Pete Powell in Equestria

“There are some weak spots in the kitchen floor, and the roof leaks in a few places,” the realtor said with a smile on her face.

Pete was still unsure. “So there's some loose boards, a weak floor, leaky roof, and it's drafty for winter, and that's all that's wrong with it?”

“Come on,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “It's cheap, that's what matters.”

A sudden thumping interrupted the conversation in the poorly maintained two story house. Mashing her teeth the realtor turned and faced a house down the road. A house occupied by Vinyl Scratch, local DJ who felt the time to play her music was any time she wanted. That was all Pete needed to know. Cheap homes did not come cheap for no reason, even in Equestria, and a look of defeat spread across the realtor's face as she prepared to lose another sale. The home needed work but it was always the noise that kept ponies away.

“I want it at market value,” Pete said, crouching to look the realtor in the eyes.

“M-market value?” She blinked as she processed what had been said.

“Even on a house like this one you gotta mark it up to make a profit. It looks like this place has been neglected so long though you've given up on getting rid of it. Plus there's that noise to consider. You're gonna break even on it. No more.”

It was bad business in a burgeoning market to make that kind of deal. Prices were going up all over town as Ponyville grew. This house had sat unused for almost a decade though, and no one at the office could move it. Even if she wasn't making money the house would become someone else's problem. It had become infamous showing the house off to prospective customers. Ponies dreaded taking clients to the house and showing it off, because Vinyl Scratch inevitably “dropped the base” in the middle of the deal. Like she was watching and waiting for the perfect time to start her music and ruin everything. This deal, despite making no money, would make her a legend.

Pete would never disclose how much he paid for the house, but it had clearly been more than he'd hoped for. He took to trying to repair the house himself while Rainbow Dash hauled in his few belongings from Canterlot. The roof was something he was just going to have to pay for, he knew less than nothing about thatched roofing. Flooring, however, his father had shown him a few things on. Far from proficient, but adequate enough to replace a few bad boards and reinforce the supports under the floor just in case. Rainbow Dash even helped to test the floor and repair the loose boards, which turned out to be nothing more than worn out nails. He was sure the house had been a steal after a day of work found the floors perfectly fine, if it hadn't been for the constant thudding of Vinyl's music.

He had a plan for that though. Grinning, he reached behind him and grabbed at the air, realizing that he no longer had a sword. And without his sword he couldn't cast spells, even simple soundproofing ones.

“Guess we gotta go talk to Twilight,” Rainbow shrugged.

The couple set out as the sun was slowly covered by clouds. Rainbow informed Pete that the first snowfall of the year was planned for the next evening, which meant he would also need layers for living in the drafty house until winter was over and proper repairs to things he didn't know how to fix could be done. It also entailed him finding a job before his funds ran into the red. Thankfully the clothing he formerly wore under his armor was well insulated so the cold wasn't bothersome yet. Although a trip to Rarity's would be in order sooner rather than later.

Golden Oaks was the same as ever, Jake and Spike were carrying things around the library, dusting, and generally helping out Twilight. The mare in question was surprisingly above ground this time, seated at the same table Jake had been during Pete's visit months ago. She had a bit of parchment in front of her and was scribbling something rapidly on it.

Rainbow winked at Pete and silently glided up behind her friend. Pegasus wings could be quiet despite their size. Slowly the rainbow maned mare reached a hoof out and tapped her friend on the back. Twilight's head shot up and she teleported half way across the room, appearing facing Rainbow Dash, her horn lit up and ready to fight before she realized what had happened. A blush rose on her face as her horn flickered out.

“Rainbow Dash!” she shouted angrily. The pegasus simply laughed in return, joined in by Spike.

“Sorry, Twilight,” Pete chuckled sympathetically and sat at the table the unicorn had just been at. “She's been a little bit giddy since this morning. We just got a house.”

Three sets of eyes went wide at the remark.

“How?” Jake practically came out of nowhere, from someplace behind Spike, and joined Pete at the table. “I looked for weeks and couldn't find anything. I mean, there's some rentals, sure, but nothing in an assistant's price range at least.”

