“And that’s the last of that,” I say to myself while giving the table a final swipe with a cleaning rag. It had taken a little over week and a half, but the attic was finally emptied of the remnants of the magic used by the previous owner and creator of the ghost that had once haunted the manor. While the time spent on cleaning the attic wasn’t non-stop, having cleaned out my chosen bedroom, bathroom and the pantry first, I had decided that removing the taint of the precious workings done in it to be of a high priority.
Granted cleaning the place wasn’t the only thing I did over that period. Every couple days I made another trip out to the abandoned castle and roamed the library at random, examining the various books there. Of course after the experiences the first time there I made sure to bring extra food as a precaution which served to be a good idea as the thief was still there and still just as good at evading my notice.
Turning my attention back to the now cleared room I ponder what to do with it now that its previous purpose has been erased. I head over to the window I had uncovered during the cleaning effort, having been buried behind bones, grime and, other unidentifiable substances, and leaned out it observing the fields between Ponyville and the Everfree forest which it faced.
“I could really get used to living in this place. It’s so quiet and peaceful, especially compared to some of the places I’ve been. Maybe I can actually stay here for a few years, maybe actually make it a true home like Mother would have wanted,” I sigh at this as memories of a happier time come to mind, times when I had a family to share the days with. I shake myself out of my reminiscing before I start to get into a real funk and turn back to the room.
“I guess I can use this room in a similar way to what it was before and turn it into a room for some of my magical efforts. It probably would even help clear out the remnants of the damage caused by the previous spells here as well.” I ponder this as I head downstairs to store the cleaning supplies for whichever room I decide to clean up next. Returning to my room I look around at my few possessions I have and contemplate the large circular stone I had carried with me.
I thought back onto what my mother had taught me about this object. She had called it a Stone of the Hearth, and it was able to store large amounts of magic for large periods of time. It used the magic to subtly influence the place it was buried as well as a good distance around it to turn it into an area that increased the influence of those who placed the stone as well as those they allowed. The size of the area could be limited with carefully placed runestones so that it didn’t expand out of control. I thought on this as I lifted the stone, “I think this might be the perfect place to use this finally, and with the manor being the center of the property it will be easy to hide it.”
I head down to the basement of the manor and find a spot that looks to be in about the exact center of it. Carefully removing a part of the stone ground, I dig out a bit of the dirt under it before placing the hearth stone and carefully replaced everything. Once I had done that I began to channel my magic down into the stone, hoping that this would work. After I had spent most of my energy in the transfer, I stopped and observed the area carefully.
While I couldn’t see anything different, I could definitely feel something coming from an area around where the stone was. Waving a hoof through it I could actually feel the area that had been encompassed by the stones power, “It really worked,” I whisper to myself, “It’s not very big though, but given time I hope it can cover the entire property around the manor. For once though I think I may actually be able to call somewhere home,” I smile as I begin to head back up to the rest of the house, hearing a knock at the door as I head up.
Thinking on who it could be I realize that it’s probably that time again. Sighing I head towards the front door, dodging through the clutter left by the ghost that I make note to clean out next, and open it to find nobody is out there. I roll my eyes at this having gone through the same routine last week I simply say, “Yes, Pinkie?” before I turn around to look at the pink mare, starting to regret that bet a little.
“Heya Flarie I just remembered that it’s that time of the week again for our guessing game and I have a really good guess this week that I know will be your favorite and…” I once again zone out a bit at her rambling as it goes off on some random tangent while only catching a word here and there. Like last week she somehow got into the house behind without me noticing. I tried asking her but I couldn’t understand a word of it though most of that was from how she just jumped through various topics.
While last week the only thing I caught mention of was some mention of Applejack having troubles until she finally asked for help, this time involved some story about a gryphon that was being mean to everyone that she couldn’t make friends with. Eventually she gets to the point of the visit though and I force myself back to paying attention again, “and that’s why this week is gonna be a good guess and it’s going to be LEMON CAKE!”
I just shake my head at her, “Just like last week where you guessed Vanilla, this week you are also wrong. Better luck next week Pinkie,” Pinkie seems to deflate at this as she heads on out back to town. I can hear her mumbling a bit before she gets out of sight, “That’s three times now I’ve been wrong; I’ve never been that bad at guessing games.” I shake my head at this and wonder if I should tell her the answer, though decide not to as she does seem to be so enthusiastic while trying to guess.
