As time went on, getting closer to Hearthswarming, not only did my fame and fortune increase, the weather grew colder. Living in Connecticut for almost thirty years, on the coast, I was used to snow, but the cold was freakish to me. It’s always warmer near the coast, the water not cooling as much as the land. Ponyville, even with all its attractions, was NOT on the coast. I took to wearing sweaters, a scarf and knee-high boots along with my hat and saddlebags when I went outside. The guards were more accustomed to the cold, especially the pegasi and thestrals. The one unicorn member of the guard force, Silver Strings, suffered as much as I did, being originally from Manehattan.
One thing we did is put a band together. The thestrals were all accomplished musicians, the others slightly less so. Low Note kept himself occupied making sheet music of the already transcribed records, earning me even more bits, which I must hasten to add I did share with my guard force. We practiced several nights a week, getting comfortable with each other and the music.
We all decided to make our debut on the day before Hearthswarming, in Town Hall. That last week was a rush for all of us, working hard on rehearsals as well as shopping. All the guard force but Accurate Strike will have Hearthswarming and the next two days off, to be with their families. Let me tell you, shopping was a real pain in the tail end, but I got mine done with a day to spare.
The performance, I am happy to say, went over better than anypony ever expected. We did ten songs in total, and the applause was warm enough to warm a windigo’s heart, if they had any. We were swarmed over by adoring townsfolk, under the watchful eye of my guardians. Fortunately, nothing untoward happened in the town hall, and we all made it to our respective homes afterward without incident.
Hearthswarming Day, I exchanged gifts with my friends, safely inside the castle. Everypony was appreciative of their gifts, while I liked the small gifts I was given. Twilight, however, saved the biggest surprise for last. I was aware of some construction near the castle, but I had paid it little heed. Construction is going on all over Ponyville, and this was just another build, or so I thought.
Spike brought over to me a brightly wrapped small box, with a card that read ‘To Tristan, from all of us at Friendship Castle’. Intrigued, I carefully opened the box, not wanting to ruin the beautiful wrapping. Inside I found a folded paper and a set of keys. “Keys? You bought me a new car?” I joked.
“Read the paper, Tristan! It’s awesome!” Rainbow Dash called out, trying not to do loops in the air.
I unfolded the paper, to read the deed to a house here in Ponyville, transferring title of said house to me until ‘such time as I decide to relinquish ownership’. “A house? Where?” I said with a squawk of surprise.
“It’s the gray one at the edge of the palace green, Tristan!” Pinkie Pie squealed in excitement as she bounced around the room.
“The one I have seen being built for the past however long?” I asked, feeling a little shell-shocked.
“Oh, yes, Tristan! We all helped in building it. Shall we go over to see it?” Rarity suggested.
I had to let out a bit of a laugh. “Twilight, I didn’t know you were this eager to get rid of me!”
Twilight laughed at that line. “No, Tristan, it’s that I know that you have had a yearning for both privacy as well as independence. Now, you have a house of your own to live in. Peace, quiet, and room enough for you, Accurate Strike, and part of your guard force, if necessary. So, shall we go see?”
“Yes, let us go and see,” I said with a gallant bow and gesture, which led to a skid and fall. This time, I did not knock myself out, just rattled my brains some. We all dressed for the cold and tromped through the snow that had fallen overnight to the little gray house on the west side of the castle. MY little gray home to the west.
With a bit of a shiver, enough to make the keys jingle, I unlocked the front door and led the way in. My first sight is the kitchen, built to an open plan, and fully stocked with appliances and, after a cabinet check, food. The oven was warm, too, because Spike had slipped over earlier to prepare the traditional Hearthswarming feast. The furnishings on the main floor were sparse, yet the décor was fabulous, led, as I had surmised, by Rarity. There was also a large closet and a bath on the main floor.
Upstairs we found a master suite for me (bedroom, bath and den), a smaller one for Accurate Strike (with his gear already inside), two smaller bedrooms and a shared bath for them, as well as access to the attic, which a look showed to be well-insulated. Fireplaces were common in the bedrooms as well as the main room, well stocked with wood, ready to be lit.
The real surprise was downstairs. In addition to several small rooms, one of which contained a hot tub big enough for four ponies, there is a large room that contained the band’s instruments, along with a note signed by all the members of the guard force, wishing me a Happy Hearthswarming and we would meet again in a few days. I sent an accusatory glare at Accurate Strike. “Going behind my back, eh?” I snarled, but with a grin tickling the corners of my mouth.
