The Voices (In My Head Again)

“Sketch wake up, Sketch!” Spike shouts as he runs into Sketch’s temporary room.

“What is it man, can’t you see I’m trying to sleep?” Sketch asks as he puts his pillow over his head to drown out the noise that is Spike.

“Yes but you gotta come see this!” He replies.

“You owe me five bits if it sucks.” Sketch says as he removes the pillow from his head and takes his blanket with him, still wrapped in a makeshift cocoon of warmth. As he shambles to the terrace overlooking Ponyville what he sees shocks him.

“The empty no customer having cafe has a line all the way down mainstreet?!”

“I know right?” Spike replies.

At this site Sketch hurries and takes a shower and makes his way down to the shop as fast as he can only to see a line of ponies a mile long, okay not a mile long but still an impressive line of ponies getting their caffeine kick. He runs past them all and heads inside, catching the attention to all ponies in the area as he was still almost double their size but don’t budge from their spot in line. He enters the shop to see a more (apparently…) than happy Mocha Jon.

“Dude, how many bags have you sold?” Sketch asks as Mocha hands another pony a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans.

The cyan unicorn looks over and sees the human enter his shop and was even more ecstatic to see he finally had some help, “Oh my Celestia where have you been, it’s been crazier than Pinkie Pie in here!” Mocha Jon says as he reaches down to grab more of the candy and is surprised to find out he has just sold out, “Dude… Please make more… I beg you more than I beg to be an alicorn…” He says, humorously, but clearly nervous.

“I already bought them out of their milk chocolate, shall I try their dark chocolate? If so give me one hundred bits and I will get right on it boss.” Sketch says as he holds out his hand so he can get the money and run with it, this line isn’t going to end anytime soon and he doesn’t want a riot to start over candy, no matter how delicious this confectionery may be, he must keep the peace.

Mocha Jon opens the register with a very complex code and pulls out the money easily, barely making a dent in the profits. “Here, and please take it, I swear I will end up having to sell the frozen bugs we exterminate in the back as a substitution…” Mocha says panting, he was clearly joking though, he has no bugs. “I miss having the free time…” He quietly moans to himself.

“You got it, be back in five minutes and I will make another large batch.”

“Please do…” Mocha says“Sorry everypony, gonna need to wait for more coffee candy, can I interest anypony in a Reduced Heat Nonfat White Chocolate Double Shot Mocha Latte with whip and cinnamon?”

As Sketch runs to Sugar Cube corner Spike and Twilight catch up.

“What’s going on? And wait up!” Twilight pleads as she runs trying to catch up to Sketch, whose long legs make his strides much larger than the lavender alicorn barely managing to keep up.

“Yeah, wait up!” Spike says as he barely manages to keep up with Twilight.

“Remember the candy I made the other day before you fell asleep?”

“I wasn’t sleeping! I was resting my eyes.” Twilight retorts in embarrassment.

“Sure, and who's this flash sentry I heard so much about while I carried you back to the castle, hmm?” At this, her face turns bright red.

“Why are we running anyway?” Spike asks a valid question.

“We need more chocolate covered coffee beans to sell at the coffee shop.”

“Okay, ew,” Spike replies.

“Says a guy that eats jewelry.”

“I thought you made fifty pounds of the stuff yesterday,” Twilight asked.

“I did, and Jon sold or ate it all. And I don’t think he can eat that much.”

“Wow, how’d you know that would sell?” Spike added.

“It was popular at my college so why not a small farm town?”

“Good point, but won’t dark chocolate make it too bitter?” Spike also wondered.

“Nope, it just adds to the robust flavor of the mild bean we use to make the stuff.”

“How do you know all this when you’ve only worked there for a day?” Twilight also questioned.

“There was a coffee shop on campus where I got coffee every morning and a scone.”

“Huh, isn’t that convenient.”

“Yeah, the writer of this story couldn’t think of a better way for me to know about it, but hey, it is his story.”

“What in Equestria are you talking about, that sounds like something Pinkie Pie would say?”

“Oh, nothing, here we are!”

Sketch bursts through the door and runs up to the counter huffing and puffing as he never missed leg day but cardio was nowhere near where it should be for someone his age.

“Fifty pounds of dark chocolate please!” He said gasping for air.

“You’re cleaning us out there, what are you making with all that chocolate?

“Can’t say, company secret,” Sketch says as he finally catches his breath. With that said, Cupcake goes to the back and bring out boxes upon boxes of dark chocolate for him. Thanks cupcake how much will that be?”

