front of where she was sitting down next to him. “What about you? Aren’t you going to have breakfast?”
“Oh I already ate an hour or two ago.” Sunny said. “I would have woken you up earlier, but you looked like you were pretty tired last night so I decided to let you sleep in.”
“Thanks again. That was the best I’ve slept in weeks,” Kamari said. He took a bite out of the toast then, after swallowing it, he said. “Also, thanks for letting me stay here, and making breakfast for me. That was really nice of you.” He waited a few seconds before adding “Is there anything that I can do for you to make up for it?”
Sunny blushed a little and brushed the offer away, “It's fine, really. It was no big deal. I have a lot of extra space here as you can see, and it’s nice to have somepony else in the house.”
“Oh, yeah that reminds me. I did want to ask you about that,” Kamari replied, after finishing another bite of his toast. “If you don’t mind me asking... Who are you? You have the royal crest, and you said princess Celestia herself gave you this place. You must be a very important pony.”
Sunny blushed a little before replying, “It’s fine. I consider myself as Celestia’s friend. But officially, I’m her adviser and magic erudite”
“I’m sorry, but what does ‘’magic erudite’ mean?”
Sunny giggled at that, waving her hoof at him. “A erudite is a pony that has extensive knowledge of a specific subject. In my case, magic and spell theory. I help Celestia remember what spells to use in different situations, or give her advice on alternate versions of spells that might help.”
Kamari finished off the last of the toast before asking, “Does she need help with spells? I thought she was some kind of all knowing goddess or something.”
Sunny laughed again at his question. “Celestia has a lot of things to remember and keep track of while she rules Equestria. She doesn’t have the time to keep up with all the new spells being discovered or study how spells interact with each other. So she hired me for that.”
“Ok, fair enough. But why did she hire you?” He asked, gesturing towards her wings. “It seems like a strange idea to hire a pegasus to research advanced spell theory. Why not hire a unicorn?” He looked down at his plate before adding, “And could I maybe get some more toast?”
Sunny smiled, “Of course, let me get that for you.” She flew back to the kitchen and started preparing another piece of bread. “I was sort of a special case. Before Celestia hired me as an advisor, I worked at her school. I helped deliver books, and potion ingredients to the teachers around the school. Over the years I learned a lot about how magic works, and became very interested in the more advanced magic that they don’t teach to most students. After classes were over some of the professors and I would bounce spell theories off each other to try and create new spells,” Sunny hopped up and glided back to the table, placing the fresh piece of toast in front of Kamari then sitting back down beside him.
“When Celestia came to the school to ask if any of the professors knew of somepony that could help her keep up to date with magic, they agreed that I was the best candidate. I was the only pony that knew enough about magic and wasn’t a teacher. They decided that it would be best if none of the professors left so they could continue teaching new ponies about magic.”
“I guess that makes sen-” Kamari was cut off as a scroll popped into existence above his head, fell onto his nose then rolled off and fell towards his plate. Sunny’s eyes widened. She reached out with her wing and caught the scroll before it could fall to the ground. Kamari just sat there watching as Sunny quickly read through the scroll.
“I have to go,” Sunny said, rolling the scroll back up and placing it under her wing to carry. “That was a letter from Celestia. She wants me at the castle immediately.”
“Wait, what? Why?”
“I don't know, it just says that she wants me there,” she paused, looking back at the zebra. “Wait here, I shouldn't be gone too long. Probably,” she turned to walk out of the dining room.
“Could I come with you? It would be weird to stay in somepony’s house without them there.”
Sunny stopped again, thinking. “Fine. But you have to hurry.”
“Ok!” Kamari quickly got up and grabbed the rest of his toast, eating it as he ran out of the room to follow Sunny.
“Take these. They have the royal crest, so if you fall behind nopony will question why you're in the castle,” Sunny said, then dropped a pair of saddlebags onto Kamari from the second floor.
Kamari stumbled from the sudden weight, before securing the saddlebags, and running over to the door to wait while Sunny grabbed whatever she was getting. He didn’t have to wait long however. Sunny soon jumped over the second floor railing and glided down to where Kamari was standing. She also wore a pair of the royal saddlebags.
“Come on!” Sunny said hurriedly “Just follow me.” Then she ran out the door and started flying above the streets with Kamari following below her.
They arrived at the castle within just two minutes of leaving. Kamari hadn't noticed last night, but apparently Sunny lived pretty close to the castle. As they got close to the entrance Sunny landed next to him and started running with him. The guards saw the pair galloping towards the castle like a pair of crazed maniacs and crossed their spears, only to lift them again upon recognizing Sunny and seeing the saddlebags the two were wearing.
Sunny slowed down, Kamari following suit, and the pair entered Canterlot castle. Upon entering, Sunny immediately turned right and entered a small door labeled. “Do not enter!” Kamari stopped at the door to look at the sign, before running through to catch up with Sunny who was already at the end of the hallway. Sunny led Kamari through the servant passages, which luckily were mostly empty at the time.
At the end of the last hall, which seemed longer than any of the previous ones, Sunny opened a door that led to a hallway that looked like what you would expect to be in a castle. It was much wider than the servants passages, and a lot better decorated. On the far side of the hall there was a pair of large oak doors with golden inlays across it. Kamari stopped in front of the large doors, hesitant to enter the Princess's personal room. Sunny however had done this before and quickly knocked.