The Coffee Shop Duo

by Mayor

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life
Length: 7212

The life of two ponies who just wanna run a coffee shop.

Intrelody is a young colt who was taken in when he was just a foal by Lily Anne Brittle, the owner of a small coffee shop in Ponyville. Lily Anne also had a young filly in her care named Mocha, who was just a little bit older than Intrelody. Lily Anne is Mocha's grandmother, and although neither of the two are related to Intie, he calls her Granny, just like Mocha does. These two foals grew up together. I'll be updating all things related to these two here, in this story. This includes Lily Anne and Mocha's parents.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-10-05 14:20:01 UTC

Part 1: When Granny's Away, The Foals Will... Work?

One bright, sunny day in the small town known as Ponyville, the school bell rang as class was let out for the day. The many fillies and colts poured out of the school’s doors in excitement to get home from the long stressful hours they had spent studying. In this flood of ponies, there were two in particular who seemed even more ecstatic than the rest. They were trotting alongside each other, with the widest grins you’d have ever seen resting on their faces; a young colt by the name of Intrelody and a young mare by the name of Mocha Brittle. They weren’t the youngest at their school, nor were they the oldest. They were just starting out 5th grade this year. Sadly, despite them being near their teenage years, they hadn’t found their special talents and received their cutie marks, yet.

The reason for their excess happiness was that Mocha’s grandma was out of town, and they’d get the whole place to themselves. They could do whatever they wanted! They could watch TV for hours, they could eat all the junk-food they wanted without being scolded, and they could stay up ‘til the wee hours of the morning with no negative repercussions! (Aside from being extremely tired the next day) On top of it all, It was a weekend. They had three days to enjoy themselves and relax.

“Whadda ya wanna do first when we git’ home, Intie?” Mocha asked, turning to look at him

“I dunno, Mocha,” Intie thought to himself for a minute, “Maybe we should watch some more Doctor Whooves. We’ve fallen behind on quite a few episodes. I heard The Doctor’s companion left, and that he got a new one. Someone told me her name was ‘Derpy’, but that sounds kinda silly.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Mocha said

Having decided what they were going to do and having arrived at Mocha’s grandma’s shop, the two of them trotted inside and grabbed some snacks from the kitchen. Intrelody had grabbed some chocolate chip cookies and milk, while Mocha whipped herself up a latte. Once done in the kitchen, they went into the living room and started watching their favorite TV show, Doctor Whooves.

I could get into the episode they were watching, but that’s a story for another day. One thing that did happen while they were watching their show, though, was that Intie noticed a sticky note attached to a cabinet that was a few feet away from the TV. He paused the episode for a minute to go look at it.

“Hey! What’re you doin’?” Asked Mocha, “’Ah’ was watchin’ that!”

“There’s a sticky note over here, on this cabinet,” he replied, “It’s probably a note from Granny. Don’t you think we should take a look at it?”

“Well why didn’ she jus’ stick it on the TV?” Mocha mumbled to herself, “Woulda’ seen it a lot sooner...”

Intrelody trotted over to the sticky note and grabbed it with his mouth. He took it back to the table and set it down so they could read it.

Dear Mocha and Intrelody,

As you know, I told you that I was going to leave for Manehattan for the weekend

I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you sooner, but it turns out I’m going to have to stay

there for the whole rest of the month. Don’t worry about running the shop while I’m away,

I’ve closed it up for the time being. I would have told you, but you two were still

in school and I didn’t want to interrupt your classes just for silly old me.

I hope you two enjoy yourselves while I’m away. Try to keep the shop

tidy, alright? I don’t want to come home to a great big mess.

This note went on to list various chores they’d have to do to keep the places clean. Of course, the two were ecstatic that they’d get a whole month to do whatever they want, but they groaned over the chores they had to do.

“Well, I guess we’d better get over with what we have to do today,” Intie shrugged

“Yeah, then we c’n watch all the Doctor Whooves we want,” added Mocha

“Yeah! Let’s get this stuff done.”

Two by two, they did their chores, both of them doing something different at once. That burned through the list pretty quickly. It only took them an hour or so. Once they finished their jobs, they went back to the living room, sat down on the couch and turned Doctor Whooves back on. Mocha wrapped her hooves around Intie and rested her head on his shoulder. He smiled and blushed a little, then turned back to keep watching.

Their weekend passed, nothing really eventful happened. They did their chores each day, and then went off to do whatever they were going to do. They played some video games, they watched a little more Doctor Whooves, they played outside, and they also went to visit their other friends’ houses.

