Probably The Only Lemonade Stall [Concluded]

[ScratchThat]

The marketplace was one of the most popular places in Ponyville. In fact, its only rival would have to be the main square. So, what better place than this to set up a stall for lemonade, a filly had asked herself the previous day. Now, let me elaborate on that a little - the filly in question did not have any interest whatsoever in selling lemonade, or making some kind of weird business out of it where she knocked on ponies doors and begged them to buy stuff. Those filly scouts from the other side of town were always doing that strange kinda stuff, as Shawnie Spence had observed on many days prior to this.

Who is Shawnie Spence? She's the filly, of course! But, more importantly, why is she planning on selling lemonade? Now, if you asked her this, she'd probably completely ignore you - secretive little thing, she is - but I'll tell you anyway. It's to save up for art supplies! Namely spray paints, which most awesome graffiti and street artists tend to use. Pretty cool, huh?

So here she was, dragging a quite funky looking sign over to a small wooden table which she'd positioned earlier that day. Pretty close to the centre of the marketplace, as that's where she reckoned she'd get the most business. The sign read 'Lemonade' in bright yellow letters, along with a quite cartoony-looking painting of a lemon. Sticking this sign onto the front of the table, she nodded her head once, obviously satisfied with how everything looked. Sticking her nose in some bags she'd brought with her, she took out an empty jam jar with a sticky label that read 'money'; a sealed container of pre-prepared lemonade; some more lemons so she could make some more if needed and a selection of different coloured plastic cups, which were yellow and green, rather fittingly. Setting all of this much needed equipment on the table, she trotted behind her makeshift stall, propping up her forehooves on the table and watching ponies as they passed by. "Eh, all these ponies are too sweet, stuffing their faces with iced donuts all day long. Surely someone has a taste for something sour, right?" The filly said this rather quietly, mostly addressing herself.

[Zazzy]

Coffea Arabica trotted through the market place, wings hooked around a pair of saddle bags - a habit she had taken up. She, being a social pegasus, knew almost every one in Ponyville, and exchanged smiles and nodding heads at ponies she knew. 

She was out shopping. Shopping was rare for Coffea, seeing as she worked hard with her shop, and she looked around with bemused happiness at all the stalls around her like a little filly. The pegasus could feel the bits jangling in her saddle bags as she observed a green stallion with a sandy yellow mane and tail selling something. Coffea peered; not being able to decipher the words on the stall sign. Her ears pricked up.

"Two bits for a bag of six oranges!" He seemed to be saying. "Buy now before the offer ends!" 

A purple unicorn mare looking at the stall snorted in contempt and looked at Coffea. "It's hardly an offer, seeing as he sells them for that exact price every day."

"Oh?" Uninterested, Coffea raises an eyebrow and carried on trotting through the market, only to stop at the sight of a filly...by herself.

The little filly seemed to have set up her stall all by herself. The cartoony sign certainly stood out, and read 'Lemonade.' Whilst Coffea wasn't particularly sure about a filly being in the market place all by herself, she admired the foal's determination and perseverance - not to mention the obvious independence she showed; a trait that Coffea shared as well.

She didn't particularly like lemonade, but her curiosity, along with the fact that everybody seemed to be ignoring the foal's valiant effort at putting up a stall,  wanted her to speak to this filly. Ruffling her wings, she trotted up politely to the stall. The first customer. 

"Hello," Coffea smiled politely. She was relatively good with fillies. It had nothing to do with the fact that she sometimes made the foal customers of her shop a mug of hot chocolate. Nope. "How much is a cup of lemonade?" She stretched her wings and opened her saddle bag. "I would like one, please." 

[ScratchThat]

It was between waiting and sighing, dreaming of her spray cans when she noticed him. Him. How come she hadn't noticed this before? Her dreams of being a street artist were already pretty slim, but now they seemed almost impossible. Across the marketplace, a stallion had just attached a sign to the front of his stall. Guess what that sign said? 'Fresh Lemonade'. Fresh. "Why didn't I think of that?" The filly muttered to herself, before shaking her head quickly. It seemed she needed to kindly inform him that there wasn't enough space in one market for the two of them.

