Chapter 12
Sitting in the spotter’s nest, Holly looked at the city all around her. The spotter’s nest was a common post for new recruits, a vital part of learning how to remain alert while dealing with boredom. Holly had herself, some coffee, a pair of binoculars, and a whole city to watch to keep herself busy. She also had her thoughts, which now that she was alone, filled her mind and refused to go away.
All she had to do was watch for fires, which seemed simple enough. Look for smoke rising up from somewhere. Listen for distant bells that were ringing. Look for flares shot up into the sky by helpful unicorns.
The icy cold wind gusted, tearing at Holly’s mane and coat. She ignored it, her eyes narrowed as the cold air filled them with tears. Her shock of green mane whipped back from her head and was tugged by the gale. The spotter’s nest, a wooden structure, rocked back and forth in the strong breeze, but Holly did not feel alarmed. She had an amazing view of the city to keep her distracted from such minute terrors.
Lifting up her binoculars, Holly watched more distant targets. She saw smoke, but it curled up into the sky out of a chimney. More smoke rose out of a distant cannery, some place of horror that made a product known as ‘cod liver oil.’ For the life of her, Holly could not understand why a pony would need to drink such a vile concoction. Another factory in the distance was Firestrike’s Matches and Fire Starters. That would be an excellent place to keep a close eye upon. There were other places too; a furniture factory, a wagon wheel factory, as well as a coach factory where they made cabs and wagons. All of which Holly was certain were flammable.
On a distant hotel roof, Holly spotted a couple kissing. She only watched for a moment, peering through her binoculars, and then made herself look at something else, even though she wanted to keep watching the romantic display.
“Ready to die of boredom yet?”
Looking down from the spotter’s nest, Holly saw Knock Knock. He looked tired. His eyes were red and bleary. There were bags beneath them and Knock Knock’s entire face looked as though he had aged twenty years in a single night.
“Nope! This is great. I love watching the city!”
“Oh… well… I suppose we can use more watchers that actually enjoy this job.” Knock Knock took a deep breath, held it, let it out in a heavy sigh, and then began to watch the bobbing airship that was tethered to the side of the building.
“So… Knocker, what in Tartarus went on last night?” Holly asked as she peered through her binoculars. She was eyeing the match factory, which produced a lot of thick, black smoke. “Exploding fire hydrants?”
“I don’t know,” Knock Knock replied.
“But what causes a fireplug to just explode?” Holly asked. She lowered her binoculars.
“Holly, if I had to guess, and this is just a crazy guess made with not enough sleep, I’d say that the fireplug was slathered down in some kind of chemical that produces an explosive result when mechanical energy is applied.” Knock Knock shook his head and a fierce scowl caused even more wrinkles to appear on his face.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, so I am going to make a confused pony face.” Holly looked down at Knock Knock, crossed her eyes, and made her confused pony face, which she was told was similar to her silly pony face.
Mustache quivering, Knock Knock appeared to be trying not to laugh. “Imagine Holly, if you will, somepony covering a fireplug with something like… like… a nitroglycerine based gel. You’d go to tap the plug, hit it with a wrench, apply mechanical energy, and then you’d get an explosion. I’m not saying that this is what happened though… just a guess… a wild, wild guess. All I do know is, the fireplug exploded.” Knock Knock, now serious looking, bowed his head and his ears drooped down. “Poor Tapper.”
Lifting up her binoculars, Holly peered through them, not knowing what to say, or how to respond. She knew that she was part of the team, but still felt like an outsider.
“Holly, you’ve been here for six hours. You’ve been up in the spotter’s nest for over four. Go home, Holly, go home,” Knock Knock said.
“I can keep doing this,” Holly replied, not bothering to look down.
“You could, but you are still in your training and probation phase. We’re not supposed to keep you active for more than six hours at a time. Some kind of mumbo jumbo about mental fatigue impairing your ability to learn the job.”
“Whatta load of horseapples.” Holly set down the binoculars and looked down at Knock Knock. “That’s a wagon load of crap!”
“Yeah, maybe, but that is how it is. I’d like to keep ya, cause right now nopony wants the spotter’s nest, but I can’t, Holly. So skeedaddle.” Knock Knock squinted up at Holly and waited for her to come down.
“Fine. I’ll be here bright and early tomorrow morning,” Holly said as she lept over the edge of the spotter’s nest. She plunged towards the roof of the fire station and dropped for a good twenty feet.
She landed with a heavy thud beside Knock Knock, who stood wide eyed and rather alarmed that Holly had just made a twenty foot drop. He stood there, staring, his lower jaw moving as Holly shook some snow from her jacket.
