7 - Case 04: Living
Robert stalked off from the office building that held the one pony in quite a distance that had any idea what his deal was. He'd be back, or so he promised himself.
First, he had to spend some bits. Now, he could have gone to a motel, like she suggested, but that would mean blowing all his bits at once. He wasn't quite that willing to 'trust' life not to kick him while he was down. He went instead to a small corner store and picked up a bar of soap. Thankfully it had a wrapper around it so he didn't have to literally wash his mouth out bringing it to the front.
The elderly earth pony there nodded at him and rang him up. It was a tiny amount, just like he hoped, and he got change from his larger bit for smaller bits.
He rushed away from them all, all ponies. With spread wings, he took to the air and kept right on flying. It was late evening by the time he had not only escaped the city, but found a small pond with no ponies around it.
He came in for a gentle landing and paced around the body of water. His eyes darted left and right for any signs of intruders or danger, but there weren't any. He sat down beside the lake and started to wash himself. He splashed water up onto his body, then began working the soap into a frothing lather before rinsing it all off.
It actually felt kind of nice, to start becoming clean, and he went over his pony body completely and thoroughly, even if he dropped the soap several times. He really had to finish getting a grip on his hooves. Still, he smelled gently of soap and his body's natural scent. Pony scents were not human scents. It wasn't the smell of sweat and filth, which he had been working up. No, he smelled fresh and even faintly flowery. It amused him that ponies still had colognes when their bodies seemed happy to scent them all on their own.
Renewed, he managed to tuck the soap away into his 'pocket'. The fact that he had pockets as a pony was a little odd when he thought about it, but too useful to argue.
It was too late in the day to go job hunting, or so he figured. He looked around again. He wasn't in the city, and the wilderness was not friendly to ponies. No, he didn't want to sleep out there, as peaceful as it seemed at that moment.
He lifted from the soft turf and returned to the city. He would perch on a roof, like a damned pigeon. It would be the last time, he swore silently to himself.
The next morning, he was roused by a prodding. He scrambled up to his hooves to find a scruffy-looking pegasus looking down on him. "This is my spot," declared the new pony. "Get lost."
Robert glanced up towards the sun, new but rising quickly. "Yeah, thanks for the wake-up." He spread his wings and launched free of the roof to land lightly on the sidewalk. He was in front of a store with a big window. Perfect. He began quickly straightening himself out as best he could.
As fate would have it, and it was very likely to be fate in Equestria, it was a record store, just like George used to work in. Just like Robert used to work in before him. "Full circle," he muttered to himself before he approached that door and pushed his way inside, at least until he realized it opened outwards.
Inside, he came face to face with an older stallion, earth pony, seated behind the counter. "Hello there," he greeted with a raised hoof. "Saw you looking in the window. Got yer eye on something specific?"
Robert flinched faintly. The stallion had watched him straightening up? Not the first impression he wanted. "Yeah, actually, I am looking for something specific." He waved a hoof around. "Need any help?"
The stallion sat up with a jerk. "I didn't hang any help wanted signs, what brings you here?"
Robert ran his tongue over his flat teeth. "Well, see, I used to work in a record store. Another city, but hey, a record's a record."
The older stallion snorted softly as if in disbelief. "Have you now? Well, if you're an expert, you'll tell me how to take care of a record properly. Let's start with cleaning."
Robert nodded at that. "Got some cleaner? You, uh, don't want to use water."
"One point." The stallion nodded. "My record has dust on it, you...?"
"Use a record brush."
"Two points." The stallion had started to smile. "Modern music is..."
Robert had to smirk at that. "Trash."
"Ain't that always the truth?" He approached Robert and slapped him on the shoulder with a firm hoof. "It just takes us a while to notice. I wasn't planning on hiring help, but I wasn't expecting anypony to just wander in asking, either. Tell you what, you look like you need the job, and know a thing or two, let's give it a try." He pointed at the register. "We'll start part-time, see how you go. You do well, and you want the hours, we can move up from there."