“Well, if I can’t go behind your back, who can?” Strike replied. “It’s my job, remember?”
I first hugged Strike, then went around and gave everypony else a warm hug and a chaste kiss, for Hearthswarming, except Spike, of course. “You’re all grade-A stinkers, but, by all that’s holy, you’re MY kind of stinkers!” I said to them when I was done, my voice breaking some in sheer joy.
“Tomorrow, Twilight or I will run you through the security measures we have installed here. Today is a holiday and let us treat it as such. Deal?” Strike said after the hug fest.
“Deal,” I agreed, nodding. Such joy should not be dampened by threats, at least not right away.
“Let’s go upstairs and have something to eat, okay?” Spike suggested. We did, the main floor having more than enough room for the ten of us, and a most convivial time was had by all. After dinner, Strike and I collected my belongings from the castle and settled in at the house. There is a sense of pride of moving in to your own home, something I have never really done before, instead moving into new apartments every four or five years. Besides, housing prices in Connecticut are steep, and I, well, was too damn cheap to want to spring for a house.
The next day, early in the morning, Strike and I went through the security measures that I had to know about. There is a small maze of secret passages in the house, hidden between the walls, which led to all floors of the house and the attic. There is a spell, attuned to myself and Strike, that upon utterance of a key phrase, will allow us, and anypony with us, into the passages. These fed into an underground passage to Twilight’s castle and escape. I chose for my pass phrase a line from an old story I had read years before, that had stuck with me, that no pony in Equestria should be able to figure out. ‘Hid the Bell with a Blot, she did’ was the phrase.
In my den is a large safe, with a combination being a spell Strike taught me. That safe is an open one, being patently obvious. The INobvious safe is elsewhere, disguised as something else. Smaller, but much more secure. “I wish we didn’t have to take these precautions,” I said to Strike after the full tour.
“Same here, but, better to have them and not need them, rather than the other way round,” was his reply. I could only nod in agreement.
We did that chore in the early morning, because later in the day, visitors will come. A Ponyville tradition with new houses is to have the local version of the Welcome Wagon come around, along with reporters. I did not want to try to hide much from the residents of Ponyville, because in the months since my arrival, they have been so hospitable to me, truly good neighbors.
Neighbors and reporters queued up after breakfast, and went on most of the day. Every student at the school dropped by, with cards and gifts, along with other neighbors and friends. I had my picture taken so many times, I was glad for my dark glasses!
Later in the day, I had reporters come by from the nearby cities, Canterlot, Manehattan, Baltimare, Trottingham and Hoofington, to be precise. Somehow, I managed to keep my patience with repetitive questions. I don’t know how, but I did.
The last interview, held just after dinner, is with the Hoofington contingent. I settled in for the questioning and photo op, when at the flash of the camera, I felt a spell taking effect, one I was unfamiliar with. The spell knocked me out before I could ward myself.
I woke up to find the two reporters (an earth pony writer and a unicorn photographer) bound and gagged, with Twilight, Starlight, Strike and Spike surrounding them. “What the hell happened?” I asked when I could.
“These two had a stun spell rigged to the flashbulb, one the reporter was warded from. They started tearing apart the house, looking for your music box. Fortunately, there are some alarms I have not mentioned to you, which brought Twilight and friends running here when the alarm went off. I felt the stun spell go off from upstairs, and I met the unicorn on the stairs. He didn’t get far after that,” Strike told me.
“While I teleported in here, saw you stunned, and the reporter frisking you thoroughly,” Starlight Glimmer said. “I gave her a knockout spell of my own while she looked at me in stunned surprise.”
“What do you plan on doing with them?” I asked, shaking my head to clear it of the stun shock.
“First, send a letter to the Princesses. Next, question them. Thoroughly. I’m sure Princess Celestia will take an interest in the proceedings,” Twilight said with a hint of bitterness.
I had an idea come to mind. “How about sending a telegram to the Hoofington Post, to see if these two are actually reporters? They showed me their credentials, but I would not know a real set from a fake one.” I suggested.
“Good idea. Once we get these two into a cell, I’ll do that,” Twilight told me.
“Separate cells, in case they get any ideas,” Strike added.
“I can do that. You’re the security specialist, not me,” Twilight said before disappearing with the two perpetrators.