“Ladders take too long,” Holly said, giving Knock Knock a nudge and waggling her eyebrows at him. She gave the tired looking unicorn a wide grin.
“Get out of here, ya crazy broad… go home!” Knock Knock shook his head.
“Ya ya, I’m leaving… take care of yourself Claybourne.”
Opening the door, Holly waited for some kind of greeting from Alfredo, knowing that he would be there to welcome her home. She came inside, took off her coat, and hung it from a hook on the wall near the door.
The house was warm, almost too warm. The front room was now an immaculate place. There was a new looking table now that sat between the couch and the sitting chair. On the table there was an ornate wooden bowl filled with fruit and beside the bowl was a newspaper. Something garlicky was heavy in the air, and it made Holly’s mouth water.
Holly thumped over to the sitting chair and sat down. As she eased herself into the chair, she heard hooves on the stairs and then, when she looked up, she saw a familiar black and white figure that brightened her mood right away, making her feel better about her day.
“Madam, I found the table down in the sub cellar. I restored it and brought it up to the front sitting room. I hope it pleases you,” Alfredo said in a soft, soothing voice.
“I like it, thank you Alfredo.” Holly continued to study Alfredo, watching as he reached the bottom of the stairs. His ears were drooping and he did not seem his usual, perky self.
“Madam, would you like a bath drawn?” Alfredo asked.
“No thanks, not at the moment,” Holly replied. Something seemed off with Alfredo, but Holly couldn’t figure out what it was. Being an earth pony, Holly sometimes had these feelings, but didn’t know why she had these feelings.
“Perhaps lunch?” Alfredo asked, one silver-blue eyebrow raising.
“Lunch would be lovely, but I don’t want to eat alone.” Holly gave Alfredo a fetching smile. “Say, you wouldn’t know anypony I could have a lunch date with, do you?”
“Madam, my apologies. I do not.” Alfredo stood waiting, glancing over at the kitchen door. “I do have something cooking though because I was expecting you home.”
“How about you, Alfredo?” Holly asked, blinking her eyes at Alfredo.
“Madam, if you requested it, I would have lunch with you.” Alfredo turned his head and looked at Holly. “If that would make you happy. It would give us a chance to discuss an important issue.”
“Oh?” Holly, now curious, looked at Alfredo, wondering what was wrong. “How bout this Alfredo, you tell me what’s wrong now… so I can think about it, and then maybe help you with it over lunch.”
“Madam, I… Holly, this is very difficult for me.” Alfredo closed his eyes and shook his head. “I am sorry.”
“Why sorry?” Holly pointed at the couch. “Sit Alfredo. Don’t make me tell you twice.”
The stuffy stallion remained unmoving. He opened his eyes, stared at the couch, and then his head turned towards Holly. “Madam, I fear I shall have to tender my resignation and I will not be—”
“WHAT?” Holly shouted, leaning forward in her chair.
“Very sorry.”
“Alfredo Noodle, you had better explain yourself,” Holly demanded, rising up out of her chair and moving towards Alfredo. “You can’t quit!”
“Madam, it is nothing personal. I… ah, it is very complicated,” Alfredo replied.
“Spill your guts then and I’ll decide if it is personal.” Holly’s face contorted into a horrible scowl as she stared up at the much taller Alfredo.
“The apartment in which I live has been sold. The whole building. I have been given a notice of eviction and I have a short amount of time to move out. There is nothing, and I do mean nothing available that I can afford on my salary. I cannot be homeless and then be expected to do my job here,” Alfredo said, explaining everything.
“So what will you do?” Holly asked.
“Madam, it is my intention to move to another city and start over,” Alfredo replied.
“No… no… no…” Holly shook her head. She glared up at Alfredo, standing inches away from him. “That’s not happening. I like you. You… you’re like my friend—”
“Madam, we know each other as acquaintances and—”
“Shut up!” Holly demanded. “I get to decide who my friends are!” Holly reached up and poked her hoof into Alfredo’s chest “I don’t even know how many bedrooms I have in this place. All of them are empty. You… you’re going to pick one, you’re going to move your crap in there, and you… you are not going to give me any lip about this, do you hear me?”
“Madam… I…” Alfredo stammered.
“NO LIP!” Holly poked Alfredo hard enough to cause him to stumble backwards. “This place is large enough for the two of us. You can work your normal hours, do your job, and then do whatever it is that you do in your off hours.”
“Madam, it is a bit more complicated than that… I have a complicated personal life that makes some ponies uncomfortable and I—”
“I… don’t… care!” Holly poked Alfredo again and remained deep within his personal space. “What you do in your personal life is your business… how bad could it be?”