"Hey, pal!" Shawnie called over the distance, causing some ponies to look over at her and raise their eyebrows. Luckily, however, she'd caught this guy's attention. "I'm sorry to say it, but the lemonade stand was my idea, and I was here first!" The filly didn't sound very angry, just agitated. But, I mean, everyone has breaking points. Nothing gets in between her and an awesome career.

Seemingly rather discomforted by Shawnie's outburst, the surprised stallion hastily ripped down the sign, smiling in a ridiculously fake and cheesy way that just screamed, 'please don't hurt me'.

Raising a brow, she nodded her head once, signalling that it was A-okay! It seemed during this little incident, a pony had approached her stall! Her eyes growing to the size of saucers, she grinned up at Coffea. "Stallions, eh? What we gonna do with 'em?" She said wittily, shrugging her shoulders, before clicking the lid off the lemonade container. "Jus' one? You got it." Within seconds a cup filled to the very brim with lemonade was placed in front of the mare. "Two bits, please and thank you," she began, before quickly adding, "donations are gratefully accepted." Seemed this filly meant business!

[Zazzy]

Coffea was surprised at the reaction the Fresh Lemonade guy had shown. She didn't know who 'the filly' was, but she was curious. On the outside, however, the pegasus just cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head.

Bother her eyebrows were raised at the filly's response. "Ah, every pony knows that us mares stick together and dominate the world," she joked easily. The pegasus wrapped her hoof around her glass, wishing for what must have been the tenth time that day that she was a unicorn. At the same time her wings swiftly unbuckled Coffea's saddle bags and took out five bits. 

She offered two bits to the filly, not stating the obvious fact that two bits was an awful lot for a glass of lemonade. The pegasus frowned at the remaining three bits grabbed in her wings, and let them fall onto her hoof. She considered putting them away, then nudged them towards the filly. "Donations, huh?" Coffea said, closing her saddle bags again. "What are you going to buy with your money?" The pegasus ignoring the urge to ask the filly for her name. She knew that teachers warned their students not to tell strangers their names. She didn't want to break the small level of friendliness she and the other pony had built up.

Coffea looked at the bustling crowd behind her, none of which were coming to the lemonade stand. "Hey, do you want me to help you get more customers?" She took a sip of her lemonade. "I'm quite the business mare and have a shop of my own. I am also quite good at the mathematics, and enjoy it."

The pegasus shrugged, her expression nonchalant. Coffea was certainly capable of doing maths, but the statement about enjoying it was a lie. Thankfully, stalls didn't earn a whole lot of money in one go.

[ScratchThat]

Coffea's expression came as a slight surprise to Shawnie, as the filly was quite accustomed to this kind of humour, however she knew that others would have... differing opinions. Nodding her head at the older mare's comment about - well - mares, the filly flicked her grey fringe out of her eyes, crouching down on her knees and resting her hooves on the table once more.

When she was offered two bits, she eagerly took them off the mare, but when she had them she simply tossed them into the empty jar in a single swift movement. Raising a brow, the filly didn't seem to want to answer Coffea's question, but simply grunted and decided she'd answer anyway. "I'm going to buy spray paints." She stated simply, her words articulate. There seemed to be an odd edge in her voice that most wouldn't expect from a filly such as herself. It sounded defensive, almost. Like what she intended to buy was completely ordinary and her motives shouldn't be questioned.

A small smile spreading across the filly's lips, she leaned to one side, gazing off at the crowd behind Coffea. Yep. That other lemonade dude had hit the road, just like she thought he would. All that remained was an empty stall. It almost made her shudder to look at it.

Seemingly lost in her own thoughts, it took Shawnie a moment to realise that the mare was talking to her. Well, actually, it took her a moment to realise that she was still there. "Uh..." She thought a moment. Shawnie had wanted to do this alone, thinking that if she teamed up with somepony they'd want some of the cash. ...But since she was offering... "All right, sounds good." She agreed, saluting to Coffea.

[Zazzy]

Coffea could here the defensive undertone in the filly's voice, and didn't elaborate on the subject, sensing she was on unbalanced ground. She quickly retreated, drawing onto a different subject to put the filly more at ease. "That's nice," the pegasus said carefully, judging her words. This foal was a smart one. 

