Outside of Working Hours (Private)

[Deleted]

Move-in day for the stalls had arrived, and Jitters anticipated the appearance of Scarlet to help him cut the metaphorical ribbon of their joint-cohesion works project. He had installed the shutters onto the system and they were now functioning as they should, with the inside of the stalls each having a flick-switch that sent an ignition charge which functioned to turn on the indoor-light of the stalls and to stimulate the gears built into the very fabric of the system, letting the doors open, there was a significant lack of grace, and they opened fairly jauntily, but Jitters knew he would work out the kinks eventually, this was just a first real test in motion. There shouldn't be any problems with them. His whole design scheme had fallen perfectly into place, as he had perfected it so, in which his foreground of the stall had push-open doors to let other ponies come into his large wooden tent-like structure to examine his wares, whilst at the back of the stall, there was a separate room that he could use for modifications or repairs that ponies came to him with. This was also the perfect moment to break out the big guns and use some of the tech from his hometown, the Hexicore Crystals, showing the ponies of Ponyville how to use it appropriately. Also, because he was the only pony around able to make them, he could charge a fairly high amount for them, and actually make some money back to pay for his cut of the stalls.

He paced eagerly down and up the length of his and Scarlet's stalls, awaiting her appearance before going inside and beginning to set out his shop for the very first day of business and there was an air of excitement in his step. He had ruffled his feathers so to speak and began to re-check the measurements of the outside of his store, using his wingspan to test the entire length of it. She would be here any minute, and he knew she would be impressed with all of the work he had gotten through in just a short space of time.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet trotted down the through the main street of the Ponyville market. Her decorated saddle bags contained a vast variety of chemicals that she planned to use to create her products for her stall.
Finding a distributor for the chemicals was easy, although it required a trip to Manehatten to meet in person with the company. She had to provide proof of her market stall and proof of her degree to obtain some of the more dangerous chemicals. Such chemicals were generally forbidden from public use and only sold for pharmaceutical purposes. It hadn't taken Scarlet too far out of her way as she already had had to travel to Manehatten to place an order for building materials to be delivered to Ponyville.
Within three days she had everything sorted, the materials had arrived and had been constructed in the market place. If her guess was correct, Jitters would be fitting their stalls with some gadgets of his while she picked up the chemicals delivery from the local train station.
The plan was to spend the day setting up their stalls before their grand opening tomorrow, even the Ice cream stall located next to them would be offering 50% as a celebration for the occasion. 
The weather had been hot the last few days but today, the pegasi had orders to let it cool down. Scarlet much preferred the cool weather, she was over getting all hot and sweaty, especially in the manual labour of setting up shop.
It was still early in the morning, 6:15 am to be precise. The air smelled of flowers and dew. The market was bustling with stall owners preparing their shop for the day ahead while attempting to be as quiet as possible as not to wake up and anger the still sleeping ponies that resided in homes nearby.
She wondered if this was the reason why houses closer to the market were cheaper. She would have thought that they would have been more expensive because of the easier access to shops.
She kept walking until she came across a familiar tent. It was her stall and next to it was Jitter's stall. 
She heard some noises coming from his tent. 
'Probably Jitter's setting up. I should probably do the same.'
"Hey Jitters! I'm here!" She called out from inside her tent-like structure.
"I'm just going to put my supplies away and then you can show me what you were working on."
There was a spring in her step and a large smile on her face. She was happy to have her stall and for it to be next to her friends.
She wouldn't get lonely at work, she liked that.
Opening the counter, moving through the front room, she passed into the back room. It was all set-up with two benches, a sink, a cabinet filled with beakers and several other glasses and chemistry tools. 
As she found a place for each of her chemicals to go she took notice of the scent of the interior of the market stall. It smelt of freshly cut grass.





 

[Deleted]

An enthusiastic Jitters rushed from the inside of his stall to meet Scarlet, he could tell she was containing her excitement a lot more cohesively than he was.

"Hello there Miss Scarlet! How was Manehattan? Did you have a nice time while you were gone?"

