Alphie waited quietly beneath the table.
She looked to the pony who sat casually at the table and continued to work. She was unable to see what was going on, but could hear the police officers continuing their search of the building.
She counted minutes. Seconds. Milliseconds. She could wait. Waiting was easy.
Not knowing what would happen next was terrifying.
She hated it.
She hated the fear. She hated the uncertainty. She hated hating things.
The pony at the above her hummed quietly and tapped the table, drawing Alphie's attention. The mysterious pony's calmness under pressure was at least reassuring.
Finally after 15 minutes, and 22 seconds, Alphie heard the officers return to the lobby. They began to argue with each other as they regrouped. Then after a little while, the bell over the shop door rang again, and all fell silent.
Alphie continued to wait, unsure of whether it was safe.
A knocking from above drew her attention.
"Hey. They're gone. You can come out."
Alphie hesitated, the slowly climbed into the booth across from the pony. "Will they be back?"
The strange pony looked up from her laptop. "Hard to say.", She looked over the robot, "Alpha one six... You're an ERoCo. model N55 aren't you?"
"I...", Alphie hesitated, "My name is Alphie. I am a model N55, designed and manufactured by Equestrian Robotics Corporation for deployment at Ponyville General Hospital." She paused. "Or... I was..."
"Was?", The pony inquired, "What are you doing in a coffee shop, on the run from the police?"
Alphie tensed up. "Uh..."
The pony looked at her curiously. "Ya know... It's fine. You don't have to talk about it.", She held her out over the table, "I'm Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings."
"Okay." Alphie looked at the gesture, puzzled.
"Pssst. This is the part where to shake my hoof." Lyra whispered.
"Oh!' Alphie reached out and accept the hoofshake.
Lyra looked down at a small plastic pony figure sitting at the edge of her laptop. "Oh, hush. She's fine."
Alphie gave her a confused look.
"Right, sorry. Alphie, this is Twilight. Twilight, Alphie.", She paused for a moment, then continued to talk to the inanimate figure in a hushed tone, "Yes. I know you were there. I'm just being polite." She looked back up to see Alphie watching her with concern and blushed.
"I'm... not sure your friend is... alive." Alphie said, unsure of how to handle the situation.
"I-I know.", Lyra sat up straight, looking to Alphie, "She's my debugging tool. And usually the only pony I have to talk to..." A beat. She knocked the figure over and smiled, trying not to seem quite so crazy.
She failed.
"Um...", Alphie stared for a moment, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Lyra answered, a little too enthusiastically. She looked around trying to find something to change the subject.
Her gaze fell back to the robot sitting in front of her. "So!", She coughed, "So. What are you going to do now?"
"Hmm?" Alphie tinted her head slightly.
"Well, you clearly aren't where you belong, the police are looking for you, you probably can't, or don't want, to go back where you came from, and something tells me you don't have anywhere to go." She picked up a cup of coffee with her magic and sipped it. She shuttered at the unpleasantly room temperature beverage and levitated it over to a trash can. "So what's the plan?"
Alphie looked down at the table. She hadn't though this far ahead. Where would she go? What was she supposed to do? Was there anywhere she could go?
"Well. Whatever you do, you can't go around like that." Lyra unzipped a laptop bag sitting on the seat next to her and rifled through it. After a moment she levitated out a black hoodie. "This should help. It won't hide you completely, but it'll make you look less conspicuous."
"Um. Thank you." Alphie took the article. She looked down at her vest. She had never removed it before. It was almost like a part of her. She reached down and proceeded to take it off.
"And... You know..." Lyra hesitated, "If you need somewhere to stay, you could crash at my place for now."
Alphie finally managed to fit the hoodie over herself. "Um..." She raised an eyebrow at Lyra.
Lyra considered her words for a moment. "Well... Not 'crash', but, ya know, stay...", She sat awkwardly, "I'll just..." She began putting away her laptop.
Alphie watched Lyra and weighed her options. On one hoof, she had nowhere to go and could easily lose everything. On the other, this pony didn't quite seem "all there".
She did at least seem nice though.
"Okay." Alphie said as Lyra went to get up.
"Huh?" Lyra turned back.
"I need somewhere to stay. You're sort of my only option right now." Alphie looked.
Lyra smiled. "Great!", She headed to the counter, "It'll just be one second." She rang the bell and waited.
"Just a sec!" After a moment an older stallion came out from somewhere in the back of the shop scrubbing an espresso cup. He looked a Lyra. "Ah. Let me guess.", He smiled, "One large coffee, black." He set the cup on a shelf.
"Yes sir!" Lyra smiled back.
Meanwhile, Alphie carried her old vest over to the trash. She held it out, giving it one final look.
She hesitated. Then threw it into the trash.