She could sense that the filly was 'in another world' and didn't interrupt, instead humming softly under her breath, nodding to passing ponies that she knew. Coffea sipped her lemonade again, downing it in a delicate way - not just gulping it all down - and nodded listlessly to the filly's words. "Okay then," she smiled a little at the salute, "Do you have a bin or something to put these plastic cups away in?" Coffea picked it up skilfully with her feathers. 

The pegasus looked around at the ponies walking around the market place and frowned. None of them seemed very interested in the stall, besides the fillies. "Hmm...maybe these ponies don't want any lemonade because they like it cheap," she worded her speech carefully, simply hinting at the fact of lowering the prices. Coffea looked down at the filly, wondering if getting her into a little bit of a profiting life was okay.


"Hey...uh..." She broke off, realising she didn't know the filly's name. "Hey, uh, do you like annoying ponies?" Coffea suppressed a grin. 'I haven't done this in ages,' she ruffled her wings in anticipation. "You'll be surprised at how much profit you can earn....from...annoying ponies." 

[ScratchThat]

Shawnie stood up on her tiptoes, seemingly trying to look taller and older than she was. Looking around at the crowds of ponies, she glanced back to Coffea, wondering what their first course of action would be. Bobbing her head lightly in response to the mare's compliment, she could easily tell that Coffea was simply noting her interest either because she wanted Shawnie to go into more detail, or she was trying to appear like she didn't think that it was totally weird for a young filly to try selling lemonade to get her hooves on some spray paints. To be fair, maybe both were true.

Staring at the plastic cups, she didn't respond, instead letting Coffea do her own thing, sensing that she was better at this than Shawnie would ever be. The comment about ponies liking cheap lemonade seemed to bug her a little, but after thinking for a moment she shrugged. It was obvious what the mare had been implying. "I guess I could lower the prices a little, but I seriously want this money." Shawnie used the word 'want' instead of 'need' simply because it seemed out-of-order for her to proclaim that she needed these spray paints. Although, she could argue that her perfectly planned out career as a street artist was at stake.

When Coffea spoke again, she perked her ears a little. The idea of bugging ponies for bits rather than lowering the prices seemed much more ideal to her, even though she'd hate to admit it. "I don't go round doin' it, I'll admit; but it's never too late to try something for the first time, huh?" Shawnie's mouth too turned up a little at the edges, forming - somewhat - a smile.

[Zazzy]

Coffea's eyebrows narrowed in concentration as her eyes focused on a waste basket sat up at the stall next to the filly's. Her feathered limbs pullled back and she carefully judged the distance between the target and herself. The pegasus released the plastic cup, using her other wing to maneuver the object over to the desired destination and support it with more wind. It landed perfectly in the bin.

The mare behind the stall - a drink and refreshments stall, on closer inspection - raised an eyebrow and grinned at Coffea. She was a regular customer to her tea shop and often gave her tips. "Nice throw," she commented, "Even though you did cheat a little." 

Coffea herself just simply smiled a little and bobbed her head in acknowledgement, not wanting to break off her conversation with the current pony - no, filly - that she was talking to. 

Speaking if the filly...she turned around to her and folded her wings, a little surprised by her choice of words. Most foals would be a little more demanding: one of the main reasons Coffea didn't like them. But this one, the one she was talking to, she seemed to be okay. She wasn't a nuisance and certainly wasn't petulant. 

"I never did it as a filly in Trottingham," Coffea said wistfully, "When I came here I used to do it. All the time." She smiled at the filly, ruffling her wings in anticipation. "So," she continued. "Who to begin with?"

The pegasus cocked her head behind her and stepped aside so the filly could get a better view. Coffea looked around. "I think we should start with the earth ponies. Pegasi can fly away and most unicorns can teleport."

[ScratchThat]

Shawnie gazed in silence at Coffea, her smile soon disappearing as she watched the pegasus's very accurate throw into the bin. Rather impressed, the filly's expression once again changed; but this time to one of admiration. This young mare wasn't at all boring and like the usual she'd see strutting down the street. Most adults hardly if ever made time for foals if they saw them wandering about the street, and when they did they usually belittled the young, making them seem insignificant and small. This wasn't the case with Coffea, and the filly decided that proper introductions were finally in order. She wanted to know that she'd be able to locate this mare again, after all. "So, what's the name, Miss? Mine's Shawnie." Last names weren't necessary at this point. In fact, Shawnie was just a nickname, so it seemed first names weren't even mandatory.

