Out of the Slums

Chapters

Chapter 1: An Unsolvable Problem
Chapter 2: A Way
Chapter 3: Tea Time, Part 1
Chapter 4: Tea Time, Part 2

Chapter 1: An Unsolvable Problem

The ceiling. It was such a familiar sight. Consequently, staring at the ceiling was a familiar action. Laying on the mattress and staring up at the ceiling was just a thing to do when there was nothing to do. Or when someone wanted a quick step into their thoughts. Or a long stroll. Or an eternity’s worth of thinking in the smallest amount of time. At least that was how it could feel, anyway.

He was in the same position as he was every time he stared up: forelegs behind the head, hind legs stretched out to the opposite end of the mattress. By then the indent of his body in the mattress had made it so this was the only comfortable position. He knew every line, crack, wet spot, and indent in the ceiling from this angle. He could just imagine himself trotting along one of them, climbing the rises and falls of a line, running, running away, running away from there.

Running into his thoughts.

He always pondered about his situation. He knew he would never stop pondering his situation, never until it killed him, maybe soon, maybe later, but eventually. To him, there was no end except the final end. The best days of his life were years behind him; seemingly all downhill from there, and then some. He’d always thought about getting himself out there, doing something, being someone, but there was no chance, there is no chance, nor will there ever be a chance. He would always be a reject of society, no matter how kind, how hardworking, how loyal, how honest he was. He was simply put in a hole too deep and he could never climb out.

He sighed. He purposefully kept his mind blank for a little while and kept staring up. He knew he shouldn’t be pessimistic; those thoughts had already led his oldest brother to incarceration years back. His momma would say, “Be strong, keep your chin up. You’ll be the one to get us out of here.” But it could be so incredibly difficult at times.

He kept staring. It was silent in the room, so silent that all he could hear was the soft, high-pitched whine inside his head. A couple of minutes passed. He had a thought. Was it a bit crazy? Maybe, he thought. He laid there for a few seconds more. He then urged himself, and that slight urge was enough to push the thought into action.

He slowly leaned up off of his bed, putting his body weight on his forelegs behind him, and rotated his body a bit to the right, so that his hind legs hung off of the mattress some. He put his forelegs back behind his head, laid down, and took in the feeling of this new position. It was a bit uncomfortable, but staring back up to the ceiling again, he had to say that this new angle was quite…

“Interesting…”

“Kamili, you dumbass! You better wake the fuck up right now, we got a major deal today and I don’t need you fuckin’ up a big score! Getcho’ ass up!”

Kamili groaned and sat up, facing the door frame from which his older brother’s voice reverberated. Kofi was never one to miss an opportunity to make a lot of bits in a short amount of time. Ever since Kamili dropped out of high school to work to pay the rent of their small apartment, his older brother had been forcing him to aid in his drug dealing escapades.

Kofi sold synthetic poison joke, a highly addictive and sought-after drug that could be crushed up and snorted or rolled up and smoked. Not many a blazer knew of its common and highly dangerous side effects, but what did it matter to the zebra who wanted to get an exceptional high?

Kamili hopped up off of his bed and walked slowly towards the full-body mirror sitting next to the door, tossing his blanket onto his back as he went. He took a quick look at himself. A fully-grown zebra, at least in physique, stared back at him. He noticed that his mane, tightened into short dreadlocks, looked a little bit worse for wear, so he licked his hoof and pushed down the stray pieces of hair that poked up out of the dreads, taming his mane’s already messy look.

Feeling slightly satisfied, Kamili walked out of his room and into the main living area. Kofi, glared at him as he trotted over to the kitchen and opened the pantry, grabbing a box of oat flakes. He resembled Kamili if Kamili was short, heavy and smelled of drugs 24/7. Somehow, the type of drug changed from day-to-day.

“I swear to Celestia, Kam, I don’t need you wasting a minute of my fuckin’ time-”

Kamili’s gaze shot to Kofi as he opened a cabinet and grabbed a plastic bowl. “Calm the fuck down Kofi, I’m just getting breakfast, I was kind enough not to take a shower, you ass.” He moved the bowl down to the counter below and started pouring flakes. “Besides, we don’t have to meet until one, you said it yourself yesterday night after you brought home that hoe from the fuckin’ bar you were at last night. By the way, you two were so fucking loud that you woke me up and I couldn’t fall asleep for another two fuckin’ hours. Now if you would excuse me, dipshit, I need to eat my oat flakes, without milk, I might add, because some retarded-ass mothafucka forgot to go to the damn grocery three days ago!”

Kamili slammed the box of flakes onto the counter and the two brothers stared angrily at each other for a few seconds. Kofi then raised his eyebrows and put a smug grin on his face.

“Oh, I see how it is. You’s just jealous that I snatch all the bitches and you can’t even get your dick wet, huh? Well, I could always grab two one night and we can ‘share’ ‘em, how about that?”

Kamili rolled his eyes before turning to grab a plastic spoon from the countertop. “Funny, Kofi, funny,” he muttered.

Kofi walked up next to him, grinning a bit. He put his hoof on Kamili’s shoulder. “Hey, no worries, lil’ bro. After the score, we could always just head down and get us a thing or two of clover, maybe some of the stronger stuff, three leaf? I know this guy wh-”

Kamili, who had been angrily eating spoonfuls of the dry oat flakes, interrupted Kofi.

“Or, crazy idea, we could always just pay our mothafuckin’ rent with the money we get! You’re always spending our bits on your stupid-ass clover and you’re too busy being a fuckin’ retard and fuckin’ blazing it instead of trying to keep us above the line!”

As Kamili ranted, Kofi stared at him with a glare and a ruffled brow.

“A home? Nah, we don’t need it. Food? Nope, we got plenty of clover. Water? It’s all good, I’d much rather be getting high than fuckin’ staying alive!”

Finally, Kofi groaned in annoyance, holding his hooves up. “Fine, fine! I won’t buy any drugs this week. Celestia, Kamili, you can be a real fuckin’ annoying piece of shit sometimes,” he said, walking towards the single couch in the room. As he hopped onto it, he looked at the clock above the door. “You should still hurry up tho, we need to be meetin’ there in 30 minutes, you know how long it takes to walk there.”

Kamili sped up his eating, taking no more than a few minutes to eat the rest of his cereal. He tossed the bowl and the spoon into the sink, onto an already large pile of dishes. There hadn’t been any soap in sight in the kitchen for a week and a half. Not like that’s gonna change anytime soon, Kamili thought as he put on his winter coat, keeping the blanket on as an extra layer, and also for good luck. Kofi followed suit, as well as grabbing a black duffel bag next to the door. They stepped out of their room and headed downstairs.

The cold wind hit the two brothers as they stepped outside the building. It was a chilly midwinter day in Bronclyn, and it seemed like not many pony or zebra were out and about. The brothers shivered and looked at each other. They then started to make their way to where they would be meeting their partners and eventually, selling their load of poison joke to a small group of zebra that would be meeting them there at some point later. At least, that was the plan according to Kofi, who had always pegged himself as the mastermind behind the success of their deals.

The mild winds only picked up over the course of the brothers’ journey to meet with their partners. They both shivered quite a lot, despite the winter coats that they had put on. As they trotted down the cold sidewalk side-by-side, Kamili spotted a white unicorn mare coming their way. As she trotted closer, Kamili’s eyes widened. She was a beautiful specimen, her purple curls bouncing up and down with her every step and her white color glistening radiantly in the sunlight. Kamili glanced over to Kofi, which was when he found that, quite unfortunately for the both of them, the pretty white mare had caught his eye as well. And Kofi was grinning widely.