Monday rolled around, and they dragged themselves off to school just like any other Monday. They finished their classes, trotted home together, did their homework and chores then did what they usually did, which was just relaxing.

This is how the rest of the week went. The two young ponies just spent their time having fun together, with a little work here and there. The next Monday, though, things started getting a little bit eventful. An older stallion, bearing the hat of a mailcolt, knocked on the door.

“Notice for Mrs. Brittle,” He announced, “Payment of rent in the amount of nine-hundred bits due by the end of this month. If payment is not submitted in time, you will be foreclosed.”

He made his visit brief, as he was too used to people getting angry at him for these notices. A lot of ponies liked shooting the messenger for things like this. Once he made his announcement he turned around and walked away. Both Intrelody and Mocha stood there at the door dumbstruck, trying to absorb what they had just been told. Once everything sank in, they started panicking.

“What?!” Mocha was distraught, “What’re we gonna do, Intie?! Granny’s gonna be outta town all month, and we don’t have any money to pay the people with! We gotta do somethin’!”

“I don’t know!” Intrelody was just as worried, “We’re going to have to raise the money! We’ve got almost 3 weeks. That’s enough time to make nine-hundred bits, right? ...Right?”

“’Ah dunno, Intie, ‘Ah sure hope so,” Mocha replied

“Well what can we do? I guess we should look around town and ask if there’s anyone who needs work done that they’re willing to pay for?” Intie suggested

“That sounds like it jus’ might work,” Mocha perked up a little,

“Well let’s go then!” Intie said, running out the door

Mocha hastily followed him out the door. The two of them made their way to town as quickly as they could. The shop was about 10 minutes away, running. Once they got into Ponyville, they went around asking everypony they could think of if they needed any extra work done. They had a little luck, but not much. After an hour or so of searching around, the two of them came across the house of a mare named Rarity. They knew she was a fashion designer, and decided to ask her if she needed help with anything, like sewing or threading or anything of the sort.

“Hello? Ms. Rarity?” Intrelody knocked on her door, “Are you home? “

“Yes, of course, darling, come in!” answered the fancy fashion designer

Intie pushed the door in and entered the main room while Mocha followed close behind. They walked in to see Rarity hustling about the room doing various things. She looked pretty stressed.

“I’m a little busy, right now,” she explained, “but I can spare a few moments. What do you two need?”

“We’re in somewhat of a predicament right now. We need to make a lot of money by the end of the month, and we were wondering if you might have some work you could give us,” Intrelody replied

“Well, now that you mention it...” Rarity trailed off as she finally turned her head to get a look at the two ponies who had walked in her door, “Oh, my! You are just absolutely gorgeous, aren’t you?!”

Rarity got one of the widest grins on her face as she pranced over to Mocha and started examining her.

“Wha- What’re ‘yew talkin’ about?” Mocha asked with a blush

“I’m talking about your mane, young lady!” Rarity said with excitement, “Your figure, your posture! All of it is just gorgeous! You know, if you’d like to help me out around here, I’d absolutely love it, dearie. It would just be the worst possible thing for you to decline.”

“’Ah... ‘Ah dunno...” Mocha was terribly shy

“I’ll pay you,” Rarity added with an even wider grin as she leaned in uncomfortably close to Mocha

“Well... ‘A- ‘Ah guess so-“ Mocha was cut off at the last second

“Great! Let’s get started right away!” Rarity pulled her away

“I’ll let you two get your work done,” Intrelody said, “I’ll keep looking around Ponyville to see if there’s anywhere I could earn some money as well.”

Intrelody let out a short laugh as he watched Rarity put all manner of different dresses on Mocha. Dress after dress, Rarity was practically changing her clothes for her. She restyled her hair every so often, too. Intrelody turned and walked out the door as he waved the two goodbye. Just as he walked out the door he turned to see Mocha mouth one phrase too him before he left; help me.

Intie wandered around Ponyville for a little while, knocking on people’s doors and asking if they had any work. Eventually he stopped and Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s shop, and luckily enough, they had chores lying around that were yet to be done.

“Now here’s your list of stuff to do, boy,” Mr. Cake explained, “Be sure to get it done well! There’s no rush, so take your time to make sure it’s done right.”

