"Aw c'mon Butterscotch! We both know you've always hated Cloudsdale! Cloudsdale is pretty much only for athletes, weather ponies, and ponies looking to join the Royal Guard...no offense," Rainbow Dash said brashly as she stood up from the cloud-sofa in Butterscotch's apartment, her most recent outburst causing Butterscotch to cringe slightly at the volume of her voice, used to his long-time friend's loudness - but less then enjoying how much it reverberated in the small room of his Cloudsdale apartment, "plus this apartment costs way too much for you on your budget. You need something cheaper, more stable. Maybe something closer to the ground, closer to all the critters down there, so you can use that special talent of yours to its fullest?"
"I...I don't know Rainbow. I know the ponies here, and plus, who would take care of all of their pets if I did go? Oh, I couldn't bear the thought of somepony's falcon or eagle getting sick and not able to get better...oh my..." Butterscotch said, frowning at the mere concept.
"C'mon Flutters, you know they have good ol' Sit-Rep to take care of them. Who do you think was doing it before you got your special talent of taking care of animals?" Rainbow countered, seeing Butterscotch pause, then nod, "Besides, we both know you prefer the ground."
"I-I know...but...but the thought of having to go someplace new, meet new ponies..." Butterscotch said, tensing up, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks at the mere concept.
"Hey," Rainbow said, smiling gently as she put a comforting hoof on Butterscotch's withers, "You know I've always got your back, right? Besides, Ponyville is pretty awesome! I've been there several times. It's small, quiet. Ponies seem friendly...and don't mind you napping in their trees...well, not too much, at least."
The two Pegasi had been friends ever since Rainbow had defended Butterscotch from a pair of bullies at Summer Flight Camp as they were teasing him about being such a weak flier, before then challenging the bullies to a race in order to defend Butterscotch's honor.
Rainbow had then accidentally knocked Butterscotch off a cloud once the race started, making him plummet to the ground, seemingly to his death given he couldn't really fly...only to be rescued by a passing kaleidoscope of butterflies before he could hit the ground. They set him down in a clearing with a group of wild animals, the deer and the other herbivores merely looking at this new creature curiously, seemingly not afraid of him at all. Soon after, he felt an urge to speak to one of the cute little creatures - which he'd learn later was called a rabbit - and quickly discovered he could actually communicate with the bunny on a level that was unheard of in Cloudsdale.
When he spoke to a few more animals and calmed them, he noticed a bright light emanating from his flank, his eyes widening as he'd found his cutie mark had appeared, a trio of pink butterflies. Apparently, his special talent and purpose in life was speaking with and caring for animals, something he felt deep within himself to be true.
"Um...Rainbow...thank you, but I—" Butterscotch started again, but was quickly cut off by the excited rainbow-maned pony.
"Ponyville would totally be the perfect place for you! Like I said, it's quiet, most of the ponies there I've talked to are really friendly," Rainbow continued to Butterscotch, her very loud voice booming through the small room and echoing several times, making the timid pegasus flinch. "It's a pretty small village unlike Cloudsdale, and I heard there's a really nice cottage on the outskirts for really cheap! I mean, like, REALLY cheap... a lot cheaper than living in this overpriced dump of an apartment..." Rainbow added, stretching a cramp in her leg...then quickly moving to close the hole she'd kicked in the wall by accident after getting a very annoyed look through it from the neighbor, who happened to be in the tub. "Oops...sorry!" Rainbow shouted once more as she quickly closed the opening she'd made, making Butterscotch wince again from the loud reverb in the tiny room.
"Ponyville is a really great town from what I've seen of it. So nice in fact that I just bought a nice little cloud house there myself, fully furnished, for really cheap! It's TOTALLY AWESOME! So, what do you think?" Rainbow finally asked excitedly, looking at the lemon-yellow pegasus laying curled up on the cloud-couch and seeing one of his wings twitch when he was addressed, watching as he passively brushed a few strands of his light-rose-pink mane off of his muzzle with a hoof. "You wanna go check that cottage out with me?"
"Um...well...what do you think, Angel Bunny?" Butterscotch asked, then looking to Angel Bunny, his constant companion and confidant, for advice. The small white rabbit was currently sitting in an enchanted pet home, the weak magical enchantment on it giving the home the ability to float on clouds - the same magic and ability that a pegasus naturally had - and preventing it from falling through as any other solid object would.