Was it really that easy? "S-sure! Great. I'll get started right--"
A leg thrust out in front of him. "Hold on there. I'm here today, and didn't plan for this. No, today you get a less glamorous job if you want to start right away."
"Yeah?" Robert peered at the man warily.
"Don't look so stricken. We all start at the bottom." The stallion trotted off into the back and returned with a big arrow sign with a record displayed on it. "Go outside and get to pointing customers this way. Let me know when you're sick of that, or I'll come out when the store's closed and we'll settle your first day's pay."
Robert reached an unsure hoof for it. It had little straps, so he slid one of his hooves into it and wobbled the sign a bit.
"You're gonna want to show more energy than that to catch a pony's attention." He plucked the sign back from Robert and began giving it a mighty show. He flipped it up into the air, caught it, twirled it around, and performed more acrobatic tricks than Robert thought possible for an earth pony that looked like he was in his 40s or 50s. "See? Just keep the arrow pointed at the store and tell ponies why they want to head on inside."
Robert nodded stiffly as he accepted the sign back. "I'm on it." He staggered outside with the sign. If he did well, he would get paid the same day? He couldn't ask for... too much more than that, right?
He was outside, his arrow sign wielded in his hooves and trying to point towards the store as he bounced it up and down. He wasn't quite up to sending it flying just yet, but he forced a smile and tried to direct ponies. "Come on, there's awesome music right here."
Like most any large city, most ponies ignored him and walked right on past.
"You do not belong."
Robert jerked at the soft but firm words being spoken to him. He looked to the one that had uttered them, a severe-looking unicorn. "Lad, move your end."
Robert blinked softly and looked around. There was plenty of space to move around him. Most other ponies had done just that. Weird. He wiggled the sign at the store. "Want to get some music? It could put a smile on your face."
The unicorn raised a brow silently before he smiled. What a smile. His mouth was filled with jagged teeth that had no business in a unicorn's mouth. Robert fell backwards in surprise, and the unicorn stepped over him.
"There is a place for people like you." He dropped a scrap of paper with an address on it, then stepped right over Robert and walked away without another word.
Robert scrambled back up to his hooves and squinted at the paper before stuffing it away. "The heck was that about?..." He tried to put it out of his mind and get back to wiggling that sign.
That was where the shopkeep found him as the sun sank. "Still out here? I thought for a hot minute that you'd run off with the sign." He snorted softly with laughter as he snatched the sign back and tossed it into the store before locking it up. "Guess you're serious then?"
Robert blinked softly. "Was that a test?"
"Sure was. You passed."
Robert was at once pissed off and delighted. "So... about that payment?"
"Right right. We never settled on your rate." He held up a hoof. "Four bits an hour. Stay good and I'll double that at the end of the month." He reached a hoof into his pocket and produced a collection of bits. "For today..."
Robert accepted it with a big smile. "Thanks!" He felt an urge, and didn't fight it. He hugged that stallion. "Thanks!"
"Oof! You really did need that, huh?" He patted Robert on the back. "Well, show me your best, and I promise not to leave you hanging. For now, go get some sleep. I expect you bright and early. We open at eight."
Robert waved as the stallion went off towards home, then sank to his haunches and counted up the money. Forty bits? That's more than he was owed. Was it bad math, pity, or a signing bonus? Robert took a slow breath and tucked the bits away. He decided to accept it as it was given. The stallion seemed like a nice guy. He probably figured Robert did need the money, and he... kind of did, even if it stung him to admit.
But where to go? He remembered that scrap and dug it out. On one side, an address, the other proclaimed it to be an apartment building. "Holy shit." Destiny, it was too powerful in Equestria. It gave him the willies. "Alright... let's give it a try."
He took flight and soared easily along the roads until he found it. Some of the windows were lit, some weren't. It looked like a nice enough apartment building as they went. He landed before the steps and marched right in, looking about for anyone that looked to be in charge.
He found her. She was just coming out of an office and closed the door with a hand. She had a hand. She also had a human body, most of one. Her hips flowed out into a pegasus body. She was a pony centaur. "Are you here to visit someone?"
"No, uh, are you the landlady?"