“Eighty-seven bits.”

“Heres one hundred, keep the change.” This left a smile on the mare’s face as he went to pick up the chocolate only to have Twilight levitate it for him, “Thanks, Twilight.”

“No problem Sketch, now to the coffee shop!” With that said they hurry back to the coffee shop and begin making chocolate as Twilight and Spike watch.

“You boil half a pot of water and have another float on the boiling water and put the chocolate in the top pot so it melts and then you dip a bean into it and then let it cool and harden?”

“Yup! Learned this method in first grade. Take a small cup of warm water, put an empty cup in it and put chocolate in the top cup and boom, melted chocolate with no chance of burning it.”

“Cool, can I try one?” Spike asks.

“Here’s a small one for ya,” Sketch says as he gets a small chocolate for the lil guy who pops it in his mouth and spits it out almost immediately clawing off the pieces from his tongue and coughing.

“You actually like that stuff?” Spike asks seriously.

“Can I try one,” Twilight asks.

“Sure,” Sketch says as he hands her one, she chews on it a little bit and her eyes go wide. "Sketch, this replaces Tea as my favorite pick me up! Well, maybe not entirely, but this is really close. Just don’t give it to Pinkie Pie, please.”

“Okay, and thanks now to make fifty more batches,” as the morning turns to noon he finishes all the batches for the day and he could swear he had dark chocolate under his fingernails, but it was an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, now to see what the boss thought about all the coffee chocolates and how well they sold out. It was one in the afternoon before he was done cleaning up.

“So Mocha, how’d we do?”

Mocha looks over, and he is clearly exasperated by what had happened. The store is not as vacant as it was yesterday, but it is nowhere as busy as it was earlier. “Oh gosh… Please stay working for me… I need help Sketch… Please…” He says as he looks over and sees Twilight and Spike, Jon turns back to Sketch looking embarrassed.

“Sure thing boss, hows this, I stay in the castle and make about twenty pounds of this stuff a day and bring it to you in the morning as you open up, sound good? I think today was just a fluke with all the business, it will die down eventually once you get some regulars coming in every day, and I will make a deal with Sugarcube Corner for the chocolate.”

“Oh, alright, I guess that could work, it would make the transactions between our products easier I suppose.” He says as he looks to Twilight, “You think that’s a good idea?”

“I think Sketch can come to an agreement with the Cakes, right Pinkie?”

“Yup!”

“Oh dear lord Cthulu where did you come from!?” Sketch says as he jumps back in surprise from Pinkie Pie’s sudden appearance in the coffee shop.

“Get used to that… She does that a lot… and I mean a lot!” Spike says as he rubs the bridge of his nose with his claw in exasperation.

“Alright, there's one more question I have to ask you, how much am I going to get paid for making you the candy?”

Mocha Jon yawned and took out his journal and started crunching some numbers, “Well I could start you out on I’d say two hundred bits a week, but you can get half of the tip jar which would be about an extra seventy-five if you are willing to do some counter work, that sounds good?”

“Sounds good to me, and I will head over to the Cakes before I go home for the day, maybe if we tell them we need the chocolate on a daily basis we can get a bulk discount for repeatedly buying from them.”

“Alright that sounds good, hey Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike, if you guys trust him to go on your own you guys are welcome to hang out here.” Mocha tries to convince them to stay, but it didn’t seem like it was working.

“Sorry Mocha, he’s still pretty new to this place and I still want to monitor him in case anything bad happens,” Twilight responds.

“Of course, but what’s the wo-” Pinkie Pie is cut off as Sketch puts a hand over her mouth.

“Please, never say what you were going to say, it brings so much bad luck it isn’t even funny,” Sketch warns.

“Yeah he’s right, heck all of our adventures could have been avoided if we never said that,” Spike adds, Sketch puts out a fist towards Spike who fist bumps him back.

Mocha Jon looks down for a very brief moment, not enough for anypony to think anything of it, “Oh, yeah I understand, I hope you guys have fun!” He says as he attempts to put on a smile and be happy for them, not happy that he is envious of their instant bonding.

“Alright be back in a bit Mocha, want anything while I’m there?” Sketch asks as Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Spike and him begin to leave the cafe.

“Oh see if they have any red velvet cupcakes!” He tries to say but the door closes before they can hear him. “On second thought, how about some peanut butter brownies… Maybe an allergic reaction might get you guys to want to hang out with me…” He says quietly to himself.