Turning back to my house and the disaster that is still there I decide that a break is in order. After heading up to my room to clean up a bit I come back down the stairs with my packs and head out the door towards town. As I arrive I notice that somepony seems to have put flyers up all over the place so I decide to take a closer look.
“Hmm, The Great and Powerful Trixie, yadda yadda yadda, show today in the square at… Huh, that’s not too long from now. I guess I could check it out since I had nothing really planned anyways.” Getting my bearing I head towards the town square, noticing that there already seems to be quite a crowd gathered already.
I arrived there just in time to see the start of the show. The fireworks were rather impressive and I started to wonder if they were magical or alchemical in nature. I made note to see if I could find out from the mare later, yet considered not even bothering after what happened next.
What I had expected to be a magic show turned out to just be bullying and humiliation of others. Trixie had called for volunteers and the first up was Applejack who showed off impressive tricks with a lasso, while Trixie’s response was just to use the rope to hogtie her and jam an apple in her mouth. Similar incidents happened with an egotistical cyan pegasus, whose ego wasn’t quite a match for Trixie’s it seems, as well as a white unicorn who ran off wailing about her now green hair.
Granted the spells used during the last two incidents were impressive, the way they were used was just mean and hurtful. The rest of the show didn’t improve much, mostly more boasting by Trixie with the occasional trick thrown in. The only thing that really impressed me was the fireworks which looked to take a lot of work to get right. Grumbling a little from the waste of time, I decided on doing a little trick myself with my magic.
As nobody was paying too much attention, and making sure to keep my casting unnoticed, I used a small amount of power to glue the front tip of Trixie’s hoof to the stage for a few seconds. Those few seconds were enough to send her sprawling onto her face, sending a wave of laughter through the audience. True to her showmareship skills though Trixie shrugged it off red-faced to continue her show.
Once the show ended I did toss a couple bits her way as there were some enjoyable parts, but the show could have been better. I then spent the rest of the day around town checking on various things and seeing what I would need for my home. As I was about to head home my interest was caught by a shop that was selling various instruments. While not a musician, I was able to play one instrument passably well so I went in to see if they had any.
Luckily they had one left in stock which I bought up right away. Deciding as I was finished in town for now I made my way back home, playing random tunes on my brand new harmonica the entire way. Some of the ponies I passed looked at me oddly as I was doing so, but there were a few appreciative nods from a few of them that seemed to enjoy the tunes.
Arriving at my front door I realized that there was one thing I had yet to do still to really make the manor my home. It needed a new name. Sitting outside the door I took some time to really think about if it truly needed one or not. Deciding it did considering it seems to already have one, a horrible one though; I took my time to come up with something fitting. Remembering a story from about an ancient king and queen my mind focuses on the name of the queen.
“Ogetsu Manor. That sounds like a good name,” I decide before opening my door feeling happier having settled the issue as well as the feeling of truly having a home. Once I had dropped off my things I made my way towards the pantry for a meal. Entering into it I shiver a bit, noting that the turquoise my mother made is still working to keep the place cool, and grab a few things to snack on while heading up to my room, “The kitchen is definitely the next place to clean up and put in order,” I say as I head up the stairs.
Finishing my meal I prepared to turn in early as a reward for finishing up in the attic. Crawling under the covers I turned my mind to the day and wonder how long that Trixie mare would be in town before eventually nodding off.
<><><><><><><>
I was awoken sometime during the night by an angry roar from the direction of the Everfree Forest. Leaping towards the window from my bed I was able to catch sight of something heading towards town through the forest though I couldn’t quite identify it, though it was big. Catching up my pack and gemstone I took off out of my house towards town, not knowing what I could do to help.
I arrived at the town to witness the end of the incident as what looked to be Twilight Sparkle putting the creature to sleep and sending it back towards its home in the forest. Slowing my pace I arrived just to catch the end of the conversation, as well as Trixie dropping something causing smoke to block the view of her before she took off out of town.
It didn’t take long to figure out what had happen, seeing as the two involved received an interesting punishment as well as being made to clean up the mess. Taking a look around the area I noticed that there wasn’t too much damage to the area, beyond the destroyed wagon that belonged to Trixie. I notice Twilight was over at it digging something out of it and as I approached her as she finally removes a badly damaged hat and cape from the wreckage.
