Dinner Date
Her date was finally here!
Cola was ecstatic, and she had even made sure to fill up on her all time favorite drink. She sat at her table in her Manehatten home gazing at the now empty bottle of Coca-Cola or Coke as it was commonly shortened to by the young and the lazy, the latter Cola admitted, did pertain to herself.
“From you little bottle, to me.” She giggled, wiggling her rump and listening to the small swishes of the drink inside of her; how she loved that sound.
“Of course, hopefully he’ll like it. I mean, I know he saw me when I was all out of you before, but there’s nothing wrong with my coloring now is there?”
She looked down at herself, her see through body usually a tinged with yellow was now filled to the brim with Coke making her a far more exquisite brownish color; she liked the way she looked and she always remember how her best friend Subway told her it brought out her bouncy red mane and tail.
“He’ll like it. He will!”
Her dark red eyes brightened with anticipation as she thought of her love.
~
She had met him weeks ago at a press event for some new company or other. She was doing her regular job, sitting behind her bright red stand, smiling down at the delighted faces of her customers as she sold them her glass bottles filled with deliciousness, when she had spotted him. He was a few booths over giving out strange triangle shapes covered with cheese and other food stuffs. Curiosity had bitten her when she saw the joyful looks on his customer’s faces, which mirrored her own; so she wandered over to try one herself making sure to have a bottle of her own wares to trade.
She remembered the cheesy smile as he handed her one of his delicious treats and her eyes widened as she took a bite.
It was delicious! She marveled at the taste of the pineapple and the ham, combined with the doughy base and the cheese; oh how she adored cheese. She swooned as she felt the bits flow down her and settling inside her empty hooves. As she nibbled, she watched the look of delight that seemed to light up his face, his messy mane and tail shaped exactly like his foodstuffs, were almost standing on end as he drunk the beverage down in what seemed like just one or two gulps.
“What is this stuff?” His voice was filled with excitement and his eyes lit up like a puppy with a new toy.
“It’s Coca-Cola, my specialty.” She tried to keep the nervousness out of her voice as she moved around slightly so he could get a good view of her cutie mark; a small bottle with a red band in the middle and a red lid on top.
“And nothing else!” She mentally scolded herself before asking.
“And this cheesy deliciousness?”
“Pizza!” The stallion said joyfully, rearing up onto his hind hooves as he placed his forelegs on the counter. “A delicious and easy to make treat; sure to fill your stomach and delight your taste buds!”
She nodded. He definitely wasn’t wrong, she knew even the small bit she had would stop her feeling peckish throughout the day.
“So?” He leaned forward as she finished the last bite. “What do you think?”
“I love it.” She was surprised at the honesty of that statement, usually she was one for more classy foods but this was delicious. As she left the smiling stud of a stallion her mind focused on the treat she had just finished devouring and of course on the one serving it.
As time went on she started to notice him more and more, unhelped by the numerous times they ended up manning the same booths; not that she was complaining of course. Her work used to be focused on making her customers happy, but even that started to pale in comparison to his grins and the jokes he shot at her.
She laughed as she thought about her conversations with her best friend Subway during their regular Friday friend’s nights. They would sit on the couch with a movie on while Cola would gush; Subway just looked on with a smug smile on her face.
“He seems to have become a big part of your life.” Subway stated as one of Cola’s numerous tirades wore down. They were sitting on the old, but still rather comfortable, red couch that Subway constantly complained clashed with her pale green coat. They had a movie on, brightly colored flashes appearing from the ancient screen as Cola pondered the question.
“I wouldn’t say a big part.” She mumbled as Subway flipped her rather long cream colored mane out of her eyes.
“Which is why you’ve spoken about nothing else for...” Subway stopped to think, “four weeks.”
“I’ve spoken about other things!” Cola countered quickly while Subway smirked.
“Like what?”
“Like work!”
“He’s at work.”
“Food.”
“You’ve talked about nothing but Pizza. Keep trying.”
Cola frowned as she tried desperately to think of something, anything she could use to dig herself out of this hole; she smiled as she settled on it.
“I talked about you and Don.”
The twinkle of laughter that was so strong in her friend’s eyes was now gone, replaced with something akin to fear.
“Who did you tell?” Subway whispered, running a hoof through her mane.
