The carriage ride from my parent's place to our prospective new home was long. Considering how my parent's home was on the edge of Canterlot, that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was just how close to the palace this potential home was.
I turned to mom and spoke. "Mom, you're sure this place won't be too expensive? We're only a few streets away from--"
"Oh, believe me, you can afford this place." My mother reassured me.
I shook my head. "I don't know how you can be so certain. Yeah, the tour helped my finances a bit, but Open could only pull off so much monetary wizardry."
She smiled broadly. "Trust me. The style at the time this was built was minimalistic. The interior is rather bare bones. Nowadays, ponies want that extra bit of comfort or class. You can't afford not to be close to the palace, either, unless you went with those ghastly military homes."
I rolled my eyes. Living with an architect certainly seemed to have an effect on mom's standards. "Housing isn't that bad, mom."
"Oh, hush. Compared to your old apartment, maybe. I called this new place minimalistic, but those military shacks are practically spartan. Once you see this place, you'll never look at those hovels the same way." She insisted.
This place was certainly nothing like the Royal Guard housing. It was a simple enough brick house, albeit in a shade of blue that almost matched Div's coat. The neighborhood seemed working class, with friendly looking ponies about and a few swarms of foals enjoying the afternoon.
Mom stepped up onto the small porch, horn aglow.
"Is the landlord here?" I asked in trepidation. Mom seemed rather cavalier about entering this place.
Stepping inside, she smiled. "Yes, the landlord is in. Now come on!"
Crossing the threshold, the inside looked impeccable. Directly across from the front door, through the foyer and up a half flight of stairs, a stained-glass window took my breath away. The window depicted a beautifully crafted rose floating on waves of blue.
"Like that, eh? It's spelled. At night, it glows softly." I walked reverently to the foot of the stairs. That's when I noticed the empty shelves built into the walls on either side of it, and the window seat.
"Mom! It's a small library." I gasped. "I thought you said 'minimalistic!'"
"Oh please, it's the one real selling point. The baseboards are basic, there's nothing to these archways and there isn't a scrap of wallpaper anywhere." She said.
"It's amazing." I said, turning around. Now facing the front door, there was a bathroom on my right at the end of a small hall. On my left, I could get a glimpse into the kitchen and family room.
"On my left, there's a living room. On my right, the dining room." Mom said as she stood facing me in the foyer. I flipped the directions, and stepped forward to look into each room she indicated. "Follow me."
I complied. Mom gave me the tour. "You've seen the bathroom to the left, here at the end of that hall. The door on the left of the hall is a linen closet. On the right is a den. To our right is the great family room. Fireplace, sliding glass door out to the medium sized deck and modest backyard. The kitchen adjoins the family room, split bar complete with six stools, three on right and left sides facing the kitchen. Liquor cabinets, with locks are under each bar on the kitchen side. The one on the right is refrigerated with a cold spell that was recently re-done."
"Okay," I said, my head swimming with the details.
"Relax, we haven't even seen the entire first floor." She chided.
"I don't need to, even with what Div and I make, we can't--"
Mom continued. "Between the great family room and the dining room is a wall, right?"
"Yes, but--"
"Nope, wrong." She corrected, casting her magic on the wall. A hidden door swung open noiselessly to reveal a small cupboard and a flight of stairs. "Butler's stairs. Not that you'll have a butler; Silver wouldn't consider adding another house into his contract, although with how far apart they are I understood. Directly across is another hidden door that leads into the dining room." She opened the second hidden door to reveal the dining room.
"Oh, well. That proves how much I can't afford--"
Mom was off again, closing both hidden doors and stepping around the kitchen. She spoke as she went. "The breakfast nook gives you a great view of the backyard. Beyond the kitchen, there's this door to the pantry. Through this arch next to it, a storage area. Around the wall there's a laundry room. This small hallway leading from the left of the storage room goes into another bathroom on the right and a study straight ahead."
"Mom, I don't think you’re listening--"
"If we go up either staircase we'll get to the three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and the master bed and bathroom. Shall we?"
I stood in the arch, blocking off access. "Mom. I. Can't. Afford. This. Place. Even if I could, there are two more bedrooms than we even need! Now, let's say goodbye to the landlord and apologize for wasting their time." I turned to search for the missing landlord.
"Life Story. You will never be a waste of my time." Mom said, indignantly.
