Cafe Dazzling

by brzy

Chapter 4

It was opening night. The grill was ready, the oven was preheated, and the final countdown had begun. They had folded silverware into napkins, they hooked up the soda fountain C02 and syrup tanks, and they prepared the stack of shiny laminated menu’s Adagio had made.

The Dazzling’s were decked out in their brand new waitress uniforms. Each girl was wearing her favorite colors, and they all looked wonderful. Aria in her green dress with purple highlights, Adagio in her royal blue and pink, and Sonata in her purple and magenta. Anon was wearing a typical white collared chef’s blouse with black slacks and a red bow tie. A crisp white paper hat completed his ensemble. As a group they circled up and held hands. Adagio gave the pep talk.

“Ok! We’ve all been working really hard to get this place up and running. We just have this final push to make all our efforts a success! I’ll take the maître d position. Sonata and Aria, you two will be waitresses as planned. If we get bogged down I’ll be moving around to help. Anon will be working kitchen duties as head chef. If we have problems back there I’ll move to help and Aria will take over head hostess duties when someone new arrives in addition to her other duties. If we can get enough of a crowd, hopefully we’ll be able to hire some dedicated bus boys in the future, but for now you’ll need to bus your own tables. Just use the cart and take them to the back. We'll run them through the sterilizer whenever we get a lull. Try to switch it out so one of you is always out here refilling drinks. Ok, on three Team Dazzle!”

Anon, Aria, and Sonata put their hands in the middle on top of Dagi’s. They smiled nervously at each other. This was where they’d find out if all their hard work would come to fruition!

“THREE! TEAM DAZZLE!”

Sonata flipped the OPEN sign as the clock ticked over to 5:30pm. Since they were high school students, and couldn’t work all the time, they had abbreviated hours. Weekdays had a 5:30 to 7:00 dinner window while weekends were a similar 2 hour block for breakfast and lunch so they’d have time to do stuff in the afternoon. The restaurant itself was thankfully fully owned, they only needed to make enough to cover the operating costs of opening the doors daily in addition to building capital. In time they could afford to hire separate crews and run normal hours, but for now they needed to make do with what they had.

Their very first customer through the door was Cheerilee and Big Mac. They seemed really close now. Anon guessed something must have happened, though he didn’t know what.

“Hey Adagio! Girls! Anon! I really want to thank you for that desert the other day, Big Mac and I really enjoyed it!” she smiled widely.

Cheerilee practically glowed as Big Mac blushed a bright apple red. Aria snickered while Dagi wore a knowing smile. Sonata had a bright blank smile.

“You girls look absolutely lovely in those dresses. Oh well, we'd like a booth for two!” She hugged Big Mac’s arm tightly.

It looked like that blush might be permanent. He should probably see a dermatologist or something. She saw Aria was about to lose it, so she handed the couple off to Sonata. She led them to a nice quiet booth in the far corner. Satisfied, Adagio turned back to abruptly come face to face with Rainbow Dash. The girl was entirely too close, she seemed to have no sense of space. Or maybe it was shame. Hmm, yup, a sense of shame was probably what the girl lacked. Dagi leaned to her left around Dash to see the other five members of the gang. Putting on her best fake smile, she stared hearts and puppies at Sunset Shimmer.

“So, a booth for six?”

She waved for Aria to take her spot at the door as she personally walked the Rainbooms to a large wraparound booth. With almost saccharine charm she handed each one a menu and took their drink orders.

“We’re on to you Adagio,” said Sunset. “I’ve been researching it, you guys are planning on collecting negative energy from the diners in order to make new gems, aren’t you?”

Adagio kept up her smile without missing a beat. Would that work? Sunset made it sound like it was really easy. She’d have to look into that with Aria, though there wasn’t any hurry.

“That sounds like a truly terrible idea, Sunset. Upset customers tend to be lousy tippers and non-repeats. I’d love to see your notes on the subject…” She waved her hand dismissively. “Though speaking of negative energy, I bet if you all keep up this little inquisition of yours long enough there’d be enough energy to send Vice Principle Luna to the moon.”

