//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Assistance // Story: See No Evil // by Masked_Frenchman //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Assistance Keen looked around the store to see it really coming around. The boards were taken off the windows and thrown out. The inside was completely dusted off and polished. Things were really turning out well thanks to Rainbow Dash's partnership and assistance. She flew left and right, moving stuff here, sweeping over there. She was so fast and full of spunk, it made Keen laugh from time to time. "So, anything else? That was pretty quick if you ask me." Rainbow Dash claimed as she wipped her forehead of the sweat. Keen smiled and turned back to her. "Well, I need the supplies outside in here so I can start placing things appropriately. Think your up to it miss Rainbow?" Keen asked teasingly. Rainbow blushed alittle and puffed out her chest in confidence. "Of course, a few boxes ain't gonna slow me down!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she dashed outside to the carts and started to bring the boxes inside. Keen couldn't help but smile at her as she struggled to lift some of the boxes. "Do you need some assistance, ma'am?" Keen offered. Rainbow Dash looked at him with a stern look and continued moving the box. "! I got this, this is no sweat. Light as a feather." Rainbow Dash grunted, struggling with the box. She placed the box inside next to the others and let out a huge sigh of relief as she looks at the boxes that are already inside. "What the hay is in all these boxes?" she asked in frustration. Keen levitated a box inside and turned to her. "A lot of these are boxes and potion supplies. Some of them have parts to build training dummies and what not. Sorry if they are too heavy, I will get those-" Keen started. Rainbow Dash turned to him, flew up to him, inches away from his face, and looked at him straight into his goggles. "Nothing is too much for me! I can get those boxes in here in 10 seconds flat!" Rainbow Dash declared in a challenging tone. Keen was startled and fell over backwards, backing away. Rainbow Dash looked at him confused, lowering herself but still hovering near him. "You ok?" she asked concerned. Keen slowed his breathing back to normal and smiled up at her who offered a hoof to him. Keen accepts the hoof and helped himself to get back on all hooves. "It is alright. I am ok, I am just alittle uncomfortable ponies getting that close to my face is all. You didn't know, so it is fine." explained Keen with a slight hint of panic in his voice. Rainbow Dash looked at him carefully but shrugged her shoulders. "Well, still, sorry about that, you gonna be alright?" rainbow Dash asked concerned. Keen smiled kindly to her, making her blush again. "Yes, I am quite alright, thank you for your concern thou ma'am." Keen said respectfully. Rainbow Dash looked away, feeling shy all of a sudden. "Well, your paying me, so I just want to make sure I am gonna get paid is all." Rainbow Dash said, trying to hide her embarrassment. Keen smiled and headed for the supplies that were already brought in, chuckling to himself. "Of course miss Rainbow. Which I guess your break is over, or do you need more time?" Keen said teasingly, but Rainbow Dash took it as a challenge. "Heck, I didn't even need that break! I am on." Rainbow Dash announced as she headed back to work. Keen tried to hold in alittle joke but couldn't help himself. "So, 10 seconds flat huh?" Keen added with a hint with a teas, which made her stop in her tracks, well, if she was on the ground. She turned to him as he turned to her with his kind smile. "Yea, what, you think I can't do it?" Rainbow Dash said with a competitive tone in her voice. Keen laughed to himself. "I am not saying you can't, I am just saying it is a lot of boxes left, and some are fairly heavy." explained Keen playfully as he continued to unpack the supplies in the boxes. Rainbow Dash looked at him with a glare and raise her hoof and pointed it at him. "I bet you 100 bits that I can do it!" Rainbow Dash declared with enthusiasm. Keen shook his head as he dug into a box containing pieces for the book shelves. "If you had that much, why would you have offered your services to me?" asked Keen, slightly puzzled. Rainbow Dash smirked with confidence in return, crossing her hooves in front of her chest. "Maybe I am saving up for something big. You don't know." Rainbow Dash replied with a slightly rude tone. Keen shrugged his shoulders as he started to put together the book