“Oh, you know, a few Ponies. I mean, he’s not very healthy...” Cola said smirking.
“He’s going green, getting salads and stuff!” Subway yelled shrilly. “He’s fine! He’s better than your little Mr Pizza!”
“You can get Vegetarian Pizzas!” Cola yelled right back as Subway stole the smirk straight from Cola's face, forming it on her own.
“But it’s his meat you’re most interested in right?”
Cola glared, turning towards the TV in an effort to tell her conversation partner that it was over. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Subway kept the same grin; she turned red.
“Shut up, he’s just a friend.”
“For now.” Subway countered happily. “What does he think of that by the way?”
Cola let her will fall and turned back around.
“Think of what?”
“You know. Being just friends?”
“I-” Cola started before stopping herself. She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. Thinking back, she decided he did seem to smile a lot at her, and she thought that he may have been checking out her flank once or twice when they were working. She blushed again as this lead to the thoughts of her numerous tries at that; also how his delicious cheesy looking tail sometimes shot up when she accidentally brushed against him.
“I don’t know?” She tried weakly but Subway was unconvinced.
“Well, find out? Seriously Cola, sometimes I think when you’re running on empty, your brain goes with it.” Subway teased.
Cola stared down at herself, looking through her hoof and onto the red couch below. She nodded brusquely. Subway was right! She had to make stand and see where it took her for good or for ill! Cola quickly jumped to her hooves, her body racing with the emotions that tumbled inside her. She looked up, one of her fore hooves following her gaze as she boldly declared.
“You’re right! I shall find out if he likes me!”
She turned to Subway, her boldness giving way to confusion as she asked quietly.
“How do I do that?”
Cola watched as Subway facehoofed, mane swaying slightly as she shook her head.
That day started the numerous days of training which Subway claimed had to be followed in a particular order: spa treatment, clothes shopping, make-up and, of course, seduction.
The first three were by far the easiest; it took a day trip to one of the local parlours and several hours of shining up her coat, to what Subway called a professional standard, before they were allowed to leave. The clothes shopping she enjoyed far more, even though Cola wasn’t a particular 'giggle at pretty dresses' kind of mare, it didn’t mean she wasn’t able to enjoy trying on new things; something that Subway had to follow her into the dressing rooms for.
She ended up buying a rather nice pale blue dress that, according to the shop assistant, brought out her mane and tail. She also liked how modest it was; a fact which annoyed Subway to no end and had her complaining through the third stage.
“Seriously Cola,” Subways said after putting down the eyeliner. “How are you going to seduce him if you don’t show off a little?”
Cola narrowed her eyes, watching in the Mirror as Subway glanced back at her flank.
“I don’t like showing off, besides it’s not like he hasn’t seen me in just an apron before.”
There was a crash as a small bottle of perfume hit the floor when Subway knocked the desk in shock. Cola gagged as the overwhelming stench of lilacs filled her nostrils.
“He’s seen you in just an apron?” Subway gasped and Cola looked at her incredulously.
“Yeah, it’s my work outfit. You’ve seen me in it too remember? Hey, so has Don.” Cola shrugged as she spoke but Subway narrowed her eyes.
“So that’s why he was so instant on getting me that apron, the little perv.”
Cola sighed as she raced to the kitchen to grab a wet sponge to start cleaning up, upon returning she giggled at the exasperated mutterings of Subway about her boyfriend, before bending down to start trying to wipe as much as she could off the floor; even knowing it would take days to get the stench out. They decided to stop the make-up routine there, something she was thankful for.
With Subway gleefully declaring three of four stages complete they hit the town, wandering to see if they could run into the stallion himself; another hour or two of the night was gone, though not wasted Subway remarked as she took in the regular eye candy. It wasn’t until they had almost given up and had decided a small drink was in order at a nearby pup that they found him.
Cola would be the first to admit that it wasn’t her regular hangout, the clientele was a few years younger than her; some not that far out of foal-hood. The bouncers watched these carefully to make sure none of them got too close to the bar counter. Cola had almost finished leading Subway to the counter when she spotted a familiar face surrounded by unfamiliar ponies; Cola squeaked and ducked her head.
