"Oh, hello!" the petite mare beamed, "My name's Silver Spring, It’s a pleasure to meet you!"

Taking in the mare, Ared greeted the newest addition of the Grocery store. “Yeah, err… Hi?”. Silently scolding himself for such a weak introduction. A brief pause was what followed as the mare emerged from the dark hallway of her home to where the entirety of her head and two front hooves were set alight by the morning sun.

I take it your are employed at the local Grocery store?, she questioned.

"Yeah, that's right". Ared replied, "I'm one of the managers from the Grocer's. Kiwi asked me to help you with transport"

"Oh, that's great" , the mare beamed innocently. "I look forward to working with you"

"Shall we get going?" Ared proposed to the younger equine.

"Just let me lock my door and we can go", Silver Spring replied as she appeared to emulate a three-point turn, struggling to turn around and lock her door to her home.

'Wow, Manehatten mares are a different breed!', the Stallion crudely remarked figuratively and literally as he 'unwillingly' ogled the mare from behind.

"Thank you for doing this for me, I hope it was no trouble", Silver delivered politely. "I don't want you to be late for helping me"

“Heh, If that's the case, I'll race you to the cart!”, Ared felt like an idiot for that remark, ‘Sweet Celestia… Am I trying to come across as some kind of Frat-Colt? I’m 27 years old!'. He smiled at the mare, before turning and walking back to the cart, completely oblivious of his acquaintance's disability.

Silver Spring was slightly taken aback by this remark and stopped was stopped in her tracks, still in the doorway. Was he simply making an innocent joke to be friendly and lighten the mood or was it done out of malice to mock the state of her disability? ‘Surely, Ms. Kiwi would have told him about it? She said she would’

Feeling as though she had to inform her new acquaintance of her situation, she shuffled her hooves forward – well, three of them shuffled, one was simply dragged forward - so that the emerging sunlight could illuminate the entirety of her body. It's owner made her reply, "Umm... Excuse me Mr Terra, didn't Ms. Kiwi tell you about my... er..."

It suddenly dawned upon Ared at what he had done. He had just mocked an incredibly young and sweet mare about her disability. Of course he had not meant it to sound offensive, in his braindead state there was nothing behind his words to cause any offence at all. ‘I am the worst pony alive right now…”

The sunlight illuminated Silver Spring and showed off her body to a much greater extent, revealing the supports for her slender body. Three of these supports were all perfectly healthy looking, long-ish slender legs running smoothly from the top of her thighs down to the hooves of three. However, the hind-left leg was a different story. In contrast to the other three, the leg was a mess; to the naked eye the thigh looked visibly weaker and less muscular than the others; the knee swollen; visible pieces of broken cartilage jutting outwards through the smooth white coat.

"I am so sorry!", the sorry excuse of a Stallion blurted out. "Kiwi did tell me about your... disability... I was so caught up in the moment I just forgot".

Ared could only watch, guilt visibly radiating from him, as Silver walked - hobbled - past him, "Heh, try not to worry about it". She started with an upbeat tone, "There's not much I can do about it anyway"

The Stallion sheepishly walked alongside the smaller mare until they stood beside Ared's cart, "Do you need help getting up there?"

The next few moments went by like a couple of flashes for Ared, attempting to step even closer to his cart in order to provide as leverage for the 'impaired' mare. With a sudden blinding flash of light and a stinging eye later, the brown Stallion was left reeling backwards in pain, his hind-legs buckling as he was left on his knees clutching his left-eye.

Using his only fully-functioning eye left, Ared looked up at his assailant, "What are you bucking playing at?"

Looking down at the Stallion, Silver held a hoof to cover her I'm sorry for that. "This isn't a good start is it?"

"No, it isn't!", he spat in response, occasionally lifting a hoof to check the eye and the surrounding areas, 'At least I'm not bleeding, I suppose?'

"Do you need help?". Silver offered, trying her best to atone for her unintentional actions.

He purposefully blanked the mare, lifted himself off the floor, and stumbled back over to the front of the cart. Ared grumbled angrily as he struggled to hook himself back up to the wooden cart. The main cause of the struggle was down to the Stallion's failed attempt to perform a simple task with one hoof placed upon his stinging eye while the other flailed uselessly before him. "What's the worst that can happen, she says"

Pricking up at the sound of his voice, the now concerned Silver leaned forward from her position, "Did you say something?"

