Cafe Dazzling

by brzy

Chapter 7

The breakfast rush wasn’t bad at all. Just a nice steady stream of people. Adagio noticed the ratio of students to adults skewed very heavily to the adult age group. It seemed like the only students here this morning were from the prep school from across town. Thankfully Dazzlegate hadn’t spread all the way across town to Crystal Academy. Or if it had, it might have actually given them points with the Shadowbolts. They always seemed to travel in packs, which made it strange that this girl was by herself. Thick glasses covered her face, and blond bangs stuck out from below her hoodie.

“Where’d you like to sit?”

“Somewhere quiet. Just need some coffee while I go over some numbers.”

Adagio nodded, waving Aria over.

“Get her one of the corner booths, away from other customers so she can study.”

The girl nodded appreciably as Aria led her away. Looking over to the opposite side, she saw Sonata chatting with a happy looking old couple. Finding herself in the middle of another lull, she walked over to check up on Anon.

“So, how are you holding up, head chef Anon?” she smiled teasingly.

“Not bad at all! A couple more weeks of regular traffic like this and we should be able to expand and hire more people!”

With practiced ease he flipped a pair of eggs over, where they landed sunny side down without popping the yokes. He reached over with his spatula and moved the shredded hash browns around to keep them cooking uniformly. Dagi found herself conflicted with his answer. More help would be nice, but she enjoyed the sort of club feel their restaurant had with just them.

“Not many Canterlot High students have shown up so far. More than likely it’s because of us.”

“Don’t beat yourselves up over their problem. Sunset was a freaking terror for 3 years but she somehow gets forgiven after blowing up the school. The hypocrisy just makes me angry. You girls are handling it much better than I am. Hopefully it blows over soon.”

He looked over as Aria poured the purple girl another coffee. She had removed her hood, which revealed a nondescript head of long blonde hair with bangs that parted in the middle. The glare from her thick glasses hid her eyes as she poured over charts and photos and typed notes into her tablet. She said something he couldn’t make out, then looked up as Aria laughed. It looked like Aria and the girl were getting along pretty well. That really surprised Anon since Aria was usually a stand off grumpy head with people she didn’t know well.

“So, you are a scientist? That studies magic? How can you even reconcile that in your head?” Aria laughed, in a genuinely curious way.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. For example, while the underlying science that supports it may be unknown to you, you know how to use a cell phone, right?”

“Hmm, I suppose.”

“So it stands to reason, even if an artifact is ‘magic' there is an underlying system that relies on quantifiable natural phenomena. We may not have the math or physics yet to adequately describe the actual process of why it works, but the reality would be that it does!”

Aria could not fault the girl’s logic.

“Hmm, you’ve got some interesting ideas there, Doc.”

“Do.. Doc?” the purple girl sputtered.

“Yup. That is now your nickname! Deal with it.”

Aria heard snickering. She turned her head to see Adagio and Sonata near the drink fountain, arms on each other’s shoulders, bent over, and struggling to stifle their laughter. Anon stared from the kitchen, a goofy smile plastered on his face. She turned back, ignoring them.

“Doc… I like it!”

Aria and the girl shared a smile. Sonata, Adagio, and Anon continued their giggling.

“Oh my god, that is the most adorable thing ever!” giggled Adagio.

“It’s like watching two little kids playing in a sandbox!” said Sonata.

“I keep expecting Aria to push her over or put bugs in her hair and run!” snickered Anon.

“I need to go do my rounds and check on my other tables, but would you like to hang out or something after I get off?”

“That would be nice, umm… Oh, I haven’t asked your name!”

“The name’s Aria. Aria Blaze.”

“Well, I guess I’m Doc now!”

The girl dove back into her numbers and charts as she tapped away at her tablet. Aria smiled and went to check on her neglected customers.

“Table for six!” announced Rainbow Dash as she walked through the front door.

Adagio rolled her eyes, then walked back to the front to meet the Rainbooms.

“Nice to see you girls back so soon.”

“The pancakes last night were amazing so I talked everyone else into coming for brunch!” announced Pinkie.

Adagio nodded as she called Sonata over. As they walked towards the same booth as last night, Rarity made a puzzled face at Doc. It quickly went away as she didn’t want to be rude. Pancakes of various denominations, nationalities, and flavorings were acquired as a fun time was had by all.

“Dash, does that girl over there look familiar to you?”

“Nah, just looks like a blonde egghead to me.”

“I guess maybe she looks a bit like Ditzy? Especially with those thick glasses distorting her eyes.” added Fluttershy.

“Oh good, that must be who I was thinking of,” sighed Rarity with relief. “It was bugging me ever so much.”

With that, the purple nondescript scientist known as Doc by Aria faded from their collective consciousness like a background pony. The rest of brunch went by uneventfully. Sonata was her usual bubbly self and the Rainbooms had no cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of the Dazzlings.

“That was super delicious yummy Anon!” shouted Pinkie, with no regard for the other customers.

Anon waved from the kitchen at the compliment, smiling.

“Yeah, that was some good stuff Anon,” said Dash.

“I reckon we’ll be frequenting your establishment a lot in the future!” intoned Rarity, giving a perfect Applejack impression.

Applejack glared at Rarity, then looked over at Sonata.

“You did a good job Sug, we’ll see you guys at school Monday!”

The Rainbooms and the Dazzlings parted on amicable terms, Adagio even waved as they went out the door. Aria went over to check on her new friend.

“Let me go change first and we can head out!”

“Ok, I can take you to see my lab!” said Doc, cheerily.

Comments

[Eyeswirl the Weirded]

I sense a disturbance in the force. Maybe two.

I look forward to finding out!

[lilflamewars]

Only good things can come of this.