As the mare approached closer, Kofi let out a loud whistle and shouted at her, “Hey, beautiful! You look like a sexy lil’ marshmallow!” She noticed the comments being made in her direction and rolled her eyes in disapproval as she passed them. Kamili heard Kofi mutter under his breath, “How about we see if you’re soft like one too…” and watched, petrified, as he promptly reached behind her and grabbed her flank. Kamili was able to catch a glimpse of her cutie mark from under Kofi’s hooves: a trio of gleaming diamonds. She pulled herself from Kofi’s grasp, looking at both of the zebra brothers, horrified. Kamili also looked in shock at his brother, who was giggling like a school child who had pulled his first prank.

“What the fuck, Kofi?” Kamili yelled. He turned his gaze to the unicorn mare. “I’m so sorry about him, he needs some sense knocked into his head… You should go.” He shooed the distraught mare away quickly and glared at his brother.

“What the fuck was going on inside that retarded brain of yours, you complete and utter dipshit?”

“What? She was sexy as fuck, bro. Plus, she had a really nice ass…” Kofi reminisced, squeezing his hooves around in thin air as if the mare’s rump was still in his grip.

Kamili knocked hard on Kofi’s skull a couple of times. “You can’t keep going around doing stuff like that, Kofi. You’ll definitely get called out more for grabbing a pony mare’s ass out in the open and in the middle of the afternoon than selling poison joke down in an alleyway, you know that?” He started to trot down the sidewalk again. “Who’s the dumbass now?” he muttered, far enough away so that Kofi wasn’t able to hear him. Kofi eventually resumed his trot behind him, whispering curses at Kamili and rubbing his head.

As Kamili was trotting out in front, he looked up at the sky. The sun was overhead somewhat, covered by a light layer of clouds. In the far distance, he could see a group of pegasi flying. Most of them had darker colors, easily letting him see the loops and flips that they performed. There was one pegasus, however, that seemed to be the exact color of the sky, and it was moving so fast that he could barely make it out even when it passed in front of the clouds.

He knew a pegasus once, back when he was in elementary school. Out of the few ponies that even attended, he was the only one of his kind. He’d never really been friends with him, but they had talked every once in awhile, maybe at recess or a school project? He couldn’t really gather too many of the details from the abyss that was his long-term memory.

What he did remember about that colt, however, was that he’d always be the referee whenever they’d be playing tag, due to his ability to fly up an observe the game from a height. Some of the little colts and fillies asked him to play every once in a while, but he always said no in honor of keeping everything fair. Kamili liked that aspect of him, maybe that’s why the thought had popped into his head.

“Hey dumbass, stop daydreamin’ and pay attention, we’ve got stuff to do,” Kofi said, pulling Kamili out of his thoughts.

They had reached an alleyway in the side of a stone large building to the left of them. They turned in. The alley was cramped and extremely shaded. It was still visible in the early afternoon, however. It smelled of poison joke, a sharp, nasty smell, maybe a few days old. There was a pile of cardboard boxes piled up against the right wall, but whoever put them there wasn’t Kamili’s business. The duo walked all the way down to the end, where a wooden door stood. Kofi stepped up to it and raised his hoof. He then knocked, tapping rhythmically, using his secret code to identify co-workers from clients.

As Kofi knocked, Kamili saw something out of the corner of his eye. He sharply turned his head to the right at the pile of boxes. It went quiet for a few seconds, Kamili continuing to stare. It must have been my imagination, he thought. No doubt about it, he thought. But even with those thoughts running through his head, he kept staring.

Suddenly, the door opened and Kamili’s gaze jolted back to the left where he saw a tall, lanky zebra peeking his head through the crack, his thick mane covering his eyes. How he could see through all that, Kamili never knew.

“Whas goooooood, Kofi?” spoke the zebra, slurring his words a bit. “You ready for some biiiiiiiig bits?”

Kofi snorted loudly. “Yeah dude, we ready, ain’t we Kam?” he said, looking over at Kamili, who raised his eyebrows.

The zebra at the door smiled widely, revealing his deep yellow teeth. “Yeah you is, bruh.” He opened the door the rest of the way to let the two through. “You know, I always be thinkin’ that Kam’s gonna be da one rat us out to the cops one day.”

“Nah bro, he love me too much, dontchu lil’ bro?” said Kofi, grinning and looking right at his brother.

Kamili gave a sarcastic smile as the door closed behind them. “Whatever you say, ‘Boss’.”

Author's Note

So I had an idea and I wrote something. Praise me!

Chapter 2: A Way

The headquarters lobby was very small, with an ugly shade yellow coating the walls; said walls were covered in stains that Kamili didn’t know, nor wanted to know, where they came from. There were no windows and the only source of light was coming from the stairs on the left and the single light bulb that hung from the low ceiling above. The room was slightly foggy and smelled of freshly-smoked clover. Adding to that was the lack of air conditioning or heating in the room, which made Kamili decide to leave his layers on. There was an open refrigerator in the right corner of the room, filled with frozen pizzas and a lot of chocolate ice cream.

In the center of the room was a table surrounded by three chairs; two of them were occupied at the moment. The first, on the left, was a large zebra, called Z, about twice as big as Kamili’s brother. He had been sitting with his forelegs flat on the table and listening to the other occupant as the brothers arrived. He was considered the muscle of the group, mostly paid for by his intimidation factor. Whenever a deal had ever started to go sour, Z always gave a glare that put the client into the right way of thinking, mainly the thought of “just buy the damn drugs”.

The second, in the center, was an earth pony, Maverick, the only pony that he knew of that Kofi associated with on any terms other than buyers. He was sitting back with his hind legs on the table, crossed. He was an average build for a stallion, with a light cyan coat and golden hair, green eyes, and a cutie mark: a wide smile with glistening white teeth. When Kamili first met him, he had thought his special talent was being friendly. However, as they worked together, he figured out its true meaning: persuasion and deception. The pony worked as the group’s “advertiser”, so to speak. He was the one that walked up to ponies and tried to convince them to take a visit down here, to buy something that could spice up their life. In the time that Kamili had known him, the stallion had been really successful at his work drawing in all kinds of buyers: rich ponies wanting a thrill, druggies needing a stronger hit.

“‘Sup, Kofi,” said the two, who had glanced up to see the brothers inside. Kofi tilted his muzzle up in greeting.

“You got the joke?” said Maverick in a smooth tone.

“Hell yeah, Mav,” Kofi said confidently, as he plopped down the duffel bag onto the table and unzipped it for everyone to see. Kamili and the door zebra walked over and stood around the table, looking at the pile of highly potent blue flowers that sat inside the bag.

Kofi looked up, grinning at everyone. “Guess what? After the deal today, everyone is getting a big fuckin’ pound of three-leaf. On me!”

A small cheer went around the table, noticeably stopping at Kamili, who had begun staring at his brother, looking furious. Kofi’s gaze eventually turned to him, and he gave him a shit-eating grin.

The fucker, Kamili thought. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He doesn’t care that he promised me at the house, he thinks he’ll just do whatever he damn well pleases.

Maverick glanced at him and shrugged, as if reading his thoughts.

Kofi looked away from Kamili and towards the whole group before him.

“Aight, we gotta set up, the boys gon’ be here in a bit, we don’t wanna keep em’ waiting, right?”

They nodded. Kofi zipped up the bag and tossed it to Kamili. He was instructed to take it upstairs and wait until Mav came up and told him to bring it down. Slowly nodding, Kamili moved towards the stairs to his left.

“We don’t wanna keep em’ waiting, yeah, sure, the only thing he doesn’t want to keep waiting is his next fuckin’ high…” Kamili muttered just out of earshot as he lightly dragged his hooves across the floor and took the first few steps up the staircase.