shelves. "That is true ma'am, but their is no need to do something like that. You may take your time with your work, your gettingh paid by the hour, so it would not be wise to rush through it, right?" Keen asked politely. "Well, I would easily make for it with 100 bits. But hey, if you are scared to loose, I understand, I am pretty awesome. I wouldn't bet against myself either." Rainbow Dash replied, trying to make him break. She looked away with a cocky grin. Looking back at him with one eye, waiting to see what he would do next. Keen chuckled to himself as he turned to her and smiled his heart warming smile. "Very well, I do not plan on making you pay me, but I will go along. If you can bring in all of those boxes outside and bring them in here in one piece and with out breaking anything. I will pay you 100 bits right out of my own pocket. If you beak anything, you have to pay for it, sound fair?" Keen asked, drawing out the deal. Rainbow Dash smirked to him as she rushed over and spit on her hoof and lent it out to him. "Sounds like a deal to me!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly, hyped up for the chance to show off her mad skills. Keen looked at her hoof and then back to her. shrugging his shoulders, he returned the jester by spitting in his own hoof and connecting it with hers to shake on. As soon as they let go, Rainbow Dash took off with blinding speed right outside and started flying back in and out, only leaving a rainbow blur where she goes. Keen watched dumbstruck as she traveled back and for, bringing in 2 or 3 boxes at once with each trip in less than a second. Once she brought the last box came in she dropped to the floor panting wildly, her limbs going limp. She looked up to Keen and managed to spread a smile of victory on her face. Keen just stood there with his jaw hanging down, still unable to believe what he just witnessed. "So. . . . how. . . long. . . . . was. . . . .that." Rainbow Dash panted out, trying desperately to catch her breath. Keen finally snapped out of it and shook his head, trying to see if he was dreaming, which he realized that this was indeed reality. "I have to be honest, I wasn't counting, but no matter what, I am gonna give it too you, even if you failed, that was still highly impressive." explained Keen, still slightly in shock as he walked over to the counter and levitated a large bag from behind the counter and opened it up. "We agreed on 100 bits, correct?" Keen asked, turning to Rainbow Dash as she was still trying to catch her breath. All she managed to do was nod her head. Keen chuckled to himself and counted out 100 bits from the bag, putting it in a smaller bag. He put the big bag away back behind the counter and levitated the smaller bag over to Rainbow Dash. "You can leave now if you wish, you helped me very much today. I can do the rest." Keen explained as he turned back to the boxes. "What. . . are. . . . you. . . talking about. I. . . still. . . got some left. . . . in me." Rainbow Dash panted out as she slowly got up from the ground, back on all four hooves. Keen laughed to himself and walked up to her. "I really like you miss Rainbow, You are so kind, in your own way that is. Feel of heart and strong. I admire ponies like you. But even the greatest ponies of all time need to know when it is time to stop. You should rest. I will need help tomorrow if you still wish to assist me." Keen offered. Rainbow Dash felt her face warm up again, she turned around facing away from him as she felt frustration build up in herself. 'What the hell Dash! Why are you acting like this? This is not like you. So he is charming, and those goggles make him look 20% cooler, but come on! Smarten up and calm down' Rainbow Dash thought angrily to herself. She took a deep breath and turned back around to face him. "Yea, maybe your right. Not that I need rest or anything, but I just remembered that I have some other stuff I need to do. So I will come over tomorrow, ok?" Rainbow Dash agreed and she headed out the door, waving back toward him. Keen waved back and went back to work. He looked at the the boxes containing the book shelves and realized that it did not come with a manual. "Oh my, how do I put this together?" Keen asked himself as he looked at the wooden pieces in confusion. Rainbow Dash was walking back home, limping a bit as she went. "Oh howdy. Ya look like ya hurtin there partner." called out a voice from behind Rainbow Dash. She stopped dead in her tracks (this time on the ground) and turned to see her friend. "Oh, uh, hi