Sky high connections

What a day! First Rarity had to deal with an unhappy client, then the  Ponyville Express ran so late that she missed her connection to  Manehattan, causing her to arrive at the hotel she had booked one minute  too late to check in for the night. In typical Rarity fashion she  dropped to her knees in front of the snazzy establishment and wailed  amid a mountain of luggage.

Unfortunately, this was Manehattan, so nopony cared.

"Hey,  you're from that Friendship School!" She heard a deep, masculine voice  say. She recognized that voice. Looking over her shoulder she saw a  familiar, red face.

"Garble? What are you doing  here?" Rarity asked with mascara-laden tears streaming down her cheeks,  her voice cracking from the tightness in her throat.

"I live here... for now." Garble stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, that's right! Smolder mentioned you started attending the Manehattan School of the Arts." Rarity recalled.

"So why are you on the ground? You know this place is filthy, right?" Garble asked, as nonchalant as before.

Rarity  immediately got up and dusted herself off, looking rather dismayed.  Normally she would launch into a lengthy rant about her horrible day  when asked, but this dragon still vexed her after everything he put  Spike through and she was not going to appear undignified in front of  him twice. Garble didn't seem to take note of her demeanor. He instead  looked over at the hotel next to them.

"They're not gonna let you check in at this hour," he continued, "You're gonna need a place to stay. Come on."

He gathered Rarity's bags and began walking, to the pony's confusion. Rarity stood in place, watching him.

"Are you coming or what?" Garble demanded. Not used to such forceful treatment, Rarity complied without thinking.

After  a few moments the unicorn regained her senses and asked the dragon who  was now effortlessly carrying all of her belongings where they were  going. Garble replied by telling her that they were going to his  penthouse, and that he'd never hear the end of it if his sister found  out he'd left one of her teachers stranded. Rarity definitely believed  that!

As the two walked, Rarity began imagining  what sort of ghastly bachelor pad this brutish college student must be  inhabiting at the moment. The prospect filled her with more and more  dread as she trudged along. Her imagination was running so wild she  didn't even notice they were entering an even fancier neighborhood than  the one her hotel was in. When they arrived at the building Garble was  guiding her to, Rarity did a double take. This was the single most  exclusive apartment complex in all of Manehattan! Not only that, but  Garble seemed to have his own private elevator!

Rarity  was still processing what was happening while the stallion at the front  desk of the fanciest lobby she had ever seen said something about her  being an esteemed guest. Garble instructed staff to watch the bags,  since they didn't fit into the elevator at the same time as Rarity and  himself. Dazed, she stumbled into the elevator when her dragon host told  her to get in. After a particularly long elevator ride the doors opened  and Rarity was not prepared for what she witnessed.

This  penthouse was enormous: two stories tall and covered in natural stone  from the bottom to the top. Rarity's guest wing alone was bigger than  some of her most affluent clients' Canterlot condos. How in Equestria  could this dragon afford such a place?

Oh, right... DRAGON.

Well, Rarity wasn't complaining anymore!