When Coffea spoke up again, Shawnie did her best to pay attention, even though this didn't appear so. The filly was glancing around the market, her eyes wandering aimlessly from stall to stall, but secretly she was considering who'd be a good first target. Nodding her head at the mention of earth ponies, she voiced her agreement, "Yeah, yeah. Earth ponies. Sounds good." Although Shawnie knew Coffea was possibly speaking out against earth ponies being able to escape - though why they'd want to she had no idea yet - she didn't let this show or bother her. After all, you've got to be a pretty skilled earth pony like herself to get yourself out of sticky situations, right?

Spying just what they were looking for - a crowd of earth ponies in front of an apple stall - she pointed over at them discreetly. "Maybe we should start there?" The filly questioned, trotting out from behind her stall so she was now right next to Coffea.

[Zazzy]

Coffea noticed the filly staring at her but didn't make any movement to suggest that she had noticed that. She bobbed her head politely to the filly - who had just introduced herself as Shawnie - and rustled her wings to push her saddle bags into a more comfortable position. "I'm Coffea," she said pleasantly, figuring that this was a more formal conversation and using last names was not a need. "I manage a tea shop on the outskirts of Ponyville," she shrugged. "You may or may not have heard about it."

The pegasus looked around. "The earth ponies in Ponyville - well, actually, generally - are pretty...strong." Coffea winced. Her mother herself was an earth pony and when Coffea had done something inappropriate, it would warn her a knock on the head. Her ears and head throbbed in sympathy, but she knew that her mother had done that only for the best. She shook her head. 

Coffea cringed as Shawnie pointed out the group of earth ponies. She knew most of them well - a few were so close that they were like sisters. "Uh, yeah, sure, why not?" The pegasus shifted uncomfortably. "Why don't you go first?" She carefully took a plastic cup and skilfully poured a jug of lemonade from one of the bottles with her wings. Coffea offered it to Shawnie. "You probably don't want to upset the apple stall guy too much by stealing his customers," she explained. "That's unless you have a grudge or something against him," the pegasus looked at Shawnie curiously. "You don't, do you, right?" 

[ScratchThat]

Shawnie lowered her hoof, noticing that one of the customers she'd been pointing at had glanced her way, so she quickly started scratching the back of her mane in an attempt to cover it up. ScratchThat. Nodding to her new coffee making friend, she commented, "The name was a solid give away." Not going into any further detail about if she'd actually seen Coffea around before, she glanced over once more at the group of ponies, smiling some when Coffea talked about them being strong. It seemed she was having a completely different reaction to the other mare about this, as being an earth pony herself, she liked to believe they were a strong race, although she often doubted her own strength. I mean, it's not like Shawnie goes about lifting weights or whatever, right? Nah. Sport had never been this filly's thing.

Perking her ears, Shawnie shrugged before nodding. "Guess I could go first." Reaching over and taking a plastic cup off the table, she started making her way over the market, but stopped about a second or two after, turning back to look at Coffea. If Shawnie couldn't just go and - I dunno - get customers, how were they supposed to attract attention to the stall? The whole point of this plan had been to annoy ponies, right? Why was Coffea suddenly backing out?

"Nah, I don't have a grudge against him. I'm not a big fan of holding grudges, anyways. Best not to make a drama out of everything." The filly explained, rolling her eyes at her last comment, as if suggesting how ridiculous it was that some ponies held grudges against others for weeks on end, often with no good reasons. "But, like, I thought we were meant to annoy ponies. To get customers, right?" She asked, raising a brow in slight confusion. "Maybe you should go first," Shawnie said finally. "Demonstrate exactly what you mean and everything." Seemed fair enough, right?

[Zazzy]

Coffea smiled. "Of course it was," her smile swiftly turned into a frown, "Most ponies spell my name as C - o - f - f - e - e, when it is actually C - o - f - f - e - a." The pegasus huffed through her nostrils and realising she was trailing off. She rubbed her neck with her hoof in embarrassment.

