//------------------------------// // 2 - Rest Your Head // Story: It Came From the Swamp // by David Silver //------------------------------// "Yeah?" The mare in the office looked up at the stallion that had poked his head in. "Can ah help?" Thank pointed to the sign that glowed in the window. "Still got space?" "Sure." She rose up and left her chair behind, instead approaching him. "First night, you pay upfront. Nothin' personal, just been burned in the past." "S'alright," assured Thanks, coiling on himself to fetch his bag of coins. "How much?" She quotes an amount that seemed reasonable and he paid. "Hey." She squinted at the coins balanced on her hoof. "Now ah ain't the fastest count in the city, but this here's way too much." "Two weeks," argued Thanks, knowing how long until he was paid again. Whatever other faults he had, using his money properly wasn't one of them. "Payin' ahead of time's alright, yeah?" "Sure sure." She stuffed it away and replaced it with a key. "This's yours." She slapped it down onto his hoof. "You're on the third floor." She pointed up. "Includes utilities so long as nopony goes nuts with it." "Ain't a problem." He stepped back into the crisp bite of the evening. "Hey," came her call. "Didn't catch yer name." "Didn't toss it," he admitted. "Thanks." "Yer welcome?" She hiked a brow, peering at him. "Nah. Thanks Stallion, tha's the name." She didn't press for much else, allowing him to enter the building the proper way. The entry hallway had an elevator, what decadence! Down the hallway, he could see stairs. Considering the options, he wandered to the elevator, ready to retire for the day. The button was lit, indicating the ride was on the way. "Always feels like forever, don't it?" A mare was there, rocking left and right on her hooves slowly. "Saw you comin' out of the office, move in?" "Yeah," he replied simply. "Name's Candy." She offered a hoof. "We're neighbors." "Well, nice to meet." He met the hoof. "Thanks Stallion." "That's a funny name." She lowered her hoof to the ground. "Fer a moment, thought you mistook me. I don't look like a guy, do I?" She laughed, clearly finding the situation amusing. "Nah," he assured in a not-entirely assuring way, chuckling from deep in his chest. "Candy's a sweet name." "Touche," she sang, dancing on her hooves. "Finally!" Her cry came as the door slid open, allowing two people carrying a television between them to escape into the hallway, balancing the CRT between their bodies as they clip-clopped down the hall. Candy darted in and thrust out a hoof to keep it from closing. "Goin' up!" she called, looking to Thanks. Thanks watched the TV recede, following Candy. "Never saw that before, what was it?" "You kiddin'?" She punched a number on the panel. "Well, guess you're not going home yet." "Huh?" "I gotta show you what a TV's like!" She lowered her hoof once he was inside, letting the door shut. The room lurched into motion, carrying them upwards. "Greatest invention in ferever, lets you waste time better than ever before." The door chimed, sliding open fitfully to reveal the second floor. She stepped off partway, blocking the door with her body. "Come on." He looked unsure a moment, but emerged. She laughed as she proceeded, letting the door close behind them. "I'm the one that should be nervous, some random stallion comin' into my apartment." Not that she seemed bothered at all. She fished out a key as she went down the hallway. "What room do you have?" He paused a moment to get a look at his key. "312?" "No way." She turned in place, showing hers dangling from her teeth, declaring that she was in 212. "You're right over me." She got the key into the knob and began jiggling it. A muffled set of sounds came from inside, hard to make out. "Be quiet in there, ya little monsters," she called as she turned her head, unlocking the door and opening it in one motion. Inside her densely decorated apartment, three foals peered out from behind cover, their eyes not on her, but beyond her to the stranger. "Now don't be like that," she chastised. "This here's a new friend. His name's Thanks. Ya gonna be afraid of somepony called Thanks?" Two colts burst from cover, darting over to Thanks as he closed the door behind himself. "Hey mista!" cried the first, echoed by the second. They circled him curiously, ears pricked and motions fast, fear replaced with curiosity, naked and unvarnished. "Hey yerself," Thanks greeted in kind, smiling at the little ponies. "Uh, are these yours?" "Made 'em myself," she agreed, moving to step up onto a couch and lay across it. "Now get in here and learn what TV's all about." The third foal, a filly, moved to sit beside the couch, next to her mother, less immediately excited to greet the newcomer. The television came alive as Candy pressed a hoof on the big singular button of the wired remote control. "What time is it?" she mused, looking over to where a clock hung on the wall. "Alright, so..." She kept pressing the button and twisting her hoof as she did it, changing the channel. Soon everyone, foal and adult alike, were seated around the room, watching as a comedy show played with wild displays of slapstick and wordplay to amuse played for their entertainment. "Where ya from?" asked one of the colts that was perched near Thanks. "Yeah," agreed the second colt. "Where?" "Out." He gestured vaguely away. "In the woods, past the swamp." "OOooo," they both agreed. "Yer a swamp monster," laughed