Will rested on his desk for about an hour and a half before he moved again. He blearily rubbed his eyes, stretching his neck and rolling his shoulders. He learned it was nearly four in the afternoon when he glanced at the nearby clock. “Well, time to make dinner, I guess,” he mumbled as he rose to his feet. He took a cursory glance at Raven as he passed the bird perch, and smiled slightly when he saw her fast asleep. He quietly left the office, sure to not disturb the sleeping bird and padded his way down the hall and stairs and into the kitchen. Pinkie had cleared most of the counter space from the disaster it was earlier, leaving him more than enough room to work with.

Speaking of Pinkie Pie, she was sitting on one end of the couch, chatting with Rainbow Dash while Fluttershy listened intently from the other end of the couch. Rarity and Sunset Shimmer could be heard from upstairs, giggling as Rarity was styling Sunset’s hair, and doing both their nails.

Applejack was drinking cider while she worked on her homework in her room. As for Twilight, Will never knew when she was going to be home. She got private lessons from Celestia, on top of all her university classes; so saying her schedule was erratic would be the grossest of understatements.

While he was musing about what the others were doing, he’d pulled out a large metal bowl, a head of lettuce, a large knife and a few other fruits and veggies, which was a bit more time consuming thanks to him having to grab everything with his left hand, his right just not being strong enough to lift anything, well, except for the package of herbs, but that weighed next to nothing, so that doesn’t count.

Expert chopping noises could be heard filling the kitchen as he finely cut the head of lettuce for the salad it was to become and the other veggies soon joined it. Lettuce, olives, apples, and carrots were just a few of the ingredients that made their way into the bowl. Just about everything went in, except for raw tomatoes. Will couldn’t stand the taste of raw tomatoes, so he always left it out. He also cooked a pan of mashed potatoes for the side dish. It was a simple meal, to be sure, but the girls seemed to enjoy it, so he wasn’t going to argue.

“Girls, it’s dinner time,” he called softly, bringing the large bowl of salad and then the pan of potatoes to the table, along with a stack of plates. Rainbow and Pinkie were there in an instant, taking their seats, and beginning to serve themselves while Fluttershy walked to the stairs and called up to the others upstairs.

A knock came to the front door and Will answered that as Applejack shot down the stairs. A lavender-skinned woman stood on the other side. She had short purple bangs, with a pink stripe adorning one part. She stood in a white lab coat over a purple tee and a black skirt.

“Welcome back, Twilight,” He murmured with a smile, holding the door open wide. “You’re just in time for dinner.” She gave a tired smile as she sat at the table with the others, who were already digging in. Rarity and Sunset were levitating their forks with their magic, so that they wouldn’t ruin their newly done nails.

Sunset and Rarity, along with Twilight, were Anthro ponies, with the subspecies of Unicorn. Unicorns are the most magically talented, in the traditional sense, of the pony subspecies. Telekinesis, elemental spells, beams, shields, and other spells of that kind of variant are what a Unicorn could specialize in and utilize. Rarity, for example, was more skilled at multitasking and using her telekinesis, while Sunset is better at fire spells… not that she’s used any recently, but the option is there for her. Twilight specializes in magic in general, she can cast most spells with relative ease, just not to the level of expertise that Rarity or Sunset have in their respective areas.

Will sat at the end of the table, opposite the stairs, and took a few bites of salad before setting down his fork, resting his elbows on the table, with his hands resting in front of his mouth, and gazing off into space.

Fluttershy was the first to notice that something was off. Sure, he normally sat quietly during dinner, usually listening to the conversations at the table, but he normally munched as he did so, not sit there and stare half-liddedly into space.

“Will?” she asked, barely able to be heard over the din of conversation. “What’s wrong?” she murmured, instantly gaining everyone else’s attention. They turned to Will and found out that he barely even reacted. Rainbow Dash, sitting just to his left, waved a hand in front of his face. Again, no response.

A mischievous grin formed on her mug as she launched out her hand right in front of his face and snapped her fingers, to quite literally, ‘snap’ him out of it. He flinched back from the noise and looked up into their faces. “Hmm? What’s up?” he asked.

“Why were ya jes’ starin’ into space?” Applejack asked.

“Oh… I was just thinking about the best way to phrase some news I have to pass on, that’s all. I must’ve gotten distracted,” he scratched at his head before lowering his hand. “Anyway, I have good news and not-so-good news. The good news is that were going to get three new faces around her within the week.” The girls chattered excitedly at this little tidbit before Will spoke again. “The not-so-good news is that I will have to leave in the morning to go pick up our first new arrival.”

“Why would that be bad?” Rarity asked.

“Cause he isn’t going to be at the train station,” Will answered, knowing where she was going. “Meaning my trip is going to take a few days. No more than two days, but not just an hour to the station and back. I know you girls can take care of yourselves while I’m gone…”

“So, you’ll be back before Friday?” Twilight clarified.

Will nodded, “I expect to be back before Thursday, but even if something comes up, I should be back with our guest before Friday.”

“So who are these new friends of ours?” Rarity asked curiously, getting a similar response from the others.

“In a week, we’ll all be going down to the train station to greet one Fleur De Lis and one Lyra Heartstrings,” Will supplied, earning gasps from Rainbow and Rarity.

“Do you mean THE Lyra Heartstrings, the martial arts master?!” Rainbow shouted.

“And do you mean, THE Fleur De Lis, the world famous model from Prance?!” Rarity breathed.

