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 rather giddy about 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 giant 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 the shock they felt earlier. "Yeah?" asked Lyra with a cheerful smile. “What’s up?

"I was actually wondering…” As he scanned their surroundings during his trot, Canvas paused for only a couple seconds before asking, “do either of you know of any places to rent?"

Both of the mares gasped with extremely delighted smiles. "Ohmigosh!” exclaimed Bon-Bon with a bug-eyed glance back at him. “You mean you're finally going to live here?!"

"Ugh, finally!" said Troy, who looked equally as elated as the mares while they walked alongside Canvas. "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 up at the gryphon. “Bon-Bon and I tried to tell him the same thing!”

“Guys, come on!” griped Canvas as he rolled 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. As Canvas groaned from the strain and was caught in Lyra’s grip, the unicorn said with a gleeful smile, “Canvas, we’re soooooo happy you’re going to be living in Ponyville!~”

Bon-Bon went in to hug Canvas as well, which the stallion was more than happy to receive from the two. While he hugged both the mares back with his eyes clenched shut, 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 when they reached the lines of vendors around the market district. Because of the art show, there were over twice as many ponies than usual, all of whom were looking for a quick meal after a long day outdoors. As he looked around, 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; she was also wearing an old brown Stetson, which helped hold back the long, blonde mane tied up behind her head. Troy’s face lit up when he saw the farmpony, immediately recognizing her from the storm prep.

"Hey there, Applejack!" he said with a wave of his claw, which caused 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 while pointing a hoof at him. “Um, your name’s Troy, right?"

Troy nodded his head, which made the mare sigh with a relieved smile. “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 as she kept her focus on the stallion. “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, and was 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, which caused Canvas to roll his eyes with a brief whinny. Troy and Applejack both chuckled to that remark, but didn’t try to say anything in addition.

When Canvas finally turned back to Applejack, she was carrying a look of interest while smiling at him. "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 when he first came to Ponyville. But as of now, the artist realized that he had enough bits to actually spring for something to fit his preferences. "I guess if I can, I wouldn’t mind finding a place with a lot of open space. If I can find a loft or something, I can probably paint a lot more."

With that, Applejack's face lit up like he’d said something brilliant. "Is that so? Because Ah might be able ta help out if yer interested!"

In exchange for her help, Canvas agreed to help Applejack sell some apples at her stand, and also 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 thereafter once 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's attention as they trotted between a couple of empty fields. However, the stallion’s interest was piqued when Applejack pointed out the place she had in mind: a large, abandoned-looking barn that stood by itself on the right of the road.

As he walked up to the old barn, Canvas could tell that nopony had been around it in years. The original red paint was now long gone, as it had been weathered off and worn down to reveal the grayed wood underneath. It had several windows along the side walls, but large planks of wood were screwed outside the frames to make sure nopony could sneak inside. A large, rusted lock held the large front doors together, but Applejack pulled out a ring of keys from under her hat before unlocking 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 help the mare, 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.

While the lack of light made it difficult to notice many of the cobwebs or spots in need of repair, 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, even though most of it covered by several large pieces of rusted farming equipment. As he stepped 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,” admitted Applejack with a shrug as she walked inside the space behind Canvas, “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 its worth."

Canvas nodded his head, but he still scanned the giant barn with a puzzled expression. Curious as to why the Apple Family had a barn like this outside their property, 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. While he certainly wasn’t going to say anything about the stallion who just helped him out so tremendously, he couldn’t help but worry a little as he looked around the dilapidated space.

"Now, don’t get me wrong,” Applejack said insistently while 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 or somethin'. But then her hip went out a while later, and she wasn't able ta do nuthin with this place."

Canvas winced as he sucked some air through his teeth. "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,” assured Applejack with a thankful nod. “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 that was lingering on the mantle. "It doesn't look like anypony's been here in years."

“Yeah, you’d be right ‘bout that,” admitted AJ with another shrug. “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, and was able to see just how massive the barn really was. It may have been old, dusty, and probably in need of repairs, but he could tell that it could be a great place with some hard work. He walked over to the windows at the back of the loft, 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 despite the dust. There may have been some uplifted floorboards and a couple holes in the roof, but nothing that looked to be unfixable. Applejack seemed a little wary when she walked up beside Canvas, most likely expecting him to be a bit more hesitant about what she brought him out to see. But much to her surprise, Canvas turned to her with a satisfied grin and asked, "So, how much are you asking for it?"

