Kasper stood in the middle of the marketplace, looking around at the various stalls and shops. He carried a pack on his back, with two sacks; One hung on each side of him. Inside of the sacks, there were various items and supplies that he’d gotten, and the money he’d been carrying to buy said supplies. He stared up at the sky, judging the time of day… It was just after noon. He knew he was likely at the end of his shopping list.
He looked down at his assistant—at least, one of his two. It was a white dragon with green, rounded spines, and orange eyes. The dragon was holding the list that held the items Kasper needed.
“Well, Timmy? What’s next on the list?” Kasper asked.
“We have one la—“ Kasper’s dragon was cut off by another, similar-looking dragon. This other dragon was also white, but had red eyes. She was the same height as the other dragon, physically, but her spines were pointed. This made her appear taller.
“Last thing is strawberries, Kaspy!” The second dragon said, looking over Timmy’s shoulder.
“Taaaammmyyyyyy! He asked me! I have the list!” Timmy complained to his sister, looking slightly annoyed.
“Well, I’m older, so I get to read the last one.” Tammy replied, crossing her arms and smiling.
“You’re not older, I am.”
“Then why am I taller?”
“That doesn’t mean you’re older! Right, Kasp?” Timmy asked, looking towards where Kasper had been. Kasper, however, wasn’t to be seen.
“W-Wah! He’s gone to the strawberry shop without us!” Tammy exclaimed.
“This is all your fault he left us!” Timmy said, beginning to run after Kasper, who could be seen in the distance nearing a shop.
“Nuh-uh! It was your fault!” Tammy replied, before following Timmy’s lead and running.
Kasper smiled to himself, as he had a moment’s rest from his dragons’ constant bickering. He stood at the counter of the strawberry shop, and looked in, calling out, “Hello? Is anypony in?”
A small set of ears perked from behind the counter, and a small colt quickly sat up from underneath the counter, hooves stacked with plastic cartons of strawberries. His hooves were still wet from washing, and the sink still running. “O-Oh! Hello there! What can I get for you?” He asked, trotting over to the other side of the store, putting the cartons in the sink and packing an already cleaned batch into a large bag. Lifting the bags with his wings while looking in Kasper’s direction, he walked back to the sink to continue washing; all while paying close attention to Kasper. He began stacking carton after carton, waiting for Kasper to ask for something.
Kasper gave an almost uneasy glance at Joey for a moment, saying, “I need some strawberries, but I don’t know how many. You see, my list—“ He was cut off by the voices of his two dragons calling him.
“Kaaaaaassppyyyyyy, don’t leave us behind like that agaaaaiin!” They cried in unison, one clinging to each of his front legs.
He nodded his head ‘no’, his small, normal smile returning. “Nevermind. My list just came. Timmy, how many do we need?” He ignored the dragon’s cries, and waited for an answer.
Timmy opened the list and piped up, “Three basket-carton-tray-container thingies!”
Kasper looked back at Joey with a look asking ‘Did you hear that?’
Joey gently set the prepared bags down next to boxes containing orders to be picked up at a later time, nodding, as he clearly heard the dragon’s reading. Smiling at the two and deciding to give them freshly washed strawberries, he washed his hooves and rinsed the berries and cartons. He pushed them on the counter after a moment, giving a smile.
“That’ll be four bits per carton!”
Kasper nodded, and reached back to the pack he had on, pulling out the twelve bits. He laid them on the table, thanking Joey, and then looked at Timmy, nodding to the cartons.
“Do you mind?”
Timmy excitedly reached up and grabbed the cartons, balancing them on top of each other.
Tammy let out a whine, complaining, “But Kaspy, you haven’t had me do anything todaaay!”
Kasper nodded. “Yes, and that’s because of the mess you caused yesterday.”
Tammy looked slightly embarrassed, and Timmy stuck his tongue out at her.
As Kasper turned to leave, and as Tammy was making a face at Timmy, she noticed something odd in the strawberry basket. She grabbed the paper that was slightly hidden under some strawberries, saying, “Kaspy! There was a free drawing with our strawberries!”
Kasper turned around, confused, and looked at Tammy, who was holding the drawing. He then looked up at Joey. “Is that yours?”
Kasper reached down, grabbing the drawing from Tammy, looking at it as he handed it to Joey. He was surprised at how well drawn it was, despite being only a sketch—what appeared to be an early sketch.
Joey’s ears gave another small perk, turning around, his head giving a gentle tilt. “Hmm?”