The upper floor he entered was a familiar sight to him; it was where he usually waited for when the drugs needed to be brought down. The room had two windows, both covered by thin black curtains, which his brother warned him to never open. To the right sat some unused synthesis equipment. It used to be used for minor experiments on the stash of poison joke; however, it hadn’t been used in moons, ever since Kofi struck it big on his specially modified strain of the drug. There were a few boxes shoved messily under the counter that the equipment laid on, filled with extra parts for experiments.

Kamili slowly walked into the small room towards a pile of neatly stacked books in its far left corner. The top book was open-faced and laid cover-up. He took the book by its spine and sank down against the wall, picking up where he’d left off. Although he knew there wasn’t much time for reading, he thought he could knock out at least one chapter.

This one was a story about a knight and his princess, sometime in Medieval Equestria. There was a castle, a dragon, and an overly dramatic and comedic villain, the semi-powerful Nightstar the Hairless. Although the setting was familiar to him, he was always intrigued by the characters and loved them so much that he always came back to read the book again and again. He had always thought that any story could be carried by its characters alone.

Stories had always had a way of pulling Kamili out of the struggles that defined his current lifestyle. He had once thought that stories could be the rope he could use to climb his way out of the hole he had been slowly digging himself into throughout the years, but those dreams had died years ago, along with his momma.

He put his book down and stared across the room. The room was silent apart from the chatter of his brother and the gang that came from downstairs. Once again, he pondered his situation.

“I really went and fucked the whole thing up, didn’t I?” Kamili muttered out loud. He shook his head and tapped his forehead with the tip of his hoof. He slid farther down the wall and laid on his back, his head propped up. “No, I fucked myself over for thinking I had a chance.” Sliding some more, he let his head rest on the floor and stared up at the ceiling.

Loud knocks on the door triggered Kamili’s ear to flick towards the stairs. The group on the ground floor quickly went silent. There were a few whispers that he couldn’t make out, and a few seconds later, the door opened. He could hear a faint greeting given by Kofi, “Well, look who’s here. We got the best of the best for y’all here, don’t w-”

Kofi’s sentence was abruptly cut short. Kamili’s eyes widened as he heard his brother being audibly choked, and a few seconds later, a slam. He shot up from his resting position and ran to the stairs. He heard the door slam shut.

Someone shouted from downstairs and Kamili froze. “Alright mothafuckas, we carryin’ some dangerous shit wit us, so don’t be pullin’ no shit”, the deep voice commanded. Stepping as silently as he could, Kamili snuck down the stairs enough to get a peek at what was going on.

Three zebras had entered the headquarters, two normal-sized ones standing on opposite sides of a more bulky zebra. One of the zebra held Kofi by the neck, holding a knife to his throat. It shone yellow in the light of the sole bulb hanging in the room. The other held a small, cylindrical object in his hoof. It was short, fat, and orange, with a wick protruding out of its top. A small orange piece seemed to connect the string and the object. Kamili recognized it instantly: an explosive magical projectile.

EMPs were highly illegal, with a spell matrix designed only for the intent of harming living beings. With the power of a powerful unicorn’s attack spell and none of the drawbacks of explosive forces on surroundings, they were scarily efficient, making it easy to perform a quick murder and clean up the scene within minutes.

The door zebra and Mav stood, eyes wide with fear, looking at Z, who seemed to have been thrown violently against the refrigerator. He lied unconscious, crumpled on the ground; the refrigerator was tilted at an angle against the wall. The bulky zebra walked slowly towards the two still standing. Suddenly, he turned and looked directly at Kofi.

“So”, he continued, “where’s our shit, dog?”

Kofi gave a nervous smile. “W-w-what shit, homie?”, he stammered, gulping hard. His throat lightly scraped the edge of the knife.

“Our shit. Don’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talkin’ about, mothafucka. This shit’s like a family business, ain’t it?” At that, both Kofi and Kamili’s eyes widened. This ordeal went farther than he had ever expected.

“Woah, dude, dat shit ain’t got nothin’ to do with us. The mothafucka pulled shit way over his head!”, Kofi exclaimed, starting to struggle against the grip of his captor a little.

“Well, the mothafucka got some shit dat needs to be paid off. Yeah, he’s outta the picture, but you the one dat’s takin’ the responsibility now. And if y’all don’t, well, we got two problems we gotta take care of.” Kofi struggled a little harder.

Kamili snuck back upstairs and grabbed the bag of poison joke. He trotted down the stairs, making himself known to the three intruders. He threw it at the bulky zebra’s feet.

“Take it. It’s full of specially synthesized joke. Stop struggling, you dumbass.” He looked over to Kofi, whose face was in a mix of shock and horror. The bulky zebra glanced down at the bag and back up to Kamili. Kamili stood his ground with a stern face, staring.

“You think I want this shit?”

Kamili caught his breath and looked at the zebra in confusion. He eyes shot over to Kofi, who was starting to hyperventilate. He turned his head back to the zebra.

“The fuck? What’s going on?”

“Oh? Hasn’t dat little bitch-ass told you? Dat shit’s fucked up. Be fryin’ mothafuckas out of all they mothafuckin’ heads. They can’t think straight no more. So don’ try and trick me wit that shit, kid; I know his lil’ secret.”

Kamili stood in place, the anger inside slowly growing to its boiling point. When it finally poured over, he knew just who to direct all of it on. Turning to Kofi, breathing heavily, he verbally unleashed his rage.

“You… have got to be… fuckin’… kidding me. You think this is the best way to spend all your fuckin’ time, do you?! You go out and poison people’s minds and fuck with them and you’re all happy about it? Is this really what you are? Just selling some clover on the street is one thing, but… this…”

Kamili slowly sat down on his haunches. His rage had subsided, and now all he felt was fear. Fear for the people that bought their joke. Fear for his gang. But most of all, fear for…

“They don’ have what we want,” the bulky zebra said, turning to his goons. He motioned to the zebra on his right, who took the blade from Kofi’s neck and shoved him to the ground. While still looking at the defenseless group spread across the room, he tapped the left zebra’s shoulder.

“Let’s get outta here. We’ll clean up later.”

Both zebras nodded and the bulky zebra turned towards the door. Kamili tilted his head down and let out a small sigh of relief, but when he looked up again, his face morphed into one of horror. The zebra with the EMP had gripped the small piece on the fuse.

They’re gonna blow us up and leave us for dead!, Kamili realized. Fuck this!

Kamili shot up and ran straight at the goon. But it was too late. The goon had ripped the piece off, lighting the fuse, which began to glow a sickly yellow as it sparked alive. Kamili tackled the goon, grabbing the attention of the bulky zebra and his other goon. The bulky zebra looked on in surprise.

“The fuck you think you’re do-”

His sentence was cut shot with a yell. Kofi had ran, jumped on the back of the bulky zebra, and dug his teeth into the back of his neck. Mav and the door zebra had ran at the other goon and attacked him, immobilizing him.

The goon flipped Kamili over onto his back and started punching. Kamili’s vision went black for a few seconds from a punch straight to the head. Kamili regained his vision and shoved the goon as hard as he could, launching him and the EMP over near the others. Getting up quickly, he looked in fear at the explosive. The fuse had almost reached the blasting cap. He threw himself at the door and opened it, taking a step out.

By then, the bulky zebra had subdued Kofi, catching him by the neck and slamming him into the wall next to the door multiple times. He noticed Kamili trying to escape and grabbed him by the back of his coat. Kamili could feel the zebra’s breathing on the back of his neck. Blood started to obscure his vision.

“You ain’t gettin’ away from me, mothafucka.”

Suddenly, They were both blasted into the air. Kamili flew half the length of the alleyway before landing hard on his left shoulder. Looking back, all he saw was the open door and the bulky zebra laying near him within hoof’s reach. To his utter terror, the zebra stirred. In pain, he got up and ran with a slight limp to the light at the end of the alley. He took one more look behind him and saw the zebra’s yellow eyes glaring at him from the shade. He took a right and ran.