At the mention of moving to the land, Angel's ears perked up, then he soon after rose his head at the mention of his name. While his home was the most deluxe model Butterscotch could afford, Angel was still somewhat miserable, saddened at being unable to run in the green pastures of his ancestors below and meet with others of his kind, and instead trapped in a fairly small chamber instead.
As Butterscotch picked him up from the animal home and held him, Angel communicated to him his interest in moving to the ground and Butterscotch nodded. "Ok Angel Bunny, I was thinking the same thing. This apartment IS pretty small, even if it is only the two of us. Plus, it sure would be nice to be on the ground to help all those critters too, instead of having to fly down there to check on them every day. Hey, um, Rainbow? When can we go take a look at that cottage?" Butterscotch asked in his usually demure voice, then bracing for the coming onslaught of happiness from Rainbow.
As expected, Rainbow Dash's wings flared out in excitement, almost taking off in flight in her excitement before realizing that she'd be flying through many ponies' homes if she actually did take off. Her wings remaining locked open in her excitement,though, and Rainbow instead pranced in place as her smile widened. Not one to disappoint, Rainbow took a deep breath before shouting out in her happiness: "OHMIGOSH! THIS IS GONNA BE SO AWESOME! YOU AND I ARE GONNA LIVE SO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER! THE COTTAGE IS ONLY A SHORT FLIGHT AWAY FROM MY HOUSE! AAAAAAH! Rainbow finished with a squeal, then gripping Butterscotch in a tight hug.
Butterscotch only gave an uneasy smile. "Yeah...awesome...yay..." he said, knowing he had to go through with the tour now.
What had he gotten herself into by agreeing, he wondered.
~ ~ ~
"This is the backyard's storage shed, which can be used for...well...storing things!" the home-sales griffon from Griffinstone Realty Ltd., Maison Courtier, stated with such a chipper voice that Rainbow could swear she heard wood grinding. He wasn't bad looking; average size and build for a griffon tom, with a blue-black coat, black wings with grey primary feathers, and white crpwn feathers preened in a stylish way. The rest of him besides his crown, though, looked and smelled like he hadn't bathed or washed his beak out in a month, his wing's feathers slick with their natural grease and unpreened, his fur equally as gross, and even matted in places with unidentifiable clumps near his lower belly and sides.
The griffon's voice, however, was easily the worst part about him. It was a deep and gruff yet chirpy voice and, despite its light Prench accent, sounded like hooves scraping down a chalkboard to Rainbow.
Before going for a house tour, Rainbow had asked for an outside tour first, then brought up to Maision about him earlier mentioning an additional feature to her when she'd inquired about the property, with him agreeing to take them there. Butterscotch was in awe as he was shown that there was indeed a large wild meadow a short trot from his cottage, one that was surely teeming with cute little furry critters for him to meet as well.
Butterscotch was smiling softly as they headed into the house after a full tour of the surrounding area, clearly pleased by the spacious grounds around the cottage. Now, he wanted to see the home itself.
For the house itself, it was a five-room, three bathroom cottage. It was a bit dusty and quite clearly hadn't been occupied by anypony for a very long time, and as such had fallen into a state of slight disrepair. A window was broken, making dead leaves and other plant detritus coat on the floor and gather in corners, and there were cobwebs and dead insects abound. Butterscotch was sure he could easily clean it all within a week though, and if Rainbow helped, even less.
Butterscotch seemed to love the large foyer, the comfortably-sized rooms, the very large master bedroom and its equally huge bathroom, and the two other bathrooms; one for his private use, and the other two for any possible guests. He realized in awe that every single room was bigger than his entire Cloudsdale apartment, and though he knew it was a quite a large home for him now, he also knew he could use the additional rooms for storage or animal housing.
Butterscotch's small, pleased smile did not go unnoticed by Rainbow after the tour, who quickly picked it up, having noticed that the smallest things with Butterscotch usually meant the most. "So, what do you think, Butterscotch?" Rainbow asked, noticing that the sales-pony was standing uncomfortably close to them after she'd asked, apparently just as eager to hear Butterscotch's response as Rainbow was.