“I take it by that reaction we found him, then?” Subway asked staring around the bar. “Let me guess, the one with the odd mane sitting with the bunch of stallions?”
Cola nodded, staring at the ground.
“Well, let’s go introduce ourselves, shall we?” With that quick statement Subway was wandering over, head held tall as Cola meekly followed. She didn’t understand why she was so nervous; she looked good, if the comments from two passing stallions were anything to go by, but then they did sound rather drunk. She felt good and it’s not like she was used to seeing him at work. She inwardly frowned; she blamed Subway, that mare that could just make anything awkward.
She looked up to see Pizza looking at her with his regular excited grin.
“Cola! Fancy seeing you here!” He gestured at the empty seat beside him that she knew wasn’t vacant a little while ago. She took the proffered seat quickly, trying not to catch anyone’s eyes, no sooner had her tail touched the wood than Pizza had started to fire off introductions.
“Let me introduce you to the friends and family. I’ll start off with the important ponies first.” Pizza said. A dark blue unicorn with a light blue cheese wheel as a cutie mark snorted. “But I thought she already knew you!”
The group cracked up, even Subway, who had taken a seat near a now blushing colt, joined in. Cola watched as a rather vibrant brush spread across his face, eventually the laughter subsided.
“So.” Pizza Began quickly. “The small colt your friend is gracing with her presence is my baby brother, Pizza Pocket.”
Cola gave him a smile; he blushed, as bright red as his brother, before turning his dark red eyes down at the ground. She gave him a look over, he didn’t yet have his cutie mark and his dough colored hair seemed at an odd contrast with his orange coat.
“Yeah, he’s shy around mare.” Pizza paused. “Ponies he doesn’t know and of course, everything else in the world.” He pointed a hoof at the pony that had made the previous crack. “This is my friend Blue Cheese, his brother sitting next to him is Cheddar.”
Cheddar gave her a wave which she hesitantly returned. His coat was a rather bright yellow, making his cheese wedge cutie mark almost invisible. He flicked his head, flicking his significantly darker mane around; this caused the Pizza boys to roll their eyes and Blue to punch him.
“Stop trying to flirt, Ched.” He grinned at Pizza. “We already know one of us at the table has dibs.” Subway laughed again as the two elder boys glared pointedly at Pizza; who to his eternal credit took a small bow while grinning at Cola.
“Just because I can find a pretty mare.” Pizza shot back, Blue clasped his chest as though he was mortally wounded.
“You cut me deep-pan, Pizza. You cut me deep.”
The night wore on with the group laughing and joking together as though they were all old friend. Even Pizza Pocket managed to come out of his shell a little when Cheddar started talking about the upcoming Hoofball games. Cola found herself happier than she did in a long time, giggling the longest at the mock flirting between Subway and Blue, even though they both had their own special someponies at home; Blue was apparently seeing some mare called Crackerbarrel.
But the most meaningful part of the night was shared only between herself and of course Pizza. He pulled her aside, on pretense of getting drinks for the rest of the group and another Fanta for Pocket; something that made Cola frown.
“Cola.” He started, trailing off as he glanced across to the table they had just left, she looked too noticing they had all quite pointedly avoided their gazes. She waited patiently, excitement building inside of her as he quietly stared at the floor. The silence was starting to become unbearable but finally he blurted out.
“Iwaswonderingifyouwouldgoonadatewithme!”
She looked at him with one eyebrow raised and he blushed.
“I was wondering if you would go out on a date with me.” He coughed. “You know,” He took a deep breath, scuffing the floor with his hoof; she had to admit he looked cute when he was nervous. “The weekend coming up. There’s a new movie playing that I think you would like. If you want to go, with me I mean!”
Now it was her turn to turn awkward.
“Umm. Sure, I’d love to. If you’re sure you want to take me, I’m sure you could find better mares.” She turned away and she felt a small nudge on her cheek. She looked up to see a grinning Pizza Pony.
“So I’ll pick you up at your place Saturday afternoon, then?”
Cola nodded dumbstruck as he beamed wider than when he had his first sip of Coke.
All that was running through her mind was. “Oh my gosh he likes me!”