"I didn't say your time! I said the landlord's..." I trailed off as it finally dawned on me. Turning slowly, I faced my mother. Her cat-who-ate-the-canary grin reaffirmed the thought. "You're the landlord?"
"Landlady. This is the first home your father and I bought when we married. He made adjustments, like the landing library, but we felt like we needed a place away from the city noise. We kept this place, rented it out occasionally, and now we're going to sell it to you. We'll work out a payment arrangement. Canterlot's home values and property taxes are actually lower in this district than they've ever been since the changeling attack."
"This is still more house than we'll ever need." I said, not wanting to give in. But the landing library, stained glass, and the bar in the kitchen...
"You better have more grandchildren. Your grandmother might've been okay with just you, but I want to see a few more little foals. I don't care what you have to do. Well, short of foalnapping."
I grinned. I don’t know how Div would feel about that, but I could see us having more foals. "Mom, I...don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. Welcome home, Life. Now do you want to go see the master bedroom. There's a balcony overlooking the front yard and a sitting room overlooking the back yard." I nodded excitedly and lead the charge up the stairs.
***
"I still can't believe you're going away so soon." I moaned for about the twentieth time.
To his credit, Div only rolled his eyes for about the fifth time. "Ly, it's what I do now. Duty calls and all that."
I pouted. "We so need to have a serious talk about our honeymoon when you get back. At this rate, we'll never take one."
He crossed to me, planting a kiss carefully on my forehead below my horn. "We will, just let the dust settle after this trip. Things have been happening awfully fast lately. It's good to slow down and enjoy life."
"Haha, you can't very well enjoy me while your off on some Celestia-forsaken diplomacy mission. Just promise me you'll be careful." I said, gazing deep into his eyes.
His eyes crinkled with his smile. "Always. Besides, I'll be with the sergeant, Princess Luna, and plenty of other house guards. We'll be flying, so I won't even have to worry about being on my hooves until we get there. And this mission is to other ponies. I just have to do the job, keep up appearances, and then I'll be back in your hooves before you know it."
I pushed against his armor-clad shoulder. With all his training, he didn't budge. "Get going, then. I have a lot to do before you get back. There's just so much to move into the new place. You're sure you only have a few things?
He shrugged. "Most of my things are over at my parent's place still. They can wait until I get back to move 'em."
I kissed him on the cheek, hoping to catch him off guard when I pushed him again. No dice. I huffed. "You did remember to say goodbye to Bru last night, right?"
He nodded. "Of course. Neither of us wanted to have you wake him up this early in the morning."
I'd been worried that he'd be a morning-foal. Ever since we got back to Canterlot, Bruiser was always the last one up. "Neither of us would really want to deal with him this early in the morning."
"I heard that." A cranky voice called from the doorway.
I levitated Div's pack onto his back as I spoke to Bru. "You're supposed to be asleep. You'll be going to school soon and I want you on a normal schedule."
"Yes, sir." I decided to forgive his sarcasm due to the hour, but we were going to have a talk about the word 'sir.'
"Well, say goodbye to Daddy Div and make it quick. He needs to get going and you need to be back in bed." I busied myself double-checking the saddlebags on Div.
"Dad?" Bruiser asked Div.
"Yeah, Bru?" He answered.
"You're gonna be safe, right?" I willed down the lump in my throat back down. Something about Bruiser's accent and his innocent voice made my heart melt.
Div shook a little bit, like he had a shiver. "As safe as I can possibly be. This is just a little trip to see some ponies that haven’t seen the princess in a long time."
Seemingly satisfied, Bruiser gave Div a hug. "Bring me back something nice."
Div laughed. "I'll see what I can do. I'm not sure if this place has any souvenir shops."
"I love you."
"I love you too, kiddo."
***
My finances had improved since staff writing for Celerity thanks to Open Schedule. With how focused I'd been on just writing the latest assignment, Open never clued me in on which magazines for which I'd written. Not all of them paid as well as my staff job, but some did pay quite a bit more. My portfolio and exposure also increased.
And yet, even with all that I made and what Div brought in, we just barely had enough to cover expenses, get Bruiser set for school, and a little left over for fun now and again. No honeymoon. I pushed the pile of paperwork over towards the middle of my 'L' shaped home desk. The study was mine, what with it's rather remote location in the house it was the closest thing to soundproof we had.
