Everen was sitting at the bar counter of the coffee house, Raindrop on his right, Kane on his left. He was having a pleasant time chatting with them and enjoying their company. The room suddenly rippled, as though it were a pool of water. Luna appeared in the building behind Everen. The unicorn got off of his stool and bowed in greeting to the princess.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of a dream visit?" he asked, smiling at Luna.
"I came to check and see how things are going for you." Luna stated.
"It's going better than I could've hoped for. I've integrated myself into the civilization and made friends who I believe can be helpful in one way or another." Everen said.
"Just remember to not let thine guard down." she warned, concerned for Everen's safety. "And please, be careful."
"Of course princess, I will take your advice to heart." Everen said, touched by Luna's sincerity.
Luna looked over to the other two still sitting at the bar, as if nothing had happened. Her eyes lingered on Raindrop. "That mare looks very familiar, but I can't seem to remember why?" she closed her eyes trying to concentrate.
"Maybe it's just coincidence." Everen said, pulling the alicorn back to earth, relatively speaking. "Since you're here, would you like something to drink?"
"But this is a dream. I can't just-" Luna stared at the stallion blankly.
"But if you use magic, and if I concentrate, a dream object may become reality." Everen interjected, grabbing a glass of cider.
"I have never heard of such a thing." Luna sounded doubtful.
"It was only discovered thirteen years ago." he explained, offering up the cider.
Luna used her magic to grab the glass, lifting it to her lips. When she tried to take a sip, she actually tasted the cider. It tasted a bit odd, but she enjoyed it nonetheless.
"This is incredible! Now I can do more with dreams than ever before." Luna said excitedly. "I wish I could stay, but it seems you are about to wake up."
"A shame, visit again when you would like princess." Everen offered, happy to let Luna into his dreams again.
"I shall return soon." she promised. "Farewell Everen."
Everen yawned as he climbed out of bed. He put on his vest, boots, and necklace, grabbing one of his saddlebags and taking it with him out of the room. He walked down the hall to the stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked around the coffee shop, there were only a few ponies sitting around sipping cappuccinos and eating light breakfasts.
"Good morning Everen, sleep well?" Kane called from a table.
"Better than I have in a good long while." Everen said, avoiding eye contact..
"Glad to hear it." Kane responded.
Everen headed for the door. "I'm going to see about getting a more permanent home. I'll be back later to get my things and then I'll be off to my new home."
"Hey Grey, Umbra, Raindrop, and I are gonna meet up at the bakery later, you should come by." Kane offered, a hopeful look painted on his face.
"Sure I'll come. A good chance to get to know the lot of you better." Everen said, moving outside into the alleys.
"Alright, good luck with the house hunting." Kane yelled after him.
"Thanks." Everen called back.
He made his way through the alleys and out onto the main street south side. He walked over to the large building in the center of town. There was a pale pink pegasus pony waiting at the front door, she looked as though she was expecting somepony.
"Excuse me, is this town hall?" Everen asked her.
"Yes it is. Are you looking to buy a home?" she said, looking him over. She brushed her long auburn mane out of her eyes.
"Yes I am. My name is Everen Shamrock." he said with his customary bow.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Karilyn." she replied, then looked down main street west, a if expecting to see someone she knew.
"Are you waiting for somepony?" the unicorn questioned, looking into her blue green eyes, which were full of concern.
"Hm? Oh, that obvious huh?" Karilyn laughed awkwardly, running a hoof through her mane. "Yeah, I planned to meet a friend of mine here but he's late, again."
"Why town hall? What were you planning on doing?" Everen got the feeling he'd be seeing a lot more of this mare.
"I live in a lodgers home, there are three of us right now, but we're barely managing to feed ourselves." she explained, hesitant to continue. "The other two have relatively low paying jobs, and I recently…" she finished in a mumble to quiet to hear.
"Pardon, I didn't catch that last part." Everen said, leaning closer and listening more intently.
"I lost my job. I'm a bit of a klutz." she sighed in shame. "We were going to try and get another tenant to help us out, but I'm not sure anyone can help at this point." she looked downward in self pity. It hurt Everen to see anypony like this, without hope.
"Well, I'm looking for a home, and you're looking for a new lodger. Maybe we can help out each other." Everen suggested.
"Really? That'd be awesome!" she said, perking up immediately. "Thank you SO much!" she lunged forward and gave Everen a hug, then realized what she was doing and backed off, blushing. "Um, sorry about that, I got a little excited."
"It's quite alright. So where do you live?" Everen smiled at the pegasus.
