Canvas eventually calmed down enough so that he and his friends could go celebrate without him giggling and hopping all over the place. As the four walked toward the market district, Canvas was still acting giddy over all the money he just made. Considering how dire his situation was just a month prior, the fact that his finances became so secure in an instant was enough to leave a massive spring in the stallion’s step. Of course, when he thought back to what he was going to ask his friends before Filthy Rich came along, Canvas was quick to turn his attention back to the married couple.
"Hey, Lyra? Bon-Bon?"
The two looked over at Canvas, now looking a lot happier as opposed to their prior shock. "Yeah?" asked Lyra. “What’s up?
"I was actually wondering… do either of you know of any places to rent?"
Both of the mares gasped with extremely delighted smiles. "Ohmigosh!” exclaimed Bon-Bon. “You mean you're finally going to live here?!"
"Ugh, finally!" said Troy, who looked equally as elated as the mares. "I swear, I was probably gonna snap at Canvas if he wasted his bits on that hotel for another month."
“Thank you!” shouted Lyra with an appreciative nod. “Bon-Bon and I tried to tell him the same thing!”
“Guys, come on!” griped Canvas, rolling his eyes in exasperation. “It’s been a really busy month for me! I’d appreciate a little less criticism about how long I waited to decide on this.”
“Oh, we weren’t criticising you at all!” To prove that point, Lyra went in to give Canvas a tight hug that pulled the stallion off his hooves. “Canvas, we’re sooo happy you’re going to be living in Ponyville!~”
Bon-Bon went in to hug Canvas as well, which he was more than happy to receive. All the while, none of the ponies seemed to notice the prideful smile Troy was carrying on his beak. The gryphon had already given more than enough hugs to Canvas following his art show win, so it was only fair that the mares shared some love as well.
By the time everyone’s congratulations were in order, Canvas was smiling wide again, and they reached the lines of vendors around the market district. The art show crowd was still around, all looking for a quick meal after a long day outdoors. Canvas noticed that the shortest line seemed to be for a modest wooden stand with the words ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ painted in red on the front. After waiting behind two other ponies, Canvas was greeted by a cheerful orange mare with freckles on her cheeks and an old brown Stetson on her head, which held back the long, blonde mane tied up behind it. Troy’s face lit up when he saw the farmpony, recognizing her from the storm prep.
"Hey there, Applejack!" he said with a wave of his claw, causing the pony’s ears to perk up in surprise.
"Oh hey there!” she said with a cheerful nod as Canvas came up to her stand. Her eyes narrowed on the gryphon. “Um, your name’s Troy, right?"
Troy nodded, and the mare sighed in relief. “Alright, good to know! Ah would’ve felt lousy forgettin’ that name after this long.” Applejack then turned her attention back to Canvas, who was busy staring at the various barrels of apples behind her. "And Ah certainly know who you are too! Congrats for winnin' that art contest, Canvas!"
Canvas smiled graciously. "Thank you so much, Applejack. Um, I would like to buy four Golden Delicious apples, please."
Applejack nodded as he put the four bits on the booth. Once they were exchanged for four apples, Canvas munched on one and gave another to Troy, who accepted it gladly. He then offered the last two to Lyra and Bon-Bon, only for them to shake their heads in declination. "No thanks, Canvas,” said Lyra. "We both had a big lunch."
Bon-Bon was quick to interject with a skewed eyebrow. "Besides, shouldn’t you be saving your bits for a place to live now?"
He knew Bon-Bon was right, but Canvas simply gave a shrug and put the two apples in his bag. "C'mon, it's just a couple apples. Although, I should see what a place would cost around here."
"Wait a minute!” Applejack’s brows rose up. “Are ya talkin’ about movin’ to Ponyville? Like, officially?”
“As a matter of fact, he is!” Bon-Bon came up to pull Canvas close to her side, smiling just as wide as her wife. “Hopefully we won’t need to live in a hotel room anymore!”
“Although he could’ve easily roomed with us to get the money for a place sooner,” chided Lyra playfully. Canvas rolled his eyes with a brief whinny. Troy and Applejack both chuckled.
When Canvas finally turned back to Applejack, she was carrying a look of interest. "So, what exactly are ya lookin' for? Ah might be able to help dependin’ on what you need."