“Yes, sir, thank you so much!” Intie thanked him and got to work

The list was surprisingly long for their snug little bakery shop. There were floors that needed to be scrubbed, food ingredients that needed to be organized, dishes that needed to be cleaned, the list just kept going.  Intrelody spent extra time examining his work and making sure everything was done well, too. With each chore he completed, he made a little check next to it on the list that the Cakes had given him. Once he was finished, he showed his completed list to Mr. Cake, who examined it thoroughly to make sure Intie hadn’t missed anything. He also, of course, went through all parts of the bakery to examine Intie’s work. He seemed thoroughly impressed.

“Great work, boy!” he said joyously, “Here ya go, I’ll give you a little extra tip. You said you’re in somewhat of a predicament, and you did a really nice job. Here, take it, you’ve earned it.”

“Thanks!” Intrelody replied, “Good luck with business, sir. I’ll see you around!”

Intrelody trotted over to the door, gave one last wave and walked out into the streets of Ponyville. The sun was just beginning its descent from the sky, and everypony around seemed to be heading from their workplace back to their homes. Intrelody figured he’d been gone long enough to go get Mocha back from Rarity, so he set off to her house.

Once he arrived, he knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He tried knocking a few more times, and he was about to give up, but he heard someone call out.

“Come in, dearie!” Rarity cried

Intie smiled and walked in the door to see Mocha standing in pretty much the same place she was before. She had the most exhausted expression Intie had ever seen her show. Rarity looked exhausted as well, but didn’t show any signs of wanting to stop dressing up Mocha.

“I-Intie’s back, Rar’ty... Are we almost done yet?” Mocha asked sheepishly

“Just be patient, dear,” Rarity pleaded, “I’ve got so many dresses I want you to try on.”

“But, Rar’ty... It’s getting kind of la-“

“I’ll pay you per dress,” Rarity bribed

“A-... Alright...” Mocha gave in

Intie let out a soft giggle and took a seat where he waited for the two to be finished with all their fancy modeling. Rarity just put dress, after dress, after dress onto Mocha. Both she and Intie had no clue as to how Rarity still had the energy to keep going, considering Mocha was exhausted, and Rarity was practically dressing her. They didn’t need to worry this for long, though. All of a sudden, Rarity just passed out and fell asleep on the ground. Mocha took this golden opportunity to take the dress off and leave. She walked over to Intrelody, who stood up and followed her to the door. As they began walking out the door, Rarity rolled over and made one more act of consciousness before she fell asleep for the night.

“Sorry it had to end so abruptly, Mocha,” Rarity said, “I just couldn’t keep going. Anyway, I keep my money in that drawer over there. I’ll give you five bits per dress that you tried on, take as much as you need.”

Mocha smiled and took what Rarity said she could. After that, the two little ponies trotted back to the shop and sat down for a nice relaxing evening of snacks and TV. Soon after their snacks and TV, they decided to retire to their rooms and catch some sleep. They had a pretty exhausting day after all.

This is the way they spent the next few days. They trotted around Ponyville, asked people if they had any work and earned some money. That only got them so far, though. Pretty soon, everypony in town who had any work to give them had no more to give. It was mid-afternoon, now a week after they had recieved the message warning them about the rent money they needed. Intie and Mocha had just finished asking around, realizing they were out of places to ask for work.

“Oh, no, Intie,” Mocha’s head hung low, “There’s nopony left to give us any work...”

“Well that’s not so bad,” Intie perked her up, “We’ve made alot, already! How much do we have?”

“Just about 300 bits,” Mocha was carrying the money they had earned in a sack that was resting over her back, “That means there’s still 600 more to go...”

“Well that’s not so bad, either,” Intie said gleefully, “300 bits is a pretty nice gross for only a week. We should be able to make the next 600 with ease!”

“But, Intie, there ain’t nopony left in Ponyville who got any work for us...” Mocha retorted

“I’m sure we can find something,” Intie insisted they stay optimistic

“Ya know what?” Said Mocha after a few moments of thought, “We haven’ asked if we could help out at Sweet Apple Acres, yet!”

“Well, you might not have,” Intie said, “That was one of the places I asked for work at while Rarity was smothering you with fabric. Applejack told me that they’ve got all the help they need, and will for a while.”

“’Aw, darnit’!” Mocha began to tear up a little, “How’re we ev’r gonna get the rest of the money?”

“Don’t worry, Mocha,” Intie sympathized, “I’m sure we’ll come up with something.”