He ran, and he ran, and he ran. Away, and away, and away. There was all but one thought in his mind that mattered in those few seconds: he wanted to run. And that’s what he did. It was long before other questions popped into his head, about the lives of his brother and the gang, about his level of fucked, about the cold, about where, and how long. However, the most prominent problem was how he was going to outrun whoever would be trying to find him.

He promised himself one thing that afternoon, whether it was by those dealers or cops or whatever at all, he would not get caught.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours later, the night-time had caught up with him. His wandering had taken him to a deserted sidestreet. He knew that he had left his assailants behind, but he couldn’t think of where to go now. Hell, he couldn’t even think straight at all. The cold throughout the evening had really started to mess with his body, especially without his coat. But what he did know was that he wouldn’t be walking for much longer. He staggered, taking only a few more steps before collapsing onto the pavement. He backed himself up against the wall of the building behind him, glancing to his left and right to spot any passers-by, but no one was there. The only noises he could hear were his own shallow breathing and a faint chorus of laughter in the distance.

The not-so-open wound on his left shoulder, as well as his head, were throbbing painfully. His legs and hooves hurt like hell from traveling all that way on foot, but it wasn’t like he had the money for the subway, or anyplace else to go to at all, now that he thought about it. His vision was getting fuzzy, and he felt drowsy. The cold of the night cut through the hair on his body, making him regret his decision of leaving his lighter inside his coat; all he had now was his blanket. It might be thin, but at least it’s better than nothing, right?, he thought, as he started nodding off slowly.

“M-maybe tomorrow I’ll f-f-find a sleeping b-bag in the dumpster or s-s-some shit, that would be f-funny, ...huh...” he said, succumbing more and more to the freezing temperatures that racked his body. The laughter in the distance grew louder, as if amused by his attempt at a joke in his dire situation. His hooves felt numb. “I sh-shoulda brought m-my f-f-fuckin’ lighter, heh heh…” he mused, closing his eyes.

He waited to hear the sound of laughter again in the distance, but it didn’t come. Instead, his commentary was greeted with the sound of multiple sets of hooves clopping against the sidewalk, accompanied by the worried tones of voices, which slowly grew louder and louder.

Opening his eyes slowly, what he saw standing there was no less than surprising. Surrounding him in a semicircle were the horrified faces of six pony mares. The colors of the mares, ranging from pure white to pink to a full rainbow, added to his already throbbing headache.

“Wh-who…?”

“Oh my goodness, are you ok?” said the pegasus mare on his very left in a very timid voice; she had a pale yellow coat with a light pink mane.

“Are you kidding me, Fluttershy? He looks pretty far from ok!” the rainbow-haired pegasus to her right exclaimed.

A white unicorn mare kneeled down in front of him. “Excuse me, sir, can you hear me?” she asked. He nodded slowly, slightly entranced by her radiance. She looked familiar. It seemed as though her coat shined through the darkness, and her eyes? He felt like he could stare into those blue eyes forever…

“He’s going to get hypothermia. For Celestia’s sake, he’s not even wearing anything warm but that blanket!” said the lavender pony to the unicorn’s left. She was also obviously a unicorn, but, it kind of looked like there were a pair of wings on her back as well… Must be my brain messing with me, He thought. There’s only four alicorns in Equestria, right?

“Rarity, how far do ya reckon yer boutique is from here?” said the orange earth-pony. “‘Cause Ah think we need to get this zebra fella there as soon as possible.”

“It’s about two or three blocks down that way, Applejack. And yes, we should hurry. I’d say he needs a cup of hot tea and a lot more layers of covering.”

By then, Kamili had almost run out of strength to stay awake. To the shock of the ponies around him, his eyelids drooped and he slumped over onto his side. They let out a simultaneous gasp.

“What are we waiting for?” shouted rainbow-mane. “Let’s go!”

He felt himself being heaved onto someone’s back, and then being covered by his blanket. He was laying belly-first, with his legs dangling off of the sides and his head facing the right. He had to hold on to his ride when the mares began to trot down the street. He opened his eyes, and saw the white unicorn walking to his side. He weakly raised a hoof and pointed it at her.

“Y-y-you’s a… a p-pretty l-lady.”

She turned her head slightly in his direction and smirked. He looked up to her and smiled back with the little strength he had left. To her right, the pink pony with the poofy hair giggle-snorted. “Hee hee! I like him, Rarity!”

He rested his head against his carrier’s side, and fell asleep.

Author's Note

Well, to whoever's reading, welcome back to the second chapter of the story!

I don't expect many to care, but to those who do, the very end of this chapter was the first part of this story I ever wrote. So that meant I had to connect a beginning and an end with something that worked in the middle.

Bad idea on my part but, oh well. Writer's block doesn't have to last forever, eh?

A Crisp 20 Dollar Bill

Chapter 3: Tea Time, Part 1

Kamili woke up with the feeling of warmth and softness covering every inch of his body. Keeping his eyes shut, he took it all in and sent up a silent prayer of thanks. His body was still sore from the day before, but it felt much better now. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times; it was dark. The only light source came from under the door crack a few feet away. After a few minutes, Kamili could make out most of his surroundings. However, he couldn’t make out the ceiling. On top of him lay an enormous stack of fuzzy blankets, each one filled with intricate designs. There were at least ten of the things covering him, but it wasn’t like he was complaining. Flipping himself onto his chest, he examined the piece of furniture that he had been laying on, comatose. It was a fancy couch made of red fabric and supported by a gold frame.

Damn, it's just as classy as it is comfortable! Kamili thought.

Propping himself up with one of his forelegs, Kamili took in the room that he’d been occupying. He assumed it to be a spare room for storage, spotting some boxes stuffed with fabrics and… gems? Kamili rubbed his eyes and looked again. Yep, those are real, he thought. How rich is this pony? He pried his eyes off of the entrancing sight of the jewels and glanced to his left. There was a stool sitting there with a little slip of paper lying on top of it with a note scribbled in pen.

I have a couple of small things that I must attend to, so I trust that you can wait here in the shop for my friends and I to arrive back. In the break room down the hall to your right, there are cups, tea bags, and sugar on the counter with a kettle to heat up the water. Or, if you prefer, there is a coffee machine with some coffee still left in it, though it might have gotten cold by the time you wake up. It is quite cold, even in the shop, so I advise bringing a blanket or two out with you. We will be back by noon-time.

P.S. Do NOT spill anything on those blankets. I will know. Thank you.

Kamili read and re-read the note over and over to get it through his head. What were the odds that this pony came along and took him in? Allowing him to stay in the shop, with no expenses mentioned whatsoever? No, there has to be more of a catch than just cleanliness…,he thought, unless this pony is the single most generous pony in Manehattan.

However, he didn’t really feel like analyzing too much more, and right now, he could do just about anything for a cup of tea.

Kamili rose slowly off of the couch and, tossing two of the blankets on his back, walked towards the door, swaying a little with each step. His hooves throbbed in annoyance. He reached the door, swung it open, and had to squint at the light pouring through the door frame. After his eyes adjusted, he stepped out into a short hallway. Turning right, he walked down the tiled-floor hallway towards the break room.

The room looked small from where he was, with a light yellow wallpaper covering most of it, though there were a few places where the original brick was showing through. On the counter directly in front of him was a white mug, two teabags, and a small pile of sugar packets, just like the note had said. There was also a coffee maker, which was about a quarter of the way full with said substance. The corners of Kamili’s lips turned up slightly. As he took staggered steps down the hallway, he heard a quiet voice coming from inside the room.