His ears perked much higher, staring at the doodle he had clumsily left on the counter and accidentally packed with the strawberries. He gave a slightly embarrassed smile as he noticed a couple more of his paper in other places of the store, taking the drawing back.
“Ahh… Sorry about that… I tend to doodle when I’m not very busy, and it seems I’ve left them around with all of the work I’ve been doi—“
His green eyes widened, seeing another pony trot up to the stand. The gentlecolt, simply saying his name, Joey ran to the back and nosed boxes out to the finely dressed unicorn, in exchange for bits of which he placed on the counter.
A gentle flutter of his wings fanning his face as he read more papers with orders to pack, he said,
“Ah... I’m sorry… Have a nice day! Terribly sorry for leaving my sketch in your basket…”
Kasper looked around the shop while he responded, “It’s alright, ponies make mistakes sometimes. But if you’re getting behind a bit,” he looked back at Joey, “then why don’t you get some help? It’s almost rush hour, you know… Why are you all alone when you know it’s so soon?”
Timmy and Tammy ignored the conversation, bickering about something.
“And not to be rude, but you seem a bit young to run a store all by yourself.” Kasper finished.
Joey continued pushing things around, packing bags and sealing cartons shut. Wiping his head as he walked back to the counter, he said, “Ah, no, no, it’s okay… I am a little young… My parents are the owners of this strawberry business and they’re away in Fillydelfia at the moment, and wanted me to watch over things here. Hopefully they’ll be back soon…”
He noticed himself beginning to stand still for too long, and gave a quick turnaround, making sure that all of the orders were ready for when the customers picked them up. He turned back as he realized he had a small break now.
“Well, I have all of the early orders made… I’m sure I can manage to tend to the customers with the pre-orders out of the way,” Joey said, smiling, not wanting to give off any signs of exhaustion or worry. He wanted to just help others without being a burden or lacking.
Kasper let out a smile, nodding back to the cartons he’d just prepared. As well as Joey was at hiding exhaustion on the outside, the small slip-up he’d made was enough to make it obvious.
“I think you need some help, honestly. You packed away another drawing.”
He stared down at his two dragons for a moment. He thought to himself before saying, “Rather than just any old help, I think a companion would do you nice. And despite how annoying they can get,” He emphasized the slightly-sarcastic ‘annoying’ part, staring at Tammy and Timmy in turn, individually, “I would suggest a dragon. They’re fairly well-rounded in all areas.”
This wasn’t the real reason he suggested a dragon, but he decided to keep that to himself. As he looked back at the shop, at all of the papers lying around, and at the slightly disorganized general appearance of the shop, he made a silent decision. “If you’d like, you can borrow Tammy or Timmy, my dragons, to help you at any time. This comes at no cost.”
He coughed once, closing one of his eyes, as if winking.
“That is, no cost aside from you drawing me something that I can use as cover art. Possibly many times. And there’s no guarantee I’ll use it when it’s made.”
Joey’s head gave a slight tilt at the offer. His head quickly standing back up as he saw a crowd on the opposite side of the market area, trying to think of one thing before the other, eyes constantly going to Kasper and back to the crowd slowly entering the marketplace, he tried to smile, not knowing what to do if he had borrowed one of the fine dragons. He’d never had any companion before, other than his parents, which wasn’t much at all.
“Ah, well… I wouldn’t want to… overwork those two! I’m sure I’ll be fine… But, I’d love to try doing art for you… When you said cover art… Are you a writer?” He was able to smile willingly when he offered to draw, kneeling behind the counter and carrying a huge basket with his teeth. He set it on the counter for customers coming to buy on the spot.
Kasper nodded. “I am, actually. My latest book is a romance novel…” He paused, and used his hooves to scoot Tammy towards the counter.
“Tammy, do you mind staying here to help this pony?” He half-asked-half-commanded Tammy. Tammy looked disheartened for a moment, so Kasper continued, “It’ll make me forgive you for yesterday’s slip-up.”
Tammy’s mood suddenly changed, and she seemed ecstatic to help. She found her way around the counter, and to Joey’s side, giving a salute. Joey gave a slightly nervous smile, looking down to the white saluting dragon.
“I know you don’t exactly want the help right now, but trust me; today will probably be busy, and handling this alone won’t be good. And don’t worry about over-working her.”
Tammy nodded, flexing muscles she didn’t have. “That’s right, mister! I can handle anything you tell me to do!”
Kasper added, “And she’ll do exactly as she’s told, when she’s told.” He looked at Tammy. “Understand?”
Tammy nodded.