After grabbing the promised drinks, they returned to the table nudging their chairs just slightly closer together, ignorant of the small smiles of the rest. The night ended, the boys chivalrously walking both the mares home; Cola noted that Pizza, who was currently carrying a rather drowsy baby brother, was taking very careful note of the route on the way to her place. She blushed as she gave him a quick hug, before stepping into her small unit followed by Subway.
“You can’t expect me to go all the way home when it’s this dark do you?” Subway asked innocently as Cola gave her a rather confused look.
“No, of course not.” Cola mumbled tiredly as she stared out the window to see the first rays of dawn appearing over the horizon. Too tired to complain, she allowed Subway to follow her to her rather spacious bed where she managed to fall asleep among the rather overwhelming smell of lilacs.
She spent the next few days in a constant cheer, a fact even her regular customers pointed out. When two young mares wandered up and asked her what she swallowed to allow her to glow like that she spent the next ten minutes in a fit of giggles; leaving the two poor mares to mind her stall.
Giggle fit over, she returned back to the stall with a quick thank-you to the two mares for services rendered and gave them each a small part of her wages; they left beaming and she looked forward to telling that particular story to Pizza in only a day’s time. That day past agonizingly slowly, she knew it was wrong but she couldn't help checking the clock constantly. Even Subway, who had come around for the night, told her how distracted she seemed.
“There’s no good fretting about it.” Subway had exclaimed during the burger commercials that graced the screen. “It’ll either be the best thing ever, or not.”
~
She almost jumped out of her skin when the knocks came at the door, so engrossed was she in thinking about the past. Opening the door, she saw Pizza dressed in a casual yellow shirt the same color as his cheesy mane.
“You look great!” He blurted out as she started at her. “I like the color change.”
She giggled and blushed, pushing him gently away from the door so she could lock up.
“You don’t look so bad yourself.” She really did like the way his shirt and coat went together, and with the mane he was unique; and for today at least he was all hers. They wandered down the paved streets, dodging ponies as they made their way to the movie theaters.
“So, what are we seeing anyway?” She asked as the building slowly came into view, the unicorn powered lights flashing around the white sign boldly declaring different names.
“Well, your friend, Subway, She suggested I take you to go see the new documentary that’s out.” Pizza explained and Cola gasped.
“You mean the one about Octavia and Lyra?”
“She told me you’d be excited.” Pizza grinned at her.
“Are you kidding? They’re the best two musicians in Equestria. I may just sell soft drink for a living but I’m allowed to have taste.” Cola stuck out her tongue at him, he blushed. She gushed all the way into the cinema, Pizza just grinning and making affirmative noises in turn before the lights went out; in mere moments she was entranced.
It was about a quarter of the way through the film, Octavia was discussing some rather interesting events at a recent Grand Galloping Gala when she felt something touching her hoof. Looking to her companion she noticed he was pointedly staring at the screen, looking down she noticed his hoof resting on hers; with a blush she shuffled slightly closer to him as the movie continued.
The entire thing was spent in near silence, except for one humorous anecdote about a mare called Vinyl Scratch and her obsession with something called Wubs that had both her and Pizza in hysterics. They left the cinema an hour and a half after they had entered and Cola couldn’t remember feeling more content.
“So you enjoyed it then?” Pizza asked with a smile as they wandered out of the dark cinema; she blinked rapidly to adjust to the lights before responding.
“Of course, I mean it was Octavia! And did you hear how Lyra lives in the same town as the Princess’s personal student?” Cola sighed dreamily. “And her relationship with Bon-Bon is just so romantic, you can tell they love each other a lot.”
“I hope you don’t fall for her too.” Pizza muttered, louder then he intended to, Cola was sure.
“Hmm, no. I’m not really into mares.” She grinned before looking at him provocatively.
“Except for that one time with Subway, I swear Juice must have taken a hundred pictures...”
She watched as he stared at her dumbstruck, his eyes wider then the extra large slices of peperoni he served.
“You and Subway and pictures and-”
“You’re having perverted thoughts aren’t you?” Cola said laughing; she loved how all the nervousness had fallen away from her. Somewhere in the dark of the cinema she had accepted that she wanted the stallion to become her special somepony, if not more in the future.
“Maybe?” Pizza said trying to make light of the situation. She just rolled her eyes.
