Arvak's new home

by mild hotsauce

Ch5: Getting some time alone

A/N: again, not sure how i did. leave a commen below to let me know what i can either improve on, or possibly change.

Ch5: Getting some time off

Twilight looked at the clock on her wall, and then at her calendar. “Hmm, I seem to be late for an appointment today.” She shrugged and took a bit of her apple… which she promptly did a spit take with when her brain processed what she just said. “Sweet Celestia I’m late!”

Arvak just stared at her confused. “What could you possibly be late for that you need to worry about?” He glanced at the calendar, which had an event circle three times and underlined four times that read: ‘Visit family in Canterlot.’ “That could be important, but you don’t necessarily have to be there on time right? Their family and I’m sure they’ll under-oof!” Arvak did not finish his sentence, as a scroll decided to say ‘hi’ to the back of his head, apparently scheduling is important to this pony.

“I’m going to start getting ready to leave, while I’m gone, can you look after the library, I’d ask spike but the last time I trusted him with that kind of responsibility he burnt the place down. Speaking of which, can you go to Rarity’s and get him please?” she asked as she went upstairs to gather her things.

“Sure, why not?” he replied with a shrug. His next thought might not have been a great idea: ‘what could go wrong.’

“Thank you Arvak, I’ll only be gone for a few days, so you won’t miss me too long.” She said without thinking.

“okay.” He said, Twilight was near some heavy hardcover books, he did not want to be hit by one of those… yet. “You sure it’s gonna be me missin you, and not the other way around?” pushing his luck.

SMACK!

“Oh sweet Celestia I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking!” she pleaded to the pile of bones that was Arvak. He pulled himself together, and then noticed something off…

“Hmm, my head actually hurts, is it okay?” he asked pointing to a spot on the back of his head.

“Um, what would you say if I said that you had a series of cracks back there?” she asked in a nervous tone.

“Then we might have ourselves a predicament.” He put a hoof to his chin. “Probly should just wait until it heals up. Does bone heal up, never seen a skeleton recover from a broken bone before. What do you think?”

“Arvak, you are full of so many surprises, that I wouldn’t doubt that you could pull it off.” she deadpanned, slightly losing her worried tone and look.

“Okay, if it doesn’t by the time you get back, then we could try a healing spell.”

“Okay, you should go get spike, its eleven o’clock, so he should be up, if not, then just carry him back.”

He gave a mock salute, and marched out. Twilight shook her head and went back upstairs to pack.
-----------------------------------------------------

The streets of Ponyville were cleaner now than when Arvak was out before, slightly less things strewn about randomly. Some tables and stalls were still flipped over, but as ponies went about their day, they fixed the problem.

“Look out below!” he heard someone yell. Which he looked down, not knowing the meaning, and an anvil hit the ground directly in front of him. He looked up and saw a grey Pegasus with a blonde mane heading towards him. “Are you alright?”

“I thought you said ‘look out below’, something like this would warrant a ‘heads up.’ don’t you think?” the Pegasus shrugged, and tried lifting the anvil. “Need help?”

“Nope, I got it.” She tried again.

“You sure?” he asked again.

She lifted the anvil off the ground for a few feet, but that progress was quickly lost when it fell back into the ground. “Maybe a little.”

Arvak flared some flame wings, and prepared some fire rope. He tied the rope to both ends of the anvil, still leaving at least two, three feet off as a tail to pick it up with. Both he and the grey Pegasus then lifted the anvil using the flame rope into the air, and towards a flying box with other furniture in it, they placed the anvil in the box, and then Arvak snuffed out the flame rope.

“Phew, thanks, I don’t think I could have gotten that done by myself.”

“No problem, just next time- oh bloody hell!” he yelled as his flame wings snuffed out on their own, causing him to fall out of the sky. He completely forgot that the only thing he ate today was one apple, and keeping up wings made of fire and a rope while pulling a heavy object into the air takes a lot of energy. His plummet to the earth was stopped just short of four feet from the ground when his new grey friend caught him. She gently placed him back on his hooves, “thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Well, I have to get back to work. My name is Ditzy by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Arvak.” He waved goodbye, but winced when she flew right into a wall.

“I’m okay!” she yelled.

He shrugged and continued walking to Rarity’s boutique.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

He made it to her front door without any other distractions or diversions, much to his disappointment. He knocked on the door, and a small unicorn filly answered it, she stared at him wide eyed.

“Who’s at the door sweetie bell?” he heard Rarity call.

“May I come in?” Arvak asked.

The filly just nodded, remembering the story her sister told her from last night, but still scared by his appearance. She rushed back into the store and up a staircase, while Arvak stood at the front door confused.

“Oh Arvak is that you, do come in and make yourself comfortable.” She says. He walks to where Rarity is, and sees several dresses on… would they be called ponyquinns?... maybe… anyway.

“What’s with the dresses?” Arvak questioned.

“Well dear, there is an event known as the Grand Galloping Gala coming up in a short time, so I made dresses for my friends for when we go.” She explained.

“Oh I see… still not seeing the importance.”

“The Gala is a prestigious event that only certain ponies get invited to. I was fortunate enough to get a ticket for the Gala from my friend Twilight, oh, I just remembered, how was the party last night. I couldn’t stay long, lots of work to do, you know?”

He nodded in understanding to the last part of her statement, not really understanding how this Gala could be so important. “I guess that makes sense. Well, the party went great, got hammered and woke up in bed with Twilight… why are you grinning so wide?”