“Madam, I moonlight in musical theatre—”
“That’s awesome!” Holly’s whole mood shifted and she smiled up at Alfredo. “What do you do? What’s it like? Are you gay or something and you think I’ll be bothered by that?”
“Madam… Holly… no… I…” Alfredo backed away from Holly.
“If you want to bring home a nice stallion from the theatre I won’t mind, but I might ask to watch,” Holly said, giving Alfredo a wink.
“Madam! Please… I am not gay!” Alfredo’s ears perked upright. “I am a transvestite! That doesn’t make you gay! I like mares but I also like looking like a mare! I like pretty, frilly things and fine perfume! I like singing and dancing! I like playing feminine roles!”
“And this is your complicated personal life that you worry about?” Holly asked.
“I’ve had to learn how to hide it. I’ve lost a job because of it. I did nothing wrong, but one of my previous employers found out about my personal life and fired me, saying that what I did on my own personal, private time made me unprofessional and unsuited for my work. I have been evicted several times because some small minded apartment manager didn’t want some ‘queer’ living in their building.” Alfredo lifted his head high and a proud look crept over his face. “I am not just some ‘fag’ or a ‘queer’ or just some dumb ‘drag queen.’ I take my job very, very seriously. My cutie mark appeared for a reason. This is what I do, what defines me as a pony… and what I do in my personal time also defines me as a pony. But I keep the two separated and I remain very, very professional.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get that. But I don’t have a problem with it.” Holly grinned at Alfredo. “What’s for lunch? Something smells good. Still up for our lunch date?”
“Madam… I… why yes, I suppose I am. Are you certain you wouldn’t mind having me as a tenant?” Alfredo looked down at Holly.
“Would you get mad if I asked you to wear one of those Fancy maid outfits one day?”
Alfredo began to sputter and he backed away from Holly. “Madam… I do not even know how to begin dealing with you—”
“Oh come on, a Fancy maid outfit would look pretty good on you. You could work it.”
“I need to check on lunch.”
“So, will you stay with me?” Holly asked.
“Yes, if you will have me,” Alfredo replied.
“Neat. Now this house won’t feel so lonesome. This place is creepy at night.”
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"waited for" or just "awaited"
My mind: "Yeah, by now there is no means that kudzu can create another character that will surprise me much."
*Alfredo uncover his...her...whatever...secret*
My mind: "Damn you, kudzu !!!!! Damn you !!!!"
Alfredo and Holly are a riot when they interact.
Wait, so it turns out someone working for a company that takes a sum of money for lifetime service can't pay their employees too well?
I am shocked!
Oh, and there's that other thing in the chapter too about Alfredo.
But that salary!
It is Manehattan, though. Gentrification might be to blame instead.
6311454
Alfredo is actually paid quite well, as far as maid salaries go.
He's just not paid enough. At least, not enough to live on his own in a city where the rent is too high.
6311467
Maids are, mostly, paid pretty poorly anyway.
There are some outliers, but they are usually for extremely demanding positions. I remember hearing about 6 digit maid salaries for maids who did maid services for remote sites on some kind of conference circuit, I think. They constantly traveled and, while on the job, had very little free time (only whatever they could do when they were in their domicile in the evening) for 11 months in the year. The last month was vacationing basically wherever they wanted with the income, but it was constant demanding work otherwise.
Oh that's a neat shift with Alfredo! I like how quirky it is for him to have something so seemingly at odds with his severe professionalism. It also comes across as so very normal in a way that just makes Alfredo seem so adorable to me right now. He just became as fascinating as Holly, in a way. I'm also hoping they come to a point where we go 'and then they kissed.'
There's just something so engaging and delightful about this story. I look forward to how things develop on the firepony side of conflicts too.
I forget though, was this one in the Chaseverse? Considering how many stories you have that are in the verse, I think you should add a note in the descriptions for the few ongoing stories that aren't.
6311633
Look at the group listing. No Chase-Verse.
6311639 See, that there would require logic.
I'm still learning to dig for the ore of reason, let alone start smelting useable logic. I derp, therefore I spam. That was more intentional than I think some people will get.
I still ship them!
Another well done chapter man, awesome job!
She jumped down twenty feet... can she be anymore awesome? I mean, come on, she's already breaking my mind with amazing she is.
I love Alfredo, he's awesome!
Oh my gosh! This keeps getting more awesome.
I knew it! I knew he had something else going! Hahaha nice. Keep the work going kudz my friend.
Alfredo just got 20% cooler! <3
tender