“Stallions!” She exclaimed with the tone of the rich sitcom snobs. “If you’re thinking things like that, I’ll have to bid you good day!” She walked away slowly, trying not to let her haughty act slip by letting out the giggles that were filling up inside her.
“Cola! Hey wait up!”
She kept walking but glanced over her shoulder to see a worried looking Pizza hurrying to catch up with her. She turned her nose up at him when he fell into step beside her, exerting the full force of her will to stop herself letting out a smile. The two walked in silence, though a slight sloshing was occurring any time Cola moved.
“Cola-” Pizza started but she cut him off still pretending to be angry at him.
“Nope. Not hearing it.”
Pizza stopped in his tracks head hanging low as he gazed up at her, his orange eyes all but tearing up; she felt her heart twist as she learned that excitement was the only puppy dog expression he could pull off.
“Cola.” He started again but this time she let him finish. “Let me make it up to you?”
“Depends. What do you plan on doing?” she asked, inwardly she jumped for joy at the idea he cared enough to try even. She had already really forgiven him but of course there’s no need to let him know that though.
“Let me take you out for dinner?”
She beamed at him, throwing her forehooves around him.
“Of course you can.” She tried not to give a squee of delight as he hugged her back.
She was being hugged!
By a stallion she liked!
Though a new sensation, she knew it was something she wanted to continue. Letting him go, she literally skipped beside him as he started to trot down the streets, hooves clacking slightly against the pavement in rhythm with her swishing.
“I’m going to dinner with my new coltfriend!” Cola sung in her head before trying to remember the advice Subway gave her on Friday.
"Remember if he takes you out for dinner, be prepared to at least go down on-...”
“On second thought, perhaps Subway is wrong about this one.” Cola decided, hoping her face wasn’t too reflective of her thoughts. They spent the rest of what was left of their afternoon wandering around various shops. Pizza dragged her into a shop filled with Wonderbolts Merchandise, she remembered him briefly mentioning he was a fan; she retaliated by dragging him into a Hoofboot boutique where she bought a decent pair of red boots.
As they stood at the counter, allowing the stocky mare to bundle up Cola’s purchase, they shared a look silently agreeing that they would only go into places they could both enjoy. Leaving the store, the shoe box bouncing slightly on Pizza’s back, they started to hunt out places that interested them both; it was a novel experience.
The next store they hit was a small second-hand store. Cola watched as Pizza ooh’d and Ahh’d over the olden day furniture and in return he explained the uses of some rather strange arcane devices that sat on the shelves. The rest of the day they spent roaming the shops, stopping for varying periods of time depending on what caught there interest.
It was getting late by the time Cola’s stomach began to rumble, with a quick look over to her companion she saw he had started poking his stomach as well.
“Hungry?” She asked quickly and he smiled.
“Always.” Pizza replied. “Come on, I should probably take you to that dinner I promised you.”
“For my benefit or for yours?” Cola causally inquired as they started to walk down the streets once again.
Pizza smirked. “Mine, I like letting ponies see I can entertain a pretty mare.”
Cola blushed at the compliment, facing the pavement as she walked. She loved it when he slipped those little bits of flirtation in, just like the protagonist of those romance books she always enjoyed. She looked up when she felt something nudge into her side.
“We’re here!”
She looked up at the building before them; single story the two giant windows showing numerous booths filled mainly with teenage colts and fillies. Her eyes wandered away from the black and white tiles and furniture of the inside to study the giant sign that adorned the front.
'PIZZA’S EMPORIUM OF PIZZA!'
She gave him a look.
“You brought me to your restaurant?”
Pizza laughed and shook his head. “I brought you to my dad’s restaurant, we don’t need anywhere fancy to have fun!”
His nose stuck in the air, Pizza walked in and Cola trailed in giggling behind him. She had to admit, she was going to have more fun here. She followed Pizza to the small L-shaped counter in the back corner where an older mare, mane similar to Pizza’s but looking more like a puddle of sauce then dripping cheesy goodness, greeted her with a smile and a stern glare to her date.
“Pizza! I thought you had a date tonight, what are you doing here?”
“This is my date, Mum.” Cola felt herself being nudged forward. “Mum, this is Cola. Cola this is my mother.”
The elder mare smiled as she winked at her. “The name’s Margherita Pizza, my husband Politon is out back.”