Jitters hadn't seen his friend in since she had gone, and had never actually visited Manehattan before, so was enthused about knowing what her trip was like. All morning, he had been placing all of his simple gadgets and doodahs around on the inside of his stall; he had built a function into his stall so that the front of it would open down the middle, opening outwards into the area in front, creating a bigger space to sell his products, and when outside, he placed a thick rug outside so that ponies wouldn't be standing on the ground. Whilst the "outside" part of his store sold simple doohickeys and gadgets, the interior was for more advanced pieces of tech, things that he would rather didn't get quite so easily stolen by thieves around the market. The design for his stall functioned in a way that when he closed over the doors and pulled the lever inside, heavy brass shutters would extract from the ceiling and closely bring its way towards the ground, keeping the store closed over completely with the exception of the door on the side, to which he had the only key. He had built a similar system into Scarlet's stall, not wanting to make her feel under him, and was always open to suggestions on how to improve it.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet turned around at the call of her name to find Jitter's standing excitedly behind her.
"Oh hey Jitter's, Manehatten was fine, average. I see the supplies came. The tent-stalls are cool. There's not too much that interesting about Manehatten, I got on the train in Ponyville. Got off in Manehatten, sorted out the stuff and came back. It's really just a big Ponyville, except the Manehatten buildings are much much taller... and... I guess everypony there is a bit more formal."
Scarlet noticed a strange array of strings, pulleys and boards arranged hidden in the side of her tent. This must be what Jitters was working on. 
Her eyes drifted to a golden lever behind the front counter. 
"I see the system you put in and I bet this lever activates it." She excitedly pushed past Jitters and pulled the lever.
With a few short hisses, crunches and other mechanical noises the tent closed up, locked itself and turned off the lights. 
"Uhhh.. I think I found a problem with your security system. The lever is inside and now we're stuck in here." 
Scarlet tried to pull the lever back in the other direction hoping for it to re-open the doors but it wouldn't budge. She guessed there was some form of release that didn't involve the lever in front of her.
"Great." She stated frustrated.
With the lights out it was fairly dark. She could make out the faint outlines of the counter and the outline of Jitters. She felt a sense of isolation as she could hear the world outside continuing, blissfully unaware of their predicament. 
Unlike Jitters stall, Scarlet did select to have a side door installed. She realises now that that may have been a grave mistake.







 

[Deleted]

Jitters stood in the darkness for a few moments, smiling to himself, hoping this would happen, giving him a chance to show off some more, and his pride got the better of him as he excitedly hopped around in the dark for a moment.

"Ah-ha! You see! In case of an emergency situation, such as locking yourself in, there is indeed an emergency release switch inside, and outside. However, to stop anypony from using it willy-nilly as they please, I've given your stall a key to the system on both the interior and exterior. Let me show you."

Guiding her towards the counter again, Jitters pulled a small key from his pocket and plugged it into a small slot just below where the lever was, and then clicked the lever again as the system started itself up, opening and the lights turning on once more. He then trotted outside and stood to the side of Scarlet's stall, motioning for her to come over and she noticed that there was a small button hidden away into the textured pattern of the side of the stall, it was disguised very well and yet again, there was a small slot underneath that Jitters wedged the key into. He pushed the button with his nose and her stall closed down again, this time with them on the outside. He pushed the button again, with the key in the slot and her stall opened once more and Jitters beamed to himself before pulling the key out and handing it to Scarlet. It was a delicate and beautiful little design, resembling something akin to a clockwork key, but having a swirled pattern and design on its surface and it coiled off at the edges, looking almost like tentacles that had curled in on themselves. It was a matte-black colour and was shiny and gleaming as Jitters placed it in her hoof.

"Now, there is only one spare of this key in existance, so please don't lose this one. I don't plan to make another key, as the last thing I want is somepony stealing it and breaking into your stall. Here's the spare one, I suggest you keep that one at home."

A second key was handed to Scarlet, but this one was a more brass-coloured design as opposed to the shiny black metal.

[Scarlet]

Now that they were outside Scarlet's eyes started to re-adjust to the newly risen sun.
She gratefully took the detailed key from Jitters and carefully placed it into her saddle bags.
She made sure that it was secured well and would not fall out if bumped.
"Heh..so we got out. That's" Said Scarlet attempting to hide her embarrassment for not thinking that Jitters would have some sort of emergency escape.
All of her chemicals were sorted and the majority of her tent was set up. There was nothing left to do but open, however that would have to wait until the Grand Opening tomorrow. She didn't want to get too far ahead of herself and open too early in case something went wrong or she discovered something dire that she had forgotten.
The morning was growing older. Almost all of the stalls in the market were fully set-up eagerly awaiting today's customers. 
Some of the hardcore deal hunters had already arrived and had begun picking through the market finding the best bargains.
In around an hours time the first of the casual market goes would arrive and rummage through the stalls, picking up the few bargains that had been overlooked by the others.
"It's been a couple days... how's the hooficure gadget thingy going?" She asked, trying not to be too pushy on the devices production.
She was still weary from the early morning start and had not fully woken up yet. She still hadn't made it to the spa which was now her top priority.
She made a mental note to try and get to the spa today. The problem she faced was that the spa was a social experience, not just a place to pretty-up. 
That would mean to enjoy her visit she would need to invite a friend. She couldn't invite Jitters. Stallions usually stayed as far away from the spa as possible. She lacked a couple of mare friends that she could take.