“Well this looks to have been an interesting night. What’s going to be done with the remains of Trixie’s wagon?” I ask Twilight as she steps out from the destruction. “I don’t know, I mean sure she was bragging about how much better she was, but she didn’t deserve to have this happen. It really wasn’t even her fault the Ursa Minor came to town as she didn’t bring it here, that was all on those two colts.” I think on this as she scuffs a hoof through the edge of the devastated wagon.
“Why not have those two bring everything to my place, I have a bunch of room even though I’m still cleaning up a bit. Still there is a lot of empty space and seeing as the town probably isn’t too happy about her it’ll keep it all out of sight and with time maybe it can be fixed,” I offer to Twilight. “That’s not a bad idea, there isn’t room at the library for it, and my friends who do have room wouldn’t be too happy to help Trixie after what she did,” she sighs at this and heads off to inform the colts about the plans for the wagon.
Noting that everyone looks to be heading back to their homes I bid Twilight good night before heading back myself. Thinking on the issue I note that while I just added more work for me to do, at least something good may come from it all if there are some books left behind. Making my way back to bed I slowly fall asleep while thinking about Trixie’s fireworks.
<><><><><><><>
The following morning I took some time to clear out the dust and grime of one bedroom to store Trixie’s stuff in for now. Once that was finished I started to work on the kitchen area so that I could actually have some hot meals instead of what I had been getting. Around noon the two colts arrived with the first load and I directed them to the spare room I had cleaned out for what was in the wagon, while the actual wagon parts left outside in a pile for later.
After listening to them worry about why everything was brought here, I reassured them that it was only until Trixie returned to claim it all. They brightened up as I mentioned the possibility of fixing the wagon and they even offered to help, which I accepted as I had enough work to do for now.
After sending them on their way, with some snacks to tide them over, I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of smoke coming from the forest. Shrugging at this I head back in to finish up cleaning the kitchen and making sure everything works. It takes a while, but by the end of the day that place had been cleaned up except for the missing kitchen utensils still scattered around the place.
Checking on the fixtures of the kitchen though I noticed that, while the plumbing still worked, the stove and oven were damaged by the ghost. “Going to need to get those replaced, though I wonder if I can get something a bit different,” I ponder this while thinking on the fire opal made by my mother. Checking on my supply of bits I notice I’m starting to get a bit low, “I’m going to need to get some more gems ready to sell off I think, as well as get a source of new ones.”
I finish up for now and, after another cold meal, head up to clean up before bed. Once I had finished up and climbed into bed I remembered I had one last thing to do and went to the basement. Once there I charged the hearth stone some more before heading back upstairs, and wearily climbed into bed.
<><><><><><><>
The couple weeks were more of the same, cleaning up the manor with breaks for trips to the castle and occasionally Ponyville. The only things to break the monotony was a storm set up by the pegasi, which required the wagon pieces to be covered, and me actually taking the time to set-up some of the garden. While most of it is still empty I had planted some of the seeds I had collected over the years.
I decided to wait on the bigger plants, so instead I had planted a variety of pepper plants I had gathered, everything from ones with barely any spice to some that were actually dangerous. Using some tricks I learned it didn’t take long for them to grow enough to be picked and more to start growing.
I dried the strongest of them all and ground them up into powder, storing the results in a couple vials until I could package them later. I was very careful with them as even the slightest amount was enough to nearly blind something, and even being around them had my nose burning. The rest I had brought into town to check for interest, and actually found some in a surprising place with Pinkie Pie.
Shaking my head at her interest I set up a deal with her to handle most of the transport of the peppers, though one type I kept from her for other reasons. Those I also dried and ground up, making a fine red powder with them, and stored them in a dry place until I could find the right type of buyer.
During that period I was also able to set up a deal with the jeweler to supply them with enchanted gems when I could. They also gave me a lead to check on for acquiring more when I ran out, though they would pay less for the local gems than for the harder to reach ones.
<><><><><><><>
Yawning after finishing up clearing the last of the rooms in the house I decided to celebrate with a trip into town for lunch. Collecting my things I noticed that I was running out of some things, “I really need to get more vials as well as some better dry storage containers,” my eyes were drawn to the now dried flower in another,” I should also see what this things was, I remember that one book had something on it. Hmm, looks like there might be some seeds in this too, maybe I can grow some myself.”
I put it into my bag and head out towards town. When I arrive I am surprised to find the town is empty for some unexplainable reason. It doesn’t take me long to find out the reason as I see a figure covered in a long cloak. I can’t help but jump a little as she turns towards me, her eyes glowing golden.