"Well…” Canvas hadn’t put that much thought to what he wanted specifically, mostly since he was grateful to have a roof over his head at all. "I guess if I can, I wouldn’t mind finding a place with a lot of open space. If I can have a loft of some kind, I can probably paint a lot more."
Applejack's face lit up. "Is that so? Because Ah might have somethin’ right up your alley!"
In exchange for her help, Canvas agreed to help Applejack sell some apples at her stand, as well as pack up the remaining ones for the trip back to Sweet Apple Acres. Because it took the rest of the day to help her out, Troy and the mares left and said their goodbyes shortly after they helped get the barrels on Applejack's cart. Fortunately for Canvas, the mare was honest when she said she had something for him to see.
After dropping the cart off in her barn, Applejack led Canvas up the dirt road that ran between the farm and Ponyville. Aside from the occasional tree or bush, not much seemed to catch Canvas' attention. However, the stallion’s interest was piqued when Applejack pointed out the place she had in mind: a large, abandoned barn that stood by itself on the right of the road.
Canvas walked up to the old barn. It looked like nopony had been around it in years. The original red paint was now long gone, weathered off and worn down to reveal the grayed wood underneath. Several windows along the side walls had large planks of wood screwed outside the frames. A large, rusted lock held the large front doors together, but Applejack pulled out a ring of keys from under her hat to unlock it with her teeth. After trying to pull out the doors with her hooves, Applejack looked back at Canvas awkwardly. "Uhhh… Ya mind helpin' me out here?"
"Oh! Sure." Canvas quickly went in to assist, and pulled on one of the door handles alongside her. With a long groan from both ponies, the barn doors slowly opened as the rusted hinges moved for the first time in years. A large cloud of dust blew out from inside, causing both Canvas and Applejack to cough before they could see the inside.
The lack of light made it difficult to notice many of the cobwebs or spots in need of repair, but Canvas could tell this place definitely had a lot of space.
Between the aged and dusted walls lay about thirty feet of matching wooden floors, though most of it was covered by several large pieces of rusted farming equipment. Stepping inside, Canvas looked past a pile of broken plows to see the back end of the barn about ninety feet away. While the front of the barn was a wide-open area, the back third housed what looked to be a loft as a second floor. The top floor appeared to be full of worn saddles, and several unboarded windows shone a faint beam of light through the fine wall of dust now sitting upon them. From the loft, a staircase on the left side led down to the ground level, where even more used equipment sat underneath the loft space.
"Ah know it ain't much right now,” Applejack admitted with a shrug “but we've really been lookin' to sell this space since we don’t need it no more. Considerin’ the taxes on this thing, it’s costin’ more money to keep it than what it's worth."
Canvas nodded, but he still scanned the giant barn in puzzlement. He was curious as to why the Apple Family had a barn like this outside their property, so he decided to ask some questions when he reached the bottom of the staircase. "So, how long have you guys had this barn?"
"Well, a few years ago, Granny Smith got it into her head that she should try getting' into real estate after talkin' with that Filthy Rich fella." Canvas' eyebrows raised at the mention of Filthy Rich. He certainly wasn’t going to say anything about the stallion who just helped him out so tremendously, but he couldn’t help but worry a little as he looked around the dilapidated space.
"Now, don’t get me wrong,” Applejack said insistently, wiping some sweat from under her hat. "Ah ain’t sayin’ anything bad about Filthy Rich! Mister Rich is an honest stallion and all, but Ah swear that Granny does the silliest things after talkin' with him! She won this barn in a poker game, and was hopin' to fix it up and sell it at a higher price. But then her hip went out a while later, and she wasn't able ta do nuthin with this place."
Canvas winced. "Ooh, sorry to hear that." Canvas couldn’t think of much else to say as walked back up the stairs, staying conscious of any creaks in the old wood.
"S' alright. She's doin' mighty fine nowadays. We've mostly been using this space for storage, but we've been lookin' ta sell it for a while now.”
"I can see that.” Canvas reached the top of the loft, and blew off a large amount of dust lingering on the mantle. "It doesn't look like anypony's been here in years."
“Yeah, you’d be right ‘bout that, but the last time Ah checked, the place itself isn’t in that bad of a shape. The foundation and supports are all still as strong as ever. It just needs some heavy cleanin’ and some light touch-ups here and there.”
