The Great and Powerful Coffee Break [Open]

[Deleted]

A rather dark colored pony came in not to long after her, seemingly drunk on sleep. He was tripping over his own hooves at one point as the went up to the counter "The regular, Please Joe." He asked with a yawn, seemed he was a regular this place. Looked like he needed it with his bed head all pushed to one side.

Within a few minutes he had his coffee and was on his way to a table without much notice of Trixi or the other few pony's there. Upon setting his cup down on the table he laded his head beside it slightly, as if trying to wake him self up..or fall asleep again.

[The Great and POWERFUL Trixie]

(EDIT: I messed up, I went to delete the thread but it had already been replied to, so.... Yeah. This post goes before StarBurst's just FYI.)


As it turned out, Trixie's plans to hunt down Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville were botched. What with the betrayal of Celestia and the siege from all sides, Ponyville had been caught up in the ruckus and was obliterated. There was nothing to find there anymore, only charred ruins and lots of enemies. Canterlot was the only true safe haven, what with its massive defense force and Shining Armor's shield. Manehattan was also holding strong with help from Dr. Rainlock, but it was a big city, and it would eventually fall.

In such a short time, her life had been turned around by joining the cult, then again by the cult dissolving into Equestria, and now once again by this national crisis. It was starting to be a little too much for the Great and Powerful Trixie to take. So, naturally enough, she decided to put her training plans on hold and go catch her metaphorical breath in the city of Canterlot. She donned her wizard hat and cape and set off to go for a walk.

She casually strolled through the town, and everywhere she looked, it was fancy. Fancy and posh and frivolous. As a filly, she would have loved to pick out the most expensive stuff in those kinds of places, but she was older, and that kind of thing didn't hold much meaning anymore. Everyone was smiling and enjoying their day. From her perspective, it was as if they didn't know about the impending doom at all. She frowned a bit and kept waking. It would be nice if everypony would focus a bit more. A little less gardening advice and a little more war prep would be nice.

Trixie needed a coffee. And it seemed like Pony Joe's was to be the place. She pushed open the door and it was surprisingly empty. There was a unicorn/earth pony couple sitting at one of the tables, talking, and another pegasus colt asleep at the one next to theirs. A very well kept businessmare with formal clothes was leafing through what looked like a financial report, full of pie charts and the like.

Trixie eyeballed a table, clean and in a booth, and had acquired her target. She walked up to the pudgy manager/busboy/chef who she only assumed was named Joe and greeted him with a smile. "Medium coffee, extra dark, plus one of those Fillydelphia creme donuts with the sprinkles, please. In about half a minute, Joe placed a steaming cup on the counter, alongside a plate with the donut. Trixie forked over the bits with a gracious 'thank you' and carried them over to her table and sat down.

She tentatively blew on the scalding coffee and took a sip. It was frighteningly hot and very bitter. Just right to supply her sour mood brought forth by the inactive residents of Canterlot. She grimaced as she swallowed it down and then rested her chin in her hoof, staring blankly at the wall. She was alone with her own thoughts, for now.

[diddgery]

Trixie and Star Burst weren't the only ponies who felt they needed a break. Puddin found adjusting to life in Canterlot during these troubled times difficult, if not outright impossible. Like many of the other displaced ponies from Fillydelphia and Ponyville, Puddin was stuck in a cramped refugee shelter, full of sniveling foals and insufferable ponies that would not respect her privacy in the slightest. The past few days had been nothing but headaches, and she needed some time away to breathe. After slinging her saddlebag across her back, Puddin left the shelter to seek a nice, quiet spot to relax.

After trotting for a while (and rolling her eyes at how disgustingly upbeat the populace seemed to be) Puddin came across Pony Joe's. A quick peek through the window made it clear that the cafe was neither busy nor crowded- in fact, it was surprisingly quiet compared to the other places around the city. This seemed as good a place as any to get a cup of coffee and sit down with a book. Puddin opened the door and entered, a small bell dinging to herald her arrival.

First thing's first: she needed coffee. The earth pony trotted to the front counter, where a unicorn was waiting for her. "Welcome to Pony Joe's, what can I get for you?" Puddin was slow to answer, however, becaus she was looking at the many donuts on display behind him. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Ugh. Is that supposed to be a Fillydelphia creme? Do you even know what those look like?"

The unicorn- Joe, she had to assume- blinked a few times, thrown off by Puddin's remark. "What?"

"That's all you've got to say for yourself?" Puddin shook her head; clearly, this wasn't the brightest of ponies she was dealing with. "I'm from Fillydelphia. I've worked in a sweets shop for years. I know what a Fillydelphia creme is supposed to look like, and that right there? That's not a Fillydelphia creme. Nice try."

"Look, lady," Joe said, anger slowly edging into his voice. "I dunno about the way they did things in Fillydelphia, but here in Canterlot you don't go waltzing into somepony's shop and start criticizing their goods. I make these donuts from scratch each and every day. The least you could do is keep your comments to yourself. Got it?"

Puddin snorted in annoyance. "Sure. If you want to keep deluding yourself that your donuts don't need any work, I'll keep my mouth shut. Now could you get me a latte?" She withdrew a few bits from her saddlebag and placed them on the counter. Joe glared at her while his horn glowed lightly and the bits levitated away. He didn't say a word as he prepared her latte, and the moment it was done he slammed it on the counter. Then he moved away to occupy himself with some other task.

