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…

Author's Note

Whoo, another chapter out for you guys! I hope you enjoy it.

I've noticed my story receiving a fair amount of downvotes recently, and this I don't mind. You guys are allowed to like and dislike what you want. What I have a problem with is that I have no idea why you don't like the story. So go ahead and downvote, just tell me why you don't like it.

And for your sake, I hope its a goooooood reason!
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...Pinkie, please refrain from doing that again... You'll scare everyone off...

...Anyway, I'm always looking for ways to improve, so if you have a suggestion, tell me about it in the comments below.