She watched Shawnie walk off and hesitate, turning around. Coffea resisted the irate feeling of face - hoofing and groaning - she didn't want to put the filly off. Sighing a little, Coffea sat down on a chair propped up behind the counter of Shawnie's stall and put her hooves on it. "Well, that's good, I guess," Coffea cringed a little, noticing how ironic Shawnie's words were. The pegasus averted her eyes, trying not to let the filly see how much of a hypocrite she was. She knew it was her own fault, but the action stung a little. Apparently, a filly who couldn't be more than ten was more responsible and sensible than herself. 

"But you can not really blame ponies for holding grudges," Coffea countered in self - defence, "Forgiving and forgetting is a lot better than..." The pegasus winced and struggled to get the words out, her pride blocking them, "holding grudges." Her shoulders slumped a little.

Sighing, Coffea twirled her hoof absent - mindedly. "Yes, but you never know how strong or stupid these ponies are," she looked at the other stall owner, "If they recognise you as an enemy, or even a friend, then things could go absolutely wrong,"

"And that's precisely why," Coffea finished with a flourish, "Me going to them is a bad idea," she paused, wondering if she should tell a mere filly her history, "One of them is a filly hood friend." 

[ScratchThat]

Shawnie couldn't help but feel that Coffea was slowly realising that she'd been rather hypocritical about their whole plan, but simply looked behind the older mare, not wanting to make things awkward or uneasy for her. Listening in silence, a slight smirk washed over her small features when Coffea said 'holding grudges'. Seemed she was having second thoughts on what she believed, eh?

Then suddenly an idea sprang to Shawnie's mind, and she couldn't help but chuckle a little at how devious it was. Having a very snarky sense of humour had its upsides. "I totally agree, holding grudges sucks, right?" She started, nodding her head towards the ponies still queuing at the apple stand. "And you should so spill those words of wisdom to the ponies over there. I mean, filly-hood friends don't hold grudges against filly-hood friends, do they?" Trotting up to Coffea and pushing a cup of lemonade into the older mare's hoof, she added, "So, what'cha waiting for? I bet the best reunion you could have with your friend would be over a glass of lemonade." The filly finished, tipping her chin upwards in triumph.

While she felt a little bad, knowing she'd completely just talked back to somepony older than her, it didn't really seem to bother her all that much. Coffea was a friend now, right? Gazing over at the apple stall, she flickered her eyes over the mares, wondering which one could be Coffea's friend. If she was a friend worth keeping, she wouldn't be angry. In fact, wouldn't she feel rather touched that her dear old friend was helping a little filly sell lemonade? Heck, Coffea was practically a charity worker or something right now!

[Zazzy]

Coffea narrowed her eyes. Shawnie was up to something, she knew it. The filly was subsequently dropped further down the coffee coloured pegasus's 'trust meter.' Was the filly just nervous about bothering some pony? Was she backing out of their deal? No, that couldn't be the case. Coffea had only known Shawnie for a little while, but she could already tell that the small earth pony was determined and confident. Bothering some pony would be no easier than itching your ear for Shawnie - it may even be second nature. Besides, Coffea was not keen to have a small reunion with her old friend. Awkwardness and embarrassment would follow in her hoof steps, she was sure of it,

"Hmm?" The pegasus looked up with bored nonchalance. She looked up at the sun anxiously. Watches had never been something fashionable for Coffea and she had slowly grown to know what time it was by looking at the sun. It wasn't precise and it didn't really help on cloudy days, but it was resourceful and a reasonable price to pay instead of wearing the garment she so much despised. Coffea wrinkled her nose at the word 'sucks,' her second Trottingham sense kicking in. She lifted her chin up, not one to back down just because of some filly. Her pride was way too large to let that happen. "Oh, I don't know," The pegasus said evenly but firmly. Her brow was raised, "Forgiving others easily can be looked upon as a flaw as well."