He put his hoof around her and gave her a big hug as she rested her head on his back. After a few minutes she gave him a little nuzzle and then let go. They smiled at each other and then began trotting back to the shop. Once they arrived, Intie opened the door for Mocha and she trotted inside. Intrelody made a glance upward at the coffee shop’s sign before he made his way into the building. He stood and contemplated something that had been sitting in the back of his mind ever since the whole dilemma started. He was unsure, though, as to whether or not it would actually be a good idea. He decided to let it hang in his mind for a while longer. They still had three weeks, after all. He thought something as big as this should probably be saved for a last resort. After deciding that, he trotted into the back room where the couch and television were. He found Mocha lying down on the couch, with her head rested atop her crossed legs. He laid down in front of her and did the same.

“Intrelody?” said Mocha

“Yes, Mocha?” he asked

“When’re we gonna watch more Doctor Whooves?” she wanted to know

“Well why don’t we watch some right now? The TV’s right there,” he pointed at it with his hoof

“Yew’ should set it up fer’ us!” Mocha suggested

“I set it up last time!” Intie argued

“I dun’ care!” Mocha giggled

“Well, I don’t care that you don’t care!” Intie laughed back

“Oh fine, Ah’ll go get it ready,” Mocha mumbled

Intrelody watched Mocha set up the Television and start Doctor Whooves up, and reached around her to give her a great big hug when she laid down again. The two of them sat there for the rest of the evening, just watching TV.  After some time, they fell asleep together on the couch, still hugging each other.

Mocha woke up before Intrelody did the next morning. She snuck her way out of his arms and into the kitchen, which wasn’t very hard, as Intie was a rather heavy sleeper. Once there, she made them some toast and eggs for breakfast. As she finished the food, the aroma continued getting stronger and made its way through to the back room where Intie was sleeping soundly as he was before. It floated over past his muzzle, and in that very same instant he bolted to the kitchen.

“Whatcha makin’, Mocha?” He asked over her shoulder

“Well, cant’cha tell?” she giggled, “Toast ‘n eggs, silly.”

Intie knew it was futile to watch over her shoulder. He’d just have to wait until she was finished cooking to get anything to eat. He trotted over to the table and sat as he waited patiently for his breakfast. He watched Mocha trot back and forth as she did what she needed to do to make the meal. Once she finished, she took out a couple of plates, laid down the toast, flipped the eggs on top of the slices, and moved the plates over to the table with her magic. She sat down and started eating along with Intie.

“Hey, Mocha?” Intrelody asked, “Have you thought of anything else we could do to raise money?”

“Ah’m sorry, Intie,” She said glumly, “Ah haven’t had any more ideas. Why, have you?”

“I’ve actually come up with something,” he started, “But now that I think about it, it’s not really all that great...”

“Oh, c’mon, Intrelody,” Mocha said, “Some idea’s better ‘n nothin’. Jus’ tell me.”

“Well, I was thinking...” he said, “Why don’t we run the shop to get the money?”

Mocha stopped eating for a second; surprised that Intrelody would suggest doing something so drastic. She couldn’t deny that it was the only actual idea that either of them had come up with, though.

She took another bite of her food and said, “Well, ‘Ah suppose it could work... Sh- should we ask someone to help us out? Ah’m not sure we could do this all on our little lonesome.”

“Well, I suppose,” he answered back, “Maybe we should try putting posters up around Ponyville saying ‘Help Wanted’?”

“That sounds like a nice idea,” Mocha responded

“We should work on those once we’re done eating, then,” Intie mumbled through a bit of eggs

They hastily devoured their food and made their way straight to the poster making. Mocha’s Granny hadn’t much use for paper, aside from writing down customers’ orders, so that’s all that they had to use. Luckily, it was decently sized and totally blank, so there was plenty of room for poster making. It was just a simple poster, saying that the coffee shop would need help for the next couple of weeks and to ask the two ponies inside about the position. Mocha did a lot more of them than Intrelody did, being as she was a Unicorn and he was an Earth Pony. Mocha would just use her magic to draw, while Intrelody had to hold the pencil in his mouth. Mocha offered to just do them on her own but Intrelody insisted that he help.

They spent most of the morning doing that. Once they finished, they both had a small snack from the kitchen, packed up the posters in bags they carried over their backs, and then set off to Ponyville to pin them around. They started in the middle of town, then split up and went in two different directions. They didn’t make all that many posters, just enough to get a decent number of ponies to notice them. Along the way, each of them ran into a few ponies who wondered what they were posting the posters for. They just said they were busy, pointed at a poster and continued trotting along. After going around in a big circle, they ran into each other again. Out of posters and breath, they began their trot back to the shop.  It must have taken them longer than they thought to pin the posters around town, because when they got back, there were already some ponies waiting by the door, asking about the temporary job. This, however, presented another problem. Neither Intrelody or Mocha bothered thinking up interviewing questions. Improvisation was all they had. It was because of the improvisation that nobody ended up wanting to take the job anymore. It was too obvious that they were pulling everything they were asking from thin air. Nopony took them seriously.