Giving a nod back at Kasper, he accepted the suggestion. His ears gave the usual perk, seeing Mr. and Mrs. Cake rolling a large cart into the marketplace. Turning and looking at the stack of huge boxes, all filled with cartons and marked with “Cake”, Joey headed towards it before stopping himself, turning around to Kasper.
He remembered that he was told another paper was misplaced. “R-Right… I accidentally packed another drawing, didn’t I..?” He said, with a forgetful stare.
Nearly trotting back and forth for a second, he tried to think of what else he needed to prepare. Ears giving yet another perk and a nervous face, hearing a ding in the back of the store, he let out a small sigh.
“I’m sorry, could you put those drawings into that folder on the corner of the counter there..? I’ve got to get these strawberry pies from the oven.” He gingerly asked Tammy.
Tammy nodded, shouting, “Roger dodger!”
As the young dragon ran to the cartons, Kasper let out a loud “ahem”. When Tammy froze, looking back, Kasper instructed, “Tammy! You’ve worked in a kitchen before. Any time you work with food, wash your hands first! You should know better.”
Timmy couldn’t help but snicker as his sister was being told how wrong she was. It was only natural, as they were siblings.
Tammy stammered an apology, and ran to the sink quickly.
Satisfied, Kasper looked back to Joey, who had been about to leave the room.
“I’ll be back in a bit, I need to drop these off at my house. We’ll talk about the drawing when I’m back, yes?”
Without waiting for a reply, Kasper backed out of the shop and turned for his home. Timmy, using one arm to carry the baskets, waved goodbye to Tammy with his free arm and then followed.
Joey turned, nodding to Kasper as he gently bumped a door open with his flank. He smiled as the dragon washed its hands. He realized he accidentally packed several other drawings as he looked over the cartons he’d already made, but as he walked out of the kitchen to retrieve them, he forgot to over the nagging thought that the pies needed to be taken out of the oven. His mind jumbled, he opened the back door again, deciding to get the pies out of the oven before tending to the Cake’s boxes and drawings he’d packed.
Before hurrying into the kitchen before the pies burned, Joey looked back at Tammy, afraid to give a command since he’d never really done such a thing. He raised his hoof slightly, asking courteously, “There are six boxes near the door with the word ‘Cake’ written on them… Mr. and Mrs. Cake have a cart outside… Could you begin moving some to their cart until I get these pies out please…? Be careful, they’re kind of heavy…”
As he asked, he slowly walked to the oven, covering his wings with what looked like a modified oven mitt. He pulled out the oven rack with one wing, and the tray holding two hot, steaming strawberry pies with the other.
Tammy found it funny that Joey used the word “Please” at the end of sincerely, and she let out a little giggle as she responded, “Sure thing mister!”
She ran to the boxes that indeed had the name ‘Cake’ on them, and began carrying them one-by-one to the outside of the stand at a fairly surprising speed. She was done within a few minutes, and quickly ran back to the cartons of strawberries, not forgetting her original task of grabbing all the loose and misplaced paper around. She decided to start with the ones already packed, before collected the ones all over the shop.
As she pulled the first one out, she called, “Gee! You sure are a good draw-er!” In a lower tone, she added, “Much better than Kaspy.”
Joey nearly stumbled, carefully holding the hot tray with his mitted wing, gently placing the tray on the counter-stop. Turning to push a box out, he stopped, seeing the door cracked open and all of the boxes gone. As he approached the door a deep voice called out from the counter.
The voice made the hair on Joey’s tail nearly stick up, though he tried not to feel pressured since he had someone to help. He slid four cartons to the stallion in exchange for sixteen bits. By the time he had finished selling, Tammy had already come in and finished walking around, collecting the drawings and placing them in the folder.
She stood next to Joey when she finished.
Joey tilted his head, seeing Tammy in front of him, and no boxes in the corner of the room as he peeked behind her. He nearly jumped as he heard a sudden sound of taps hitting the front counter next to him, turning to see Mr. Cake pulling his loaded cart away and a bag of bits on the counter.
Joey was still looking out of the shop when he said, “Well, that… certainly was quick.” Joey turned, his pies’ scents beginning to fill the shop. He smiled with joy as he heard a cheerful compliment come from the distance, where the Cakes had walked off to.
In response to Tammy’s compliment from earlier, he said, “Aww, I suppose… Thank you, very much!”
Tammy looked up expectantly at Joey to be told to do something; She was used to working fairly non-stop. “Now what, mister?”
