Fly Leaf
Once they had returned to the warehouse, the classifieds Spike and Thorax had recovered was studied in earnest and indeed quickly proved useful. For one thing, it enabled them to be able to go through and take stock what jobs they had already tried unsuccessfully and could rule out straightaway, as well as give them details about other job offers and be able to also rule them out when they were not qualified for them rather than blindly wasting time trying them without knowing in advance the full details about it. This helped to narrow down the list of jobs considerably.
More importantly though, it made them aware of a whole slew of new job offers they hadn’t previously been aware were even an option to them, and better still, precise addresses on where they could find them so to inquire about their candidacy. So after assessing their collected skills again and using them to determine which jobs they would be best qualified and thus had the best chances of getting, they circled and numbered them in order of which ones were most likely to be successful. That done, the disguised dragon and changeling set out yet again to try their luck once more at the job hunt.
The first three proved to be busts, the employers of the respective establishments deciding they were not interested in hiring either Thorax or Spike for whatever reason. A fourth had already filled the position offered and by now had sent notification to have their ad in the classifieds removed for tomorrow’s paper. By then, because these locations were scattered about the city of Vanhoover and it took some time to travel between them, it was well into late afternoon, and soon evening would begin to settle upon the city.
“We’re probably going to have to call it quits and head back for the warehouse to spend the night again soon,” Thorax observed aloud as he eyed the sun, sinking low as it neared the horizon. “We’ll have to try the rest in the morning.”
Spike winced at this, looking at address numbers on buildings as they walked down the more moderate-sized backroad lined with small businesses and still full of patrons wandering about. “The only problem with that is as more time goes by, the less likely these job offers are still going to be valid.”
“I know,” Thorax said, having had the same thought. The disguised changeling gazed vacantly down the city street. “But maybe we’ll get lucky at the next destination.”
“Well we’re going to know for certain shortly,” Spike announced, adjusting the false spectacles he wore as part of his disguise as he abruptly stopped. “Because I think this is the place.”
They stopped to stand before a humble and aging three-story townhouse-turned shop, the exterior lined with panels of stained wood. The displays of books clearly seen through the store’s front bay window positioned next to its front door made it clear what sort of wares the store specialized in, but nonetheless, a warmly-colored sign hung over the door made it especially beyond doubt.
“‘Fly Leaf’s Books and Stationery,’” Thorax said aloud, reading the sign. He looked the building over once more. “Well, it seems friendly enough.”
“I betcha it’s privately owned too,” Spike added. “So less worry about that silly corporate nonsense we’ve had to deal with at some of those other places we’ve tried today.”
Thorax pulled a face at the memory. “Think we’ve got a good chance, then?”
Spike crossed two of his claws for luck. “Only one way to find out. You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Jointly, the two on-the-run friends strolled on through the store’s front door, a service bell ringing cheerily as they opened the door. Inside, they found the store’s interior, decorated with the same stained wood paneling as the exterior, fairly quiet and empty. Shelves lined both of the side walls from floor to ceiling, filled with books of all types. Stout bookcases were arranged in an organized pattern across the middle of the room, also filled with books with more still stacked on top in tasteful arrangements, but there was also a group of bookcases filled with stationery supplies as promised on the store’s sign outside. The familiar sights and smells of all of this made Spike immediately long for Twilight’s library in Ponyville, but he pressed that thought out of his head as he and Thorax approached the store’s front desk and looked for the store’s proprietor.
The needed pony, however, did not seem to be present on the store’s sales floor currently. The back wall of the store offered two exits out of the room though. One was a staircase leading up to a higher floor, a sign hung next to it suggesting that there were more goods to be had upstairs. The other was blocked by a pair of batwing doors with another sign hanging over it that read “employees only.” Spike determined that the missing proprietor had to be though one of them.
“Hello?” he called aloud while Thorax continued to take in the store beside him, pulling off the saddlebags he had been carrying nearly all day and placing them by the front desk with his magic.
“Just a moment!” a friendly voice called out from another room. A second later, the batwing doors swung open and a pumpkin orange-colored middle-aged mare with a wavy mane hanging loosely about her head the color of vermilion poked her head out. An open book with the pages fluttering about served as her cutie mark. Immediately spying Spike and Thorax, she put on a welcoming grin and approached them. “Hello!” she greeted. “How can I help you?”
Spike held up their copy of the classifieds. “Well, we saw the ad in the paper that you’re hiring here and came to inquire about it,” he explained, a response that had become well-rehearsed by now.
