Canterlot University

On the far right bed a pink pegasus snored loudly, horse noises coming out whenever she breathed out. Her mane was a tangled mess and she was sprawled out across the sheets, wings and legs tangled in a web of blankets and a stuffed monkey. In short, she was a mess. The room was disturbingly silent, save for snores here and there. As if it was TRYING to wake her up, the charging cellphone rang loudly. Sunny groaned and rolled over as if that was going to make it stop. When it kept ringing she shot up and rubbed her eyes. She picked it up with surprising ease and checked the time. 11:59. She rolled her eyes and held it to ear.

"What?"

"Geez, what's with the tone little missy?" Sunny's face lit up.

"Daddy?" She smiled happily. She hadn't seen or talked to her father since Christmas, him being a soldier and all.

"Of course, who else would be calling you at midnight?" Sunny frowned at the suspicious tone in his face. She heard a groan come from across the room and Thallen sat up rubbing his eyes.

"Who is that?" Sunny could almost hear her father's jaw drop.

"Who is that? I thought you were going to have a female roommate!" Sunny gasped.

"Daddy! You've been intruding again, haven't you?" Thallen's face grew confused, frightened, and surprised at the same time.

"DADDY!?" Sunny could already tell where this was going. She instinctively pulled the phone away from her ear before her father could speak again.

"That's right, mister! So don't even THINK about touching my daughter!" He screamed through the phone. This has happened too many times.

"Dad! I can make my own choices! I'm in college for Luna's sake!"

"But pumpkin-"

"And he's my roommate! Whatever you said about my roommate being a mare was obviously redecided!" Thallen raised a hoof.

"Um, that might actually be my fault." Sunny's ears perked up in attention. "You see, I was assigned to a different dorm this year. I stayed in this room last year and I wanted to be familiar with how my mornings would go. So, I kind of got involved with the placement procedures." Sunny's father growled through the phone.

"I worked hard to make sure my daughter got a female roommate! So you either have to leave, or change rooms!" Sunny frowned.

"Daddy! He's already unpacked and-"

"No, he's right. I should change rooms." Thallen smiled. "I'll be gone tomorrow, Mr. Days."

"...It's Smooth Beats."

///

Sunny groaned as several beams of sunlight hit her eyelids. She rolled over to face away from the window, only to have strong hooves wake her up. She jolted upright.

"Wha-huh?" She turned to the criminal who dared to wake her before she was ready and- "SPARKY!?"

"Surprise!" He stood in front of several ponies, including her brother. "Congrats on getting that brown rat out of your room!" He dropped a bag of cherries onto her lap with a grin. "Heard you liked cherries."

"He said she liked CHERRY! As in Cherry Pick! As in ME!" An orange pegasus gave her a small peck to her forehead.

"Jip?" He nodded and turned to Star Tail.

"Hey Star, show her what I picked out!" Star Tail grumbled something about it being his idea before dropping a small doll on her lap. It was a pegasus shaped awfully like...

"Jip? Is this a you doll?" He waved a hoof in dismissal.

"Pfft, yeah! So you can cuddle me wherever you are!" He rubbed his neck with a small chuckle. "I, uh...kind of skipped classes so I could visit." Sunny gave him a grateful hug and kissed his cheek.

"That's so nice!" She paused and turned to Sparky. "Brown rat?" He quickly looked away with a faint blush.

"Uh, yeah...I was talking about Thallen." Sunny frowned.

"Thallen's not a rat!" Sparky rolled his eyes.

"Okay, whatever you say." His eyes shifted back and forth nervously. "I mean, because you're right! I mean, you're smart! I mean..." The ponies around the room all laughed.

"Ugh...uh, excuse me! I kind of need to get through!" Sunny looked up when a light blue hoof poked through the crowd of ponies. It grabbed desperately for something, but only reached air. It then found the floor and a mare slowly squeezed her way in. "Oh, wow! You sure do have a lot of friends, huh?" Sunny giggled.

"Well, I'm pretty sure they're my brothers! Or my friend's friends!" She gave Sparky a hard glare. He took the hint and signaled for everyone to hit the road.

"Heh, well, I sure hope they don't come back." The mare sat on Thallen's bed with a relieved sigh. "Hi, I'm Sirena. You must be my new roommate!" Sunny looked at her curiously. She didn't seem...right.

"I...guess. Were you originally assigned to this room?" Sirena nodded.

"yeah, but I owed Thallen a favor so..." Her eyes quickly shifted to the floor. "He...kind of...saved my life." She blushed and looked away with a smile.

"Wow, he always looked like such a weakling." Sunny shrugged and set her hooves to the floor.

"Not when it comes to his tongue!" Sirena quickly shoved a hoof into her muzzle. "I mean...he has a silver tongue! He helped me solve a...family issue." She stretched her wings awkwardly as if they were brand new. "He's a real friend."

"That's great, I guess. I'm gonna take a shower, so..." Sunny quickly trotted into the bathroom and left Sirena on her bed.

"Yeah, a family issue that nearly started a war." She said to herself.

///