“It was some fixer upper,” Dash informed, “But the biggest problem is that it's right down the road from Vinyl Scratch.”

Twilight scrunched her nose, “That's going to be annoying. Sometimes we can hear her all the way out here.”

“Well it would be,” Pete smiled at the purple mare, “But I know there's a few soundproofing spells we could use.”

Realization dawned on Twilight's face and she teleported away. Magical sounds could be heard from upstairs, and then more downstairs. The four left in the main room looked at each other and chuckled. Apparently soundproofing the library with magic hadn't occurred to the mare before. She reappeared moments later, dressed in a scarf and earmuffs clearly ready to go to Pete's new home. A few to do lists were left with her pair of assistants, much to their clear annoyance, and the trio headed to the new house.

Twilight was mildly impressed by the home. A large fireplace sat across from the front door ready to be stocked and lit, the kitchen was large enough and functional, the upstairs contained a pair of bedrooms, the building even had a dinning room. It wasn't ornate in anyway, mostly simple wood and stone, but for Ponyville it was large. Pete had personally only one issue and that was the bathroom. He took it in stride however, blaming royal living. Nothing was wrong with the bathroom, it was just much smaller than he had grown accustomed to, and featured only a shower, no bath.

Twilight began walking around the house, chanting quietly and putting the soundproofing in place. Pete, meanwhile, decided to go talk to Rarity. It was going to take Twilight a while to put the spells in place since they were much closer to the source of the noise than the library was they needed to be stronger. Rainbow Dash wanted to go with him but he insisted he was capable of dealing with Rarity on his own.

“You should walk Twilight home when she's done, maybe see if we can't pay her or something for this. It's quite nice of her after all. I'll be back by the time you two finish.”

Dash grinned in return, “I don't know about that. I'm a lot faster than you are.”

“You'll have the unicorn to slow you down,” he chuckled.

“Challenge accepted,” Rainbow muttered with a grin.

Pete rolled his eyes and left, setting out for Rarity's boutique for the first time. It took him a minute to recall Pinkie's directions from his first official visit. Thankfully Carousel Boutique was easily spotted once he was headed the right way.

Inside the boutique was warm enough Pete considered removing his shirt. Reason won out over instinct in that regard and he approached the front desk, ringing the bell once for attention. To his surprise it was Xander that came around the corner, the large man almost having to duck to fit through the doorway. He raised an inquiring eyebrow at Pete's presence, which he explained rather shortly.

“Ah, so a proper customer then. Rarity is in the back. Come with me, I'll measure you up while you two talk.” He turned and walked back to the room he just emerged from, succinct as always.

Pete followed and did as he was instructed while Xander took a measure to various parts of his body. It was the first time Pete had ever gotten measurements taken and it was more awkward than he would let on. After a minute or so Rarity came out of her work room and blinked at the two men.

“Pete? What are you doing here?”

“I need winter clothes. I just moved to town officially, bought a house, but it's really drafty. Figured some thicker clothes would be a good idea.”

The shine in the white mare's eyes were obvious to anyone that looked. She immediately began to rattle off ideas and designs, some of which Pete had to object to. He was looking for something simple. Nothing expensive for sure. At least, as inexpensive as custom tailored clothes could be. It wasn't like a human clothing store was around the corner or in another town after all.

“Of course, darling. I can do something unique and cheap you know. It's all about the fabrics really. The effort I put into their creation, that's my choice on price.” She giggled and grinned wide. Clearly Pete was getting whatever Rarity cared to make. He sighed in resignation, after all he had seen the episode where the Mane Six tried to correct her designs. Better to let her have her way.

“On another subject,” Pete looked over at Xander. “Why are you here? I thought you were doing good with AJ?”

“I was, however Lance decided to help the Apple's out with some financial troubles. I decided to come here, to keep the balance.” Xander shrugged, “Apparently Lance likes it over there more.”

That was strange. Pete had figured the upper class acting blond boy would have hit it off with Rarity. Perhaps, he thought, they were too similar in some way. It was possible. Anything was possible in this land of magic and ponies.