Sunset Shimmer simmered silently. Her lower lip trembled as she tried to figure out just how to get back on this wrecked conversation train. Finally she gave up and sighed.

“Iced sweet tea please.”

Dagi smiled. The rest of the girls gave up and ordered their drinks as well. An iced tea unsweetened, an orange juice, a fruit punch, a Dr. Pepper, and a water. They went to AJ, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity respectively. Their orders complete, she left them to look over the menu while she got their drinks. Aria met her on the way to the fountain by the bar.

“Should we spit in their drinks?”

“No, it is tempting but they are still customers. You can take over as hostess for now. I want to make sure the Rainbooms don’t have a leg to stand on to complain.”

Adagio balanced the six clear plastic glasses on her tray and renewed her smile. She carefully set each glass down in front of the girls on a coaster, grinning widely at each and every one of them. That task complete, she took out her notepad to take their orders.

“So what will you girls be having? I’d recommend the Swiss mushroom cheeseburger cooked medium rare, we use certified Angus beef patties with grilled mushrooms and onions on a buttered bun!”

She stared directly into Sunset Shimmer’s eyes as she said it. Her fake smile might have turned genuine as she saw the pony girl squirm. Her grin got even wider at Sunset’s surprise when Dash and AJ both ordered one.

“That sounds right nice! I love me a good greasy burger now and again,” said Applejack.

“Oh yeah, nothing beats a good old cheeseburger!” agreed Rainbow Dash.

Adagio wished she could have bottled the mild look of horror on Sunset Shimmer’s face so she could drink it in later. What made it even better was that AJ and RD seemed to have no idea just how big a cultural faux pas they just pulled. Now to throw out the life preserver before they all drowned in her sweet pony tears.

“I’d also like to recommend the veggie sandwich! It has avocado, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, swiss, and mayo on toasted wheat bread.”

“I’ll take that one,” Sunny blurted out, nearly panicked.

“I’d like to try that one too,” said Fluttershy.

“I would like the veggie burger, darling!”

“I want a big stack of strawberry pancakes!”

“Ok, we’ll get those right out to you!”

With that Adagio hummed a random tune as she left to hand the order over to Anon, in a much better mood than she had been in five minutes prior.

Comments

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

That was a little vitriolic, but it's reasonable that the two groups might be off to a rocky start here. A little bit vicious on Adagio's part, but her throwing in a sort of peace offering after and nobody getting unnecessarily hostile keeps the tone light.

EDIT: I guess it says something that after a few years of reading fanfiction, it's the things I don't see that seem to stand out the most, but that's more on me than any given story.

[brzy]

6246260 It is canon that Adagio has a bit of a sadistic streak. I like Sunset, I just find it funny turning around the perspective on the mane 6. A normal person would dismiss alot of the stuff they say, like Celestia did. And threatening to use offensive magic on someone is probably a criminal offense in Equestria. Twilight effectively tried to pull a gun on the Dazzlings in the gym when they first met, with no real evidence of evil.

[brzy]

6246454 I would use seasoned breadcrumbs instead of crushed frosted flakes. Was going for an iron chef vibe and picked random stuff for Anon to try to make something from.

[lilflamewars]

Right twist of the knife there by Adagio. Eheheheh.

[JDAstrid1079]

Nice idea on food and stuff and I'm also liking the story cuz I also like to cook

[TAPEt]

“That sounds right nice! I love me a good greasy burger now and again,” said Applejack.

Okay, I could understand RD because that is kinda a role for her...although she is supposed to be loyal.
But hey, farm girl, I'm pretty sure you have to be able to see the problem. You are supposed to be a role for stopping RD ordering that and you ordered it earlier than RD. WHAT THE....

[Blackshadow of Abys]

she's humming a dish best served cold pun intended

[WorldWalker128]

6246462
Any chance you've got a full recipe on that? I've never heard of that before and I like trying out new things. Especially if I get to cook what I'm eating!