[Deleted]

"As a matter of fact, my dear Miss Scarlet. It's finished, I think it still has a few bugs to work out, but I suppose that would be why you're testing it for me, you know? It's in my store, I'll go and pick it up."

With a cheerful spring in his step, he trotted away next door, bringing through a pale-white wooden box with nothing more than a crank on the side of it. It could be likened in design to a jack-in-the-box, but being a lot more simple and very minimalist in its delivery. The crank however, was a wonderfully crafted component, being a gentle blue colour and having a design of complex waves, clearly hand-painted with texture and detail to give it the foam seen on actual waves, and at the end was a starfish, painted a pale yellow colour, standing out against the bold blues.

"I do plan to actually paint it at some point, it's still in a very early phase right now, but I thought I'd keep it on par with the whole 'Ocean' type of theme, I find the ocean to be a relaxing point for me, so I thought it might offer the same type of stimulation to other ponies."

He smiled at Scarlet and asked her to find a seat and then put a pillow in front of her; resting her two front hooves onto it, he wound up the crank on the side and sat back, watching it with keen anticipation. The top of the box popped open gently and three hand-like mandibles extended from inside, reaching up to at least 2 feet high all whilst clockwork hissing could be heard from inside the box as release mechanisms let the hands extend upward. One of the hands took Scarlet's hooves, and it became clear that it was padded with pillows to stop it from being painful or tight, and lifted it up slightly whilst the other took began to work on her hoof, primping it, working down all the dirt, cleaning it, etc, before moving onto the next one. It was fast, efficient and did its work, and Jitters looked on with pride at his work.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet was marvelled by the machine at work in front of her.

She watched closely as it delicately held her hoof and began to clean decorate it.

Jitter's had mentioned that it may still have a few bugs, so she was prepared to jump away if the gadget attempted to pull of forelegs off.

She shook the vivid image out of her head and focused on the device. It's work was fast, efficient and professional.

It's style mirrored the style of a pony who have had their entire life to perfect their work.

She winced as stray gravel was brushed off her hoof, scratching her. Perhaps the machine wasn't perfectly tuned to the sesistivity of feminie hooves.

After almost less than a minute the machine halted it's movements and gave a loud beeping sound, probably to indicate that it had completed it's instructed task.

A few seconds passed and the device lessed it's grasp and allowed Scarlet to swiftly remove her hoof.

She smiled at Jitter's. It had been success. Looking over at her two groomed hooves she instantly decided that she would have to have all four done, otherwise she would be unbalanced.

Without telling her friend of her plan she fixed up her seat so that she could lay back and rest her two backlegs on the device. It was an awkward position for

a pony to be in, but blushed and tried to sit at an angle that was appropriate for her on-looker. The hooficure devicequickly began it's task as it had found dirty hooves to clean.

Once again it wirled into action, It's robotic limbs holding her hooves tightly and performing the same task that they had done. The proccess continued for another minute before the machine once again

slowed to a halt. When the machine gave it's beep of completion she met a predicatment. Her backlegs gently rested on the top of the device and her forelegs hung in the air in front of her.

The problem was that if she were to rest her hooves on the floor to stand up they would simply dirty again, ruining the entire point of the hooficure.

"Um... Jitter's could you please do me a big favour?" She asked innocently.

"Only if you totally okay with it. Could you pretty please gloss my hooves? The polish protects them so I can put them down. I only need you to lather on one layer.

It's not that hard and it wont take long and I can't do it myself without my hooves getting all wreaked. please." begged Scarlet.

"If look in my saddlebags on the ground just there, you'll find a bright red tub with 'Premium Red Velvet Gloss' written on the label. There should also be a small brush as well to apply it with."

[Deleted]

Nodding in agreement, a small look of distaste crossed Jitters' face. He could relate to exactly what she meant of getting all jazzed up and looking or feeling good, then having it ruined in moments, and being a hypochondriac-type germophobe, he had certainly had moments that caused a violent reaction in him.

"Yes! Of course Miss Scarlet, I can understand the predicament you're in and I wouldn't mind being of service."