“Yes to both counts, though for Lyra, I only know what was in her profile, and for Fleur, today was the first time I saw a picture of her,” he answered, with an apologetic shrug towards the end. “As for whom I’m meeting tomorrow…” they all leaned in closer. If they were getting two new faces of such renown in a week, who must this new person tomorrow be? “HE… is a secret,” Will gave his best 'I know what I did, and I loved every second,' grin, until Twilight and Rainbow’s face scrunched up into a pout, to which he softened his grin. “Kain has always enjoyed having his secrets, girls. I need to figure out how much he wants to reveal before I go spoiling everything about him.”

He stood, and carried his plate over to the kitchen sink, getting a curious look from Twilight on the way over. “You know this… Kain?”

“Yeah,” he murmured. “He and I are childhood friends.”

“What else can you tell us about him?” Sunset asked.

“Not much, I’m afraid. Last time we talked face to face was over nine years ago.” Will began mixing up lunches for the next day as he mused. “He’s human, like me, and he’s from Saddle Arabia. Sorry, but that’s all I’m willing to say at the moment. Or maybe the better thing to say, is that those facts are the only ones I can share that won’t have… unforeseen consequences…” He finished with the lunches and loaded them into the fridge. “Don’t worry, he’s a nice guy,” he murmured halfway up the stairs. “Good night,” he called as he reached the door to his office.

Stepping inside, he sighed and leaned his back against the door, glancing out the window to the sunset outside in the process.

Will only stayed there for about ten seconds before he turned to his left and slipped through the door there to his bedroom.

His bedroom was quite small, with little more than a bed and a closet. The walls were a dark maroon color and the curtains on the window were a dark blue.

It was early, the sun had not even fully set as Will sat on the end on his bed, boring a hole into the palm on his right hand with his gaze. He could see the involuntary trembling of the muscles. His arm was growing weaker. He sighed and let his head fall back onto his pillow, pulling his legs up onto the bed.

He knew Rarity would be furious should she ever catch him lying on his bed fully clothed in his boots. “Ugh, You’re getting your muddy boots all over your perfectly god sheets,” She’d say in a pout. He let out a few tired laughs at that thought before turning his gaze to the dull white ceiling above.

That note about noises still disturbs me, he muttered. I doubt that a bear cave would make so much noise as to cause Kain to write about it… Nor have I heard reports of any such caves being in that area…! He sat up quickly, his eyes widening at his revelations. Well, at least on the Equestrian and Crystal Empire’s side of the line. I don’t know about Draconia… He shook his head. I’ve only met a few dragons in my lifetime, and they were less than friendly, though I’m not sure how to judge their society as a whole. They’re certainly more barbaric, at least some of them. I don’t think I’ve met a dragon with an intelligence to match an Anthro like Twilight… Except maybe their Queen… Though I can only judge based on a round of three chess matches between her and Celestia that I was an audience to, where she actually won the first round, and was close in the other two. He snorted and lied back down. I’d better get some rest. It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow. He closed his eyes, resting his hands behind his head.

*********

It’d only been a few hours when Will’s eyes opened again. He turned over onto his right side so he could groggily gaze out the window up at the night sky. Beautiful, he murmured, his mind trying to come back into a conscious state. I’ll have to compliment Luna on her craftsmanship sometime. He swung his legs over the bed and stretched his arms into the air, heading for the door, when he stopped. I really don’t want to tell them about my father. I’d rather not have to force the issue with Twilight. I’d rather not do that to her, even though it’d be about my… father… His hand suddenly pulled away from the doorknob as his eyes shrunk to pinpricks. What… What if… the noises Kain mentioned weren’t just bears? What if he was trying to tell me something? What if… The realization dawns on him as he’s standing there. What if it’s a trap, set up by my father, and Kain’s just being used as bait to lure me out? Is Kain’s whole plight just a ruse? Is my father, or perhaps one of his lackeys, lying in wait for me to show up? Is Kain in on it? Such questions plague at Will’s mind as he steps into his office. He slid into the chair of his desk and swiveled it around to gaze out the window.

Would Kain do something like this? Well… no, no he wouldn’t. But it’s also possible that he’s an unwitting party to all this. I wouldn’t put it past my father to have his lackeys tailing important Saddle Arabians. This… This is not going to be enjoyable in the slightest.

He sighed, taking a moment to glance at the clock before returning to the night sky. Ten thirty, huh? He sat, leaning on the knuckles of his right hand with his cheek before he stood and returned to his room. Time to prepare all my equipment.

*********

Meanwhile, the Mane Seven sat around downstairs, milling about and mingling.

“I wonder what was wrong with Will?” Fluttershy wondered.

“He did seem distraught,” Rarity added.

“Do you think we hit a nerve?” Sunset asked. The group looked downcast until they heard a click from upstairs and a metallic jingling noise flowed down the hallway. They all watched as Will, clad in a long black cloak with the hood over his head descended the stairs.

He stood at the base of the stairs, giving them a warm smile that had a slight sinister edge to it. His jade eyes shone out from under his hood, with the barest traces of a hard look coming through.

“W-Will?” Twilight asked. “What’s with the getup?”

“Just a contingency plan. It seems my friend may have gotten himself into a bit of trouble. I’m gonna go bail him out.”

“Hey, Twi?” Sunset whispered into her ear. “Is it just me, or does that outfit look familiar?”

Will raised his right hand. “I’m sure you have many questions. I will answer them to the best of my ability when I return. The timeline has not changed. I still plan on returning before Friday. Until then, girls,” He bowed his whole body with a large flourish. “I must be going,”

From under the dark cowl came a mischievous smirk, as he seemed to melt into the darkened floor, disappearing with cries of alarm from the others.

They stared at the spot where Will had been standing, all of them stunned into silence.

It was Fluttershy who broke the silence, with the simple question of, “...What just happened?”

Author's Note

The next chapter is out.
I hope you all enjoy.
Comments are always appreciated.