She nodded firmly at that. "That I am. Tabitha's the name, nice to meet you." She offered a hand and he met it, her fingers curled around his hoof and gave it a shake. "You're looking for a room?" She quoted the monthly rate. "And you have to cover first and last at signing."
That made Robert cringe. "So, uh, I just got a job..."
Tabitha frowned a little, clearly weighing the risk of Robert.
Then that pony showed up, emerging from an elevator. Tabitha scooted out of his way without even thinking about it. The unicorn nodded at her, then fixed his eyes on Robert. "Doing what needs doing? Good."
Tabitha tilted her head faintly. "Do you know him?"
"No," he stated flatly. "Give him a chance." He left without any further words.
Tabitha let out a loud sigh. "Well... he barely says a word. If he vouches for you... I guess I can let it slide. What do you have?"
Robert didn't want to give up all of his money, so he fished out twenty bits for her. "I get paid daily, so I'll keep paying until we're even."
Tabitha's expression soured a moment, but she didn't change her mind. "I'll be making sure of that. This way." Tabitha waved a wing and went back to the office.
Soon he had signed his rental agreement and was led to his room, with a few surprises along the way. Starting with, "So... why are you half human? Please tell me you know what a human is."
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Isn't Tabitha always obviously a centaur, though? Unless Robert is one of the first tenants she got...
Which might make the unicorn... the Yeti?
What has Twilight done? She had unleashed something far more sinister on Equestria then she realizes.
Well, I'm lost. Still, definitely some intriguing developments, even if some of the deeper nuances escape me.
7794240 Aw shoot. You have discovered an error...
7794363
I know you referred to Tabitha as a pegasus earlier, but it's still a little confusing, especially considering that the main character is also a pegasus so this line would better apply to him. Although the context still indicates it's not our perspective character...
... is the unicorn he meets still the yeti, and this is set before Many Doors' climax?
7794423 What does the Yeti say when you're in his way?
soap in to a frothing - soap into a frothing
pidgeon - pigeon
thanks for the wake up - thanks for the wake-up
Fourty bits - Forty bits
Hmmm... as I'm sure has already been speculated, this puts us between Tabitha being centaur'd and the untimely death of the Yeti.
So far, I'm liking this turn of events, even though Robert has a bit of a history as a jerk. He seems to be making an attempt to honor the second chance he's been given, I'm curious now to see if he makes the most of it, or if his sense of 'the way things ought to be' will sink him again. I'm, cautiously, rooting* for him to succeed.
*I know there are Australian/Thestralian readers here, so have your giggles. It means something else where I live.
7795163 We all make mistakes, including me today, oi...
Is that how the Yeti spoke?
7795346
Well... it was a little more verbose than the yeti tended to be, but I can't think of anyone else that we were introduced to that would be able to identify someone from another reality as well as having ties to Tabitha's apartments. Since you're pointing it out, the simplest answer is that it's someone new. OR... you're a clever author and you're messing with my head.
7795498 I do that, but there are several folk in that building with sufficient skill to potentially figure it out.
Well, this just got a million times more intriguing. Generating a marefriend from scratch? Still horribly ethically hairy, but a decent lawyer could argue that you're helping Equestria, using the magic of harmony to make things more harmonious. In a world where love has actual power. Only real problem is the lack of aliens willing to be someone's ideal partner, without being duped into it. I can see this getting a wee bit out of control.
I keep trying to read Silver's story, but all the egotism and asspatting keeps putting me off, so I don't know who mister snaggletooth is.
Oh hey, Tabitha! And is that Horace (or whatever his name was) the Magnificent? Probably not, but we don't remember any newcomers matching that description. Its always fun to have some continuity!
Robert's resolve will certainly be tested...
Keep going! ;)
7795481
...she brought the prince of a nation that doesn't exist, into existence?
I don't care how utopian ponyland is. There is no way that is going to end well. Now have somepony make Daring Do real, not knowing she already is. 
7796020 I'm not sure how much trouble a random guy that claims he's truly the king of madeupvania can really be, besides possibly chuckling at the loony.
Robert and now Tabitha this is getting interesting.