“Well, now all we have to do is sell to any passing customers, now that all of the orders are out of the way.” He nosed two cartons to another pony, watching more and more gathering in line. He specifically noticed Soarin’ trotting towards the stand, looking over at the pies that he usually orders sitting on the counter.
Joey talked to Tammy as he slid bits into the stand with his hooves while nosing cartons to the customers all at the same time. Trotting to the back of the store to get strawberry related items that weren’t already out that certain customers asked for, Joey felt slightly embarrassed, as Tammy had to see him make such mistakes, nearly running back and forth as customers showed up, requiring different products. He gave a little huff, looking over at Tammy. “…could you get this crowd into two lines? That way we can get more done?”
Tammy nodded and saluted. “You got it!” In an instant, she had to run outside of the shop and to the line in front.
As if assuming some new persona, she took on a commanding tone of voice. “Alright, guys, I need you all to split into two lines so we can run this better. I want every other pony to step to your right, and those who don’t, step to the right, step to the left.”
With the confidence that she’d gotten everypony’s attention, she began pointing out ponies, starting with the first in the line. “Alright, since you’re first, step to your left.”
She pointed to the next pony in line, and said ‘right’. She went down the line a bit, alternating, until the pattern was picked up. She then ran back into the shop, and without being told, assumed the position at the new line. She began taking pony’s orders, running to and fro, grabbing cartons of strawberries and pre-made orders, pulling out any drawing she spotted. With the drawings she’d managed to collect, as she still gathered the customers’ orders, she threw the drawings into the folder Joey had instructed her to earlier.
…
Meanwhile, Kasper and Timmy were very near Kasper’s house.
…
Joey watched as Tammy ran out to the front of the shop, surprised at the sudden change in her voice. Watching the ponies all step into two lines, one by one, until the others caught on, all dividing into two groups without instruction. He smiled at the dragon as she came back in, taking her position at the head of the second line.
Getting right back to work, he ran his hoof across his forehead, a little shocked that it gently slid across rather than slipping straight across a slick and wet surface, which is what his forehead felt like on a regular basis when working the shop alone.
Joey continued serving customers in a rush, but with ease. It was comfortable. He was actually able to have small conversations with his customers as he supplied their needs, a wholehearted smile being shown rather than a nervous one. As he washed and pushed another set of cartons to a customer, he saw Soarin’, smiling as happily as ever, bouncing with anticipation, next in line.
The famous wonderbolt pony smiled and licked his lips, nodding and happily requesting, “The usual!”
Joey pushed two large, warm strawberry pies, bits instantly clanking against the countertop. Soarin’ took the pies to a near table, instantly devouring them with joy. Joey, also have a joyous expression as he worked hard, didn’t feel pressured like he always had before.
Kasper, finally arriving at his book-shop/home, nodded, being satisfied with the way Timmy had arranged the supplies they’d brought back. The ink and feather quills—a personal luxury of his, as they weren’t something he could always afford—were neatly on his desk, with regular pens next to them. The pencils he’d gotten for drafts were in a cup, finely sharpened. All of the groceries were tucked away in his fridge.
“Good job, Timmy.” He simply said.
Timmy had a thankful expression on his face, and he danced slightly at the thanks, but Kasper had turned and was unable to watch. Kasper had already walked towards the door.
“Alright, let’s go back to that strawberry shop, Timmy. We need to pick up Tammy, and strike a deal for my cover art.”
Timmy nodded. “Alright! Coming!”
As Kasper opened the door, he remembered something. “Oh,” he added, “grab my latest story, will you? It might help him to draw if he knows what he’s drawing about.”
“I’ll grab the plotline, too, then!” Timmy said, running to a pile of neatly-stacked and separated papers. Every piece had writing on it. Timmy easily picked out the ones he needed, though, and quickly ran after Kasper and out the door.
“Hop on my back, Timmy. We’ll fly this time around, since I don’t have supplies on me.”
As Joey rinsed berries, packing the last of them into one last carton, he let out a tired, relieved huff.
“Work went by very fast today… Thank you so much, Tammy… I—“ He stopped for a second, thinking to himself. “Would you like to keep the bits you got from the sold strawberries today? I think you really deserve it.”
He smiled, glad to have met Kasper and his dragons. He turned, noticing the shop much cleaner as well. Turning back to see a very young filly reaching up with four bits, he slid the last carton into her bag with a smile.
Tammy stared at the pile of bits that Joey had offered her, and then back at Joey. She shook her head ‘no’ lightly, explaining, “Kasp says I shouldn’t have money… He says I’ll only buy stupid stuff or lose it, so he doesn’t let me keep any.”