“Oh good!” the earth pony said as she stepped up behind the front desk the two gathered at and offered one hoof to shake. “I’m the store’s owner, Fly Leaf.”
“I’m Spark,” Spike introduced as he shook the proffered hoof, giving the mare the alias he and Thorax had devised for himself. He motioned to the disguised changeling standing beside him. “And this is my friend and traveling companion Thornton.”
“How do you do, ma’am?” Thorax asked, taking the mare’s hoof to shake next.
“Oh please, there’s no need for any of that ‘ma’am’ business,” Fly Leaf said, waving off Thorax’s formality. “You can just call me Fly.” Still grinning, she then focused on the matter at hoof. “So, you’re both here about the assistant job, then? I was only looking to hire one, but…”
“That’s right, if you’ll have us,” Spike said, nodding. “It’s still available, right?”
“Oh yes, don’t worry about that, you’re the first to come in since the day before yesterday asking about it,” Fly remarked with a small frown. “Just haven’t been getting very many ponies interested in the job as there always seem to be some “better offer” somewhere else, so I’m frankly glad you’re here.” Her grin returned as she gave the two a curious glance. “Though I have to admit, you two seem to be an unlikely pair, a unicorn and a dragon…” As this hadn’t been the first time they had been told this during their job search and trying to explain it only seemed to complicate the matter, they chose not to comment. “…you said you were travelers?”
“That’s right,” Thorax said, jumping in to explain the cover story, not entirely fictional, that they had devised along the way during past interviews for jobs. “We joined forces when we became friends as I’ve been going about from destination to destination, observing interesting things along the way and now Spike comes along and helps by keeping company.”
“May I ask why two seemingly as young as you two chose to do that? Education? A greater career choice in mind?”
Thorax shook his head at both. “More just because we can, really. I mean, it’s out there, so why not, right?”
Fly grinned. “Why not indeed? So what brings you to a place like Vanhoover then?”
“More just passing through for the moment…we’re actually hoping to head out of Equestria to someplace like Griffonstone or further next.”
“The problem is that we’ve been left pretty much…broke at the moment after our more recent journey,” Spike continued with an apologetic grin. “So we’re trying to save up some more bits before we head off to our next destination.”
“Ah, so you’re probably not looking to stay long term,” Fly reasoned, nodding her head in understanding. “Well, it would be nice to get somepony that could stick around for a while, but I’m not picky either. I’ve taken on short-term help plenty of times before so I can more than accommodate that.” She folded her forehooves onto the surface of the front desk and leaned closer to the pair. “So I trust you two have a good idea of what the job would ask of you already, right?”
“I used to do volunteer work, of a sort, in a library before meeting Thornton,” Spike explained. “I imagine working in a bookstore can’t be too different from that.”
“And…I’m good at moving things and putting them away,” Thorax added uncertainly.
Fly considered this information for a moment. “Couple of questions,” she stated. “First off, do either of you know how to do bookkeeping?”
“I know some of the basics by association, actually,” Spike offered, remembering the times he had helped Twilight with budgeting, which naturally the bookish mare had always tended to go all out on. “Though I wouldn’t say I’m an expert…”
Fly grinned. “I’m not looking for one, just someone that I can share some of the workload with. And how about a cash register? Either of you know how to work one?”
Spike was more hesitant about this, wincing as he waved one set of claws side to side, expressing his uncertainty. Thorax, however, cautiously raised one hoof. “It’s just calculating out the total prices and the amount of money to give back to the customer if necessary, right? I know the math behind that, so I think I could do that…” he glanced at the cash register that sat next to Fly. “…though I might need a run through on what all the buttons do…”
Fly nodded to herself, again considering all of this. She seemed satisfied enough with what she heard thus far. “Noted,” she said, reaching under the desk to pull out some parchment and a quill. “So you two have any references or past job experience I should know about?”
Here Thorax and Spike turned worried and exchanged glances. This was usually where the job interviews started to go awry. “We’ll be honest with you Miss Fly,” Thorax confessed finally. “We don’t have any of that to give you, much less any formal documentation of it, beyond what we’ve already told you.” Almost belatedly, he added. “Because we’re travelers, see.”
“Sorry, we wish we did,” Spike added by way of apology, though he wasn’t sure it’d be of much aid. “If it helps though, we’re being truthful about what we can do, and we really are interested in doing the job and doing it as well as we can, if you’ll let us.”
