Coffee
I set down my cup of coffee on the table. There was the sound of wood creaking that made me glance up. A mare with a rainbow mane took a seat across from me. She had a grin on her face that I’d grown accustomed to.
“I thought I’d find you in here,” She said, before glancing at the cup.
“I had some nerves I wanted to get rid of,” I responded.
“Probably not the best way, but a way is a way, I guess,” She said.
It was silent for a little while longer.
“Hey Dash, have you ever crash landed so hard it felt like the world was spinning?” I asked.
“Of course, but I don’t like talking about it,” She mentioned, then with a realization, she stood up. “That reminds me, I’ve got somepony waiting for me, catch ya later,” She said, before racing off and leaving me to hold my cup.
I bring the cup up to my lips, slightly saddened by her departure. I feel the cold liquid wrap around my tongue. Then, I feel it fly from my hand, shattering into a million pieces on the floor. The coffee flows over the floorboards, sinking into the rotting wood.
“Hey!” I answer, looking to the culprit.
I find Twilight was shaking her head at me. I can’t meet her gaze, so I stare at the coffee on the ground.
“Every time I see you, you’re wasting your life just sitting here,” She said.
“I can’t help it,” I say under my breath.
“Yes, you can. You’re the only one that can, actually,” Twilight said with less force this time.
“But every time I try… I just make things worse.”
Twilight was in thought, but then she smiled.
“When I feel like there’s something I can’t overcome, I make a list of why I can’t overcome it. Then, I make a second list about what I stand to lose by not overcoming it, and what I stand to gain. Afterwards, I stare at the lists for a long time, until I come up with a way to get through it,” She suggested.
“Lists, of course,” I say in a soft mocking tone.
“You can never go wrong with lists,” She said, patting my back.
I sat in silence, during which, she stood awkwardly beside me. After a few moments, she stepped away.
“I’ll go get some paper and we’ll work on them together,” She said, before hurrying out.
After she’d left, I stared at the shattered cup on the ground. The coffee had sunk into the wood and only the broken fragments of what used to be were lying on the ground.
“You feeling okay?” I heard the southern accented voice ask from across the table.
“Not really Applejack, I had a stressful day,” I responded, before turning my attention to her worried look.
“Now, when I’m feeling stressed out, I like to sit and listen to the wind,” She suggested.
“I’m sitting, so I’m doing it half right,” I say.
“You can’t hear the wind inside of here. Why don’t we step outside so you can see what I mean,” She said.
“Maybe the wind is too loud, maybe it’ll hurt my ears,” I say, staring off into the space.
“If you listen close enough-,”
“It’s not as relaxing if it doesn’t come naturally. Isn’t that counterproductive?” I ask.
“You’ll never know if you don’t try,” She said, standing up from the table.
I watched her leave like she would turn around at any second and come back. Some part of me wanted her to. Another wanted to be alone.
“As time drags on, we get dragged along with it,” I quote my sixth grade chemistry teacher.
“Sometimes you have to make the best of a terrible situation,” I heard a voice say from beside me.
I turn to see Rarity looking down at the broken coffee cup.
“Then I should get another cup?” I ask.
“No, perhaps more in the line of seeing what is, instead of what is lost,” She said.
“What if there’s nothing left?” I ask.
“Then there’s nothing left to lose, now, is there?” She said with a bright smile.
“There’s always something to lose,” I respond, looking away from her and back to the cup.
“Then at some point,” She started, walking away from my table. “You have to realize when you’ve lost enough,”
In the next instant she was gone and I was feeling the impact of her words. They were warm in my stomach, unlike the coffee that had long disappeared from the cup.
I felt a warm and furry creature crawl up my leg and rest on my knee. I looked down to find a bunny, not much larger than my hand, was looking up to me with his small beady eyes.
“Angel, it’s not nice to disturb others when they’re busy,” Fluttershy said from nearby.
She asked if she could sit down, to which I agreed and she sat opposite me. Angel removed himself from my knee and bounded to her, lying on her mane like it was his nest.
“So what are your words of encouragement? Is there anything the others have missed?” I asked, feeling a solid weight in my chest.
“You’ll get through it,” She said in her soft and shy voice.
It held weight, those words. I could feel them as well as hear them. Angel bounded away from her, as if fleeing something. She chased after him, and they were gone much too quickly. I looked at my hands, their long fingers and distorted M that was scarred into my flesh.
There was a movement next to me.
“Then you must by Pinkie,” I say, looking to the side.
I was stunned by what I saw. There was a pony in black, wearing a cloak that hid his face. He took a seat across from me and stared into my eyes. I stared back, but there was only darkness. He shook his head.
“I have a solution to your problems,” He said in a cold and raspy voice.
“You wouldn’t even understand my problems,” I say in response.
“There are a lot of things I don’t understand, but there are also a few I know all too well,” The figure said.
“And you say that you know how to fix them?” I ask.
“Of course…. Come with me,” The pony says.
I stand up from my seat, feeling the wooden seat shift at the loss of my weight. I follow him out of the building, and I can feel the light blinding me as I step outside, following his lead. Behind me, the room is covered in dust, with a grey atmosphere hanging around. White cobwebs hang from the ceiling, like ghosts. The seats are cracked and broken, with dust coating everything. There is one set of footprints that lead to a seat in the corner of the room, where a cup stands untouched, on the table.
Pinkie bounded into the room, looking into the corner where she thought she’d find him. When she didn’t see him, her hair straightened out and she dropped the invitation she carried. It fell to the dust covered floor and sat there. She backed away slowly out of the room, into the light outside.
If only she’d gotten there sooner. If only she’d given him the invitation of friendship.
Maybe then he’d still be here.
Author's Note
Hope you enjoyed!
Just a little short I thought I'd do while I worked on other things.
I'll post a personal review of it soon.