Not that I needed soundproofing today. Div was still away on that diplomatic mission. Bruiser was with Div's parents for the weekend. Work was slow at the moment; I'd already submitted my latest piece on a new art gallery owner. My reputation as a biographically minded pony was starting to catch up to me, Open actually got an offer for me to ghost-write for a former athlete yesterday. The pay wasn't great, but it was a chance to try something new.
"Figured I'd find you in here." Open said as she bounced in. "This looks a lot nicer than last time."
"Unpacked all those boxes. How do you like my little library?" I asked, indicating the shelves against the walls off to my right. Unlike the landing library, my personal study featured my own writing. Every magazine I'd written for so far stood on displays on the shelves. Even with the tour, they didn't quite fill out the space.
"Nice." She commented as she sat down in the chair on the other side of my desk.
"I guess you didn't come by to reminisce." I ventured.
"Good guess. I wanted to speak to you, pony to pony. You know, you're mother is a published author." She began.
"Yeah, at Barleyquin." I interjected.
"And in the time she's written for them, she's improved leaps and bounds. Now, L. P. Rose is a name highly regarded in romance circles." Open countered.
"What are you getting at?" I asked, not wanting to dwell on my mother's accomplishments.
"I looked up her side of the family. Measured Prose is another widely respected name in the industry."
"My uncle?"
"And your grandfather, Rhymed Prose, was a great literary teacher at the Academy for years, with no shortage of his own books."
"We don't talk about Grandpa Rhymed much." I said candidly.
"At any rate, you come from a line of authors. Do I need to bring up the Story relatives as well?"
"Not if you'd rather get to your point. So what?"
"So why not write a story?" She said finally.
"I'm just not sure about this ghostwriting business, Open."
"No, not ghostwriting. Forget that for a moment. Why not write your own stories?"
"About what?"
"I don't know! Anything! Have you seriously never considered it?"
I scratched one hoof with the other absently. "It's a lot of time to commit."
"I think it'd be well worth it."
"Look, I'm not saying I couldn't. But, if I did, I couldn't do it like my mother did. She was always so busy writing her stories, it was like she had to make an extra effort just to be my mother. I can't do that to Bruiser."
"Well, I just wanted to plant that in your brain. Who knows, maybe you'll find some inspiration if you're thinking about it. I'm just saying it'd be nice to have some books up there with your name on them." She said, pointing at my little library.
"I'll think about it. Is that all you wanted to talk about?" I asked.
"No. I...kinda got stranded in Canterlot. My train out of here had problems, so I'm stuck until after the weekend. I could stay in a hotel..." She trailed off, looking at me sidelong to watch my reaction.
I rolled my eyes. "Of course you can stay here. You're in luck. My parents sent me extra beds just in case I had guests over. Pick whichever guest room you like; we have two." I waved dismissively.
"Thanks Life. I'll even treat you to breakfast."
"Open, the last time you cooked, it made me long for the days of griffon scones." I said drily. My voice was nearly as dry as the last griffon scone I had, come to think of it.
"Ha-ha. I was talking about going out. You know, this is a great area. I'd be out exploring it instead of puttering around an office like a gloomy ghoul." She said teasingly.
"Fair warning, this gloomy ghoul snores."
"Your room is on the other side of the second floor. I'll be fine." Boy, was she in for a surprise. Well, I'd warned her.
***
"Hate you." Open said as she groggily came down the stairs the next morning.
"Good morning to you too. Ready to go grab breakfast?" I asked cheerily. I wasn't normally a morning pony, but I just had to play it up for her benefit.
She eyed me through half-lidded eyes. "You snore like a minotaur."
"I warned you." I reminded her, turning towards the door.
"You might have mentioned the part where your snoring is like somepony trying to start a gigantic chainsaw. Your bedroom door was closed, mine was closed, the rooms are as far apart as possible on the second floor. Yet, in spite of that, I could hear you like you were right next to me. You didn't snore half this badly during the tour." She pouted.
I laughed. "I think it has to do with how I was always running around while on tour. Things have slowed down since we got back. Div blames the accident at the gorge, although I don't think Ludic ever mentioned it." I opened the front door by hoof. Once we were both clear, I spelled it shut and locked.
"Who knows? Maybe mule-deer are heavy sleepers." Open grouched.
I smirked. "We can cast a silencing charm on your room and mine. I'm pretty sure I don't sleep-cast, so they should hold out okay."
Open tossed her mane. "You might consider making that permanent. I can't imagine how Div and Bru have handled this so far."