the second one, giggling. "Well, if ah'm one of those, then what if ah'm hungry?" asked Thanks with a wry smirk. The colts squealed and fled each in a different and seemingly random direction. He was after them, their antics creating more laughter, among them, then the show had succeeded at. "Down in front," roared Candy as the chase wandered between her and the television. "Ah swear." The colt stuck his tongue out at her. "We're jus' havin' fun." Thanks slowed to a stop with his quarry no longer fleeing. "Uh, sorry. Didn't mean nothin'." "Not you." Candy waved it away. "They're the ones that know the rules. When mommy's watching the telly, no getting in the way." She smiled a little, eyes darting between both colts and Thanks. "They seem to like ya." "Oh--" He chuckled softly. "Ah get along with kids well enough." He patted the closest colt on the head, getting a tongue poked out at him in kind. "The swamp monster'll get you some other time, maybe when yer mom's not busy." "Speakin' ah that." His eyes went to the same clock hers had found not long before. "Nah, not needed yet." "Yet?" asked Candy, brow raising. "What are ya waitin' on?" She pulled up, sitting upright on the couch and patting a spot beside her. "Got a job." He stepped up and circled, sitting on his haunches next to her. The children came in closer, colts and the filly arranged about the couch, facing the TV. "Tomorrow I start at six." "AM? Shoot, that's way early." She leaned over the side of the couch and reached down with her face, grabbing a bag of chips into view and starting to munch. "Gotta go?" "PM," he corrected. "So not yet. 8 hours from there." Quick math happened in her head. "You're gonna be there all night!" She reached a hoof, patting him on the shoulder. "Poor thing." "A job's a job," he retorted. "Pays. What's yers?" "Don't got one," she admitted with a shrug. "Ain't fer me anyway." He glanced at the various things in her apartment, and the fact that she had one, and three little foals to feed, but somehow was doing alright? "Huh... If it works." He lifted his shoulders and slid to the floor. "Ah'm just gettin' in the way." "You come on back," she took up the freed space, spreading over the couch. "See you tomorrow?" The colts joined in her call, demanding he return to play. Thanks smiled as he headed for the door. "Be good fer yer mom," he bade the little fluffballs, nosing open the door and stepping out. "G'night, Thanks fer showin' me that thing." Television weren't so bad. He decided not to bother with the elevator again. As the door clicked behind him, locking, he walked to the stairs and climbed up the flight to the third floor. Key in mouth, he approached his door, just above hers. He opened it and blinked, key falling out of his mouth. The apartment was big! Much bigger than he expected. "Ah... what?" He wandered in, looking around. There were three bedrooms in there, a living room, all the fixings, minus furniture, for a whole herd of ponies to move in. But he surely hadn't paid that much for it. The building didn't look rundown enough to warrant the difference in price. There was a note on the counter in the kitchen and he went to get a peek at it. Hello, Stallion If you're reading this, you got my other messages. This is the place. All I need for you to do is live here. I'll cover the difference between this place and a one bedroom, alright? It's in my name, it has to be. Don't worry about it and enjoy the extra space. Yours, Mark Russell Thanks groaned softly. "Roped into it again." It wasn't the first time he'd managed to wander into one of his brother's schemes, often political in nature. "What does he need a place fer?" He shoved the note into the garbage, nothing further to be gained from it. "Whatever, 'least ah got a place for it..." He wandered into one of the bedrooms and got out his few belongings, one of them being a roll out cot that he unfurled with a sharp snap, providing a place to lay across. "How much of this did you plan?" he grumbled, thinking back to the letters he had exchanged with his brother. He was the one that said what part of the city to come into. Hay, he'd mentioned that diner... Did he set up that job? Thanks frowned softly. "Well, Ah'll be the one keeping it." Whether or not Mark got it for him, it'd be his own hooves that made his position there secure. Mark was a small time politician with big dreams. It wasn't the first time, by far, Thanks had helped him get things done. It used to be out of innocence, then, well, a pony needed bits to get by. A soft thump sounded from below, where Candy's apartment was. He smiled a little, imagining some foal, likely, a colt, bumping into something. Her shout dimly drifted upwards afterwards, likely shouting at her kid. They were a happy little family. He pulled up his belongings to use as an impromptu pillow. It wasn't much of one, but better than nothing. The room was warm, which beat out camping outside, which he had done more than a few times. He closed his eyes and let go of things, ready to tackle the next day. Other sounds drifted in from around the building, most less wholesome than the noises of overenergetic little foals. He could hear people coming home, or leaving. The elevator's door chimed occasionally when the elevator arrived on the third floor. The building was alive with activity, marking his new home. But it was time to filter that out. It was time to become what he was meant to be, a night clerk.