//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Le Café de la Vie. // by AKA MrJ //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Apple Jack, had all agreed (much to Rarity's delight) to do a Sunday brunch. There had been some debate however, as to the location of where they brunch should be. Now it was Sunday and they still hadn't decided. "Can't we just go to the castle?" Rainbow groaned. "It's almost lunch and I haven't eaten yet!" "Now Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, "if you would simply be patient, we'll get something to eat soon." "Hey! Why don't we just go there for breakfast-lunch!" "Pinkie, it's called brunch. And where are we going?" Said Twilight "To that brand new café over there," replied Pinkie with a wave of her hoof, "duh!" The place Pinke had indicated was a three story building with the first floor consisting of six floor to ceiling tinted windows with a small entrance on the right of the building. The sign over the windows read "Le Café de la Vie." None of this would have stood out to the six ponies, if they had ever seen it before. "Ah! A proper Prench café in Ponyville, oh this is wonderful!" Exclaimed Rarity. "Oh, we simply must go in." "Now hold on there sugarcube," said Apple Jack, a tone of caution in her voice, "this wasn't here yesterday, so you'll excuse me if I think we shouldn't go in just yet." "Nonsense darling, you're just worrying too much, now come along!" Rarity said, entering the café. Without much of a choice, the other five ponies followed their friend into the cafe. The interior was as such, four booths lined the windows with a fifth, larger booth, placed at the far wall. Between the booths and the counter were three tables with two chairs each. The counter consisted of four stools, a dessert display, and a cash register. Fresh flowers sat in vases at the booths and tables. Each seat was set with a menu, clean white napkins, polished silverware, and a small plate. And the café as a whole was done up in tasteful red leathers,deep brown woods, and polished brass metals. A sign next to the door said "please seat yourself." The whole café was empty, save for the six ponies who walked in. Rarity seemed unbothered by the lack of patrons or servers as she walked to the booth at the far end of the café motioning her friends to follow. Sliding into the booth each pony picking up a menu glancing it over as they eyed the rest of the café. "Umm, shouldn't there be more ponies here?" Said the soft voice of Fluttershy. "I mean it's okay that it's not busy, but it is almost time for lunch." "Fluttershy's right. Why aren't there more ponies in here," said Twilight, the alicorn wasn't even looking at here menu, instead looking at the counter, "you would think that a new café would've been bigger news a town like Ponyville." This was true. With the recent edition of Twilight's castle, Ponyville had started to attract more ponies wanting to see the new princess. But since Ponyville was so small to begin with, any time that a new pony moved in or set up shop, the whole town would know about it. The fact that this café had appeared without anypony talking about it, had Twilight and the others a little worried. "Darlings, you really must relax." Rarity chided. "It's a café, nothing to worried about. Listen, I can hear the waiter coming," it was true the could hear hoof steps coming from the back, "if you're really worried about this then you can ask him. Now. I see a Sunday special here that's going till noon. I think we should have tha-" Rarity was cut short by the appearance of what could only be described as a monster. The thing stood upright on two legs and wore what appeared to be a waiter's uniform, consisting of a white shirt with a black vest, tie, and apron. It also wore some kind of denim pants and a kind of large black leather boot. From wasn't covered by cloth (it's head and fore paws) they could see pale pink skin, save for it's buzz-cut black mane, and five o'clock shadow. It must have poor eyesight since it also wore glasses. The creature then walked over to the six ponies who were still staring at it in shock, pulled out a pen and notepad from an apron pocket, offered a wide smile and said. "Welcome to Le Café de la Vie! My name is Justin. May I take down any drinks before you order?" Silence followed the question. The creature didn't seem at all shaken by the ponies staring at him (his deeper voice and five o'clock shadow marking him as male) "Justin" (as he called himself) simply stood there pen poised over pad, smile on his face, waiting to take down their orders. Finally it was Rarity who spoke up. "Erm, yes we would like the 'taste of everything special' please." Her voice was shaking as she ordered. "Excellent," said Justin, scribbling his notepad, "now will that be with tea or coffee?" "Just tea I think." "Alright then, will there be anything else?" "Ooh!" Pinkie's hoof shot up as she spoke. "Can I get hot chocolate and the chocolate lava cake please!?" "Okay," said Justin, once again making note of the order, "would anyone else like something besides the special?" A round of 'no I think we're good' and 'no thank you's' was the general reply. "Alright, I'll just take your menus than, thank you. Now I'll be right back with your orders." And with that Justin left. Silence followed after he left, nopony quite brave enough to speak. The silence was only broken by small sounds coming from the kitchen. After almost ten minutes did the ponies finally find their voices. "What, was that thing?" Rainbow Dash's voice was shaking. "No. Seriously. What in Tartarus is that thing!?" "He looked kind of like a ape thing to me." Pinkie's opinion was accompanied by a few giggles. "H-he seemed very polite, I guess." Fluttershy's voice had risen to an almost inaudible squeak. "Girls I think it be best if we left now." Apple Jack said with a tone of urgency. "Leave without getting any