“...Now you be sure to be kind to our new guest, he seemed to have had a tough day yesterday. He’ll be walking in any minute-”

Kamili peeked into the break room and glanced to his left, where a pony sat, looking down at the ground next to her. He remembered her as the yellow pegasus mare from the night before. Her yellow coat was combined with a pink mane and eyes a moderate cyan. She was wearing a purple sweater, for the cold, obviously... idiot... Kamili thought. A white cup, identical to the one he had seen walking in, sat in front of her on the wooden table. Steam was rising from it; Kamili assumed she had recently made a cup of tea herself. With her ear flicking, the yellow mare’s eyes suddenly darted to his position and she gave an audible “Eeep!” combined with a slight hiccup, making Kamili chuckle a little bit.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

The yellow mare blushed lightly, slowly getting out of her seat and twirling her hair absentmindedly with one hoof. “It’s ok, I startle easily.”

The two stood in silence for a moment, awkwardly making eye contact with each other. A few more seconds passed until the silence was broken by another soft hiccup. She glanced away and giggled. Kamili’s corners turned up ever so slightly more.

“I’m sorry, I still need to introduce myself, don’t I?” The mare took a few steps towards him, making eye contact once more, though now the connection felt more stable. She held out her hoof, ready to shake. “My name’s Fluttershy, I’m Rarity’s friend, the pony whose shop we’re in.”

As a sign of courtesy, Kamili took Fluttershy’s hoof, bowed his head, kneeled, and kissed the hoof. He noticed her tense up, and glanced up at her. Fluttershy’s face had begun to glow a light pink.

“Uh…”

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Kamili exclaimed, shooting up. “That’s how my momma used to tell me I should greet mares I’ve just met. Just a little courtesy-”

“No, no, it’s fine, it’s fine,” replied Fluttershy quickly, looking down and away slightly, “I’m just not really… used to that kind of… greeting… I guess…” Another few seconds passed before she gave another little squeak.

“Sorry…”

“Hey, Ms. Fluttershy?” spoke Kamili gently. She looked back up at him and nodded.

“Mmhm?”

“I really think we should move away from the apologizing part and towards the thank-you-for-letting-me-stay-in-here-or-else-I-would’ve-been-a-zebrasicle-out-there part, don’t you?”

“Oh! Uh, yes, I agree.”

“Good, because I could use a seat right about now, my hooves are absolutely killing me.” Kamili motioned a hoof towards the table. Fluttershy gave a quick nod and pulled out a chair for him. Whispering thanks to her, Kamili promptly sat down and leaned back, sighing heavily and grinning.

“Not as good as that fancy red piece of work I slept on, but at least it’s something. It sure does feel good to get off these things, they hurt like hell,” he said, holding up a hoof. He then took the blankets from his back and laid them across his torso and hind legs. “Say, would you be kind enough to heat up another cup of water for some tea? I’d appreciate it.”

Fluttershy gave an “Mmhm!”, and went to go fill up the kettle on the counter in front of her, Kamili’s eyes following her over. She glanced down at the two teabags on the counter and back at him. “There’s only Earl Gray here, Rarity seems to be a fan of it, if that’s ok with you…”

Kamili nodded. “That sounds fine to me.”

“Alright, good, good.” Fluttershy took her gaze off of him and towards the sink, where she started filling up the mug. “I’m more fond of ginseng myself, actually.”

“Ginseng, huh? I’ve heard it tastes good.” Suddenly, Kamili spun around in his chair, facing Fluttershy with a goofy expression on his face as she moved to put the kettle on to the stovetop. “Hey, you know what would be cool? Ginseng tea bags that could actually sing to you!”

Fluttershy smiled mischievously and glanced towards him. “Sounds a bit chaotic, don’t you think?”

“You’ve never met me, Miss,” Kamili responded, raising his eyebrows. Fluttershy let out another soft giggle as she turned on the fire underneath the kettle. She turned back to face him once again. “Speaking of, I still haven’t gotten your name. Who are you?”

“My name is Kamili. I live in the Bronclyn area. Been living in this city my whole life.”

Fluttershy trotted a bit closer. “That’s interesting. I didn’t know that there were any zebras living in Manehattan.”

“There’s a pretty large population of us, yeah. You’re telling me you’ve never seen a zebra in Manehattan before, ever?”

Fluttershy shook her head. Kamili tapped a hoof to his chin. “Hmm, weird. And here I was thinking it was a small world.”

“Well, you aren’t the first zebra I’ve met. My friends and I know a very nice zebra named Zecora that lives inside the Everfree Forest. She only speaks in rhymes.” The kettle started whistling, signaling Fluttershy to go fill Kamili’s cup.

“Huh. I think my momma knew a few zebra who did that too. Do you know if she emigrated here before you met her?”

Fluttershy placed Kamili’s cup on the table in front of him.“Not really, Zecora’s never really talked about where she came from.” She turned around to go get a tea bag and some sugar. “Maybe we could arrange for her to meet your mother, maybe we could fi-”

She turned around, tea bag and sugar packet in hoof, to find Kamili staring dismally at her, his mouth slightly agape. He didn’t say anything for the next few seconds.

“I’m sorry, what’s wrong?”, said Fluttershy, worried.

He gulped. “My momma… She… she’s been… … …gone… for a while…” Kamili stammered, slowly; the feeling of despair and melancholia rushed over him like a tidal wave. A tear rolled down his right cheek. Fluttershy teared up and ran to Kamili, embracing him in a tight hug.

“Imsosorrykamiliididntrealizeididntmeantohurtyouareyoualrightimsosorry!” she wailed, almost incoherently. Kamili was thoroughly unprepared for the hug, but returned the warm, wet embrace.

“It’s ok, it’s just… It’s still hard to take in for me all this while later, but I always love to talk about her, I loved her very much.”

Fluttershy tightened the hug. “Goodness, Kamili, your father must have been so devastated when he found out, how is he?”

Kamili tensed up, catching her off guard. He sighed. “I never knew my dad. He left us about a year after I was born. I’ve always thought it was my fault.”

Fluttershy immediately backed out of the hug, looking at him with a very somber look on her face. “Kamili, I… I’m really sorry to hear that.”

They sat in silence for a moment. Then, Kamili slowly held out his forelegs. Fluttershy smiled and took the invitation, giving him another hug.

“Best not to think too deeply about the past right now, I’ll get depressed n’ shit,” said Kamili, chuckling a bit. He let go of Fluttershy and grinned at her, seemingly cured of his sudden sadness. “Damn, we’ve been being sentimental for too long. The water better not’ve cooled down yet!”

As Fluttershy placed the tea bag and sugar on the table, Kamili turned around in his chair to see his cup in front of him, and luckily, vapor was still rising from the top. What he didn’t expect to see, however, was a trio of raccoons looking at him curiously from the opposite side of the table. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Kamili turned back to Fluttershy with a confused look on his face.

“Uhm… wha-”

“These are the resident animals of the boutique, Smoky, Softpad, and Smoky Jr,” Fluttershy explained, walking back around the table and introducing the raccoons one by one. “They’ve been living here since even before Rarity signed the lease to the shop. I’m sorry if they startled you, they sure startled Rarity when she first met them…”

“No, it’s all good,” Kamili said, nodding and dunking his tea bag in the warm water. He then scrunched up his muzzle, pondering for a moment. “Now that I think about it, when I was walking down the hallway after I woke up, you were talking to someone…” He looked up, made eye contact with Fluttershy, who had taken her seat across the table with the family of raccoons, and furrowed his brow in thought. A moment passed, and his eyes went wide. “You don’t mean… You can talk to them?”

Fluttershy blushed, looking down at the trio in front of her. “Yeah, it’s my special talent actually. I take care of hurt animals at my home in Ponyville. I look out for them, feed them, give them love… It’s very fulfilling, in my opinion.” She looked back up at Kamili, who was beaming at her.