Starlight then asked, “Are you going to be all right, Tristan?”
I nodded. “I should be, with Accurate Strike here. Better flip over the welcome mat. I doubt I will want to do any more interviews tonight.”
“Mind if I stay here and fix you something?” Spike asked. “I don’t think you want to cook any more today.”
“An offer gratefully accepted, Spike. We have a lot of edible housewarming gifts, so go see what you can do with them. We trust you.” I told the little dragon, who grinned wide as he raced to the kitchen.
“Want to stick about for afters, Starlight?” I asked.
“That would be a good idea. I know Strike will want to go interview the reporters, and I think you would not want to be alone,” was her reply. I nodded in agreement as I walked over to the liquor cabinet, the one in the main room, not the one in my den.
“Would you like a cider, Starlight? I will have a slug of the Eyrish meself. Strike, I’ll save you a slug. You might need it after the questioning,” I told my friend. Strike just nodded as he put on a scarf and a hat before heading out.
“I’ll take an Eyrish, Tristan.” Starlight told me. I broke out a bottle of Eyrish whiskey and two glasses, pouring two shots with a rather shaky glow.
“To our combined health, Starlight,” I toasted before tossing down the shot in one gulp. Yes, I quit drinking a long time ago, but now, I needed one! Starlight and Spike stayed with me in the house through dinner and after, until Strike and Twilight returned with the news.
It turns out the two were not reporters, but were connected to Brandywine Records, a production company in Hoofington who was losing sales to Topspin, whom I had given exclusive rights to. Exhaustive questioning could not pin Prince Blueblood directly to this, it appearing that this came from the two overhearing Brandywine complaining about poor sales compared to Topspin. Yes, Blueblood had ties to Brandywine, but so did a lot of other high-ranking ponies. Inquiries were ongoing to find out when and if Brandywine and Blueblood had met since my arrival. After the discussion, and Twilight and company’s return to the castle, Strike and I had a chat, where I downed two more shots of Eyrish, neat. He did not argue and helped me to bed afterwards.
When I woke up, I found that Strike had set out everything needed to make my favorite breakfast, pancakes and eggs with toast. I hasten to add he did not MAKE breakfast, that being my job. Strike has the cooking skills of a paralyzed newt. I made enough for both of us before pulling on the dinner bell rope, Strike being upstairs while I cooked.
“Feeling better now?” he asked when he got downstairs.
“I’m still scared. We can’t think of everything.” I said as he sat down.
“No, we can’t. We just have to be better than the rest when it comes to defense to their offense. Your music box is valuable to those who want it,” he told me as he buttered his toast.
When he said that, an idea hit me between the eyes with the force of a solar flare. “When you get that look on your face, I feel the urge to get to minimum safe distance. Yakyakistan should be about right,” Strike said in a worried tone.
“I’m going to need Twilight on this, but I do have an idea. What if we made duplicates of the phone, duplicates that can be tracked if stolen? After all, there are some things about it I have not told anypony, like how to activate it. You have to enter a code, and if you enter the wrong code five times, it wipes the phone clean,” I told my security captain.
“So, if they get their hooves on it, they can’t use it. It will only deny you access to the recordings.”
“That it would. Fortunately, I have backups, I think. I need to ask somepony a few questions before I can truly relax,” I said, finishing my breakfast.
“Who, if I may ask?”
“Time Turner. When he gave me the charger, he said he had taken a copy of my playlists. How he did that, I don’t know. I’m just telling you what he said to me.”
“Who else knows this?” Strike asked.
“Other than Time Turner, myself, Twilight, Starlight, and now you, nopony. Like I say, the chances of a secret being blown is the square of the number of ponies that know it,” I told my friend.
“You do have a point. Let’s finish, clean up and go pay Time Turner a visit. If we can settle that question, it would make us all rest easier.”
We did just that, cleaning up after ourselves before heading to the clock shop, bundling up against the cold. I knew damn well that the weather here is on a schedule, and Rainbow Dash does a very good job in the Ponyville area, but does it have to be so damned nose hurting COLD!
At the clock shop, which was open for business, Time Turner readily answered my questions. Yes, he has a copy of all my files, and he would be willing to provide me a copy IF AND ONLY IF it was necessary before I ran out of songs. He knew about the attempted theft last night, how he knew he didn’t explain, and made me an offer.
