Chapter 4: Back From the Past
Keen woke up and felt very sore through out his body, which made him chuckle to himself. "I guess I am out of shape. Well it has been a few years since I ever needed my muscles for anything." Keen said to himself. He slowly got out of bed and stretched out every muscle in his entire body as the morning sun light greeted him and his store. Once he was done stretching, he reached into his personal belongings and pulled out his coffee pot and his coffee grains onto the counter. Before he could set it all up, he heard a knock on the door, which startled him, almost spilling his coffee grains all over the place. With a sigh of annoyance, he put on a polite face and walked to the door. Their was an purple alicorn at the door, but Keen was still trying to wake up so he had a hard time telling who. Keen opened the door a bit and looked out. "Good morning ma'am. How may I-" Keen stopped himself as he noticed it was Twilight. "Miss Twilight? What are you doing here?" Keen asked surprised. Twilight giggled to herself as she tried to look over his shoulder.
"Well, I was passing through, and I noticed some work was already done, so I wanted to take a closer peek at it to see how much you got done." Twilight explained. Keen's face still wore that of shock for a few moments longer and his normal, kind hearted smile returned.
"Well why didn't you say so miss Twilight. Come on in, and let me show you what has been completed so far." replied Keen friendly as can be. Twilight lightly bowed in appreciation as she accepted Keen's offer. She scanned the store and noticed huge changes. It was all cleaned off, the windows were no longer boarded, all the moving boxes were inside leaving the cart parked by the side of the building, the cash-register was setup. She looked over by the walls and noticed that the book shelves were already placed as well with a small selection of books already on them. Something bothered Twilight about the books on there, she couldn't put her hoof to it. As she moved closer to the book shelves, she noticed that the books were not in alphabetical order, or in any order for that matter. Twilight stared at this for a few moments and felt her frustration swell up inside of her. Keen looked at her confused and puzzled as she stared at his books. "Is there something wrong, miss Twilight?" Keen asked respectfully with a slight hint of fear. Twilight turned back to him quickly with an embarrassed smile on her face.
"Oh, sorry, I sorta got carried away with a thought, I'm alright." Twilight replied,. even thou it wasn't quite the truth. Seeing those books there like that really bothered her, but she tried to ignore it.
"Well, if you say so miss Twilight. I know I still have much to go, but I believe that it is coming along nicely." explained Keen as he walked over to the counter, his back turned to her. She watched him for a brief moment until she believed he was out of ear shot. Once that moment came, she quickly pulled out all the books and started putting them back in alphabetical order by title, brushing alittle dust off while she was at it. As she did this she heard a chuckling coming from behind the counter. As Twilight turned to see, she saw Keen staring right at her with a friendly but playful smile on his face. "I could have sworn that there was something bothering you, but I didn't think it would be my books." Keen explained to her. Twilight blushed embarrassed with herself getting caught of her old habit.
"I'm sorry, it's an old habit of mine I just can never shake off. I like things to be organized. No matter what, I have to make sure everything is nice and tidy." Twilight explained as she looked at the books again, looking at her half done work. Keen chuckled to himself again, this time louder and more noticeable.
"It is completely understandable. I too have old habits that can not go away. Everyone does." Keen explained with a chuckle. Twilight looked away from Keen and finished reorganizing the bookshelf. "If you want, I can offer you a position here, you know, as a permanent employee. I have always been bad with organization, so I know I would be needing some help. What do you say?" Keen asked Twilight. She stood there shocked and surprised. It was just kinda sudden, she didn't know what to say. Although she could use the bits, she felt another reason to say yes, even if she didn't know.
"I would love to work here, thank you, when would you like me to start?" Twilight asked with a cheerful smile. Keen gave out a hearty laugh.
"Well, today if you want. You should go back and tell everyone so they know you got work and when you come back, we can talk about your schedule and pay, sound good?" Keen asked with alittle excitement in his tone. Twilight nodded in return.