It did give Fly a moment’s pause for the first time in the conversation, and she went quiet for a moment as she proceeded to study the pair again. “Curiouser and curiouser,” she murmured aloud. “I at least assume you’ve both had the usual basic educations for your age, right?” When they both nodded, she turned pensive for a moment, as if debating inwardly. Then to their surprise, she shrugged. “Well, you two seem to be genuine enough and young enough that I can certainly see why you wouldn’t have much other references to give yet, so we can come back to that,” she conceded, and proceeded to jot down some notes on her parchment. “Before we continue though, any questions you two have for me?”
Thorax and Spike exchanged glances quickly again, heartened by the fact that she was still willing to hear them out. “I actually do have one, yes,” Spike said, placing the classifieds on the front desk. “Your ad mentions ‘RB offered,’ but we weren’t sure what ‘RB’ means.”
“Oh, it just means I offer optional room and board with the job if anyone’s interested,” Fly explained dismissively without looking up.
Spike’s eyebrows rose at this, however. “Wait, really?” he asked, surprised.
Thorax, however, was still lost. “Room and board?” he repeated.
“Basically I offer lodging upstairs along with basic meals as part of the job,” Fly elaborated. “I always have as a courtesy. Call me old fashioned. The Vanhoover University students used to love that sort of deal, but of course these days, in order to accommodate the costs for providing it, I have to take the necessary money for the room and board out of the accompanying paycheck, resulting in somewhat less pay altogether, and most prospects that come in here lately haven’t been too attracted to that, so again, it’s only if you’re interested.” She looked up from the parchment she had been jotting notes down on. “Are you two saying you’re interested?”
“We just might actually,” Spike admitted, who couldn’t quite believe their luck. If they could land this job, this added benefit could actually help solve some of their other problems he had been worried about.
“Not even put off by the cut in pay that’d come with that?” Fly asked next, looking a bit surprised herself. It apparently wasn’t the sort of reaction she was used to.
Thorax made an almost apologetic grin. “We’d probably take any pay we can get at this point,” he admitted. He rubbed two of his disguised hooves together sheepishly. “It’s…been bit of a long day of nothing but rejections.”
Fly’s grin returned once more, and she nodded her head. “I hear what you’re saying,” she said in sympathy. “Job-wise, it’s not always the most forgiving of places, Vanhoover.” She stopped and studied the pair again, this time with a bit of sympathy in her gaze. “You two are…low on options…aren’t you?”
Thorax and Spike exchanged glances. “Is it really that obvious?” Spike asked with a wince.
“We don’t want to be a burden to you if that’s going to be a problem for you Miss Fly,” Thorax added. “I mean, you’re the one who would have the final say in all of this.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Fly assured them, waving the matter aside. “Just making sure we’re all on the same page here is all.” She tilted her head. “I guess I just find the fact two so young, polite, and innocent being forced into this sort of desperation as…” she trailed off, her thought unfinished, but clear nonetheless. She then rapped one hoof on the desk and stood, her demeanor turning friendly again. “So you’re really interested in that room if I hire the pair of you, then?”
Spike, thankful for her segueing due to the sensitivity the subject had been veering towards, nodded eagerly. “It’d make things a little easier for us in the long run, so it seems like it’d be almost perfect for us.”
Fly snorted a chuckle at this, walking out from behind the front desk. “Well, at least let me show you the room first so you can see what you’d be getting yourself into before you go saying that,” she stated as she headed for the staircase leading upstairs, beckoning for the two to follow.
Trailing behind the store’s proprietor, they walked upstairs, past the building’s second floor (which as suspected was full of more of the shop’s wares for sell, the floor appearing to be almost entirely dedicated to stationery products), and on up to its uppermost third floor, the entrance to which was again marked as “employees only.” Here, up in what was virtually the attic spaces of the building, was a small hallway running roughly the length of the building’s horizontal width, broken by a smattering of doors leading to other rooms. The other doors presumably led to other living spaces and probable storage rooms, but Fly led them straight to the door that sat almost directly across from the staircase and opened it, motioning her potential employees inside to look.
“It’s really not much,” Fly explained as the two curiously began to look around. “As you can see, except for the desk and the wardrobe over there, it’s pretty much unfurnished.”