After a few hours of trying to convince people to take the job, they realized it was in vain and sadly trotted back into the house.

“Well whatta ya s’ppose we do now, Intie?” Mocha implored, “We’ll never make that money without someone t’ make food...”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking,” Intie responded, holding his head in his hooves

Mocha trotted into the kitchen, pulled some food out of the cabinet and started mixing it together for their dinner. Intrelody looked up from the table and watched her as she stirred the ingredients. He began forming an idea as he watched her trot back and forth, grabbing different things, measuring them and dropping them in the mixing bowl. She turned around and noticed him staring.

“I- Intie, what’re you starin’ at?” She asked

“I’m just watching you mix, Mocha,” He answered

“A-... Alright,” She responded as she went back to what she was doing

Mocha finished the mixture, poured it into a pan and slid it into the oven.  After that, she pulled out two mugs and began mixing together drink ingredients. All the while, she was still being watched by Intrelody. After a short time, he finally decided to say something.

“Hey, Mocha... Why don’t you do the cooking while we’re running the shop?” Intie suggested

“Oh,” She answered, “’Ah d- don’t think I could do that, Intrelody...”

“Well, why’s that?” he asked

“’Ah’m not a very good cook,” she argued

“Of course you are, silly!” he said, “You cook food for us all the time and it’s always delicious!”

“’Ah-... ‘Ah guess you’re right...” she admitted

“We’ve already got all the supplies and everything that we need to run the shop, don’t we?” Intrelody inquired

“As far as ‘Ah know, yeah. We do,” Mocha confirmed

“Why don’t we set everything up and open up the shop tomorrow, then?” he decided, “I’ll take orders, clean up and stuff while you cook the food. Sound good?”

“’Ah suppose that sounds alright...” Mocha agreed, “Let’s have our dinner first, though.”

Mocha went back to mixing the drinks. It only took her about five minutes to finish that. Since the dish she had in the oven didn’t require much cooking, either, it was done at the same time that she finished the drinks. Once done, she pulled the pan out of the oven and divided the contents onto two plates to share with Intie. She did the same with the drinks she was mixing. She took the meals she made and set them down on the table for the two of them to eat.

Once they had finished eating, they began cleaning up the shop. It wasn’t very big at all, so it didn’t take too much time; just some sweeping here and there. Once done with that, Mocha opened all the cupboards to go through and organize their supplies. She did the same in the refrigerator and the pantry. This took a lot longer than the cleaning, as they had enough supplies to last them two to three more weeks. Intrelody went on doing more fine cleaning, like floor scrubbing and dusting, while Mocha was organizing. After everything was ready for the next day, the two ponies agreed when to open the shop in the morning, went to their rooms, and had their night’s sleep.

The very next morning, they woke up bright and early, eager to open the shop and earn the money they needed. They knew that that morning would be the time of day when they got the most customers. This, however, was not the case. They sat behind their counter, waiting for someone to come in and buy something minute after minute, hour after hour. Their grand total for number of customers between when they opened and when they took their noon-time lunch break was three. Three ponies were all they got. While these three customers were satisfied, three was not a number large enough to earn them the money they needed.

“This isn’t going to work if we don’t get enough ponies to come in and buy our food,” Intie said aloud to himself

“Well, w’ do have three weeks b’for Granny gets home ‘n we have to ‘ave the money,” Mocha pointed out, “Maybe we don’ really need traffic any more heavy th’n this,”

“That’s a pretty good point you have,” Intie agreed

“Let’s jus’ wait it out a li’l bit an’ see if it gets us enough,” Mocha suggested

“Alright, sounds good to me!” Intie said

That’s just what they did. Every day, for the next week, the two of them woke up, set up the shop, served food to anypony who happened by, closed and cleaned up when the day was done, went to sleep and repeated the process. Everypony was very satisfied with their food, and every so often somepony would leave a tip behind. That still wasn’t enough, though. As that week was drawing to an end, they slowly realized that they would be short the bits they needed.

“We’re going to need some way to get more ponies to come and get our food,” Intie explained, “Do you have any ideas we could use to attract more customers, Mocha?”