He trotted away for a few moments, returning with the glosser and brush and sat down on the ground in front of Scarlet and began to paint it onto her hooves, making sure everything was covered well and clean. He had been rather proud of her reaction to his design, and simultaneously, was very proud of the device itself, it had simply been a hoof-buffer nothing more than a week ago, and now it was a seemingly revolutionary device in the way of modern cosmetics and fashion-styling. Maybe he should actually give it a function of putting on a hoof glosser too, surely there would be more demand for that as well? He just knew that it might give the device a little bit more weight than he would normally have intended for it to have, and simultaneously, even one of these devices would be costly and hard to build. He had to use a Hexicore Crystal to power it and make sure the machine could respond to commands fairly well, and even at that, it took almost a full crystal to do just that. He knew he'd probably have to take a trip into the mountainside sometime to see if he could get his neccessary ingredients again to get himself more of these Crystals. He wondered if maybe there would be a way to simplify his design somehow and not make it so costly and time-usage heavy...

"Is this looking okay so far?"

He looked at Scarlet curiosly, giving her an indication to look at the single hoof he had painted so far.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet was surprised that Jitter's agreed to her favour.

'He's a good friend.' Thought Scarlet.

She watched as Jitter's begun glossing one of the hooves on her back leg. Scarlet could sense Jitter's happiness over the success of his device by the glee which worked with.

His eyes were on her hoof but his focus was somewhere else. Scarlet assmued he was on another rant, but this time inside his head.

She deeply exhaled and relaxed. Allowing herself to sink deeper into her seat.

The make-shift seat of containers wasn't too soft and Scarlet found a sharp corner of plastic digging into her flank.

She shifted carefully, trying not to disturb her hooves.

In almost no time at all her hoof was completely covered in the now solidfying gloss. It appeared that he had applied an rather generous amount which would offer her
hooficured hooves safety from the elements.

She was startled when he began to spoke.

"It's looking good. I think it's done." Smiled Scarlet, happy with Jitter's work.

She offered him her other hoof.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the serenity of the quiet, warm tent. In the distance she could hear the faint sounds of market goes and singing birds.

The humid air of the enclosed stall was like a warm embrace, offering comfort and protection. The smell of freshly cut grass still hung in the air from when the plot was tidying up for construction.

The scent itself was sweet and tasty, almost as if the grass itself was a lolly. She left her attention drift to Jitter's soft brush strokes across her hooves. The brush drifting, gliding effortlessly
across her hoof.

She must have drifted off to sleep for a while as time seemed to speed away. It seemed like she had only sat down and her four beutiful hooves already bore bright red gloss.

She blew on her forehooves, they were the latest to be painted and were still wet. They quickly dried, allowing Scarlet to once again stand.

"Thank you so much!" 
She took Jitter's in a tight hug.

[Deleted]

A little taken aback by the hug, Jitters froze, not knowing what to do. He knew they were friends now and she was just showing her appreciation, but she had invaded his personal space. This was the worst possible thing, but he swallowed hard and shakily returned her hug, the relief in his head that she was as prim and proper as he was, when it came to cleanliness and hygiene, so she definitely wasn't dirty and didn't have any terrible germs that kept him up at night, filling his mind with nightmares.

After she released him, still a little shaken, he smiled and cocked his head slightly, he had definitely gotten over his social anxiety with regards to Scarlet, which was reassuring as they were going to be spending a significant amount of time together, working alongside each other, probably spending their breaks and such together and Jitters released it was a lot warmer outside today than he thought it would be and took off his blazer, setting it down on the counter of his stall. He had on a bright red waistcoat and an black and white checked bowtie today, on top of his white shirt.

He turned to look at Scarlet, letting her admire her hooves and then spoke to her softly, feeling the humidity in the air starting to get to her as it was him.

"Dear Miss Scarlet, I don't suppose you would appreciate some ice cream right now? I certainly do, and I owe you one anyway. So I was going to head over to the stall to get some, don't suppose there is a flavour you happen to prefer? I'll need to make note anyway, since we'll be spending a lot of time together as shop-neighbours."

He grinned goofily, saying the words "Shop Neighbours" as if it was a pun on the typical pony noise, "Neigh".

[Scarlet]

She was aware of Jitter's discomfort with her hug, but she hoped he didn't mind as they were good friends and her hoofs had just been sterilized.

Also Scarlet liked to push Jitter's germaphobia and anxiety. Not in a mean way, she felt it was good for him to be occasionally put slighty out his

comfort zone by his friends.

She stepped outside to see how to day was progressing. The bustling market place was now lined with ponies, purchasing goods and fresh produce.
Across from her stall, on the other side of the market road was an art store, selling paintings and drawings of all different sizes. She made a mental note to go check it out when she had some free time. She wasn't an artist herself but she could appreciate a good work of art.
Scarlet had thought
 that the scheduled cloud cover would help cool things down but she was proven wrong as the clouds seemed only to increase the humidity, adding to the boiling climate.