chocolate!?" Pinkie said, looking at Apple Jack in shock. "Are you loco in the coco?!" "Pinkie's right darlings," Rarity chimed in, "we should at least stay and try his cooking. After all it would be completely rude if we ordered and then ran off without paying the poor thing." "But what if he's dangerous?" Apple Jack, shot back. "What do we do then, huh?" "If he's dangerous we'll deal with him." Twilight said. "At the very least we give this thing a chance." Their discussion ended there, as Justin entered carrying a tray in his right...paw. The ponies couldn't see what was since Justin was holding it at (his) head height, and he stood about 5'8" by Twilight's guess. (Most ponies stand around four feet tall mind you.) "Here you are," said Justin his smile still present, "the 'taste of everything' special, one hot chocolate, and one chocolate lava cake." And off the tray came five empty mugs, one mug filled with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, two tea pots, and three multi-tiered trays stacked with a variety of tarts, scones, cakes, and sandwiches. In front of Pinkie he placed a plate with what looked like two chocolate cupcakes with sliced strawberries on the side. Justin's smile seemed to brighten at the ponies awe of the spectacle he had set in front of them. "Please enjoy, and call if there is anything else you need" with that Justin retread into the back. Silence once again following him. "Well," Twilight said, picking up a sandwich in her magic, "let's dig in." The late brunch seemed to last forever. Each pony lost in their little world as they tasted the meal in front of them. Excited exclamations bounced back and forth over each new item, encouragements to try one of the tarts, or attempts to hog all of one kind of cake. They were all so engrossed in the meal that they forgot any fears from earlier. Once again they were six friends enjoying themselves. They were still chatting and giggling when Justin reappeared to clear the table, the ponies barely noticed, only to thank him for bringing the check, which Rarity picked up saying it was her treat. "Okay so he ain't dangerous," Apple Jack said, bringing the attention back to her and the earlier topic of Justin, "but I still want to know what he is." "Oh. You don't think it's rude to ask?" Said Fluttershy, her voice had returned to it's normal tone during the meal. "I don't want to upset him by being rude." "Nonsense," said Twilight, the alicorn visibly becoming excited at the idea of learning something new, "I think it's important to know about anypony whose operating a business in Ponyville. Especially since his business never went through town hall, or me, or the bank, or anypony in Ponyville. Actually how did he get this building up and running in the middle of the night, without anypony noticing?" "Well, why don't we ask," said Rarity, raising a hoof, "garçon, s'il vous plaît!" Almost instantly Justin was at their booth, all smiles and eagerness. "Yes madam? How may I be of service?" "Ahem, yes me and my friends were just wondering if you tell us about you and your café." Rarity said. "Yes of course. What would like to know?" Said Justin, pulling up a chair from the nearby table. "Well for starters you can tell us who in hay you are." Said Apple Jack, not even trying to hide her suspicion of Justin. "W-well like I said before I'm Justin," he said, showing signs of nervousness for the first time, "I'm seventeen, and this is my café." "And how did you get here exactly?" "Well a few months back my buddy Discord came to me and-" "Your friends with Discord!!" Shouted everypony in disbelief making Justin nearly fall out of chair in surprise. "Um, yah. I'm friends with Discord, why is that surprising?" Justin asked. "Erm. It's just, we didn't, expect, umm, p-please continue darling." Said Rarity. "Well like I was saying, Discord came to me a few months ago looking about as depressed as a person can get. I ask what's wrong, and he tells me about how he feels like he lost the trust and friendship he had built with some people named. Gods I can never remember names. Okay he mentioned someone called...Fluttershy, and he talked about someone named Tia... Anyway the names aren't important right now. What's important is that he made a mistake and betrayed them to some demon or other. Then after the demon betrays Discord, Discord realizes his mistakes, try's to help his friends, they beat the demon, and they say he's forgiven. Mostly." "So after he comes to me and asks for my help in resolving his troubles, and to help him regain the friendships he once had." "Hold up," said Rainbow Dash, "Discord, spirit of chaos, came to you, for therapy." "Well more like he came came to me for advice." Said Justin. "And just how did that lead you too coming here?" Questioned Apple Jack. "I'm getting to that part." Said Justin. "See, Discord was telling me how he went a picnics with this girl Fluttershy, and I bring up the idea that a good way to start apologizing is over a meal. That's when Discord gets the idea to build me this cafe. I'm not sure how he came to this idea, but I went with it. So after some long discussions with my parents and teachers. They agreed to let me come here and try running my own cafe. I think discord has the idea that I can somehow magic things better by cooking for his friends. But either way, I'm here now ready to put my skills to the test, and help Discord. Still not sure how, but hey it's Discord. If we understood him than he'd be doing his job wrong." The mane six just stared at Justin, a mix of disbelief and shock adorned most of their faces. For Justin it was hard to tell what these ponies were thinking, his smile wavering. "Well thank you for time and thanks for the meal." Said Twilight, ushering her friends out the booth and towards the door. "My pleasure," said Justin, standing up placing his chair back, "and thank you for dining at Le Café de la Vie."