She smiled back. "This way." she began to fly off before realizing that Everen wasn't following. She looked down at him, a suddenly registered that he had a horn. "Oh, I guess we should walk there." she said timidly, landing next to the stallion.
"That would be preferable." Everen stated.
The two of them walked together, making their way to through the narrow alleyways. They arrived at a fairly large three-story house, Everen guessed it was a five bedroom, three bathroom home. Karilyn unlocked the door and walked inside, Everen following behind.
"Hey Milo, I'm home. And I found a new lodger." she shouted, and hoofsteps could be heard from upstairs. A jungle camouflage colored earth pony trotted down the stairs on their left. He came over with a surprised look on his face.
"You really got a new tenant? Nice work!" Milo said, offering a hoof to Everen. "My name is Milo, it's great to meet you."
"I'm Everen, the feeling is mutual." Everen shook his hoof. "I don't have a job just yet, but I have enough funds for awhile. Will seven hundred bits do for now?"
Milo's jaw dropped. "Seven hundred? Kari, where did you find him?" he questioned.
"I was waiting at town hall and he just walked up. He's new in town and needs a place to stay." Karilyn explained, as if it were nothing special.
"Well that's a crazy coincidence." Milo pondered, squinting at Everen.
"I guess it is. Stranger things have happened." Everen said, looking around. "So, where would I sleep?"
"Right this way." Karilyn pulled the unicorn along, up the stairs.
At the top of the staircase was a hallway running the length of the building, another staircase at the opposite side. On either side of the hall were four doors lined in a row. Karilyn brought Everen to the third door on the right and pushed it open.
"You'll be next door to me, so try not to be too loud please." she cantered into the room. "I know it's not much, but it's homey."
The room contained a small desk on the right wall, with an inkwell and quill sitting on it. A bed was tucked away in the back left corner of the room, it looked comfortable enough. A window on the back wall gave Everen a view of the alleyway in front of the house. The only other thing in the room was a chest at the foot of the bed.
"This'll do just fine." Everen smiled warmly at Karilyn. "Thanks for letting me stay here Karilyn." he bowed his head humbly.
"Oh, um, thanks for staying here." she blushed again. "And please, call me Kari."
"As you wish, Kari." Everen complied.
She blushed even redder. "I'll be in my room, if you need anything, just knock."
"I'll keep that in mind." he said, moving into the room and out of her way.
She cantered quickly out and into the bedroom next door to him. Shutting the door behind her, but not locking it. Everen sets his saddlebag down next to the desk and walks back out, glancing at Kari's door as he passes by it. He walks downstairs and finds himself face to face with Milo.
"Don't think I'll trust you right off the bat like that. I'm not as gullible or naive as Kari." Milo warned him. "And if you hurt her in any way whatsoever you're out of here. And if I see your face round here after that, you'll be out of town before you can say 'sorry'." he finished, moving past Everen up the stairs.
Everen felt unusually scared, threats don't normally bother him. But something in Milo's tone just rubbed him the wrong way. He shivered and shrugged it off, he had somewhere to be. Everen cantered out of the house and through the alleys. He made his way past town hall, on his way to the bakery. He arrived at the front door and walked in. Everen was greeted immediately by a red stallion with a light green mane.
"Welcome to Sugar Cane Bakery, where the only thing better than the service, is the food." he said jovially.
"Hi I believe someone is expecting me." Everen said looking around, hoping to see Kane, or one of the others.
"Oh ho ho, meeting your very special somepony I see, right this way sir!" he grabbed Everen's hoof and pulled him along.
"Now, hold on." Everen dug his hooves in and stopped the stallion in his tracks. "I'm here to meet with a group of friends, not to go on a date."
"Nonsense, no need to get shy now. Enjoy your date." he continued to pull Everen to a table where a mare sitting, a pained look on her face. He sat Everen down at the table and pulled out a notepad. "Can I start you off with something to drink?"
Everen sighed in defeat. "Strawberry banana smoothie." Everen requested.
"Got it. I'll be right back with your drink sir." he walked into the kitchen.
"Don't worry, he does this all the time. Tries to set me up with random stallions that walk through the doors." the mare said. "Hey I recognize you. From last night, remember?"
Everen looked over to see the gray pegasus from last night sitting across from him. "Oh, hello. It's, Tia, right?"
"That's right, and you're Everen, correct?" Tia said, looking into his deep emerald eyes.
"You got it. So this happens to you a lot?" Everen inquired.
"Yeah Pepper Mint is very persistent in finding me a colt-friend." she sighed, flustered. "But I'm honestly not looking for a relationship right now. When that certain stallion comes along I'll start going on dates, but until then, I'm just waiting."