Joey felt slightly awful inside for not providing some sort of reward or payment. He pushed the bag towards the other end of the countertop with a wing. He simply, but slowly, nodded in response to Tammy’s explanation.
Suddenly, from the front of the stand where Kasper had just landed, Kasper agreed with Tammy, saying, “That’s right. But why are you bringing it up?” Kasper had only gotten there to hear Tammy’s explanation.
Tammy looked back at Kasper in surprise, and before she responded, she took notice of Timmy, who was on Kasper’s back. “Timmy!” She shouted.
Timmy hopped off of Kasper’s back and looked back at Tammy, throwing up his arms, saying, “Tammy!”
The two dragons ran to each other and gave a brief hug, before Timmy said, “Haha! I knew you’d miss me!”
Tammy shook her head no quite harshly, taking a step back and crossing her arms. “Nuh-uh! You’re the one who missed me!”
“Oh yeah?” Timmy asked.
“Yeah! You’re the one who gave me a hug!” Tammy countered, emphasizing ‘you’re’ and ‘me’.
“I only threw up my arms to wave! You ran to me!” Timmy said in rebuttal.
Tammy changed the subject. “I saw you on Kasp’s back! Did he let you ride him?”
“Yep!”
“Aww, no fair! I never get to!”
Kasper couldn’t help but smile as the dragons argued, unable to bring himself to stop the argument which he found adorable.
Surprised to see Kasper landing in front of the shop immediately after, feeling a small gust of wind enter the shop’s opening, Joey quickly explained as he looked at Tammy. “Oh! She was bringing it up because I offered her part of today’s earnings… For helping me so much today. She—“
He briefly stopped, smiling, seeing Tammy reunite with her brother. Continuing, he explained, “She really was a big help today… So I figured a reward was necessary.”
Kasper wanted to explain to Joey that Tammy would be rewarded later that night for helping anyway, but he didn’t want Tammy herself to hear that. He instead asked, “Do you mind if I come behind the counter?”
Joey slightly tilted his head, nodding and walking to the door on the side of the shop, bumping it open with his plot.
Kasper walked around to the opened door and walked in, stopping next to Joey. He leaned over and whispered into his ear, “There’s no need to reward her. I was going to make sure to do that later, anyway.”
He pulled his head back, away from Joey’s ear, and finished, “Besides. They’re your earnings, and I’m not sure if your parents would appreciate the sold-strawberry-to-money-earned ration when they get back.”
Joey nodded, and then thought to himself. As much as he couldn’t resist giving something he thought was deserved, he agreed with Kasper, since the earnings usually went to funding his home.
Kasper looked over to the folder on the counter and assumed that was what Joey kept his drawings in. He walked over, asking, “Do you mind if I look at your drawings?”
Joey looked back up, noticing Kasper walking towards his folder, which he noticed was stuffed. He had been so busy that he didn’t realize Tammy had put every single drawing away.
Slightly nodding, in almost a shy voice he answered, “Sure.”
He wasn’t very confident in his work, but he enjoyed doing it.
Kasper opened the folder and stood there a moment, looking through randomly selected drawings. Most of them were sketches or incomplete, but despite this, Kasper thought they were pretty well drawn. He took extra time looking at a picture of a playful family, some lost thought in his head attempting to resurface… It didn’t, however, and he closed the notebook .He turned around to Joey.
“I think that despite some anatomical errors,” he began, “these are very well-drawn. I look forward to seeing the cover-art you make for me.”
Suddenly, Kasper remembered something important. He felt slightly embarrassed for not having asked this earlier.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
He turned and walked back to Joey, holding his hoof out for a shake. “Mine’s Kasper.”
Joey’s head slightly lowered as Kasper noticed the small errors, those things being on his mind since he never had much time to fix them. But it rose again as he heard Kasper was looking forward to working with him. Joey wasn’t sure why, but this felt like a big opportunity that he had been waiting for. The thought made Joey nearly sink deep into thought, smiling happily, blinking once and refocusing as Kasper asked for his name. With a small ‘clop’, their hooves bumped.
“I’m Joey. Joey Berryhooves,” he said with a welcoming smile.
Kasper nodded, repeating Joey’s name. “Joey Berryhooves… It’ll be a pleasure working with you.”
Suddenly, hearing silence, he realized that his dragons had stopped bickering. He looked down at the two, and then back at Joey. “Thinking about it, before we start on my cover-art… Did you like having Tammy help? Do you think that a companion would do you good?” He asked.