"Ok, I will go back home and tell everyone then. I'll be back in a few hours then." Twilight called out as she took off out the door. Keen laughed to himself as he went to the back of the room. In the very back, around a corner was two doors. One was his storage room to his left, the other was his personal living corridors to the right. He went down the stairs to the storage room to pull up some more boxes, but his magic was still weak so he had to do it by hoof. After a moment Keen smiled to himself as he looked at his coffee pot.
"Oh yea, I forgot. I still need some coffee." Keen said to himself, feeling alittle stupid. He walked over to it and finished setting it up. After fixing himself a cup, he pulled out alittle green sleeve from one of the boxes and looked around to see if anyone was looking. "I know that this can back fire badly, but I need the magical power today." Keen said to himself as he poured the pouch in his coffee and stir it up.
Over to Applejack
Applejack was already up as the sun was rising. Normally, she gets up right after the sun has already poked out, but this time, Applejack got up well before that to do all of her chores. She didn;t have too much that day as is, but she wanted to make sure that she could get them done early so that she could go back to Keen to help out. She smiled to herself at that thought. "Ah sure can't wait. Almost done here." Applejack said to herself as she moved the last few hay piles back into the barn.
"Why are ya so happy sis'? Ya look like you're gettin' ready for a date or somethin'." asked a voice from behind Applejack. She was alittle startled to hear the voice so suddenly but she turned back to look at the little filly who some how creeped up behind her.
"Now whatcha talkin about, Applebloom? Ah am just getting ready to go to work to get us some bits, that's all. Now why do ya think ah'm heading out for a date or somethin' sugar cube?" asked Applejack kindly to her little sister. Applebloom looked up to her big sister's eyes as if not believing her story as she said that. 'There's something goin' on here. She ain't this chippy when she gets up. I wonder. . .' Applebloom thought to herself, 'But then again, this is mah big sis we're talking about, she would never lie to me'. With that last thought, she walked up to Applejack and gave her a big hug.
"You're right. I'm sorry big sis. I should trust you more often." Applebloom explained. Applejack smiled down at the young filly as she playfully rubbed her hoof into Applebloom's mane, messing it up.
"You're such a good sport. Now I gotta be headin' to work, more hours, more bits. I will be back later tonight. Make sure to help Granny Smith with supper tonight, I recon am gonna be mighty hunger when I get back, tell Big Mac that I am gonna need him to do the rest of mah chores for me while I am gone. Tell him I owe him one." Applejack explained to Applebloom. The small filly smiled and nodded to her sister, who started lightly jogging to Keen's store. Applebloom smiled and waved to her sister good bye.
"You can count on me big sis! Ah won't let ya down!" Applebloom called out. With that she quickly turned around back to the house to look for Granny smith and Big Macintosh. As Applejack was getting closer to her destination she saw Twilight walking around the corner that Keen's store was located near, but she was smiling and humming to herself.
"Now what is that all about?" Applejack asked herself out loud. 'Did she just visit Keen?' Applejack thought to herself, feeling the smallest hint of jealousy. She quickly shook the feeling away as she continued down the street. "Ah got nothing to be jealous about, she was most likely checkin' out the new store. It does sound like a store she'd really get into." Applejack explained to herself as she smiled to herself in excitement.
Over to Rainbow Dash
As the sun's rays bathed over Rainbow Dash's sleeping body, she slowly woke up from her slumber. She wasn't a morning pony, that's for sure. She got up to stretch her wings and body to suddenly feel a large wave of pain wash over her and fell back onto the bed. "What the hay?!" Rainbow Dash yelp to the unexpected pain. She tried to think what she could have done to make herself hurt so much. Rainbow Dash slowly got onto the edge of her bed and pondered about this for a brief moment.
"How did this happen?" Rainbow Dash asked herself. She woke up like she always did, she had breakfast and right after sped off to get to her usual weather duty. Once she got that done, she was flying around till she saw this new store still boarded up and a cart right out side of it. Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof on top of her other as she finally remembered it all. That unicorn offered her a job sorta thing and she got paid to work there. After making a bet, she made herself sore. After placing all of the pieces together, she little out a sign of relief.
