Enchanted

by The Whiskey Spirit

Ch 11: A Change of Scenery

The next day greeted Aurick with the chirping of birds and the sound of hooves on wood. Groggily, the man opened the door to the guest room he had been given. A hand ran through his disheveled hair, even as the scent of food wafted up to him.

He had no idea what time it was, but the food called to him more than bed. The elf sighed and grabbed his cloak before going downstairs.

Sun that peeked in through the windows was blinding to the freshly woken man, and he had to shield his eyes as he descended. His heavy foot falls were easily heard by Twilight, who was sitting on a couch with a book floating in front of her. She looked no better than Aurick, but she at least had a cup of coffee. She must have known what he was thinking, because she gestured towards the kitchen behind her and jiggled her coffee for a moment before returning to her book.

He gave her a gracious nod, though she probably didn’t see it. His path towards the kitchen was short, and as he approached, the sound of music met his ears. Within, Spike was whistling a jaunty tune in a pink apron as he flipped a pancake. It was then that there was something wrong with Spike. No one should be that chipper in the morning.

He heard the elf’s approach and looked over with a knowing smile. He simply pointed at a steaming cup of coffee that the dragon had already prepared for him. Aurick wasted no time taking the cup and sipping the dark liquid. He could feel the caffeinated beverage flow through him, eradicating the remaining traces of sleep as it did so. A small smile crossed Auricks face as he took another sip.

“That’s some good shit.” He muttered before turning back to Spike. “What are ya making?” He shuffled over to peek at the food, the scent of it filling his nostrils.

“Just some pancakes.” The small dragon tried to shoo him back, but he was unable to move Aurick’s towering form. “It’ll be done when it’s done. Go read a book or something.”

“Bah.” Aurick waved a hand dismissively, but left the kitchen all the same. He let out a yawn as he sat down on the couch next to Twilight. The mare took a sip of her own coffee before turning to him.

“You have any plans today?”

Aurick shrugged and rested an arm over the couch. “Not much.” He took a sip of coffee before his eyes widened as he remembered something. “Hey, that… ‘fridge?” Twilight nodded. “Could I preserve meat in one of those?”

“Oh, I almost forgot you were an omnivore.” She shook her head for a moment before continuing. “No, from what I’ve heard, you’ll need to put it in a freezer if you want it to last a long time.”

The man scratched his beard for a moment. “How big of a freezer can I get?”

“The biggest one I’ve seen is about the size of a tub.” Aurick sighed at that.

“In that case I’ll do what I was gonna do beforehand.”

“Which would be…?” The mare twirled a hoof to emphasis her impatience.

“I’ll turn one of the rooms into a cold room. We had one back home that was filled with meats. Seeing as I might have a hard time getting regular game in the Everfree, I might try a manticore or something.”

“That… uh…” The mare looked away, a little disturbed with how casually he was talking about hunting. It was probably one thing for her to know you ate creatures, but another to hear you plan to kill them. Aurick in response did what he does best. Began to pet the intelligent pony to make her feel better. It was surprisingly effective.

“So anyway, that’s probably what I’ll be doing today. Oh, I also gotta work on that thing for Luna.” The mare, who had started to become putty under his hand, immediately perked up.

“The princess hired you? For what?”

The man shrugged and took a sip of coffee. “Classified.”

“But…” The mare pouted and gave him her best puppy dog eyes. They were also surprisingly effective. Sadly, he couldn’t give her what she wanted.

“Hey, it’s classified to me too.” He told her. “And I’m the one making the stuff. All I know is that the guard are gonna get into something dangerous, so they need some better armour. She told me what enchantments she wants on the stuff, and I’m gonna put them on. Said the armour and a supply of gems would arrive at the house I still haven’t seen around noon.”

Twilight’s hoof slammed into her face. An act that looked like it should have hurt, or at least left a mark. However the purple mare’s pain was only the pain of emotions. “I knew I forgot something!” She growled to herself. “After breakfast I’ll show you the house.”

“Alright.” Aurick nodded and took a sip of his coffee yet again. He wasn’t all too concerned about it. A house was a house, so he wasn’t gonna complain. Besides, once he did a couple jobs, he’d be able to shape it however he wanted. All he’d need is some gems.

A shrill whistle from behind interrupted their conversation. Looking back, the pair could see Spike poking his head out of the kitchen. “Breakfast is done.”