Canvas looked out from the loft, seeing just how massive the barn really was. It may have been old, dusty, and probably in need of repairs, but it could be a great place with some hard work. He walked over to the windows at the back, and used his hoof to wipe away a large line of dust. A bright burst of light entered the dark space in a concentrated beam, almost like some final burst of energy in the climax of a sci-fi movie. By the time Applejack got up the stairs, Canvas was wiping the rest of the dust off the windows with a rag from his art bag. When most of the dust had come off, Canvas turned around to look at the loft’s view once more.
With the extra light, Canvas could see that the barn was actually in decent shape. There were some uplifted floorboards and a couple holes in the roof, but nothing appeared to be unfixable. Applejack seemed a tad wary when she walked up beside Canvas, most likely expecting him to be a bit more hesitant about the place. Much to her surprise, Canvas turned to her with a contented smile and asked, "So, how much are you asking for it?"
Applejack’s eyes widened at his optimistic response. Nevertheless, the farmpony was able to come up with a fair estimate. "Well, Ah won’t ask for a lot, since we’re gonna need to fix it up ourselves. But if yer really interested, we can sell it for about… seven hundred and fifty bits?"
Applejack winced and kept her gaze away from Canvas, fearful of his reaction. It may have been a really cheap estimate, but a profit was still a profit. Canvas stayed silent, but didn’t even show the slightest hint of a frown when Applejack finally looked back at him. Hoping she could close the deal, Applejack added sincerely, "And, if you’re willin’ to help out, we’ll have this place fixed up before ya move in, at no extra charge."
"Hmm…”
Canvas continued to scan the barn, rubbing the bottom of his chin with a hoof. He already knew his answer, but he didn’t want to seem too eager to buy. After taking a deep breath (and almost choking from the dust), Canvas turned back towards Applejack with a smile and held out his hoof.
"Miss Applejack, you have a deal!"
Applejack grew an eager smile before she spat on her hoof. After sticking it out to Canvas, the stallion didn’t need to be asked as he spat in his own hoof and shook on it.
After making sure everything was packed up, Canvas closed the door to room B2 behind him, feeling strangely sad that this would be the last time he’d be here. He walked down to the lobby, and found Bell Hopper laying asleep behind the front desk. He didn’t want to wake him up, so Canvas left his room key and a hoofful of bits as a tip before walking out. As he stepped out in the morning air, Canvas breathed in deeply, savoring the new day before heading off to his new place.
It had only been less than two weeks since Canvas bought the barn from Applejack, and helped with the renovation process as best as he could. Despite how minimal the majority of the repairs actually were, Canvas still spent many early mornings and late nights helping to get the place back up to code. By working with Applejack and her siblings, they managed to get most of the junk out of the main space, and also clear out all the dust before the first day ended. The rest of that time was spent making all the necessary repairs, as well as fixing the plumbing and electrical problems. Three days prior to his current trek, Canvas was told to stay put in Ponyville until the Apples got the finishing touches done. It didn't feel right leaving them to do work he could've done himself, but reluctantly, he agreed to wait for the reveal.
Canvas tried not to feel too overwhelmed as he trotted down the road by himself, but his hooves were getting more jittery with each passing step. Even after painting several pieces in his hotel room to occupy his mind, there was nothing to keep him from thinking about his new home. Before he could walk around the final curve on the road, however, Canvas found Applejack standing in wait with a grin. He could see some beads of sweat on her orange fur, and could only guess that they finished their work right on time
"There ya are, Canvas!" The mare panted as she wiped some sweat. "Ya ready ta see the barn?"
"As ready as I'll ever be!" chirped Canvas giddily, who could barely stop walking while his hooves constantly moved about. Applejack chuckled to the sight of Canvas’ exuberance, and merely smiled as she motioned for him to follow her.
Walking around the corner, Canvas was surprised to see that the outside of the barn looked exactly the same. The windows had been unboarded and were sporting some brand new frames, but the walls itself were still unpainted and greying with wear. Applejack spoke up. "Just so ya know, we decided to get the inside finished up before anything else. Besides, we figured you’d wanna try paintin’ the barn yourself for a personal touch, you being a painter and all."
Canvas thought that them painting the barn would’ve been the ‘finishing touch’ Applejack talked about; but upon reflection, he was grateful that Applejack put his skills into consideration. In fact, if he was being honest, he really did want to paint the barn himself, especially after seeing that huge blank wall along the left side that was just begging for an awesome mural.