“Twilight hmm, I didn’t think you two would hit it off so soon, how did your night go?” she asked with a wink.

“It went pretty well, she didn’t seem mad at all when she we figured out what happened. But what I don’t get is how that worked, I mean I’m a skeleton, how would I be able to-“

“Hey Arvak, what are you doing here?” Spike asked, interrupting Arvak’s thoughts, or rather explanation of what he was doing last night.

“I was telling Rarity how last night went.”

“Well, go on, I want to know why you made me get up in the middle of the night to go sleep over here, not that I’m complaining.”

“Well, Twilight and I were-mmff” a white hoof silenced him, more like a pair that clamped his upper and lower jaw shut.

“Spike, that is something that you don’t need to hear at you age, right Arvak?” Rarity asked.

She removed her hooves from his mouth, thinking he got the message. “What, he’s not supposed to know that Twilight and I- mmff” He was silenced again, this time, Rarity used her magic.

“Well, I guess we will get back to this another time. What were you here for, I’m sorry if I distracted you before.”

She released him once she finished her statement. “Well, Twilight is off to Canterlot for a few days, so she said I was to keep the library in order till she gets back, oh, and to also retrieve Spike from his temporary dwelling.”

“Oh do I have to go?” Spike wined.

“well, Twilight did tell me that if you didn’t wake up I could drag you back, what’s stopping me from saying you woke up halfway there…”

“Alright I’m going.” He grumbled.

“So Arvak, what are you going to do while Twilight is out of town?” Rarity asked.

“I’m not sure, ill cross that bridge when I get to it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I need someone to help me with any orders that may seem a tad too much. Anyway, have a nice day Arvak.”

“You too.” He said as he left. He made his way to the library, and felt a little burning sensation in his, well, wherever the food goes when he eats, surely not his stomach, maybe something in his ribcage. He stopped in his tracks and looked down; his ribs were burning a slight red color instead of purple… “I’m hungry.” He rationalized, and continued his trot back to the library.
-----------------------------------------------------------

He trotted through the front door and saw spike rearranging the books on the shelves, and saw a note on the table in the middle of the lobby with a bag of coins next it. He picked up the note and read it to himself: ‘Arvak, in my haste to leave for Canterlot, I forgot to go and pick up supplies for the next few days. I would like for you to go and pick up the items mentioned on the list under this note.’

He read the list, some basic foodstuffs, book deliveries to pick up, some quills and parchment. He took the bag of coins and asked a question that was bugging him since he read the note.

“Hey spike.”

“Yeah.”

“How am I supposed to hold all the stuff on this list?”

Spike scratched his chin with a claw, “you can use Twilights extra saddlebag, its right by the door.”

“Thanks.” Arvak put the saddle on and placed the bits in the right bag, and set out to get the chores done.
-----------------------------------------------------

He walked into the market, well, after about half an hour of randomly trotting around with no idea where in oblivion he was going. Anyway, he was glad that not that many ponies were freaked out by his presence; it was only the rich looking ones or the foals that did not know who he was yet. While wandering around, he managed to find most of the stuff on his list; all he needed were some apples, carrots, and quills. Regrettably, quills and sofas was out of quills, so he would have to find another way to retrieve some, but that was not important now.

“Well howdy there Arvak!” a very familiar voice blared into his ear, or whatever he used as ears. Whenever he thought about how he worked, the more it gave him a headache.

-turning of self logic analyzers in;

3

2

1

…

“Hey Applejack.” He replied happily. “I’m here to pick up a few things for Twilight while she is away in Canterlot.”

“Well that’s mighty nice of ya, I think Twilights lucky to be going out with a stallion like you, even if you don’t have that much in the way of muscle.” She said.

He gave her a curious look, and then dropped it, still oblivious to what she said. “Well, I’m here to pick up some apples, then I have to go to Carrot Top’s stall for some carrots. Do you know of any other place to get quills, that quills and sofas place is out.” she gave him a confused look. “I know right, place that only sells two thins doesn’t have half of what it sells in stock.”

“Well, ya got me there, maybe you can go and see if they sell some of those new pen things that came around a while ago, heard they’re refillable.”

“I might check it out, anyway, I’m here for some… never heard of these before.”

“Let me see that… hmm. Ah got those, just hold up a sec… there ya go.” She said as she handed a bag of apples to Arvak. “Two bits partner.” He put two of the small gold coins on the stall and waved goodbye, which she returned. He brought out an apple and munched on it, which quelled his hunger a bit.

He walked another five steps to the carrot stall… wonder why the two are so close together.

“Hey Carrot Top.” He chirped, waking the mare from what appeared to be a good dream from the glare she gave him, but quickly softened up when she saw him.

“What can I get for you?”

“Need some carrots, well, six to be exact.”

She placed the carrots in a bag and handed it to him. “Six bits.”

“Why so cheap?”

“Think of it as an apology for what happened yesterday.”

“Oh, well, thanks. See you later.”

“You too.”

‘Hmm, I guess some ponies are still hung up on what happened yesterday. Not that the little discount is something to complain about, but the apologies that they gave me were eno-‘

THUD!

“Ow, dangit, my head has been through enough already.” He muttered to himself. He gazed at the offending wall in front of him… err… door.

“Who dares interrupt The Great and Powerful Trixie’s beauty sleep!?!?”