“Nice to meet you Marm.” Cola said happily.
“Pleasure is all mine. Least I know he’s into mares now.”
Cola looked over and watched as Pizza flushed. “Mum...”
“Well I’m sorry dear.” Margherita continued with a shake of her head. “But with the amount
of time you spent around the Cheese’s boys...”
“Yes thank you I’ll show Cola to a booth bye mum!” Pizza said hurriedly, quickly spinning on his back legs and rushing over to an empty seat.
“Cola dear.” Margherita said just as Cola was about to turn around.
“Yes Ma'am?” Cola asked apprehensively.
“Do take care of my boy, food is on us tonight.”
Cola beamed. “Of course Ma'am, thank you, Ma'am.” With a turn almost as quick as Pizza she hurried off towards the booth.
She looked at her date, a half full box of vegetarian pizza in front of them. They had spent most of the time chatting about nothing particularly important, but as Cola found with anybody friend or family the silence reigned in pretty quickly.
After about a full minute of sitting in silence, Pizza coughed.
“So.”
“So?”
“I was wondering,” Pizza stopped, obviously hesitant to continue. “What’s up with your coat?”
Cola blinked. “What do you mean, what’s up with my coat?’
“Cola. It’s see through.”
Cola nodded. “Yes and?”
“You did notice you’re the only person with a see through coat right?” Pizza asked quietly. “I
mean, how does that even work?”
“Magic.”
This time it was Pizza’s turn to blink.
“Magic?”
Cola nodded before launching into her story. “You see it all came about when I got my cutie mark.”
“Your Coke bottle.” Pizza added and Cola nodded again.
“Exactly!” Cola said grinning, glad she had the opportunity to tell this story again, the absolute look of attention Pizza displayed definitely helped her mood. “You see I got my Coke bottle selling; well, what else, Coca-Cola. You see they wanted a small filly to star in some of the commercials they were doing, kids selling to kids and all that. Well, my mother heard about it and took me in to have a try, thanks to my normal bubbly personality and red mane they gave me the job”
Cola paused for a moment a hoof raised to her chin. “Though thinking back I’m pretty sure the talent scout was giving my mother looks.”
Pizza laughed. “Well, if she looks anything like you do I’m not surprised.”
Cola blushed, waving him away as she continued her story.
“Well, for whatever the reason they gave me the job. And I took to it like a Pegasus to flight, I loved it. It was my first day and we were re-filming the bit where I had to drink the Coke at the end of the commercial, when suddenly with a small flash of light there it was; a brand name on my butt.”
“So what did you do?” Pizza looked at her, head cocked slightly to the side.
“What did I do? I kept working for Coke. I mean the stuff tasted great and the job was good. It was their idea to get a powerful unicorn to cast a permanent illusion spell on me, so it shows what’s inside my body without showing any of the icky organs.”
Cola shuddered at the thought.
Pizza grinned. “So if you can see anything that enters you...”
Cola laughed as she watched Pizza wipe the remains of a slice of pizza off his face with a napkin.
“So, those types of jokes aren’t appreciated. Got it.” Pizza muttered as Cola just beamed at him. The rest of the night turned into joking and a small Pizza eating contest between Pocket and Pizza. At the end of the night, with a small set of goodbyes to both Pocket and Margherita she found herself being escorted back to her apartment by a rather depressed looking Pizza Pony.
“You alright, Pizza?” Cola asked as they arrived on her doorstep.
“Just, disappointed that the night had to end.” Pizza said, giving a rather forced smile.
“Well, we shouldn’t let it end on a low note, should we?” Cola commented, her mind screaming in panic for what she was going to do. Slowly she leaned in and kissed him, her mind racing as she did. His lips were soft, warm and comforting and she could feel her thoughts almost slipping away as she stood there, mouth pressed against his. Eventually, however, she pulled away.
“Thank you for a great day, Pizza.” She whispered softly, trying not to giggle at his stunned expression.
“Cola, can we do this again soon?” He asked.
“I’d like that, but next time we’re meeting my parents.” Another quick kiss later and she closed the door. She leaned against the wooden barrier, listening to the soft sounds of Pizza’s hooves as he slowly wandered away.
She grinned to herself.
“I think I’m in love!”