"Well, that's what I get. I better stretch all of these kinks then before I even think about flying." Rainbow Dash thought out loud. She got off her bed and started doing all of her usual stretches, just doing more of them. After about 30 or so minutes of that, Rainbow Dash poured herself some cereal and read the morning newspaper, to realize it was yesterdays paper. With an annoyed groan, she threw it back on the table. "I wonder if he still needs help? I mean he did say their was a lot more stuff to do. Maybe I should go back?" Rainbow Dash thought to herself. She then remembered his smile, his laugh. This made her blush to herself.
"Well, he his handsome, I will give him that. But. . well, I mean. . . Why do I feel so nervous?" Rainbow Dash thought out loud. 'Are you ok?' 'Yea, I just don't like ponies close to my face. It makes me alittle uncomfortable is all' Rainbow Dash remembered that bet that lead her to her condition randomly. "I wonder why? I am gonna have to ask about that some day" Rainbow Dash confirmed with herself. She finished her cereal, did some more stretches, put on her saddle, and took off to Ponyville. Right before she went to Keen's store, she thought for a moment and looked at Candy Corner, wondering if her hyper friend PinkiePie would have something that might be able to help her through today. She lowered herself to the store and entered. Of course she was greeted by her friend, PinkiePie.
"Hey there Dashy! I haven't seen you in here in awhile now. What have you been up to?" PinkiePie asked, jumping in circles around Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, uhh, well, I just got this little job thing-" Rainbow Dash started.
"Did you just say you got a job?! Like a job job? That is so hard to see. I mean you like to hang back and do everything at the last second. I can't picture you with a job." PinkiePie said bluntly and with a confused stare as she looked at her face, inches away from her's. Rainbow Dash took a step back and gave a nervous smile. 'I should have expected this.' Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
"Well, it isn't like a real job. I can walk in and out anytime I want. I just need the money, so I wanted to come in early today. So I was wondering if you have anything full of energy and might be able to settle down alittle bit of soreness from yesterday." Rainbow Dash explained. PinkiePie put her hoof under her chin as she gave her best thinking face. She pulled out a stone slab from no where and sat on it forming into a thinking position. 'Where the hay did the stone slab come from?' Rainbow Dash thought to herself. After a few moments a light bulb turned on in her head as she jumped off and threw the slab aside, turning back to Rainbow Dash.
"I think I know just the thing!" PinkiePie exclaimed excited. She dove behind the counter and started looking through all of the sweets she had in her arsenal. After a few minutes of PinkiePie looking around and Rainbow Dash tapping her foot and looking at the clock impatiently, PinkiePie let out a sigh of excitement. "Found it!" she yelled with joy. She pulled out a tray of fudge with one square missing and placed it on the counter. Rainbow Dash looked at the fudge with confusion, but noticed that this fudge had a tint of green to it.
"What is this?" Rainbow Dash asked with a puzzled face. PinkiePie looked up at Rainbow Dash with a disappointed face but then back to the tray of fudge with a joyous look on her face.
"This is an experimental batch of fudge. I tried to make this recipe in cupcakes, but it didn't work out all too well. So i tried it with fudge! One person has tried it so far and said it really worked well for her. She strained her back moving some boxes and needed to go to work and had no time for coffee. She had one of these and went right to work. Later when I was closing for the night, she came back and said it really worked well for her and ended up buying a batch of it. So it might work for you too Dashy." PinkiePie explained to Rainbow Dash. She looked at the tray of fudge, then back to her friend.
"Is it safe?" Rainbow Dash asked cautiously. PinkiePie shrugged her shoulders but then nodded quickly.
"Yup, I am very sure that your gonna be just fine. I wouldn't offer it if I didn't feel confident in it, silly." PinkiePie explained with a large smile on her face. Rainbow Dash sighed and looked back up at her.
"How much then?" Rainbow Dash asked, reaching for her saddle to pull out some bits.
