Tidying up had been quick and easy work. Jester shooed the rest of his patrons out of the tavern, laughing with a few of them before shutting the door and locking it behind a deep grey bat pony with a missing wing. The stallion chuckled and shook his head as Starry began to collect a few dirty plates and mugs, placing them into a dish bin and releasing them from her pale blue magic.

"Well that's the last one, Missy-" Jester said with a grin and a kick of his hooves against the wooden floor ", Not much ter do besides the extra dishes and count the box."

"Where's the sink?" Starry asked quietly, " I can get the dishes started while you... Um... Count the box."

She wasn't sure what 'count the box' meant, but if she could do something to help? She would do it. Jester was being far too kind by letting her stay in his tavern for the night, she knew that. Jester gave her a small smile and gestured toward a pair of swinging doors behind the bar.

"Just there ter the left, kay lass?" 

Starry lifted the bin of dishes in the blue magic and trotted back towards the doors, pressing them forward with one hoof. She glanced over her shoulder, the sudden idea that this pony, despite how nice his mind was, might not have had her best interests in mind. And yet she didn't see anything wrong with being around him.

She glanced around the small kitchen, setting the bin of dishes down on the counter. It didn't take long for her to wash and place them in a tall strainer, and by the time she made her way back out of the swinging doors? She almost bumped into Jester, the only thing keeping her from slamming into his chest was his raised hoof and kind smile.

"Woah- Easy there Miss Specter-" He chuckled, lifting her bag and turning toward a set of stairs leading up to the second floor, "Now let's get yah a bed and you can get some sleep for the night."

"That sounds wonderful-" She said with a sigh, dipping her head and following the massive dusty-pelted stallion up the stairs. Starry Specter followed the earth pony along the hall, boards creaking under her hooves. Jester stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall, fiddling with a set of keys and unlocking the door, pushing it open for her.

"Alright lass-" He spoke, a little softer than he had downstairs, "This one's yours. I can point you toward some open job listings in the mornin'."

She glanced up at him before tipping her head down again, "Why are you being so kind to me?"

The question didn't sound strange to her, ponies in Canterlot were not as kind as this one stallion. Ponies in the upper crust of Canterlot would turn their noses up to beggars on the street or ponies looking for directions. She had heard her own father complain about country riff-raff on the streets looking for spare change. 

She herself would turn away uncomfortable eyes to the needy ponies on the streets, so to find this stranger being so kind to her was almost baffling.

Jester chuckled and shook his head, "You're one of them big city ponies, ain't yah?"

Her long tail flicked behind her, curling around her back leg in the slight comfort she had taken to since she was a young filly. Jester shrugged her bag off his shoulder and held it out to her with one hoof.

"Yes..." It came out as barely a whisper, lifting a hoof to take her bag from him.

He smiled and tipped his head towards the dark room, "City ponies have a harder time understanding kindness, call it breeding or call it ignorance, but small-town ponies tend to treat others the way we want to be treated. When I was a young colt? I found myself on the doorstep here too, and the pony before me gave me a hoof. I would not be where I am without her kindness."

Starry nodded slightly, kindness. It was something she thought she knew, Hoverstep had been kind and loving, but even he had left her behind.

"Well you get some sleep, Miss Specter," Jester said, taking a step away from the door and moving down the hall ", I'll be downstairs by the time you wake up, and breakfast will be ready."

Starry stepped into the room, closing the door behind her with a hind hoof. It was warm, the heat from the ground floor floated up between the floorboards, causing the room to have the same warmth she had stepped into when she arrived. Starry tossed her bag at the end of the bed and rested a hoof against the covers. 

Three days since she last slept in a bed, train seats and benches at the stations had not given her a good sleep, but a bed? She had missed what a bed felt like on her back. She ignited her horn, shedding a fine pale blue light across the dark room. 

The shadow in the corner flinched at the light.

Hissssss.

Starry stared at the shadow of a pegasus pony, its movements causing her to take a step back. It tipped its head to her and then towards the bed as if it were trying to get her to go to sleep the same way that Jester had.

"I don't think I can sleep with you here..." Starry said to it, curling her tail around her leg once more ", I'm sorry."

Ahh... It whispered in the night, taking a step towards the door, walking around her as not to scare her more.

"I'm sorry-" She said again, a little louder this time ", I'll- I'll be gone tomorrow. I promise, and then you can have the room back."

Sleep... It said as it passed her, fluttering its wings and brushing through the door... It's for you this night, little night unicorn.

Starry watched as the dark figure faded past the door and out of her sight, wondering how long it had been there. Who was that pony in days past? She might not find out. She cast her light across the room once more, making sure the room was really clear this time. There was no way that Jester would know about that spirit. 

They only talked to ponies like her.

She moved into the small bathroom, washing the sleet and rain out of her pelt with warm water and a washcloth. The feeling of the warmth in her warm grey fur brought the feeling of tired on quicker than she expected, but she welcomed the yawns and the drooping of her tired eyes. Starry made her way to the bed, pulling back the covers and slipping under them, pulling the warm blanket over her shoulders and up to her snout.

Tomorrow, she would find a job.

Tomorrow, she could find a home in this small town.

All she had to do was get some sleep.