“Now just what in the hay was that all about, B?!” Rhyme Buster threw his hoof in the direction of the door as Rosy Rivet walked away from the shop.
Broken Heart’s expression remained unchanged. “I don’t teach,” stated he, “I never have. I can’t.”
“Well why not? You the best there is,” shouted Rhyme. “It’s just selfish keepin’ all that knowledge to yourself. Plus, what happens when you gone? Will everything you know die with you? Nopony last forever, you know!”
Heart ran a hoof through his black mane. “What does it matter?” asked he. “Somepony, somewhere, probably knows all I know and more right as we speak. Why won’t ‘Rosy’ go annoy him?!”
A look of confusion and disgust covered Rhyme’s face. “Is that all she is to you, B? An annoyance?” He shook his head. “That’s ice cold. You heartless, B; straight heartless.”
“I guess I’m heartless in both senses, then,” answered the gray stallion, venom in his voice. “That reminds me: I’ll be back.” He then retired to the store’s back room.
Rhyme rose a confused brow. “Both senses?” repeated he. “What you talkin’ ‘bout, B?” He thought for a minute or two before his eyes widened in realisation. He then began pounding his hoof on the door while shouting, “B! I’m sorry, B! I forgot about that!”
His knocking went unanswered until, after five minutes, he gave up. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, B!” Shouted he through the door. “I gotta take care of some things, so I’ll be takin’ the rest of the day off.”
The next morning, Broken Heart woke up in his bed, on the second floor of the shop. The walls and carpet of his bedroom were a light tan colour. The room was clean and everything seemed to have a place, from his books on their case to his notes and written projects on his desk. The only sound in the room was the ticking of a clock, though no clocks were visible.
He slowly got up and walked out of the room into the hallway. The carpet and walls of the hallway matched Heart’s room, and only two doors stood on either side, with a staircase at the end. Heart went down the stairs and opened the steel door at the end, onto the store’s main floor.
Rhyme Buster stood before a Pegasus Mare, telling her about a watch that was extremely impact-resistant. “Drop it from a roof, it’ll be okay,” rapped he. “Keeps tick tick tockin’ the seconds away. Couldn’t break the thing, even if I tried. It’s always along for the ride.”
“You’ve swayed me,” replied the mare to the song. “I’ll take four; gotta equip my whole Weather Team with these.”
Rhyme nodded. “Cool, cool,” said he. “We got two in stock right now. We can have two more for you by tomorrow. In the meantime, two hundred bits for the two we got.”
The mare agreed and paid for the two watches. “I’ll be back around the same time tomorrow. Later!” With that, she departed.
Broken Heart sighed. “I’ll get on that,” said he half-heartedly.
“You a’ight, B?” asked Rhyme, clearly concerned for his friend.
“I’m fine,” replied Heart with a snarl. “I can get those watches done in a couple hours. But, we need to go pick up some more of that shock-absorbing foam, as well as some other stuff; we need to restock.”
As Heart spoke, two more ponies entered the store. “Look, B,” said Rhyme, “I’ll take care of orders for today if you can get a list together of what you need. Cool?” The gray stallion agreed and went back up the stairs while Rhyme talked to the customers.
In the hallway, the room across from Heart’s bedroom was the stockroom. The stallion entered the room and sat down at the table in the centre. Surrounding the table were countless plastic drawers filled with various metals, plastics, and tools, each drawer labeled precisely. On the table lay a green notebook labeled “Inventory,” a few assorted notepads, several quills, and an ink can. As heart looked through the inventory book, he scrawled numbers and materials on a notepad to denote what was needed.
After twenty minutes, Heart was finished with his list. He went back to the shop floor to see that Rhyme had done a list of his own. “Got another order for a steam engine for a boat. Customer needed it by next week.”
“Next week?” questioned Heart. “I can’t build a steamboat engine in a month if that’s all I focus on. He’ll have to wait longer.”