Puddin couldn't help but feel a slight sense of satisfaction that he had taken her words to heart. She carefully took hold of the small tray and walked to an unoccupied booth. She slid into her seat and dug into her saddlebag again, pulling out a worn and dogeared novel. She set it on the table in front of her and, taking a sip of the latte, began to read.

[The Great and POWERFUL Trixie]

Trixie casually nibbled at her doughnut and sipped her beverage. The doughnut had the perfect amount of sweet pastry goodness to offset the very nearly black coffee. Another customer entered, a black stallion with a technicolor mane and tail. She didn't take much notice as he sat down at another table and very nearly nodded off. She smiled, happy to see that ponies could still relax in an atmospheric family owned business such as Pony Joe's. Just everything about the scene sat well with her, the customers, the happily active manager, the environment, and the goods and services. There was just something she liked about something so small and paced so comfortably.

Trixie decided to allot some time towards thinking about that while she fiddled around with the steam rising off her coffee with her magic. She formed it into different shapes, condensed it, re-vaporized it. It was easy and a good way to pass the time, and Watermark had taught her how to do it before, you know... She took a hefty swig from the drink that left her throat hurting. She took it like the Great and Powerful Trixie that she was and slouched forward, resting her chin on the table.

In the middle of Trixie's mental run-down of her entire life, another pony entered. A unicorn mare with a mane that looked wonderfully like chocolate and butterscotch ice cream. Her demeanor proved to be much less sweet than her coiffure. Trixie almost couldn't believe her ears. She refused to look or judge, however, acknowledging the fact that she was probably a refugee and could have some problems that nopony could even think of. Either that, or she had just found her on a bad day. It couldn't hurt to at least try to be polite, though.

Trixie heard Joe voice his own equally emotional response. At least he tried to voice some reason and justify the lack of perfection that came from an early morning batch of doughnuts. When the mare sat down, Trixie thought about getting up and joining her, and at least attempting to strike up a conversation with the irritable mare. Maybe something like: 'Doughnuts are just like ponies, it's not just the outward appearance that matters. The inside is what counts.' Or something like that. She took another bite of her doughnut and that definitely sealed the deal. This doughnut was wonderful, and she could bet that that mare was too if she managed to get past her abrasive attitude.

Trixie slid off the booth bench and carried her remaining foodstuffs over to the mystery mare's table. She gave a look asking for permission, and when she failed to receive a negative, she lightly set her things down and pushed into the chair across from the mare. "Hi, The Great and Powerful Trixie, nice to meet you." She offered a greeting and a hoof over the table to shake with a light smile to boot.

[diddgery]

A few pages into her favorite tale of ploddingly-written romance Puddin was interrupted by the appearance of another mare near her table. She glanced up from her book to the newcomer- a unicorn wearing a star-speckled wizard hat and cape. The two shared a brief look, and Puddin tried to communicate wordlessly that she wasn't looking for company by immediately looking back down at her book. Unfortunately, the unicorn didn't take this as a dismissal and took the seat directly across from Puddin. She introduced herself as "the Great and Powerful Trixie" and extended her hoof across the table.

Puddin made a sound halfway between a snort and a laugh and glanced up from her book. "'Great and Powerful'? Seriously? Unicorns... Look, you can put your hoof down. I'm not touching it." She then went back to reading her book- or at least, tried to look like she was. Mostly she wanted an excuse to avoid looking at Trixie. "Let me guess, you're some fancy-schamnsy unicorn who needs a magicless stooge to do some work for you, because you're afraid to scuff a hoof or whatever. Sorry, I'm not interested. Try bothering somepony else."

[Deleted]

Star burst perked up a bit hearing the fighting, unsure if the mare Joe was fighting with was just tried, or really that much of a coffee snob. He shrugged it off after waking up a bit more, and blew is scolding hot coffee in a attempt to cool it down. His ear turned to the side hearing Trixi speak.

"Great and Powerful Trixi?...Ehh sounds a bit arrogant but I'm not gonna say that out loud." He thought to him self. He tried to ignore the two while sipping his coffee, but heard the chocolate cake looking mare speak again, then became worried if another fight was about to break out. He glanced over every now and then to make sure it was not about to get physical; that was the last thing he needed after waking up.

[The Great and POWERFUL Trixie]

Trixie was quite taken aback by the Mare's comments. She retracted her hoof and folded her ears down with a rather confused frown. "I'm... Sorry? Have I offended you in some way? If so I vehemently apologize. I merely wanted to sit down and strike up a friendly conversation..." Her words were drowned out by the other mare's assumptions.

Trixie's confused expression, much to her dismay, darkened into more of a grumpy scowl as the mare expressed her blind prejudice against unicorns. She didn't even have the dignity to meet Trixie's glare while insulting her. Trixie successfully resisted the urge to fire back a few well-chosen and snarky responses of her own. She had to rebuild her image and having a yelling fight with a mystery mare in a coffee shop wasn't going to help.

Trixie sighed as the mare finished her rant. "Okay, how about we start over. I don' know if I've offended you or something, but I'm not here to order you around or be a jerk or whatever you assume. I just came over here because I was bored and I wanted to meet somepony new. You gave me the impression that you are an interesting individual. So," She held out her hoof again, "My name is Trixie, it's nice to meet you."