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.

Author's Note

Yes, finally got happy enough with the chapter to post it

... I really need to find a better name for this story... Did I mention I am terrible with names? No? Must've slipped my mind.

as always, I appreciate any and all comments