Clearly loft space that was subsequently converted into living accommodations after the fact as the ceiling opened up straight to the rafters and the far half slanted downwards partway, following the tilt of the building’s slanted roof, the room was decently sized. It had one dormer-style casement window on the far wall from the door that formed a small niche-like awning jutting out from the slanted wall surrounding it. A small window seat was placed directly under it, fitting neatly in the gap, with the seat padded with a worn but not-yet-frayed red cushion. The end wall to the right from the room’s entrance was lined with bookcases built into the wall, making two vertical stacks of presently-empty shelves, one stack shorter than the other so to accommodate the room’s slanting ceiling. Where the wall met the corner was another bookcase joining with but running perpendicular to the others. Immediately next to it was a small desk with a wooden stool serving as a seat for it, filling the gap of wall space between the bookcase and the door leading in and out of the room. By contrast however, the other, left side, of the room felt emptier, its wood-paneled walls bare and its floor vacant save for an old oak wardrobe closest, and another door leading into an another, attached, room.
Thorax poked his disguised head through this second door. “It does have what appears to me as an attached bathroom though,” he noted aloud, looking back at Spike.
Spike stepped over to peek as well and saw a medium-sized bathroom with just the basics; a sink, toilet, and set against the opposite wall, a clawfoot tub. “Well that’s pretty nice,” he noted aloud. He turned and glanced back at the room overall again. “Actually, it’s not a bad room altogether.”
“Sure beats the room I grew up in,” Thorax mumbled under his breath, shooting Spike a knowing grin, the disguised changeling no doubt thinking about life in the hive.
“I just figured I ought to at least show you two what the room was like before we went any further with any commitments,” Fly explained. “Because if the drop in pay to cover it doesn’t deter ponies, then it’s usually when they see that it’s just converted attic space and also unfurnished that turns them away.”
“Well, it is a little empty, and it’ll probably stay that way because it’s not like we have any furniture to fill it with…” Spike mumbled aloud.
“Because we’re travelers, see,” Thorax again reminded to Fly, overcompensating in fear Spike’s mumblings might arose suspicion.
But Fly didn’t seem to have any misgivings about the pair at all. When the sound of the store’s front door bell ringing as it opened downstairs echoed up, she readily motioned for them to keep looking around. “Sounds like I have a customer downstairs,” she explained in her usual friendly manner as she turned to exit. “So tell you what, while I go handle that, I’ll leave you two up here to think it over for a bit.”
She then departed. Once she was gone and well out of earshot, Spike looked to his friend. “So, what do you think?” he asked, motioning to the room.
Thorax gave it another look over. “Well, I’ll say this much; we’ve seem to have gotten further on this job hunting thing here than anywhere else today,” he remarked. He nodded his disguised grey head in the direction Fly Leaf has departed in. “I’ve been sensing puzzlement directed at us from Miss Fly, but also a sense of…optimism. She doesn’t seem to have any significant misgivings with us yet that I can see.”
Spike grinned. “It does seem like we’ve got a chance at least,” he agreed. He looked around the room once more. “And the job would come with room and board too. That covers both food for me and living space for the two of us, meaning we don’t have to find those things separately somewhere else.” His grin grew. “And it means we won’t have to stay in that pesky abandoned warehouse in the meantime.”
“The warehouse isn’t all that bad,” Thorax stated, turning and walking into one corner of the room as he continued to look around.
“Well, it’s got a good view, I’ll give it that much,” Spike said as he climbed into the window seat and peered out the window at the back alley below for a moment. He turned around again, sitting on the seat. “Still, we wouldn’t have furniture like a bed or anything here,” he noted aloud. He patted one set of claws on the cushioned window seat, finding it was decently soft. “I suppose one of us could use the window seat as a bed, but we aren’t both going to fit on this.” Spike pulled a face. “Trying that even if there was the space would be…awkward anyway.”
“Agreed, so you could have the window seat, and I’ll just sleep on the floor in a corner somewhere,” Thorax settled immediately.
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. Just give me something like a blanket to put under me and I’ll be fine. It’d be a bit like the mossy nests I slept in back at the hive.”
“Well, the room’s not ours just yet,” Spike reminded anyway as he jumped up again. “Fly Leaf hasn’t given the final word that we’re hired just yet. Wouldn’t surprise me if there are still a few things she might want to try and clear up about us first before she does, so this all could still go south.”
Thorax tilted his camouflaged head. “…why would we go south?” he asked, not understanding the phrase’s intended meaning.
Spike rolled his eyes. “Never mind,” he said. “I guess all we need to settle on for now is whether or not we want to tell Fly Leaf that we’re still interested.”
“I think I am still,” Thorax offered.
“And so am I,” Spike agreed. “So let’s go tell her and see where that takes us next.”
When they went back downstairs, they found that Fly Leaf had finished with the customer, who had already left, and was still straightening things up afterwards at the front desk. She looked up as they approached. “So, I gotta ask, you really still think you want the room and the job?” she inquired aloud but with a grin on her face, suggesting that it was more formality at this point.