“That is quite possibly the most amazing talent I’ve ever known a pony to have! Damn, I wish I could talk to animals. There’s a couple of rats that live in my house, they got real friendly with me somehow, it would’ve been cool to know what they thought of me.” He pointed a hoof at her. “You, my friend, are a treasure.”

Fluttershy blushed and smiled bashfully back at Kamili. “Well, you haven’t gotten to know the rest of my friends yet, hmm?”

“That’s right, I haven’t. Speaking of them, why’d they just leave you here? Where are they?”

“Well, Rarity had a meeting with one of her co-workers this morning; they design Bridleway costumes together. The rest of us had already made plans to come with her, but I offered to stay back just in case you woke up, so you wouldn’t be alone.”

“Awfully nice of them, and of you. By the way, you wouldn’t happen to know the time? They did say that they’d be back by noon, and there wasn’t a clock in the room I was sleeping in.”

Fluttershy turned to Smoky and asked him to go check the clock in the lobby. The patriarch squeaked an answer and jumped down, scurrying off down the hallway; Kamili quietly observed. He then focused on the tea before him. He removed the tea bag from the water, tore open the top of the sugar packet, and sprinkled in the whole thing. He didn’t have a spoon, so he carefully swirled the cup in a circle in an attempt to diffuse the particles of sugar into the tea. He glanced up at Fluttershy and the rest of Smoky’s fluffy family, who had seemingly begun a quiet discussion in the absence of Smoky himself.

Kamili finally took a sip of his tea, which had taken longer than normal to make due to the excessive awkwardness, apologizing, hugging, and whatnot that had taken place a few minutes prior. The warm liquid flowed down his throat, slowly heating him up on the inside. “Not bad”, he muttered, smacking his lips. In the middle of his second sip, he heard the familiar sound of scurrying feet against the tiled hallway floor, and, to his mild surprise, followed by the less familiar sound of hoofsteps and the chatter of mares. Kamili, Fluttershy, and the two raccoons looked towards the door frame as Smoky scurried in with the rest of Fluttershy’s friends following behind him.

“Well! Looky who decided tuh wake up!” said the orange mare, who was dressed in a blue sweater that covered her front half.

“Well, once I knew I was gonna be in a room by myself with six pony mares, I wasn’t just gonna leave,” replied Kamili in a joking tone. He smirked, only to slowly retract it after a few seconds of very awkward stares from some of them. The pink one giggle-snorted and Fluttershy started quietly laughing behind him, though, so… half credit? The purple-haired mare, dressed in a purple hood and boots, took a few steps toward him.

“I wouldn’t have thought that the zebra we saved would’ve had such an inappropriate taste in humor, but then I thought back to yesterday morning, and I changed my mind,” she said to Kamili, in a slightly annoyed tone. He frowned in confusion and he furrowed his brow. Glancing to the mares behind her, their faces slowly turned to shocked realization.

“Wait,” the rainbow-haired pegasus said, flying up to him in the blink of an eye; she was dressed in a red scarf and a purple winter hat and boots. “you’re the guy that groped Rarity’s ass? What the hell? You’re lucky it was dark last night, punk, or else we woulda left you out there on the street.” She finished her angry outburst with a hard poke to Kamili’s chest. Promptly afterward, she was enveloped in a purple aura and dragged back next to the lavender pony in the back of the group.

“B-but that wasn’t even me, it was my brother! I was the one that pulled him off of you!” Kamili exclaimed. Rarity raised an eyebrow. She tapped her hoof to her muzzle in thought. “Hmm. I guess it was. Still, that was highly vulgar.” Kamili gave an audible Hmph and crossed his forelegs loosely.

“Girls, please, don’t be like that with our new friend,” Fluttershy said, raising her voice. As Kamili looked back at her, she got up from her chair, her face tinged a light pink. “Kamili and I talked a little bit before you got here; he’s been so kind and open to us.”

Rarity looked disparagingly to the family of raccoons for confirmation, who nodded in agreement. She sighed and turned her head back to Kamili. “Well... I apologize. I shouldn’t have been so hard on you right off the bat, it was idiotic of me. …Kamili, your brother really scared me. However, if Fluttershy deems you a ‘kind’ individual, then I think you’re fine with us. She is the expert in that field, after all.” Kamili nodded, though he still felt a twinge of distrust for the white unicorn.

As Rarity walked around Kamili towards Fluttershy, the lavender pony in the back stepped forward; she was wrapped in a yellow scarf and red earmuffs. Kamili raised his eyebrows; his eyes hadn’t deceived him the night before. He tensed up slightly. “Y-you are an alicorn?” he stammered. She nodded.

“Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. Nice to meet you, Kamili,” she said, holding out a hoof.

Kamili sniggered. “You’re messing with me.”

“What?”

“You. Are the Princess of… Friendship.”

“Wha… Come on!” Twilight looked annoyedly at Kamili, who was starting to laugh a little louder. She then took a few quick glances between him and her friends, some of whom started to join in with him. “It’s a perfectly reasonable title in this day and age!”

“Well, tuh be completely honest wit’ cha Twi,” the cowpony replied, chuckling, “Ah’ve always found it tuh be a lil’ bit corny.” Twilight rolled her eyes. Kamili finished laughing and looked to her.

“That was one way to lighten the mood, huh? Well, Princess Twilight, it’s an honor to meet you,” he said, tapping his hoof with hers. She gave him a smile and walked around towards Rarity and Fluttershy. The rest of the mares trotted forward; the cowpony found herself in the front of the group.

“The name’s Applejack, pleasure tuh meet yuh,” she said, smiling wide and giving Kamili’s hoof a strong tap. She stepped out of the way just in time for the pink pony to bound up and bounce. Kamili recoiled his body but left his foreleg extended out. The pony landed right on the tip of Kamili’s hoof with the tips of all for of hers, smiling from ear to ear. Strangely, to Kamili, it felt like she weighed as a feather. He looked over to the other mares, who just shrugged, as if this was just a daily occurrence from her.

“Hiya pal! My name’s Pinkamena Diane Pie, or Pinkie Pie for short, or Pinkie for super-duper-extra short! Though, I have heard some of my friends call me Ponkers or-”

“Alright, alright. Nice to meet you too, Pinkie,” Kamili ejected quickly, still tensed up from the sudden approach. “Uhm, do you think you could… uh… stop doing that?”

“Stop doing what?” she replied; she suddenly felt like the weight of a full pony on the tip of his hoof. Kamili jerked his hoof towards his body in surprise and Pinkie hopped off and trotted towards the girls. He frowned and, in confusion, let his eyes follow her over to her friends.

Finally, the rainbow-haired mare walked up at a slow pace, with her head down slightly. Once she got closer, she raised her head and stuck out her left foreleg.

“Rainbow Dash. Sorry for hitting you.”

Kamili grinned and bopped her hoof. “It’s fine. I would have acted the same way if I had any real friends that were mares. From the looks of you, I’d rather not get on your bad side.” Rainbow Dash smiled back and lifted herself into the air with her wings. “That’s right, ‘cuz if you do, I’ll pummel ya faster than the speed of sound.” And with that, she migrated over to join the now complete group of friends looking at him from across the table. Kamili turned his chair to face the table, and more importantly, his tea. After grabbing it and taking a long sip, sending warm waves throughout his body, he looked up to the mares.

“So. What’s the plan here?”

“Uh, well…” Fluttershy started in a hopeful tone, before trailing off and looking at the girls, lost. “I… I don’t know, actually.”

Rarity glanced over to her. “Well, darling, since you decided to stay back, I’ll have to catch you up to speed. But first,” Rarity looked back to Kamili, “my zebra friend, could you tell us who you are?”

Author's Note

Sooner than expected, the third chapter is here!

Again, some of this was written before some of the second chapter was done, but after this, it's only forward from here (with the story, that is).