"You know what? I’m more than fine with that,” Canvas said, shooting Applejack a thankful smile. “I've been wanting to try painting this myself anyways."
Before Canvas could reach the front doors, Applejack motioned him to follow her. She went along the right side of the barn until they reached near the barn’s far end where a regular door was placed. Applejack opened the door (smoothly, like it was just oiled) and held her hoof out to Canvas so he could enter first. Smiling warmly, Canvas took a deep breath and stepped inside.
The first thing that Canvas noticed, besides how bright the barn looked with the new coat of white paint along the walls, was how much smaller it looked now. On the left side, a large wall with a single door was now built down the middle of the barn. The wall itself worked as a divider for the front and back ends, though it only went halfway up to the roof. He turned back toward the barn’s rear end, where he could see another wall running underneath the loft to his right, with two doorways on it. The first doorway, closest to the entrance, led to a bathroom with a working toilet, sink, and shower. The second doorway, nearby the refurbished stairs to the loft, led into a modest kitchen with a sink, oven and refrigerator.
With a huge smile, Canvas rushed up the stairs while Applejack stayed and giggled by the doorway. When he reached the top, Canvas found that the open loft was completely bare and spotless, with a line of clean windows shining brightly across the whole barn. The hardwood flooring beneath his hooves was smooth and spotless, and not a speck of dust could be seen anywhere.
Canvas turned his sights to the rest of the barn, quickly looking back at the dividing wall on the ground floor. From his vantage point at the loft, he was able to look over the top half of the wall and better appreciate his new space. Much like the loft, the front end of the barn was also completely bare, with the hardwood floors shining proudly underneath the sunbeams.
Canvas’ jaw dropped as he figured out what the wall across the middle of the barn was meant for. Since they knew he was planning to use the extra space for painting, the Apple Family converted the whole front of Canvas' barn into his personal work space, and a storage room for all his incoming art projects
"So, wha'cha think?” shouted Applejack from downstairs. “Ya like it?"
Without hesitation, Canvas bolted down the stairs like a foal on Heart's Warming Eve. Canvas was close to tears as he lunged onto Applejack and pulled her in a massive hug with an overwhelmingly joyous smile. He stood on his hindlegs and hoisted Applejack off her hooves, spinning her around the room.
"ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKYOOOUUUU!!"
"Whoa nelly!" Applejack was glad he was happy with their work, but she wouldn’t have expected him to be this excited about an unfurnished and unpainted barn. Nevertheless, the mare still tried to hug him back while speaking. "Y-yer welcome, partner! But, uhhh… can ya please let me down?"
“OH!” Canvas quickly put Applejack back on the ground and pulled back a few steps, his aqua cheeks blushing into a fine purple. "Sorry, it's just…” Canvas looked around his barn, and barely registered the tear trickling down his face. "It's perfect."
After having a nice dinner with the Apple Family, who gave him enough leftovers to last him several days, Canvas was still on Cloud Nine when he went back to his new place. He held onto his new key with pride as he unlocked his door and entered the back half of his barn. Once he turned on the lights, Canvas smiled with a content sigh while looking around the clean space.
It was virtually empty right now, but he still felt euphoric over how this space was now his. Not to mention, he still had plenty of bits to help furnish and decorate the place, so he knew the current emptiness wouldn’t last long. After walking up the stairs, Canvas pulled out a blanket and pillow from his luggage and placed them on the middle of the loft floor.
He then turned off the lights and laid down on his blanket, beaming in the darkness as he looked up at his ceiling. No matter how scary it felt to lay in such a spaciously dark barn by himself, only one thing could pass through the stallion’s mind that kept him happy:
I have a home.
Canvas sat back upright on the floor, and held his hooves up to his face as tears of joy came streaming down his cheeks. For the longest time, nothing had ever worked out as well for him as they had here in Ponyville. And now, after spending so much time amongst great friends, and staying in the town he'd come to call his own, he could finally say that he was truly living here.
I'm actually a citizen of Ponyville now, thought Canvas, resting his head back on the pillow. Despite the hard floor, Canvas still kept a gracious smile as his eyes slowly closed into the depths of sleep. Before he went completely asleep, one more thought graced Canvas' mind to leave him feeling truly content.
I'm no longer just a guest.
I actually have a home.