“Yeah, we’d still like the job and the room and board offer, if you’re still willing to give them to us,” Spike responded as he and Thorax took up their original positions before the front desk.
“I thought so,” Fly said with a satisfied nod. “So I’ll tell you two what. Because you two only have so many references and work history you can give me, and I just want to make sure you’re both really up for the task, how about you both come in by eight in the morning tomorrow when I open, and I’ll let you two work a shift, as a sort of trial run so we can all get a feel on how this’ll work for everypony.”
Spike and Thorax, who had been expecting more inquiries about their work experience or past that they could only give so much about due to them being secretly banished and on the run, were surprised by the generous offer. “And if that goes well?” Thorax prompted.
“Then you’re hired,” Fly replied. She shrugged. “I think it’d only be fair after all. It’s not like I’ve got anybody else asking for the job at the moment anyway, and while I was only planning on one assistant, I won’t say no to two, and besides…you two strike me as a good team.”
Spike, reflecting back on the things the two had been through together the past couple of days, couldn’t help but grin ironically a little. “Well, we’ve gotten this far,” he admitted before, after having first turned to get quick confirmation from Thorax, nodding his head in agreement. “It’s a deal then, Miss Fly. We’ll be back tomorrow morning at eight.”
“I’ll see you two then,” Fly responded with a nod of her own.
The two turned to leave then, Thorax retrieving his saddlebags from where he had left them next to the front desk. “Bye,” he said with a wave of his disguised hoof as he and Spike slipped out the store’s front door again.
Fly returned the wave and then proceeded to watch the two walk off and on up the street through the front window of her establishment.
“Aw Fly, you big softie,” she sighed aloud to herself with a grin before turning to head back to work.
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So is this a mistype or did Thorax spoil Spike's real name in conversation?
I like Fly already
7822144 I was thinking the same thing. Probably a typo.
Great chapter. Things are looking up fir Spike and Thorax
Good chapter!
I hope it finally works out for the two. They had enough drawbacks already.
4398 Words isn't too long. In my personal opinion a chapter should be between 1200 and 6000 words, with optimum between 1800 and 4500.
May found something you should check again:
Was this your or Thorax' error to call him Spike instead of Spark?
7822144 7822450 7823096
It actually is a typo on my part...but I'm thinking I'm going to leave it in anyway.
For reasons.
7823096
By "longer," I was more referring in comparison to the around 2,000 word average I've been deliberately writing chapters at, as an average of 2,000 words is easier and faster to write per chapter rather than 4,000 words per chapter, and allows me to produce new chapters ready for posting at a faster rate, and will hopefully allow me to continue to post chapters at the regular schedule I've been maintaining thus far without having to impose any delays. By breaking this chapter up into two, I would've been able to have at least one chapter ready for posting while also giving me added time to keep working with the next however is needed. It's not the first time I've done that; chapters 5 and 6 were originally envisioned to be one chapter, but I split it when it started to run over that 2,000 word average I was shooting for.
In the case of this chapter, I decided it didn't make sense to split it up, so I kept it together instead, so there will be occasional exceptions to this rule.
7823200
That's all the reason we need.
I think the length of this chapter fits the content quite well.
Beautiful chapter. I'm glad you update this story so often, can not wait to see how it will go on.
Happy holidays to all
Huh, our daring duo ought to test if Thorax's changebug magic can be used to change Spike's colour. Can't be that many purple baby dragons wandering around Equestria... not that ponies can see through even the most threadbare disguise, mind you.
7824089
Never underestimate how unobservant ponies can be.
7824160
In hindsight they probably could've gotten jobs in Ponyville as Library Assistants.
Found a tiny mess up that could be funny as a wat I chapter if you ho for it I’ve been going about from destination to destination, observing interesting things along the way and now Spike comes along and helps by keeping company.” nvm saw someone else pointed it and very sherw using the slip up for later
Had to switch to mobile
I sorta hope they can just stay here and be happy forever!
Also did I hear bed sharing being foreshadowed
Uh... Thorax? It's probably a good idea not to blow your cover so soon.
7926790 yeah. That actually scared me for a second there.
“We joined forces when we became friends as I’ve been going about from destination to destination, observing interesting things along the way and now Spike comes along and helps by keeping company.”
I presume that should be Spark?
"Going South" is a PG version of "Going to Hell/the Afterlife/the Grave". Fun fact.
I’m not sure if I even want to know about that
.
I like Fly Leaf, I wonder about the role she’ll play in this story
.