“Well... Maybe we could ask yer’ buddy, Cantus if he’d like t’ perform here for a little while! He’s pr’tty good at playin’ that violin o’ his,” She answered

“That’s a pretty good idea, actually! I’ll trot over to his house and ask him if he’d like to!” He declared, “Would you like to join me?”

“’Ah dunno. ‘Ah’m kinda tired, Intie. ‘Ah think ‘Ah’m gonna stay here ‘n rest,” She answered with a yawn

“Alrighty, I’ll be back a little later. I dunno how long I’ll be gone, he might wanna hang out a while if he’s got time. It’s been a few weeks,”  He explained

“G’bye, Intie!” Mocha waved as she watched her friend walk out the door

Intie wasn’t gone for very long. Twenty minutes at the most. When he walked back in, he had a look of despair on his face. He walked over to the couch and dropped down onto it with an audible sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Mocha inquired

“Cantus, along with all of the Ponyville Orchestra and Choir are away in Manehattan, they won’t be back for weeks. According to his parents, anyway,” Intrelody explained

“Well, gosh d’rn it,” Mocha mumbled, “Can ya think of anything else we c’n do t’ get ponies in here durin’ the day?”

“I’m really not sure, Mocha...” Intie said glumly

“Well...” Mocha thought aloud, “Maybe you could perform t’ get the ponies in here?”

“I can’t sing, silly,” Intie laughed, “What’d make you think I could perform for them?”

“Don’t go sayin’ you can’t sing, Intie,” Mocha contended, “’Ah hear you singin’ to yerself all the time. Ya think no one c’n hear you when you’re singin’ alone in your room, but these walls ‘re thin ‘s paper.”

“Wh-“ Intie blushed, “Why haven’t you ever said anything?”

“’Cause ‘Ah liked listenin’,” Mocha replied, “Even though I couldn’ understand a thing you were singin’. ‘Ah ain’t even sure you were singin’ in English. And ‘Ah know youd’a stopped, had ‘Ah told you that ‘Ah could hear ya.”

“Well...” Intie was pretty flustered, “I suppose I could try it once... That wasn’t English, though. You were right. It was Japanese.”

“’Ah knew that couldn’ be English,” Mocha giggled, “You sure are silly, Intie.”

Mocha’s expression lightened up significantly.  She really did love listening to him sing. It was a really nice idea, getting to hear him actually sing aloud with the intention of people hearing, rather than just hearing him sing softly to himself. Maybe he’d even sing better when he tried to!

“Well, I’m going to go to sleep,” Intie announced, “It’s been a long day, and I’m really tired. Good night, Mocha!”

They waved at each other as Intie trotted away to bed. Mocha decided it was just about time for her to sleep as well, so she cleaned up the shop a little bit and trotted off to sleep as well. They both slept soundly through the night. Intie was a little bit nervous about the next day, he didn’t really have any kind of preparation for what he was going to do, but he had to do it soon. If he didn’t, they might not make the money they need.

The next morning, when the two of them woke up, Intrelody argued that his singing might not be good enough, and that it might actually push away the few customers they were already getting.

“Well, it’s better ‘n not tryin’ nothin’ at all,” Mocha refuted, “’Ah c’n guarantee you that yer singin’ is good enough t’ please any crowd. If ya aren’t sure of yerself quite yet, why don’t ya take th’ songs yer gonna be singin’ and go practice ‘em?”

“That’s a pretty good idea,” Intrelody agreed, “I think I’ll actually go do that. As long as you’re sure you can handle this place by yourself while I’m out. Are you sure you can?”

“Oh, ‘Ah dunno. ‘Ah might be overwhelmed by th’ four ponies that might come in at lunch time,” Mocha joked

“Alright,” Intie laughed, “I’ll be back in a while. I’m going over to the Everfree Forest so that nopony’ll hear me singing.”

“Aww,” Mocha sighed, “I was hoping to get to listen.”

“You’ll hear me later tonight when I perform, silly,” Intie stated

“See ya later, then,” Mocha waved at him as he walked out the door

Intrelody was gone for most of the day. It really took him a long time. Mocha was starting to get worried soon before he returned home. He returned home safe and sound, though.

“Where’ve ya been all day?” Mocha implored

“I’ve just been out practicing my singing, Mocha, don’t worry,” Intie responded, “I just took a little while longer than I thought because Zecora heard me. She said she liked my voice and wanted to help me improve my singing. She didn’t word it like that, though. You know how she always rhymes all of her sentences together. But yeah, she helped me work on my singing! I told her what I was practicing for as well, and she told me she’d come to watch later tonight!”