"Yeah, what do you think 'Battercoach'?" Maision echoed, his bad breath washing over them. Rainbow cringed again at his annoyingly fake-excited high-pitched tone and mispronunciation of Butterscotch's name, that only proving to her how little he cared about Butterscotch as a pony seeking his dream house, and was seemingly only interested in him for his future mortgage payments. Not to mention his awful body odor and breath.
"Well, it's...um...it's great! This house is exactly what I was looking for!" Butterscotch stated with uncharacteristic enthusiasm, getting both a smile from Rainbow and the sales-griffon alike. A few thumps of Angel's back paw on his forehoof, however, reminded him of the all-important question. "But...um...well...how much would it...cost...exactly? I don't have too many Bits for a down payment right now..." he asked softly, pawing a forehoof shyly against the floor as he looked down.
Rainbow could almost hear the cash-register sound as the sales-griffon's eyes lit up, making Rainbow slightly on edge at his sudden, very close interest in Butterscotch. Her unease only grew as she watched him move in closer to Butterscotch. "Well...I'm sure I could give it to you as-is for a measly twenty-thousand Bits, ten percent down. If you can't afford that down payment, I'm sure that we could come up with some sort of...non-monetary payment though. Perhaps, if you do well for me, I could maybe even make the total cheaper for a...handsome young stallion such as yourself..." the greasy griffon said suavely, increasing the strength of his accent. Rainbow could swear his hooves were starting to stick to the floor from the sickly-honeyed words he was driveling out. When Rainbow heard that massive price though, as well as the poorly-vailed attempts of this griffon soliciting Butterscotch, she knew she had to speak up.
"Wait, what do you mean by—" Butterscotch started, clearly confused, only to be swiftly interrupted by Rainbow coming between him and Maison, whose front talon was already reaching for Butterscotch's rump with a perverted look in his eyes.
Rainbow was muzzle-to beak with the sales-griffin now, glaring into his eyes as her anger was made clearly evident. "Woah, woah, woah, what was that price, 'Misour' Maison Courtier? May I speak to you over here, in the other room?" Rainbow asked sharply, a very apparent, aggressive tone in her voice as she took a step towards him and pressed her chest to his, the smaller mare even still forcing him to give up ground to her and pushing him into the next room.
Once they were there, the door closed on its creaking hinges, Rainbow spoke in an intimidating tone; clearly showing she wasn't going to take any guff from him, but at the same time keeping it down so Butterscotch wouldn't overhear. "Did I hear you tell Butterscotch that this filthy, borderline-abandoned, unkept dump that will take days of cleaning to be made decent, is the same price as my fully-furnished, immaculate cloud house, which is much nearer the village and more desirable I will add, that your company sold me earlier today, then implying that you expected him to fuck you to make up the difference?" Rainbow asked vehemently in a whispered tone, making the sales-griffin back off a few more steps from him.
"Um...well...I...uh..." Maison stammered, clearly having been caught out and scrambling for an explanation for the very-obviously, hugely inflated price he'd asked for, as well as expecting something more than money on the side.
"'Um...well...you...' what!?" Rainbow pressed on, clearly sensing Maison's nervousness and pushing the advantage. "Did you have something you wanted to say, you price-gouging pervert?! I saw what you were trying to do, making the price high and asking for a 'non-monetary payment'" Rainbow sharply whispered, though even her softest tone carried such power that it made the fairly-large tom all but cower before her. "You really think you can sell this place for that much? With it being this close to the Everfree Forest? In this bucking condition? I bet nopony's made an offer for even for half , hay, a quarter of that!"
At this point, Maison was cowering like chick being scolded by his mother,"W-well, I, uh..."
Rainbow was having none of that. "I don't care! You better give Butterscotch a fair deal, or I swear I'll make so much bad press for your company and your...your sexual extortion of clients, that you'll never sell another house in Ponyville again! What stallion or mare would wanna buy a house from a company employing a filthy, smelly perv like you, selling it to them for a bucking LUDICROUS amount, then expecting to get a piece of ass just to give them a fair price?"
"I...I think I can afford to bring the price down..." Maison stammered in a business-like tone, trying to save what little face he could, "...and any other payment types other than Bits are off the table, of course."