"No", Ared huffed in irritation as his eye stung from the heavy blow Silver Spring had delivered. As the pain slowly ebbed away, although still very present, Ared managed to reattach himself to the cart before pulling off in huff towards his new destination of 'Sweet Apple Acres'.

Upon arrival at Ponyville's local, and biggest, farm Ared had managed to calm himself down as he came to a halt in front of the iconic red barn of 'Sweet Apple Acres'. At the time of stopping, the sun had rose a little higher evaporating the moisture in the air and casting long shadows upon the ground. Uncoupling himself once more, in preparation for loading the

"Good morning Miss Applejack", Ared said in a formal manner. "I hope your well today!"

Oh, please Ared. she greeted back, Ah keep tellin' yah call me AJ. Drop tha miss atleast

Ok... Applejack

Good to see you too by the why, how was your weekend?

It was alright, not much happened though

"Who's this?", Applejack inquired. "Could it be your sister you keep telling me about?" Applejack looking at Silver

"No, no", he said quickly, with an unwanted warmth starting to creep up from beneath his fur. "Applejack this is Silver Spring - she'll be accompanying me with my morning rounds from now on".

Silver Spring could only wave in greeting to the Orange mare, "Hello, nice to meet you"

"You too, sugarcube", Applejack acknowledge before turning back to Ared. "Now you ordered the usual amount, right?"

"Yes, that's right" Ared confimed, reaching for a saddlebag that was strapped to the underside of the cart. The jingling noise it made did little to hide the contents.

"Then, that'll be the usual 76 bits, Sugarcube", Applejack confirmed.

"Here you go". Said Ared as he passed he removed the exact amount of coins, in a see-through bag, and passed it on into the waiting hoof of Applejack.

"Will you be needing my assistance ag... , Apple stuttered to a halt as she looked back at the mare atop of Ared's cart. Silver Spring had a look of pure concentration as she set to work on levitating what looked like her fifth, no sixth, box of fruit and vegetables into the cart.

Following the orange mares gaze, Ared smiled at the sight. "So your not just a pretty face... Show off!"

After a little while of lugging the now more heavy cart back into the centre of Ponyville, Ared imitated a little bit of small talk with Silver, "So Silver, how did you get the job at the Grocery store?"

"Well... It was my mother who landed me the job. I was only introduced to Ms. Kiwi about two weeks ago. Ms. Kiwi seemed quite impressed when my mother said I was 'good with numbers'. I didn't even have an interview",

"Ok", her senior responded flatly. Ared was somewhat unimpressed that while an inexperienced eighteen year old could be employed simply based upon their name, many others who had worked

"So, are you going to tell me about the store now?", Silver pined in search of answers to her questions.

"For context, there's been quite a staff reshuffle recently. Within two weeks the store has lost two members of staff"

"Who were they?"

"The store's General manager retired last Friday and Kiwi recently sacked a Stock refill pony for 'public indecency'"

"'Public indecency'", Silver repeated before chuckling. "What did they do, finish themselves off with a carrot?"

"No", Ared corrected in a curt manner, shifting into a low tone of voice. "It was a... cucumber".

Time passed by quite pleasantly for Silver, because of her disability she had not been able to explore that much of her the town. The bright colours of the countryside were beautiful in contrast to the metal conurbation of Manehatten. The mare actually felt quite thankful of the Stallion who had mocked her, although unintentionally, for allowing her to experience this.

Pulling the cart through the now widening streets, Ared could hear feint giggles coming from behind him. Turning his head, his face now asymmetrical thanks to the black-eye that was starting to show upon his face, "What's so funny?"

"I guess we're even now, huh?". The white mare sounded, more to herself, out loud.

"What?". Ared questioned, inquiring as to what the mare was on about.

"Well, have you ever heard the saying of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'?". Silver posed the question to Ared.

"Yeah, I'm aware of it". Ared replied to the mares newfound poeticism, "What about the saying?"

"Well, think about it. You said something that, you say, you didn't mean to and I did something that I didn't mean to"

Ared raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed at the mares ramblings, sarcasm oozing out of him. "Yeah! Must have been fate!"

When it came to the opening of the Grocery store, the responsibility of opening up and setting out the pony-enticing boards fell upon either the General Manager of the store or Ared. The tasks were fairly mundane; open up; sweep up; and set out the signs. Sometimes Blooming Kiwi would also fill the role if trade inspectors came knocking, although the latter mentioned tasks were usually landed upon those who turned up second.