“That’s great, Intie! That’s another pony we’ve got coming. ‘Ah also told a few ponies about yer performance t’night, an’ at least a few of ‘em said they’d come an’ watch!” Mocha explained

“Oh yeah!” Intie exclaimed, “This is going to go great! Hey, I’m going to go get ready. It’s only an hour or so before I need to be ready, right? I need to clean my mane and stuff. I’m going to wear that bow-tie that Granny got me a few weeks ago, too! It might take me a bit to figure out how to put it on.”

“Alright,” Mocha agreed, “You go get ready, Intie. ‘Ah’m gonna get ev’rthing ready outside. B’lieve it ‘r not, if ev’rpony comes that said they would, we won’t have ‘nough space inside the shop to serve ‘em all! ‘Ah’ve already got ev’rthing planned out. All ‘Ah have to do is move everything outside.”

Intie started trotting away to get ready, but when he saw Mocha trying to move the tables outside on her own, he insisted that he help her. She argued a little bit, but there was no stopping him. Once they had the tables and some blankets laid outside for ponies to sit on, Intie finally went back inside and got ready for his performance.

Once finished, Intrelody trotted outside and sat next to Mocha, who was simply watching as a number of ponies trotted to their coffee shop and found seats outside at the tables and on the blankets. The two young fillies were surprised at how many ponies were coming.

“Hey, Intie,” Mocha poked at him with her hoof

“What is it?” He asked

“’Ah’m startin’ to think ‘Ah’m not the only one who heard yer singin, hehe,” Mocha giggled

“I-...” Intie studdered, “I guess not, huh...?”

“Relax, Intie,” Mocha poked him again, “If it were a bad thing, none o’ these ponies ‘d be comin’ here to listen to ya sing!”

“Y- yeah...” he agreed, “I suppose so... You’re lucky though. You already know that people like your cooking- it is pretty delicious, by the way, and you’ve been getting nothing but compliments on it for the past two weeks. No one’s ever said anything if they’ve heard my singing... This is the first I’ll be finding out about anyone’s opinion. I’m so nervous.”

“Well... Thank ya, kindly,” Mocha blushed, “My cookin’s nothin’ special, though. Just ‘cause ponies like it, doesn’ mean that it’s all that special. Anyhow, you ain’t got nothin’ t’ worry about. Yer voice is jus’ beautiful, Intie. Now get up there ‘n sing. It’s time for your performance!”

Intrelody blushed again. He gave Mocha a quick smile and trotted up to the front of the crowd, knowing that carrying that conversation any longer would keep the ponies who came to see him waiting longer than they should have to. He walked out, balanced himself on his hind legs and took hold of the microphone.

“Hi there, everypony,” Intie greeted

A few of the ponies in the crowd greeted him back.

“I- I’m just here to sing for everypony here tonight. Would anyone like to hear anything in particular?” Intie shuddered a little bit from his stage fright

There was nothing from the crowd except for a few head shakes. Everypony else was too busy indulging themselves with Mocha’s delicious food and drinks.

“A- Alright... I’ll just go through my list then,” He announced

The chatter that was going amongst the customers died down as Intie took his first breath. It was amazing how well he was handling himself under all the pressure he was feeling. He let out the first note of his song, and in that instant, he lost all of his uneasiness and set free the sounds of his music. It was almost as if he was in his own little world. Almost as though, he wasn’t even really there in Ponyville. Even though everypony was there watching and listening to him sing, he felt as though he were all alone, free to do as he pleased. What he pleased to do was continue singing his song, beautifully and passionately. The world he was in was silent. As his song neared its finish, he slowly found himself returning to the real world. As this world reformed around him, so did the sound of cheering coming from the crowd. He found out, very soon, that the crowd was cheering for a second reason as well. As he started listening to what they were yelling, he heard Mocha’s voice standing out from the rest of the crowd.

“C’ngratulations, Intie!” She hollered, “Ya got yer cutie mark! Ya got yer cutie mark! Let us see it!”

Intie was shocked when he heard that. As soon as he did, though, he turned and looked back to see two symbols fading into view on his side. The first symbol was the one that begins the Hiragana alphabet, あ, followed by two connected eighth notes. The moment he saw, he got the widest grin on his face that you’d ever have seen on the face of a young stallion.

“I-... I did!” he shouted, “I got my cutie mark!”

He turned to the crowd to let them see, and they began to cheer once again. You’d think there were a lot more ponies there than there really were.

Mocha ran up to Intrelody and gave him a great big hug.