"Well that's one way to look at it I guess. I don't really agree with that way of thinking, but it's your own life, so I won't question your reasoning." Everen said, looking over to the doors to the kitchen.
"How do you look at it then?" Tia questioned, raising her voice ever so slightly.
"The way I see it is that there are many compatible ponies out there for any pony. But you won't find any of them if you just wait around doing nothing. You have to go out and find them yourself." he explained, looking back at her.
"I guess that makes sense, but I'm still not sure." the mare's eyes became distant, as though she were remembering something that happened a long time ago.
"You've loved and lost before, haven't you?" Everen took on an expression of concern.
"What makes you say that?" she looked at him with fake curiosity.
"Because I know that look, and that feeling, all too well." the unicorn said, leaning on the table. "If you ever need to, or want to talk about it, I'll be more than willing to listen."
Tia's eyes grew watery. "Th-thank you. I'm not quite ready to open up to you just yet. But I'll probably take you up on that offer sometime." she held back the tears.
"Good, it's not healthy bottling up all those emotions." Everen said from experience.
Pepper Mint arrived with Everen's smoothie. "Here you are sir. And how are you getting along?" he looked deviously at Tia.
"Rather well actually, we met last night. I think we're going to be good friends." Everen said, wiping the grin off his face, and putting one on Tia's face.
"'Friends'?" Pepper frowned.
"That's right." Everen confirmed, smiling innocently.
"Oh, okay." he walked away, disappointed.
"That, was, brilliant!" Tia exclaimed. "I've never seen anypony wipe that smug grin off his face so fast!"
Everen got up and bowed. "I really must find Kane and the others though, they'll be expecting me."
"That's alright. Oh, and the smoothie's on me, take it with you." she insisted.
"Thanks, seeya round then." Everen accepted her offer, sensing he wouldn't be able to change her mind.
"Goodbye." she replied.
Everen walked off, levitating his drink with him, searching for the group. He moved a curtain aside and saw them all sitting in booth together. He walked over and was noticed by Kane.
"Everen, you made it!" he exclaimed, excitedly. "You took so long I was beginning to think you wouldn't show."
"Sorry, there was a bit of a delay with Pepper Mint." Everen elucidated, checking his back to make sure he wasn't behind him.
"Oh, Pepper tried to put you on a date with Tia, didn't he?" Raindrop asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes he did. But I took care of it." and Tia paid for my smoothie, so that's something." Everen responded, taking a seat next to Raindrop.
"So did you get someplace to live?" Kane asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to live in a lodger home with three other ponies. I've already met two of them." he took a sip of his smoothie.
"Cool, now I have a question; when is your birthday?" Kane inquired.
"Next saturday, why?" Everen looked at a menu, trying to decide on what he wanted to eat.
"Cause I'm gonna throw you a party of course. We need to get started on planning this party." Kane said, as if it should be obvious.
"You really don't have to do that you know." he put the menu down.
Candy showed up then, wearing an apron. "Know what you wanna eat?"
"Blueberry muffin." Everen said quickly.
Candy took a seat across from Everen. "I'll get it in a minute looks like Kane has something important to say."
"Thank you Candy. About this party. I'll talk to Note tomorrow. Grey, you have to keep this from you-know-who. RD, get Pine's help. Umbra, you have to get Remix. Candy, get Layla on decorations this time. I want Everen's first birthday party in Coldurim to be special." Kane laid out the plan briefly.
"Got it." the other four said in unison.
Umbra and Gray got up and left right away. Raindrop continued to eat her sandwich, and Kane sipped a coffee. Candy got up and cantered into the kitchen coming back a moment later with Everen's blueberry muffin.
"Thanks Everen said, handing her three bits.
"It's only two bits." Candy said, matter-of-factly.
"Haven't you ever heard of a tip?" Everen smiled.
"Thanks Everen. You're a pretty cool guy." Candy walked back to the kitchen.
Everen ate his muffin and he and Kane left for the coffee shop. When they arrived, Kane unlocked the door and walked inside. Everen walked up to the guest room where he slept the previous night and grabbed his things putting Tsui on his back. He said his goodbye's to Kane, thanking him for looking after her, and went back to his new home. Everen entered the building and went to his room. He pulled out some parchment and began to write a letter. He'd send it in the morning, he just had to find the post office. When Everen had finished the letter he rolled it up and set it on the desk, ready for tomorrow. He got into his new bed, putting Tsunami next to his hindhooves. And he fell asleep.