The store wasn't huge in size, it was a manageable size which allowed for all of the shelves to be packed with fruit and vegetables, all the while leaving space for each fauna family to be segregated neatly through the store. There were four shelves, accessible from both sides, that helped to divide up the stores space and allow for more fruit and vegetables to be accessed by the customers who entered.

Due to open at 8:30am the store was unusually inactive when it came to the opening time. This was mainly to do with Kiwi calling a staff meeting ten minutes before the store was required to be open.

"Everybody... This is Silver Spring. Silver here is stepping into the company's newest role of 'finance officer'. I hope you all make her feel very welcome". Delight filled Kiwi's voice as her new employee was paraded in front of the rest of the staff.

"Come on boss, let the girl introduce herself". The store's Stock Manager, Oakley, interjected. In response, Kiwi nodded in agreement with her subordinate and gestured to Silver to step forward. Kiwi gave way her position as the orchestrator to the small mare and took a step back. Oakley was a light-grey Pegasus whose light-blue mane and tail lay in a non-styled state and flat upon his azure coat. He sported a slightly toned upper body which was rounded off with the green eyes.

Slightly nervous and the added bonus of having to move with three fully-functional legs, Silver moved forward. "Hello, as you heard my name is Silver Spring and I look forward to working with you all"

A low chorus of greeting echoed throughout the customer-less shop as the Silver's sentiment rippled through each one of the ponies approval.

When the greetings died down to little more than murmurs, Scarlett Sunset - the youngest of the Grocer's two current cashiers stepped up to Silver Spring. "I like your accent, Silver. Your not from around here are you?"

Slightly taken aback by the mare's forwardness, Silver mentally formed her response before responding. "That's right. I am from Manehatten; born and raised!"

"That's so cool!", Scarlet excitedly remarked, visibly interested - and audibly - interested in the small white unicorn, "I've always wanted to go, you need to tell me what it's like"

The day wore on for the employees at the Grocery, Blooming Kiwi was the one to spend the most time with Silver Spring. The role of 'Finance Officer' was designed to help with balancing the books of the store and freeing up time for Kiwi to manager the general logistics of the store and make sure competent ponies were put in charge when Kiwi was away of official business.

The only ponies left in the store at this point in the day was Ared, Silver and Kiwi. "Ared can I have a word with you in my office, please?"

'Again?', Ared whined internally. All the Stallion wanted to do was go home after a long day of work and by now his tiredness was starting look evident. "Yes Ms Kiwi"

Following the Unicorn to her office, Ared could only think that this would be about his progress with Silver Spring. Passing various isles of neatly stocked fruits and vegetables, the duo finally stopped in front of the door that led into Kiwi's office. Closing time of the store was 5:30 in the afternoon and in order to clean up he was expected to stay and clean up until 6:15.

"Stallion's first", Kiwi remarked with a chuckle, her magic being used to grasp the door's handle as it opened.

Stepping past the his boss, Ared felt a strong tinge of 'Deja vu' as he recalled the conversation he had with Kiwi on the previous Friday. An audible click could be heard followed by the 'clopping' of hooves as Blooming Kiwi moved across the room to take her seat across from Ared. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Unlike their last talk, Kiwi's desk was clear and paper free, although the look in her eyes remained stern. Ared noted that when Kiwi looked like this, important news was not very far behind. "It's about your job, Ared"

'I'm so getting sacked', Ared repeated within his mind, although he remained silent as Kiwi continued on.

With a glow of her horn, Kiwi materialised a new sheet of paper which Ared could somewhat make out as a some form 'hierarchal structure'. "I've been reviewing the current hierarchy of the store's employees. Since Orchid has retired we are lacking a General Manager to make sure that everything remains in order whenever I am out of town on business". Kiwi paused for a second, a thoughtful expression creeping onto her face, "A 'second in command' type of role"

"What does this have to do with me?", Ared interjected before Kiwi could continue. Was she asking him to nominate someone else? Though the sentiment didn't appeal to Ared very much, if it meant for the good of the store he would stand by the pony, Kiwi would choose.

"I'm giving the job to you, Ared", Kiwi's words shattered Ared's train of thought, eyes wide in disbelief. "I want you to be the stores new General Manager"

Author's Notes:

Feel free to comment or rate If you enjoyed the chapter or not and please do tell me what you think of the story so far. Of course, this is my first story and subsequently it is also a work n progress.