“Xander has been wonderful. He's very good at carrying the large things a lady like me struggles with, and he's very polite to the customers.” Rarity seemed to flutter her eyelashes at the large man. Pete hoped Spike didn't stop by any time soon.

“She can use magic to carry just about anything,” Xander whispered, “I'm not sure her reasons for liking me here are entirely business.”

Without a word Pete nodded his head in agreement. He wasn't sure what was going on with Rarity, but it also wasn't his business. Instead he thanked them both for their help, Rarity informing him that she would have something in the next couple of days, knowing the storm was incoming she would put a rush on them. Once more he thanked her and was allowed to leave.

Almost glad to be back out in the cold weather, Pete made his way home. A skip in his step at the thought of that. Home. Not a castle owned by a princess, not an apartment, a home. It was something the human had never thought he would have. There was a certain satisfaction that came with it as well he didn't think he would feel either. Clearly there were just certain things he didn't think about in his old life. A lot of things that he'd been forced to think about recently.

Going from depressed and misanthropic to trying to be hardcore and edgy, now to simply being content with life. It was a series of changes that felt faster than they were. Although he supposed in the span of a year was quite a short time for everything he had been through. Now the year was drawing to a close. Holidays were coming up too. He hadn't even thought of those. Time to be spent with friends and family, and the first time he would have a, sort of, family of his own. At least Rainbow Dash, maybe Stellar Glow would drop by too. He was certain the thought of those two was also contributing to his warm fuzzy feelings. Home ownership, a herd, as awkward as it was still to think about them like that, and a new town. It was impossible not to feel a certain excitement about all the changes.

Another surprise was waiting when Pete arrived home. In front of the fireplace, which had been piled with wood and lit while he was away, was Stellar Glow. She was shivering in front of the fireplace, hooves outstretched to the heat to warm up, Rainbow Dash rolling her eyes next to the small mare.

“Can you believe her? Flying here in this weather?” Rainbow asked Pete as soon as he stepped in.

“Is that dangerous?” He was genuinely curious.

“Pegasi and batponies have naturally warm bodies,” Stella said, still shivering.

“Clearly not warm enough.”

“Warm enough for high altitudes,” Dash admitted, “But not for speed flights when it's freezing out. The Wonderbolts wear special suits for a reason.”

Pete didn't know, and it didn't matter much as long as Stellar was okay. Quietly he walked over, crouched, and hugged her from behind. She blushed and placed her forehooves over his hands. Rainbow Dash, blushing against her nature, floated over and hugged the pair as well. After just a moment the smaller mare stopped shaking and there was only one thing left to ask.

“So, what brought you here so soon? Not that we mind,” Pete said quickly, “I just figured you'd have more guard duties to do and stuff in Canterlot.”

Stellar Glow pulled a piece of parchment from her saddlebag. “I have to go give this to the local guards.”

It was a note informing the few guards that patrolled Ponyville that Luna was expanding her Night Guard, and Stellar Glow was the first of many batponies that were being stationed at posts around Equestria. Her intention was to double the size of the guard, meaning the Night Guard would equal Celestia's own, within a year.

“Wait,” Rainbow shook her head and read the letter again. “So that means, you're moving in already?”

A massive surge of elation passed through Pete and for the first time he was able to see the empathy link himself. Rainbow's look of surprise was swiftly replaced by a smile that she tried to conceal, and Stellar's usual bashfulness turned into a full blown, toothy smile of her own. Dash looked at Pete and shook her head, muttering something he couldn't hear. They couldn't help it. He was happy, and it spread unintentionally.

“I, um, I have an idea,” Stellar said, finding her voice.

“What's that?”

“I think I know a way we could, um,” she blushed fiercely, “b-become closer.”

Rainbow Dash suddenly chuckled, “Yeah, me too. And you know what? I think the soundproofing works both ways.”

Pete swallowed hard, giving Dash another giggle.

“Oh yeah, I really like the modern classic herding,” she muttered and pressed herself against Pete.

“And, I don't have to check into the guard station until tomorrow night!” Stellar Glow added, turning towards the human herself.

It was going to be a long night.