Since there was still a lot of work to be done, Applejack’s eyes widened when she saw his optimistically wide smile. However, the farmpony was able to come up with a fair estimate while looking around the pace herself "Well, Ah won’t ask for a lot fer it, 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 as she kept her gaze away from Canvas, not wanting to see his response to that price. While it may have been a really cheap estimate, a profit was still a profit for the farmer. 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 this place fixed up before ya move in, at no extra charge."

"Hmm…”

Canvas continued to scan the barn, and rubbed the bottom of his chin with a hoof. Even though he already knew his answer, he didn’t want to seem too eager to buy a barn like this. But 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, and savored 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. However, 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. While 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 from the barn before the first day even ended. The rest of that time was spent making all the necessary repairs, as well as fixing the plumbing and electrical problems. But only three days prior to his current trek out to the barn, 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 due to his excitement. After painting several pieces in his hotel room to occupy his mind, there was nothing to keep him from thinking about his new home. But before he could walk around the final curve on the road, Canvas was met by the sight of Applejack who was standing in wait with a grin. He could see some beads of sweat in 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 from beneath the brim of her hat. "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.

As they walked around the corner, Canvas was surprised to see that the outside of the barn looked exactly the same as before. The windows may have been unboarded and sporting some brand new frames, but the walls itself were still unpainted and greying with wear. Fortunately, Applejack spoke up before he could say anything about that unfinished detail. "Just so ya know, we decided to get the inside finished up before anything else. Besides, since you’re a painter and all, we figured you’d wanna try paintin’ the barn yourself for a personal touch."

Canvas honestly thought that them painting the barn would’ve been the ‘finishing touch’ Applejack talked about a few days ago. However, he was also grateful that Applejack put his skills into consideration like that. 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,” assured Canvas as he shot Applejack a thankful smile. “I've actually been wanting to try painting this myself anyways."

Before Canvas could reach the front doors, Applejack motioned him to follow her as she went along the right side of the barn. Even though he wasn’t sure what she was doing, Canvas followed until he saw where she was heading. Right near the rear of the barn, a regular door was standing almost hidden at the far end of the wall. 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 before stepping 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; even though the wall worked as a divider for the front and back ends, it only went halfway up to the roof. As he turned back towards the barn’s rear end, Canvas could see another wall was 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, and a clean oven and refrigerator he recognized from the equipment piled around before.

With a huge smile, Canvas rushed up the stairs while Applejack 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, and quickly looked 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 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 also a storage space for all his incoming art projects

"So, wha'cha think?” shouted out Applejack from downstairs with an optimistic smile. “Ya like it?"

Without hesitation, Canvas bolted down the stairs like a filly on Heart's Warming Eve. With an overwhelmingly joyous smile on his face, Canvas was close to tears as he lunged onto Applejack and pulled her in a massive hug. He stood on his hindlegs, and actually hoisted Applejack off her hooves as he spun her around the room.

"ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKYOOOUUUU!!"

"Whoa nelly!" Applejack was glad he was happy with their work, but she wouldn’t have expect him to be this excited about an unfurnished and unpainted barn. Nevertheless, the mare still tried to hug him back while saying in response, "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 as he smiled at everything. "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. And as he on the lights, Canvas smiled with a content sigh while looking around the clean space.

Though it was virtually empty right now, he still felt euphoric from the fact that this space was now his. Not to mention, since he still had plenty of bits to help furnish and decorate the place, he knew the current emptiness wouldn’t last long. As he walked 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 to his ceiling. Despite how scary it felt to lay in such a spaciously dark barn by himself, only one thing could pass through the stallion’s mind to keep 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 after spending so much time among 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 as he rested 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 on top of his blanket, one more thought graced Canvas' mind to leave him feeling truly content.

I'm no longer just a guest.

I actually have a home.

Just so any newer readers are aware, I've recently been undergoing a big project to turn the Brushed Away series into physical books for individual sale. Because of that, I just wanted to make a quick note for which chapters have been revised so far, including this one.

I want to give my deepest thanks, as well as some well-deserved credit to my followers helping me out with this process, as well as Double R. Forrest for their proofreading credits. And if anyone is interested in helping out with making this project a reality, I highly recommend checking out my Official Ko-Fi page dedicated to it.