Rhyme shook his head. “You too overworked all by yourself, B. We need to hire some ponies, help you out.”
“No we don’t” replied Heart. “I can take care of it; it’ll just take more time than the customer thought possible.”
“If we told every customer walks in here that, we’d be out of business before you could make your bed.” Rhyme put his list down and began to sketch on it as he explained. “Now, think about it. The more ponies we have working here, the quicker we can work, thus increasing our efficiency and output. The more efficient we are, the more customers we can serve at a time, and the more money we can make per day. Now, take into account the average wage of a full time employee, and we still making a decent profit.”
Heart nodded in understanding as Rhyme explained to him. “How many would we have to hire to make the additional cost of salary negligible by the additional revenue?”
“Depends on the revenue,” answered Rhyme Buster with a shrug. “No real way of accurately predicting how efficient an employee will be; too many variables. What say we just start with one worker, part-time, and see where that goes?”
Heart gave a shrug as well. “I guess,” agreed he. “Can’t lose too much from one part-time employee, I guess. Who are we going to hire?”
“I got somepony in mind,” answered Rhyme. “Hey, trade me lists. I’ll do the shopping while you do what you can with those watches and engine.” As they exchanged lists, Rhyme left the store.
Rhyme trotted around the shop to the back alley where a small cart lay, chained to a steel bike rack. Using a key from his saddlebag to unlock the chain, Rhyme hooked himself up to the cart and towed it out into the street.
He purchased the metal on the list in the form of scraps from a local junkyard. He stopped by a hardware store to pick up bolts, rivets, and other small fasteners. He placed a tarp over his cart to hide its contents as he stopped outside a sandwich shop. “Could use a drink,” mused he to himself as he entered.
The shop was clean, and modestly populated. Rhyme walked up to the counter at the far end of the store where he was greeted by a red Unicorn Mare. “How can I help you, Sir?” Said she with a smile.
“Tall glass of iced tea,” requested Rhyme Buster. He placed two bits on the counter and slid them to the mare.
“Right away,” replied the waitress. She filled a glass with fresh tea and ice, then gave it to Rhyme Buster. “Enjoy!” She then approached another customer.
The tan stallion ran a hoof through his mane as he took a drink from his glass. “Drinkin’ drinkin’ tea, that is ice ice cold. Refreshin’ as it’s goin’ right on down my throat.”
“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” asked a voice Rhyme recognised as belonging to Rosy Rivet.
Rhyme turned to see the green mare standing next to him at the counter. “What can I say? I’m a natural. What you doin’ here, Rosy?”
Rosy shrugged. “Just hanging out, I guess. Might see if they’re hiring here.”
With a smirk, Rhyme Buster replied, “so you lookin’ for a job?”
“Yeah, why?” The green mare rolled her eyes. “That other stallion already said he doesn’t need an apprentice.”
“True, true,” agreed Rhyme. “But, the shop could use some extra hooves if you’re interested. Nothing stopping you from watching him while the both of you work.”
Rosy nodded. “That makes sense. When can I start?” asked she with a bright smile.
“Today, if you’ll have it.”
Rosy’s smile widened. “I’d love to!” She shook the stallion’s hoof rapidly. “You won’t be sorry!”
“Awesome,” said Rhyme with a nod. He finished his drink and led Rosy out to the parking lot. “And, your first task as employee is to help me cart this back to the shop.”
The pair hooked up to the cart and were off, reaching Tick Tock Teck in less than fifteen minutes. They secured the cart at the back of the shop and carried the supplies in.
Inside the workshop sat Broken Heart, assembling several watches at once. The stallion looked up and saw the pair. “Glad you’re back,” said he hurriedly. “Rhyme, can you pass me the foam, and then put away the various scraps and things?” He then pointed to Rosy. “You? You know how to assemble a fob watch?”
“No problem,” answered Rosy as she sat down across from Heart, who slid her a couple cases with several gears and screws.