Coffea looked at Shawnie cautiously for a moment, then nudged her glass of lemonade back into the filly's hoof. Her ears twitched in irritation. She looked up at the sun and back down at the filly. She then scanned her surrounding desperately, dehydrated of excuses. It was then that the pegasus noticed a bird unable to get off a branch. She frowned, squinting. Apparently, he - or she, although Coffea was going to refer to him by he as default - had injured his wings; she didn't know much about medicine and bone injuries, but judging by the way he held his wing, it looked very much injured. "O-oh, look, that bird's broken his wing!" Coffea exclaimed, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead. She extended her wings and hovered in the air, "How about you go and confront that group whilst I help the bird?" She suggested rather too enthusiastically. 

Not waiting for an answer,  Coffea shot off in the direction of the bird in the tree, out of ear shot in case Shawnie protested. She stopped around five meters from his, eyes twitching. She liked to keep her fear of animals unknown, but anyone watching would immediately note that she didn't like them. The pegasus closed her eyes and breathed out softly. She fluttered towards the bird and gingerly held out a hoof for it to step on, breath held. Her hoof was not trembling - thank Celestia for that - but it was pale and slick with swear. Coffea averted her eyes, not wanting to squeeze them in fear that Shawnie was watching them. She couldn't help but think that this small little animal could impale her with it's beak, however tiny and innocent it looked.

[ScratchThat]

Shawnie sighed. Coffea was clearly going to switch her views back and forth to get what she desired, and this was something that annoyed Shawnie, yes, as she always liked to have set beliefs on things. Things you could later on stand up for. Shifting her gaze over to the stall, she slumped her shoulders, now appearing much more small and insignificant than she probably had for the entirety of this conversation.

Now, Shawnie was very much capable of talking to ponies - heck, this whole fiasco with Coffea could back that up - it was just crowds that she had a disliking to. Not because she was afraid of them or anything. No, it was simply because too many ponies confused her, and crowds were extremely hard to navigate, especially when you're younger. "Forgive and forget is a good motto to go by." The filly said, her eyes distant as she assessed the situation in the calm and composed way that she was so accustomed to.

Finally finalising her decision just as Coffea zoomed off to help the bird, Shawnie opened her mouth to speak, only to find that the mare was already darting towards the tree. Sighing once more, she gazed after Coffea for a few moments, raising a brow and clearly noting the mare's dislike of the situation, she simply scowled and squinted at the cup of lemonade on the counter. "Let's do this, I guess," Shawnie said smoothly, scooping the cup up into her hooves; a skill that she'd oh so carefully practiced in front of the mirror on many occasions.

Her mission set, she set off across the market, making direct eye contact with whoever looked down at her oddly. Probably wondering where her parents were, she presumed. Although she appeared confident, when she was a mere meter away from the crowd, she paused, stopping abruptly. What was she going to say? Or do? Taking a deeeep breath, the filly composed herself in a casual manner, trotting right up so she was next to the queue of ponies. "Hey." Shawnie had to speak quite loudly in order to be heard over all the other ponies, although this came naturally to her. "Over there," she paused, pointing over at her stall, "I have some real good quality lemonade, right." She nodded, before glancing over at the stallion behind the apple stall. "Now, I know there's a rival between us involved in the... fruits, I guess, but I thought we could come to some sort of understanding." Trotting up through the crowd, most stepped out of her way as she approached the stand. Once there, she put the small cup of lemonade onto the counter and pushed it towards the stallion with her muzzle. Blinking, still slightly... confused about the whole ordeal, he took a sip from the cup, and his eyes grew wide. "That's good lemonade!" He chuckled, before cutting it off short, suddenly realising what might be about to happen.

"Aaaaand, it's been approved by the apple guy!" Shawnie smirked, flashing the ponies a smile. "Surely you guys wanna come over and taste it for yourselves? Freshly squeezed lemons!" The filly continued advertising what was so good about drink - which you could get for so much cheaper elsewhere - whilst turning round and trotting back to her stand. Glancing back, she beamed when she noticed a whole long crowd of ponies following her, clearly curious about this lemonade; or maybe just the odd situation. Or the odd filly. Nonetheless, Shawnie was proud of herself, gazing over at Coffea and waving a hoof in the air, smiling. Seconds later, the first customer arrived, who was greeted by a little squeal of excitement from the filly. Spray paints, here she comes! After this little noise voicing her excitement, she started giving out the lemonade, pointing towards the bit jar when ponies asked where to pay. Awh yeah! By the end of this, she'd be rich! Maybe she should do this everyday!