Rainbow clearly wasn't satisfied yet. "If I ever hear about you even looking at Butterscotch like you were in there ever again – or taking advantage of any other unsuspecting, vulnerable ponies – I may have to make a more personal assurance that you'll never rip anypony else off, or try to extort somepony like that, again by ripping your balls off personally. Ya get me? Now get your bucking flank in there and give Butterscotch the real price of the house."
Knowing what Rainbow said was true, that nopony wanted this house given its proximity to such a potentially dangerous, and rather spooky, forest – plus her very obvious threats that he was more than inclined to believe she'd actually do – Maision quickly changed his tune when they stepped back into the room with Butterscotch.
Butterscotch looked at Maison expectantly, if a bit confused, at his rattled nature. "I...uh...well, after a rather enlightening discussion with your friend here, I wanted to say that today we're having a special sale on this particular cottage, given its lack of previous offers. Only for today, It will only be a mere seventeen..." Maision started, noticing Rainbow's eyes narrowing further, "I mean...t-ten thousand Bits, ten percent down?" he finished, giving Rainbow an overly-huge, very-fake, very nervous smile.
"Oh my, that much of a discount? Will it be sold as is?" Butterscotch asked, not noticing the piercing stare Rainbow was giving the griffon, looking instead around the large foyer again and imagining the ways he would make this his forever home already.
"Ye—" Maison started, but noticed the death-stare from Rainbow becoming more intense as she took another step towards him, her wings now flared open and making her look quite intimidating as she made a yanking gesture with her forehooves while gnashing her teeth like she was biting something held between them viciously, "I...*cough* I mean n-no. It will be fully cleaned..." Rainbow's glare slightly softened, but now she waved a hoof in circles, the universal signal for '...and?', "...a-and it will be fully furnished! Y-yeah..." Maison Courtier finished. He watched in relief as Rainbow finally folded in her wings and backed down, her aggressive expression instead being replaced by a sly smirk as she hooded her eyelids cockily at the pony who dared to try and rip off, and who tried to do worse to, her closest friend.
"My! That's quite the sale you have today, almost a steal compared to your previous price! I may need to borrow money for the diwn payments, but I'll take it!" Butterscotch said promptly, finally looking up to his friend with a huge smile. Rainbow saw his eyes brimming with an excitement that she hadn't seen in them but once before in the many, many years she'd known him; when they'd found him after he'd gotten his cutie mark, surrounded with animals. This was the look of a dream come true for the butter-yellow pegusus.
"Yes, it really is 'quite the steal'..." Maison stated flatly, looking firmly over at Rainbow, who merely waved a hoof back in response. While he amended the contract for sale and Butterscotch's mortgage payments with the reduced cost, and all of the details he'd promised, Maison cleared his throat. "I'd also like to apologize for my behavior earlier. It's just...it's spring, and..." Rainbow gave him a warning glance. "...and, well I'm sorry for being so uncouth."
"Oh, it's no problem! I just am so happy you agreed to sell me this wonderful house for so cheap!" Butterscotch said, still a bit confused as to why he was apologizing, or be willing to sell for half his original price, but willing to overlook that detail as Rainbow simply being a master negotiator.
After Maison finished drawing up the papers, and Rainbow and Butterscotch looked them over, Rainbow found he had included everything he'd promised, then nodded to Butterscotch. Butterscotch then signed his name at the bottom, making the contract legally binding, and the house his upon the down payment being given, and his regular mortgage payments, of course. Butterscotch virtually glowed as he set the quill down, then looked around to the large foyer they were standing in. By the next day, it would be his. This big, beautiful cottage would be all his.
~
Butterscotch stayed with Rainbow in her own new house while his new cottage was being cleaned and renovated, exploring the extremely large 'Cloudominium' model and discovering it was practically a mansion. Unsurprising, as cloud homes were far cheaper to produce and purchase than ground-built homes, after all.
The next few days, outside of spending time with his best friend, were spent by Butterscotch exploring the surrounding meadows on the outskirts of Ponyville, whether with or without Rainbow Dash accompanying him. He'd met many new animal friends in that meadow just like he'd hoped, and he'd quickly invited them back to live with him at his new home once it was ready.
When Butterscorch was told his home was ready a few days later, he stood in awe in the foyer, stunned at how much different, and better, it looked cleaned up and with complete furniture and storage. His dream home, made a reality.