"Two bits for each piece." PinkiePie replied, getting a small bag ready.
"Alright, ummmm, I'll take three of them then." said Rainbow Dash sternly while pulling out six bits and placing them on the counter. PinkiePie smiled and put three pieces in the bag and handing it over to Rainbow Dash.
"Have a good day at work! Oh, and tell me how well those work for you!" PinkiePie called out smiling. Rainbow Dash returned the smile and waver her good bye, leaving the store. Picking up one of the pieces of fudge, she looked at it hesitantly and then took a bite. it tasted like a usual peanut butter fudge bar, except it had a slight hint of mint, other than that, it was really good, as always. After the first one, she felt some of the pain in her body slowly melt away, not all of it, but a good bit.
"Wow, this actually works!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed while digging for another one. while she was eating the last one, she saw Twilight walking back home, humming to herself cheerfully. Rainbow Dash watched her for a second, confused. "Hmmm, that is an odd sight, for her at least." Rainbow Dash whispered to herself while she finished the last of the fudge. Shrugging it off she continued to go to Keen's place. The sudden thought of him made her smile alittle "Maybe Keen would want some of this, I bet he has some kinks too." she said to herself and turned back to Candy Corner.
Over to Twilight
Twilight got home and started packing a few things into a saddle, while bring a few books she didn't need anymore, thinking about giving them to Keen. Spike walked into the living room with a half cup of coffee and looked at her slightly puzzled. "Uhhh, Twilight? Where Are you going?" Spike asked innocently and slightly worried. Twilight looked up to him and smiled.
"Don't worry Spike, I am just going to work. I will be back later tonight." Twilight explained calmly as if this was an everyday thing.
"Oh, ok. I will just- Wait a second, work?! You have a job?" Spike asked alarmed. Twilight finished packing the few things that she was gonna need and turned to Spike.
"Yea, I sorta need the money, so I wanted to try working for a change." Twilight explained.
"But you have access to the Canterlot treasury! You have an unlimited source of bits in there, why do you need more?" Spike asked confused. Twilight walked up to the young dragon and dropped down to a knee down to him, smiling.
"Spike, one, the treasury is not unlimited, and two, I want to earn my money. I would feel terrible getting large sums of money that I didn't earn. I wish to earn my money through work, and that's what I plan on doing." Twilight explained. Spike looked down to the ground, looking alittle sad knowing she was right. Twilight put a hoof on her faithful assistant's shoulder. "And besides, now you get some time off, just get ready for some hard work when I get back, ok?" Twilight added playfully, which made the worried drake crack a smile.
"Oh alright, fine, you got me. I'll keep the place clean for when you come back from work then." Spike said cheerfully. Twilight smiled down at him and gave him a pet on the head before turning around and heading for the door.
"I'll be back when the sun is setting. See you later." Twilight called back before closing the door. SPike sat in the tree house now all by himself.
"I have never had a day where I could do what I want, today I don't have any tasks, I can do what I want for once." Spike said, the situation finally sinking in. After alittle while of thinking an idea popped in his head. "I wonder if Rarity needs some help!" Spike exclaimed with excitement and hurried off out the door.
And back to Keen Eye
Keen finished his coffee and continued to put things away. As he was setting up the dummies he heard the door open. Keen turned around to see a male earth pony with sky Blue eyes, a blue mane and red fur. "Hello sir, we are not open yet but is there any other why I can assist you?" Keen asked with a cheerful smile. The earth pony looked around and looked at Keen.
"Is there anyone else here?" the earth pony asked shyly. Keen shook his head.
"Nope sir, it is just me." Keen explained. The pony's mouth formed into a wicked smile as his eyes turned from blue to green and the iris narrowed.
"Hello Keen Eye, or should I call you, K-9"! the intruder said. Keen recognized that voice and stood there, his smile disappeared and replaced with an expression of horror.
"No, it can't be. Prince Capeskin?!" Keen exclaimed with fear.