“’Ah’m so proud o’ you, Intrelody!” she exclaimed.

“Thank you, Mocha!” He hugged her back.

“’Ah’m sorry ‘Ah can’t keep huggin’ ya, but ‘Ah’ve got orders to fill! You keep on singin’! Make that crowd happy!” She turned and trotted back into the restaurant to get the food

Intie looked back at his list he had with him to decide which song to sing next. As he turned to start singing, though, he saw that most of the crowd had disappeared. There were only a few ponies out there, when before, all the tables and blankets were full. He gave a quick questioning glance at the remaining crowd, and they returned the look with a glance just as puzzled. They turned their heads to the building though, showing Intie that everyone who disappeared had followed Mocha inside the shop. Intie seemed a bit confused, and trotted inside the building as well to satisfy his curiosity. What he found inside the building wasn’t really surprising to him. He smiled as he watched ponies swarming Mocha, trying to give her compliments on her cooking, and asking if they could have recipes. She looked overwhelmed by all the ponies swarming her, but she also had the biggest grin on her face you could imagine on a young mare. Suddenly everyone stopped talking. Mocha looked confused. Everypony was just staring at her.

“What’re y’all lookin’ at?” She asked, looking over herself

It only took her a moment to notice what everyone else had. It was the same reason why everyone was cheering so loudly for Intrelody.

“Hey, everypony!” said somepony from the crowd, “We’ve got two fillies here who earned their cutie marks tonight!”

Intrelody pushed his way back through the crowd and gave Mocha an even bigger hug than she had given him.

“Congratulations, Mocha!” He said with a wide grin, “We’ve both got our cutie marks tonight! Let’s see yours, now!”

Mocha turned to show everyone her cutie mark. It was a coffee cup with steam lofting out of it. There were two streams of steam, close to each other near the bottom, separating as they moved upward and began to come together again to close at the top and form a heart.

“Yours is so pretty!” Intie exclaimed, “I love it!”

“’Ah dunno, ‘Ah think yers looks better,” Mocha giggled softly

“Hey, I know you two’re having a special bonding moment here, but I’m hungry!” somepony shouted

“Alright, alright, I’ll head back outside,” Intie said, “Talk to you later, Mocha!”

He trotted outside into the crowd, which was slowly growing back up again, and he began to sing his next song. As the rest of the ponies trotted outside, they were carrying food that Mocha had prepared for them.

The rest of the night went just great. They made all the money that they needed to get together within the next two days, doing the same thing every night. They kept doing this every night until Mocha’s  Granny came back home.

The day she came back, there was a light rain. It was very peaceful. It was the kind of rain that you just want to stand under and let the water fall down on you. Intie and Mocha were sitting in the back of the shop, watching Doctor Whooves again, just as they were doing before this whole thing started.

“Intie! Mocha! ‘Ah’m back from Manehattan. What’d I miss while ‘Ah was away?”Mocha’s  Granny asked them

“Oh, nothin’ much,” Mocha said

“We got our cutie marks, Granny!” Intie shouted happily

“Really?” their Granny seemed surprised, “Y’all will have t’ tell me all about how ya got them!”

“W’ also earned us some money t’ keep the shop from goin’ under!” Mocha explained

“Whatta ya mean?” She asked

“Well, th’ rent collector told‘s that y’ didn’t pay the rent in time, and we had t’ have it by the end o’ this month or we’d be evicted,” Mocha explained

“Mocha, dear... ‘Ah left the money for th’ rent for you ‘n Intie under the TV. There was a note attached t’ that too, sayin’ that ‘Ah was late on the rent this month ‘n you two‘d have to give it to th’ rent collector. Didn’t ya find it?”

“Wha-...“ Intie trailed off

He turned his head to look at the TV. He saw a small slip of paper sticking out from under it.

“I-... Is that-...” he trailed off again

“Yup,” their Granny responded

Intie dropped his face into his hooves in embarassment.

“Well... if we’d noticed that paper b’fore, we wouldnt’ve gotten our cutie marks,” Mocha pointed out

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Intrelody said

“Well you two’ll have t’ tell me all about what happened while ‘Ah was away,” their Granny told them, “But first, ‘Ah think ‘Ah need to take a nap, ‘Ah’ve been travelling all day!”

She waved to the two young ponies and trotted off to her room to go to sleep. Intrelody and Mocha smiled at each other again as they sat down on the couch to continue the episode of Doctor Whooves they were watching before their Granny came home. The two young ponies had finally earned their cutie marks, after so many years of wondering what they might have been.