"Hmm.. Chocolate please." Responded the smiling mare.

She liked the term shop neighbours, it seemed to fit well.

'Heh, shop neighbours.' she giggled to herself.

"Hey, after ice cream, do you want to ditch the market and go for a swim? This place is really crowded and it's heating up fast. The river isn't too far away and it would

be a good way to escape the heat.

We could even take lunch and have a picnic up there by the river. What do you say?" She asked Jitter's.

[Deleted]

"My dear friend, that could possibly be the most splendid idea you've had yet!"

Jitters grinned widely at her before disappearing to get the ice cream. Jitters had never really been swimming before, he vaguely remembered having lessons when he was significantly younger, but it certainly wasn't a thing that he could just go off in do in his hometown, which was a rather large and industrial city. He should probably inform Scarlet soon however, that he wasn't the strongest swimmer, especially before they go off for the run together. But he was quite hungry, and it occurred to him he hadn't actually eaten anything good or proper in just about a day or so, being far too involved with his projects and he frowned to himself, a little disappointed in himself. He knew he would have to get better at this kind of thing and keep track of his eating habits. He wondered about what they could take to the picnic, fairly enjoying the idea in his mind of sitting quietly and having something to eat, maybe bringing a radio and listening to a local station whilst they sat on the grass and enjoyed themselves.

Shaking himself back to reality, Jitters went up the stall and spoke to the owner, ordering a chocolate ice-cream and a honeycomb ice-cream, for Scarlet and himself respectively, he couldn't even deny his sweet tooth the chance of sinking his jaws into the creamy, sugary goodness of honeycomb ice-cream. He returned first with Scarlet's ice-cream before going back and getting his own and licking it intently whilst trotting back before talking to Scarlet.

"It has occurred to me, I should inform you that I'm not a particularly good swimmer, but I'd love to go out and give it a try again. It's been quite some time since I last actually did any swimming and it would be particularly nice to feel. And if you don't mind doing the catering, I could go get a basket, blanket and a radio for us to take up with us and meet you back here before we head off?"

Jitters smiled widely at her, still licking his cone.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet intensely licked her ice cream while she listened to Jitter's reply.

"It's ok if your not the strongest swimmer, neither am I. We'll go to a quiet part of the river where the current is nice and gentle. Sure I'll get the food. See you back here in half an hour."

She hit then hidden button and watched as the stall folded itself up into a secure structure.

'Neat.' She commented on the installed device.

She could easily find a good lunch at the market.

A short walk revealed the food section of the market and a market stall equivalent of a general store. She rummage through her saddle bags to find change to
 purchase some plastic cutlery and plates. Next on the shopping list was some actual food.

Nearby was a sandwich stand offering to make assorted salad roles for a fair price.

She got in line and promptly ordered two roles. The next store over sold a variety of snack foods of which Scarlet purchased a variety to surprise Jitter's with.
 She also purchased an icepack to keep the food nice and cold. She wrapped the lunch and icepack into a plastic bag and placed it into her saddlebag.

She contemplated whether to actually get some bathers. Ponies normally swam without clothes but Scarlet preferred to have some.
Not far nearby was a clothing store that also stocked swimwear.
Now that her saddlebags were bulging with items she headed back to her tent with 5 minutes to spare.

[Deleted]

Saying his farewells to Scarlet, Jitters locked up shop and headed home. He had familiarised himself with the paths thus far, but still wasn't the best when it came to finding his way around Ponyville, but at the very least, he was fully capable of going to and from the market. Along the way, he enjoyed his surroundings, all of the other ponies just keeping to their own business, some younger ponies playing and tossing things around, and a couple of other ponies just more or less getting out the house to enjoy the warm weather whilst it lasted and Jitters finally made his way to his home. The windmill was a circular shape and from the outside was very tall, with a white and red striped, painted pattern on it, and heavy blades that moved slightly in the gentle breeze. However, to the side of the windmill was the watermill extension, it looked like a fairly basic-look block, almost stuck onto the side of the windmill, with the massive watermill-wheel churning up the water that it was situated on. He smiled to himself, seeing that his repairs had managed to recover some of the functions that this place would have once had. He unlocked his door and wandered inside his house, looking around for his supplies he would need. Grabbing a dark blue blanket, a radio that definitely would need some repairs but worked for the most part, and a basket with a small cooler inside it before he dashed out back to the market.