“I like you and your music. I find it relaxing. Let me make a gift to you, copies of your phone that will look and act like the real thing but will send out a distress call if it is handled by anyone but you or those you designate to carry one. Will four be sufficient?” he asked.
Accurate Strike and I both stared at Time Turner, our mouths hanging open in shock. “how did you know that?” Strike managed to croak out. “We just came up with the idea twenty minutes ago!”
“Oh, I thought of it while I was making the power supply. I’ve just been waiting for you to say something. A little bit slow off the mark, eh?” Time Turner said with a rather charming smile, which did nothing for me other than increasing the certainty that I knew him from SOMEWHERE.
Dumbly, I just nodded as he turned and reached into the cabinet behind him. He pulled out a smallish box and set it on the counter. “There will be a bit of a delay before an alarm is sent. Differentiation by intention and all that,” he said as he wrapped the box up in stout brown paper. “No charge for this. Call it a timely Hearthswarming gift, okay? Now, head home and settle down. We are all on your side here in Ponyville, Tristan. No sense giving yourself an ulcer about what you cannot control, right? Besides, I don’t have any Pepto-Bismol. Go on, see you later! Allons-y!” he said as he ushered us out of the clock shop, shutting the door firmly, the box finding itself in my saddlebag.
“Just what is this Pepto-Bismol he mentioned?” Strike asked me as we headed home.
“A medication back from my home, that is good for soothing upset stomachs,” I said absently before stopping dead in my tracks, eyes wide, pupils pinpoints. I turned to look at the clock shop, blinking.
“Tristan? Are you all right?” Strike asked.
“How did he know?” I whispered. “I forgot to ask him how he knew my passcode…”
“Let’s go home. You look like you need another shot and a hot soak.” Numbly, I let him lead me home. Fortunately, we did not have many visitors that day. I made it through the visits, my mind gradually losing its shock account balance.
The guard force started returning that evening, the night crew flying in after sunset. All of them stopped by the house before heading to the barracks. They were all in on the secret of the building and were pleased to find out my reaction to finding it the way it is.
The next day, I kept myself busy by going through the house and finding out what I needed to get to truly make my house a home. I went through the Hearthswarming gifts, using some for house décor, but noting what I still wanted to get, like chairs, pads, and a warmer blanket for my bed! I’m not used to using fireplaces that burned wood, and the house lacks central heating, dammit! That kept me busy in the morning, and in the afternoon, I went shopping, the bane of any male’s existence.
Thanks to some incredible good fortune, Silver Strings had returned early that morning, and volunteered to go shopping with me. I didn’t mind, she was a pleasant enough mare, and she really knew how to play guitar, bass and harp. She has been teaching me bass, but progress is slow on it. Not because I was inept at it, we just did not have that much time to practice.
Out we went, picking up this, that, and the other thing and either having it delivered to the house or carrying it ourselves. Shopping with her was indeed pleasant, she filling me in on her home leave, spending Hearthswarming with her parents and sisters in Manehattan. The only thing she hated about returning to Ponyville was the blasted cold!
Rather than cook dinner, or make Silver Strings eat at the mess hall, I asked her and Strike if they wanted dinner at the hayburger stand. Not that I felt particularly lazy, I wanted to get warm! Strike likes the house a bit cooler than I do, and he hadn’t really stoked the fires while I was out. So, after getting the fireplaces going, we went to dine. Strike brought Strings up to speed on what had happened the day before, and she showed her shock at the news. “I’m going to have to come up with some sort of protective charm for you, Tristan. We can’t be around you all the time, and the fools will never stop trying!” she snapped.
“Chill down, Strings. It all worked out, thanks to forethought on Strike’s part. Think you can come up with a charm against paralysis or stunning?” I asked.
She just gave me a disgusted look as Strike told me, “Tristan, Silver Strings is merely one of the best unicorn mages in the Solar Guard. While not as good as Princess Twilight, if she says she can make a charm for you, I assure you she can.”
I had the grace to look sheepish, especially with a fry hanging out of my mouth. I slurped it up before speaking. “I apologize, Strings. I did not know. I have been encouraged not to go into your backgrounds, just accept what I see and find out about you.”
Silver String’s frown turned to a smile. “I accept your apology, Tristan. Your unfailing manners led me to take the job and stay with it. I like you a lot, and I know I can trust your word in matters,” she told me.
“Thank you, Strings,” I said before taking a bite out of my hayburger. These things are addictive!