I hope you all enjoy! Please comment down below with any questions you might have.

Thanks!
A Crisp 20 Dollar Bill

Chapter 4: Tea Time, Part 2

Kamili faced the girls, straddling his chair.

“So, how do you want me to tell this? Long or short version or what?”

“Don’t fret, darling. That visit was the only thing that we had planned today. You can take your time.”

“But Rarity-”

“Hush, Dashie, let him tell his story.”

“Fine. Yeesh.”

All of the girls took seats around the table and Kamili started speaking, although a bit hesitantly.

“Well, I was born in Bronclyn. It’s a few hours trot away, give or take. Spent my whole life there, and I hardly ever left. It was just my older brother and I for the past few years until last night, actually. I really don’t have any family that I know of other than my close relatives. Other than that, it’s just me. Yeah.

“My family’s a wreck, to put it lightly. Poppa left a couple moons after I was born, and my momma never heard from him again, except for once, when he sent back a picture of me in the mail when I was five. That was the last I or my momma ever heard from him. I assume that I was the result of a short little relationship between him and her, and that they tried to stay together after I was born, but he just didn’t want to commit, and left.

“I don’t remember anything from when he was around. My momma never really had any good things to say about him, either. She always did keep a single picture of him in a frame, though. It was a picture of him holding me when I was a few moons old. I realize, even though it doesn’t seem like she was fond of him, there must’ve been a time where they did love each other, or else I wouldn’t’ve been alive. Maybe, or maybe not. It’ll stay a mystery, I guess.”

At that point, it started to feel easier to speak.

“My momma was the most lovingest, caringest zebra that I knew. She’d come home from working her tail off every evening and hug me so tight that I’d feel my back pop a little. It was a good kind of pop, though, the kind that happens when you stretch far enough, and you release all that tension and pressure, and just get that nice wave that pulses through your body, and you just sigh afterwards. That kind. She’d fry up okra in a pan for snacking on and then just sit and let me talk about my day to her. And after she’d listen to me ramble on about the stupid school projects and dumb teachers that I hated, my momma would tell me about her job, with the stupid customers and dumb boss that she hated, and I would listen. I loved her so much, and she loved me too.

“But one day, she just caught something. I was in my second year of high school at the time, and I just started noticing that she was getting weaker and weaker by the day. She hugged me, sure, but the hugs didn’t pop anymore. She made food, but she was rarely able to eat and talk with me anymore. Come to think of it, she did start eating a lot less around then. There was something wrong with her, but by the time she visited the doctor, it was too late. She couldn’t keep her job and she had to be moved to the hospital. I visited her as often as I could, but it wasn’t for long, sadly.

“Kofi’s the middle brother. The only words I can really use to describe him with nowadays are ‘a sack of shit and a half’. He really earned that title over the years. Well, when we were younger, he was a pretty good guy. Was into biology and everything. He could’ve been going somewhere. But, that’s hard to do when you live in the type of environment we grew up in. He got all wrapped up in drug dealing in the middle of his high school years, and he dropped out because of it.

“When I started high school, I read a lot. I liked immersing myself in worlds that weren’t connected to my own so I could relax and not think about what I was going through. I could come back to the apartment, plop my saddlebag down and crack open the next chapter of a fantasy novel or a Daring Do book.”

Rainbow and Twilight immediately leaned closer. “You read Daring Do?” they said in unison.

Kamili nodded. “Yeah, I have. I really enjoyed the series up until I dropped out of high school myself a few years ago.”

Twilight tilted her head. “Why’d you drop out?”

“Well, Princess, it was money problems. After my momma passed, I was forced to drop out and help Kofi with his drugs just to keep ourselves afloat. Had to aid in all the decisions involving money so he didn’t drive us to bankruptcy buying clover.”

“Clover, huh?” Twilight interjected. “If he was trying to buy clover for himself, what was he selling?”

“Poison joke.”

The mares around the table looked at each other, seemingly wondering if they had heard him right. Applejack raised a hoof and spoke up.

“Yah mean the blue flower that dun messes wit’ your body when yuh touch it? Yuh gotta be kidding me.” Kamili held both hooves up in a figurative defense.

“Yeah, I know it sounds silly, but when processed the right way, it can be a really powerful drug. Gets ponies really high for a long time, more than clover, but with a lot of extremely common side effects. Stuff like nausea, hallucinations, and other stuff you’d expect you’d get back from a heavy drug like joke. Now, it’s not like I was proud of what I was helping Kofi do, it was all to keep us alive, y’know? But…” Kofi sighed and looked down. “Yesterday, I found out something that made everything even worse.

“So, to give you a little more context: Kofi had a little experiment kit set up at our headquarters, complete with gloves, beakers, some other equipment, and one large vial of pure magical extract.”

Twilight shot out of her seat with a shocked look on her face.

“Pure magical extract? That stuff’s highly volatile in large amounts, how in Tar-”

Kamili stuck a hoof out, silencing her. “I may have contextualized my brother as a ‘sack of shit and a half’ earlier, but you still can’t underestimate him. He knows his shit about certain things, including how to handle magical extract and a bit of networking, for obvious reasons. Anyway, I already knew about his little playset. He wasn’t hiding the fact that he was trying to modify the plant to get amplified effects. He was specifically using the magical extract to try and augment the effects. Well, long story short, after a lot of experimentation, he eventually found his wonder drug and reproduced it. Business really started to boom for him. But…”

Kamili let out a deep sigh and hung his head lower.

“Turns out the business was too good to be true. Right about the time that shit hit the fan yesterday, I found out that the experimenting caused the poison joke to fuck ponies’ brains up, big time. Didn’t have much time to think about it though, I was getting the fuck outta there.”

“Well, darling, you never did tell us what happened yesterday that landed you in the position you were in last night,” Rarity quipped. Kamili looked back up. The girls were staring at him, all seeming to want an explanation. He nodded slowly.

“A group of zebra came to our place. They knocked out one of ours and threatened us for money that my oldest brother owed them at some point. Since he can’t even hope to pay them back in the situation he’s in, they went for us. One of the zebra had Kofi by the neck with a knife, another had a fucking EMP.”

Twilight let out a stifled gasp while the rest of the girls looked at him, and then Twilight, confused.

“Explosive magical projectile. They’re highly complex magical weapons and highly dangerous,” she explained, looking to the girls. She promptly turned back to Kamili, her face full of concern. “How did a group like them get their hooves on one of those?”

“Certain ponies have their ways, I assume. Just like how Kofi got his extract. Anyway, once they found out that we didn’t have anything other than the modified joke, they were about to lock us inside with a lit EMP and blow us the fuck to Tartarus. So, we fought back. The idiot zebra lit the fucking thing and dropped it in the middle of the room. I was like, ‘Fuck this!’, so I tried to run out the door. But, one of the other zebra grabbed me by the back of my neck from right inside the door. I couldn’t do anything else but brace for impact at that point.

“The explosion launched me and him pretty far; luckily, I was farther, so when I recovered, I ran as fast as I could outta there. I didn’t stop running for hours, and I ended up where I was when you came across me.”

The girls murmured and nodded. Pinkie Pie raised a hoof. Her hair seemed the slightest bit less poofy.

“What happened to your brother?”

Kamili sniffed and took a swig of tea.

“I think he’s dead.”

The table was silent as Kamili’s words reached the six’s ears. They looked at each other, their faces morphed into somber expressions. He started to tear up.

“A-as much as I gave him a bad rap,” he said, sniffling, "he… he really was a good person wrapped in that big ol’ shit-stain of a mind. I believe he was.”

Kamili wiped his eyes and noticed a white tissue box levitating towards him, held in a light-blue aura. He glanced over to Rarity, whose horn was enveloped in the same color. Although earlier he had felt distrustful of her, her comforting, seemingly understanding look consoled him a bit.