Applejack. What are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to redirect the conversation. She turned to her friend who was leaning on a white fence while she wore a confused look on her face. "Well, ah sorta live here." Applejack replied with a slight hint of sarcasm. Rainbow Dash looked behind Applejack and saw that she was passing Sweet Apple Acres. "Oh, hahaha, I have been alittle out of it, sorry, I guess you could say I am alittle sore. I sorta worked alittle too hard." Rainbow Dash explained, feeling alittle embarrassed. Applejack gave a short laugh as she looked at her friend. "It's fine Rainbow, we all get tired now and then. Don't worry about it. But how did you tire yourself out? You normally don't do anything strenuous." asked Applejack puzzled. Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders and shook her bag of bits. "Well, I found this new store out near Candy Corner and this cool guy is getting ready to open it, he paid me four bits an hour and I got to work for as long as I want, and I got this big bad boy from making a bet with him that I won of course. Although I ended up hurting myself in the proccess, but it was so worth it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in happiness, shacking the bag again attached to her hip, making it jingle together. Applejack looked at her with an impressed look on her face. "Well I'll be, that is quiet a pay, maybe I'll go over there and give him a hoof. Heck, I got nothing better to do this after noon since I just got down with mah chores early." said Applejack with some excitement in her voice, jumping over the fence. "I am gonna go see this pony then, I could use a few bits. See ya later then Rainbow Dash." added Applejack as she headed off in the direction that Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Hmmm, well, alrighty then, see ya!" Rainbow Dash called back and started walking back home. Applejack found the store with some ease and noticed him in the store. By the looks of it he was trying to assemble something, but it looked like he was failing at it, badly. "How does one put these together with out instructions." Keen asked himself with some frustration in his voice. Applejack chuckled to herself as she watched him. She took a quiet step to him and he smiled. "I am sorry ma'am, but I am not open at the moment. You will have to come back on a different day." Keen explained. Applejack stood there alittle shocked. "How did ya know ah was here?" Applejack asked in confusion. Keen turned to here and smiled. "I have very good hearing. Can I help you with anything else ma'am?" Keen asked respectfully. "Well, ah heard ah can get alittle work around here. Ah'm usually working on the apple farm and ah got some time off today from chores. Ah thought ah could come here and get some hard earned bits." explained Applejack proudly. Keen smiled. "I see, shouldn't you be spending your day off with your friends or maybe with family then, ma'am?" asked Keen politely. Applejack smiled at his manners. "Well, normally yes, but today everyone is busy with somethin', so I thought ah shoot, ah should be workin too then. Ah know what ah mean?" explained Applejack with a bit of enthusiasm. This made Keen start laughing. "You remind me of that pegasus that just left. I am assuming you are her friend, and that she guided you to me?" Keen said with a hearty laugh. Applejack chuckled to herself. "As a matter of fact, why yes she did, and she is a good friend of mine." Applejack explained. Keen calmed down a bit and looked back to her. "If you are a friend of hers, you must be a hard worker as well. Ok, I will offer you the same amount. Four bits per hour and you can stop when ever you wish, does that sound fair ma'am?" Keen asked with a joyous smile on his face. Applejack smiled and nodded her head. "Ah recon that sounds mighty fair to me there partner." agreed Applejack. Keen shook her hoof as she walked over to the pile of wood. "Ah'm Applejack." she greeted with a determined smile. Keen chuckled to himself and returned the jester. "My name is Keen Eye, it is a pleasure to meet you ma'am." replied Keen. They let go of their greeting hoof shake and Applejack look down to the pile of wooden boards. "So, shall I start with making them book shelves for you?" she asked, raising an eye brow at him playfully. Keen smiled embarrassed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yea, that would be nice, thank you." replied Keen. With a nod she got right to work on it, and the new partnership started.