Coco Gets Coffee
Ooooh that Suri Coco thought to herself as she trotted down the busy Manehattan street that was littered with dozens of ponies. Coco had been employed with Suri for a number of years now, trying to make it in the big city. If I had just a little more courage I bet I could make it in this city all on my own she thought.
Coco swiftly shunned the thought she had just had. Her, a little mare in a big city like this, make it on her own? That's just silly... She thought in a rather sad tone. Suri had just told Coco to go and get her coffee after Rarity had just found out of what they had done with the fabric she had lent Suri the night before. Coco had stayed up all night making the new dresses, and was surprised she was even able to walk down the street without collapsing from exhaustion, then again she had stayed up countless other nights making dresses at the last moment for Suri, I guess I've just grown accustom to pulling an all niter or two in a row she thought.
But something ached in the back of Coco's mind, she knew deep down that what Suri had done was wrong, but it worked so well that it was hard to argue right and wrong. After all, if it was wrong it wouldn't have been so praised at the runway. She kept contemplating this until she arrived at the coffee house, only a few Manehattan blocks away. She entered in to find nothing more than more lines, just like the entire city. But she loved it here, the hustle and bustle, the heartbeat of the city, she wouldn't give it away for the world. She looked up at the menu scanning over different drinks that were offered. Coco herself had never drank coffee, nor had she really shown interest. It had a bitter scent to it, and although most of the drinks were made with flavoring and whipped cream that was sweet and tasty on top, there was no denying the bitter contents of the cup that were still there. Coffee reminded her a lot of Suri in that way, but she'd never tell Suri that, it would ruin her entire chance at a big time career.
As she approached the counter ever closer, her eyes still fixed on the menu, she felt herself bump into a rather sturdy object. As her eyes lowered to see what she had bumped into, she realized it wasn't so much a what, but a who. He was a light blue unicorn with dark hair and a nice shirt and tie, but the most striking of his features was that he was still wearing sunglasses in the shop, although they had been bumped to where she could see his eye for just a split second. Coco quickly backed up in shock that she had just run in to some pony and tried to apologize but just couldn't find the words to do so. The unicorn fixed his glasses and turned to face her.
“Are you all right?” He said in a rather nice voice. Coco felt that it was warm, but strong, and almost caring in a way. As she contemplated this, the stallion just looked at her oddly as she remained in her trance. “Um, hello?” He asked again, Coco shook her head to return to reality and closed her eyes and smiled.
“Yeah, I'm okay, I didn't mean to bump into you like that -” Coco didn't quite end with a real sentence, she had tried to call him by his name, even though she had never met his pony. She mumbled shyly as she opened her eyes and looked at him scared that he'd think something was wrong with her still.
“Rising Star, that's my name.” he completed her sentence without even hesitating.
Coco noticed that the line had moved quite a ways since this incident had started, and saw that Rising Star was next in line, and the barista pony at the counter was looking at them with agitated eyes. She wondered how long she had kept the pony at the counter waiting.
“I think you're next.” Coco said in a rather squeaky voice. Rising Star turned around to see there were no ponies ahead of him in line anymore and looked back at Coco.
“So it seems, can I get you anything?” he asked. Coco opened her mouth to tell him what she thought sounded good, but stopped while she inhaled to begin speaking. She wasn't here to have drinks with some stallion she had just met, she was supposed to be getting her boss a beverage. But as she began thinking, Suri didn't really need a refreshment, and she could always say that she was stuck in line, thanks to it being the middle of the day and every pony wanted a drink.
“I'll have a Black Tie.” Coco said to the stallion, still not sure what she was doing. As she said it, she looked back down at Rising Stars tie and quickly blushed and looked away “I mean the drink, not your tie, you can keep that.” her words trailing off as she hid her embarrassment. Rising Star chuckled and went to the counter, ordering both of their drinks.
After they got their drinks they sat down at a small booth large enough to fit 3 ponies and sat at opposite ends so they could face one another. A few minutes passed without any talking as they waited for their drinks to cool. It may have only been a couple of minutes, but Coco thought she had just sat their staring at Rising Star for hours on end and must seem extremely weird to the handsome stallion.
“So you know my name, but I don't think I got yours.” Rising said to Coco as she looked down at her drink, trying not to look at him too much. She looked back up blushing. It was very rude to not introduce herself, and she couldn't believe she had done that.
“My name is Coco Pommel” she stated in a soft voice. Rising took a drink of his coffee, which Coco thought was amazing. She didn't have magic or anything and would have to fuddle around with her hooves to drink her coffee, while Rising Star just levitated it with magic, not even lifting a hoof. Coco had always thought of unicorn magic as the most marvelous thing in all of Equestria, so versatile and helpful, but also it had some sense of class to it, oh what she wouldn't give to be a unicorn.
“I think that's a lovely name.” Rising Star said to her. She could feel herself blushing but couldn't bring herself to say anything back, all she could muster was a slight grin, that she hid while trying to veil her blushing yet again. The spoke to one another for what seemed like hours, and Coco didn't really care how long she sat there with him, every moment was as magical as the handsome stallion in front of her. Finally a new topic came up. “So, Coco, what do you do for a living in Manehattan?” Rising asked. As Coco opened her mouth to speak, her eyes flew wide open and she scrunched her mouth up.
Coco had just realized that she was supposed to be getting Suri coffee, and instead she had been spending all this time with some stallion. She could imagine how much trouble she would be in when Suri found her, and she knew she couldn't just avoid Suri forever. Coco got up from the booth without talking and started to head towards the counter to get Suri's coffee and leave. As she started to step away, she turned back to Rising Star.
“I'm really sorry, I just remembered I have to do something for my boss. I hate to just run out on you, I was having the most fun I've had since I moved here to Manehattan. Maybe we could have coffee again sometime?” she asked, but she really wasn't waiting for an answer. Up to this point, Coco had just been giving short answers that got the point across, and for her to be so up front about something and outspoken took Rising Star by surprise. She closed her eyes, tilted her head to a side and smiled at him. “Thanks again for the coffee Rising, I hope to see you soon.” Coco said as she headed out to get Suri's coffee and return to her.
After arriving back at Suri's apartment, she was scolded for being so late, the story about how long the lines were really didn't cut it with as long as it had taken her, but Suri didn't question it, she just suspected that Coco was walking slowly and slacking off yet again. But Coco knew, not every pony in this town was that bad, and spending time with Rising Star gave her hope for her future, and for once, when Coco looked at the coffee Suri was drinking, she thought to herself I guess coffee isn't all that bad.
Fin