Their conversation forgotten, the duo charged onwards towards something far more important.

~-~

The house was certainly better than he had imagined. When he was told it had been abandoned for a long time, he was expecting it to look run down. Even after the repairs. They only took two days after all.

That was not what he received however. The house that stood before him was a two storied building that looked like it was built the day prior. The most surprising thing about it, however, was that it was built out of stone bricks. He hadn’t seen a single pony building use stone when he went through Canterlot and Ponyville. It was probably because one of the other races built it. In fact, as he looked at it more, that seemed to be the case.

The doorway wasn’t sized for a pony, but rather something of his height. Of course, that could meant that the repair ponies were tasked with doing that. It depended on the ceiling. The pony building he had been in had their ceilings only eight feet off the ground instead of ten.

Before he headed inside, he took a walk around the side of it and peered out at the Everfree. He could see why the ponies didn’t want to live here. The forest was only twenty feet behind the house. If a monster decided to wait there, they’d be able to grab an easy snack. He made a mental note to set up wards after the cold room. After a few moments to decide where he’d like to place them, he went back around to the front of the building and opened the front door.

They must have oiled the hinges, because the door didn’t even squeak. Stepping in, his theory was confirmed. The ceiling was even higher than ten feet. Without proper measuring equipment, he couldn’t know for certain, but he wagered it was about twelve instead. Whoever built this place must have been pretty tall.

As he looked around the first room, it felt like a blade pierced his heart. It felt really similar to his old home with all his friends. Red carpet covered the floor, and there were sconces on the wall, despite the fact that they had those ceiling lights installed. An incredibly soft looking couch sat in the middle of the room, a coffee table in front of it. The couch was facing a fireplace, that already had some wood set up inside it.

He could just imagine himself sitting on the couch, Agni leaning over it as they talked. A sad smile crossed his face as he approached the couch and placed a hand on it. Despite all the distractions, he still missed them. He really hoped they were okay.

A hoof resting on the side of his leg brought him out of his thoughts. Looking down, he saw Twilight giving him a reassuring smile. Of course she could tell what he was thinking. She was a smart one.

He returned the smile and took his hand off the couch. He still had the rest of the house to explore.

~-~

The rest of the place was more of the same. Stone rooms that reminded him of home, but with the addition of the ponies technological advances. The kitchen looked the most different, with all the appliances place in there. Twilight tried to explain them all to him, but there were too many and a number of them flew over his head.

He had found a suitable room that he could use for the meat. The house had a basement that was fairly large. The previous owner probably used it for something, but that hardly mattered now. It was divided into a large central room with two rooms that split off. He’d use one of the secondary rooms as for the enchantment. When they finished exploring the building, they returned to the living room.

“It’s far nicer than I expected.” Aurick commented, scratching at his growing beard.

“It really is. The repair ponies did a great job with it.” Twilight smiled, looking around. “It used to have all sorts of plants growing around on the stone, and the carpet was terrible. They even replaced the broken bricks.”

“I could do a lot with this place.” He smiled as he thought about future expansions to the building.

“That’s good. I guess I’ll leave you to it then.” Aurick nodded and the pair walked over to the front door. “Don’t be a stranger, now. You still have to teach me how to enchant.” Twilight reminded him as he opened the door for her.

“Of course. It might be a couple days though. I’d like to spend time on work first. I’m still broke.”

“Right. I’ll be sure to let ponies know that you’re open for business then.”

“Appreciate it.” Aurick smiled as the mare exited the building and he closed the door behind her. The smile slowly disappeared as he put his back to the door and slid to the floor.

This was the first time he had been truly left alone since he had arrived. The weight of the situation was finally pressing down on him. He only had one question on his lips.

“The fuck am I even doing?”

Comments

[Neece]

“The fuck am I even doing?”

Oh, a sane character. How quaint!

[Prismmirror]

9382392

Spot on analysis. Really loving the realistic competency and emotional control of these characters. Any 'drama' feels natural, not contrived.

[FourthWallAfroBrony]

Don't most pure elves not grow facial hair or very little?

[Khanathara]

9525483
It mostly depends on the mythos, and this seems to be mostly based on Dungeons and dragons so he can grow a beard just as well as anyone else depending on whoever is running the world. (AKA the DM or author in this case)

[Greenhorn]

9382392
The next question is 'how long'? Because Ponyviller-syndrome seem to infect anyone who stay there for long.