“Kamili, some of us know what you’re going through, and we can help,” she said to him. “I myself lost my last grandparent when I was a foal. It’s a difficult thing to understand, death. One day they’re here and the next they aren’t. However, it doesn’t mean you have to forget the best of who they were, right?”

Kamili nodded slowly. Fluttershy lifted herself off the ground with her wings, carrying herself across the table and to Kamili’s seat. She landed and held out a foreleg, preparing for a hug. Kamili held out a hoof sharply.

“Wait a second.”

Fluttershy looked at him, seeming slightly confused. Kamili plucked a tissue from the box, still hovering in midair.

“L-let me wipe my snout. I don’t want to get snot all over you, y’know…” he said, giving her a small smile. Fluttershy returned the smile and patiently waited for Kamili to finish cleaning. He finished, placing the used tissue on the table next to him, and he leaned in for the hug. The two embraced tightly, as if they had been friends for years.

At that moment, Kamili thought about the fact that he had started to make friends, real friends. He could tell that this wasn’t just a hug for sympathy’s sake, but more importantly, for friendship’s sake. He realized he had spouted many of the details of his life to the girls, but he didn’t really feel uncomfortable anymore. Sure, it had felt weird at first to let out his story to random mares he had just met, but as he kept going, he knew that they were really listening and that they cared, enough to ask questions of him.

He appreciated it, truly.

Rainbow Dash smirked at the two. “Well, that’s nice and sappy and all, but I have one more question.” Kamili let go of Fluttershy and gave his attention to Rainbow, nodding.

“So, you talked about Kofi as being your middle brother and that you got into that big kerfuffle because of your oldest brother. Who’s he?”

Kamili gulped audibly. He had known that that question would be asked at some point, and he didn’t really know how to answer them without feeling as if he had betrayed them in some way. As much as he disliked choosing between lying or telling the truth, it was something he had to decide on in the next few moments.

“Well… My oldest brother was a pretty shady individual, to say the least. I really don’t know a lot about him personally, a lot less than I should know. He started keeping a lot of his business secret from the rest of my family when I was a colt, and he moved out when I was about seven. He’d still come back sometimes to hang with Kofi and I, so I assume family was at least a little important to him. He used to tell me to go into another room so he could talk to Kofi alone, though, but I’d always eavesdrop. He’d tell him about his drug dealing escapades, and from what he was saying, it seemed like he was doing pretty well for himself. At least that was what I thought until he stopped visiting for a long time.

“Like the naïve little colt I was, I kept thinking that he’d come back eventually to finally stop by and apologize that he had waited too long to buy milk at the grocery store or something and that he’d hang out with us again. But, that innocence was shattered about a year and a half after his visits stopped. Apparently, he had done something really bad, even by Kofi’s standards, and had landed himself time in a Canterlot prison.”

Fluttershy gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves.

“What did he do?” she said in worry. Kamili shrugged.

“Dunno. Neither my momma nor Kofi would tell me anything about it, and at some point, I stopped really caring. He wasn’t really in my life often enough for me to care much. It was always a touchy subject the couple times I did bring it up before then, though.”

Kamili looked around the table at the girls, who all seemed mostly to fully invested in his tale up to that point. Twilight looked to be in deep thought about something.

“Is that all, darling?” Rarity asked. Kamili nodded.

“Feels about it, yeah,” he replied.

She smiled warmly. “I’m glad you felt like sharing those things with us, Kamili. I truly had no idea of what you might have been going through before we met.”

Kamili grinned back at her, taking another sip of tea. “I’m glad you decided to give me a chance.”

Rarity chuckled. “Well, maybe it’s my generous spirit talking, but I feel like letting you take another one right now.” Kamili raised an eyebrow at the statement.

“What might you mean by that?”

Rarity put on a semi-serious face. “So, I have a proposition for you. While you were unconscious on the couch, we, sin Fluttershy, took a visit to see my good friend Coco Pommel. She most prominently designs Bridleway dresses, although I do ask for her assistance at this location of my boutique from time to time. We kindly asked of her if she was able to spare some room in her apartment for a guest in need.”

Kamili’s heart skipped a beat. He stammered his response. “Y-you really mean…?”

“Yes, darling, I do. She was so charitable as to let you move in later this afternoon, if you’re able. However, as she can’t let you stay for free forever, she set a few rules for you.”

Kamili nodded his head. “Hit me with ‘em.”

“First of all, when you are in her home, you will listen to her and do what she asks to help around the apartment, like cooking and cleaning and such.”

“Got it.”

“Second. If you get into any trouble with the police or with the law in any way, she will kick you out. Be on your best behavior.”

“Understood.”

“Finally, she will let you stay in her apartment for no expenses for one moon. During that time, she wants you to find and keep a job.”

Kamili gulped. Will I even be able to find a job in this stupid city that hires zebra with no work experience?!

“After that moon has passed. You can either move out and find a place to live, or you can stay with Coco and pay rent to her.”

Kamili took another sip of his tea; it had become lukewarm. He pondered. One moon is plenty of time to work with, Kamili, don’t get anxious. There’s gotta be at least one pony who’d hire a guy like me in this city. Plus, you won’t have to pay for food or housing until time’s up, so that leaves plenty of time to go job-hunting.

Wow.

He looked up to Rarity, meeting her soft gaze and starting to tear up again.

“I accept.”

She gave him a warm smile. Her blue eyes sparkled majestically, even in the dull light of the room. However, she was thoroughly unprepared for Kamili to leap at her and give her a tight hug. His happy tears slightly bedewed Rarity’s hood, creating darker purple spots on its fabric.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Rarity,” he said to her graciously. “I won’t forget what you’ve done for me. I promise.” Rarity returned the hug.

“Do ya Pinkie Promise?” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Applejack lightly elbowed her.

“Kamili?” Rarity asked, whispering into his ear.

“Yes?”

“I forgive you. I mean, I know now it was your brother, but I still want to forgive you for him.”

Kamili smiled. “Thank you,” he replied, whispering back.

“And, I’m sorry for blaming you for that right on the spot and casting you under all that judgment.”

“I understand. I forgive you too.”

The two broke off the hug; both were smiling at the other. Kamili looked to the other girls and put out his forelegs.

“Group hug?”

The girls shrugged and trotted over to Kamili and partook in a big hug.

“You know what?” Kamili said as they broke off the hug. “I’m feeling like having some more tea. How about you all?” The girls nodded in agreement.

“Coffee’s fine with me,” said Rainbow Dash. Applejack nodded and gave an Mmhm in agreement.

“Well then, I’ll make you all some tea or coffee, whichever you prefer. My way of saying, ‘Thanks.’”

The girls all nodded simultaneously and took their seats around the table once again as Kamili trotted back to the countertop to prepare their teas and coffees. He was very happy to do so, as they had taken him in. Why shouldn’t I repay them, at least a little?

After he brought all of them their drinks (as well as a teacup for himself), the girls started chatting about their lives back in Ponyville, about their jobs, and about their families. It seemed to Kamili that these mares were six in a million. Their friendship’s internal chemistry had been cared for and nurtured so well that throughout their further conversation with him, he never found himself as bored. Rather, he felt as drawn in to their lives as they seemed to have been with his. They had fond memories of each other stretching years back. The troupe spent so long talking and laughing that their cups went cold, but it didn’t matter to Kamili. He was so, very happy that they accepted him and understood him.

He had been given a second chance from somewhere, and now, he was determined to make good on it.

Author's Note

Welcome back!

At first, I wanted to make this kind of a dialogue-only chapter, but I quickly realized that it couldn't have worked like that. Eh. I think it turned out well otherwise.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this latest installment and that you'll be back for the next chapter in Kamili's story.

Peace!

A Crisp 20 Dollar Bill