Roman sighed as he held a cup of pumpkin-spiced coffee lovingly in his hooves. He relaxed on the comfiest chair in the world, Lucky Spice paid no expense when it came to pleasing her customers.
And this is also the first time Roman had learned why Lucky Spice was named, apparently, she had started as a barista and her talent was making coffee with spices. Nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, and many more spices he'd never heard of before. Such as star ticklers. Roman was reluctant to try that one.
Anyway, he was just there after a long day of stealing. Still, a few more heists to go, especially his biggest one yet.
So he was just relaxing so he could face his next job full of energy. He even had it all planned out flawlessly, and Roman was sure that no problem would come as long as the twins do their part and Trixie does hers.
Imagine this, a chessboard with all its pieces. Everyone had a role to play but Roman was the king on his side, he knew how badly Ironwood wanted him captured. But Roman had a plan, and he did not doubt it. It was simple, draw out their leaders by inviting them to a suspicious dinner near the Everfree, which would allow Trixie to infiltrate the Iron Legion headquarters and attack from the inside just like the Trojan horse.
Suddenly, someone sat down on the seat across from him, his mind trailed away from his plan as he looked upon a young mare with orange hair. She wore clothes, which was normal for Manehattan ponies, and had a smile that reminded Roman of the crescent moon.
"Howdy, Roman!" She greeted him.
"You a fan?" Roman went straight for the possible answer.
To his surprise, she laughed. "No silly, I just wanted to see how you've been!"
His brow cocked. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"You and I haven't met, because that would be strange, and honestly it would have been awesome! Because I'd get the chance to fight a real criminal and act like some heroine with a sidekick who makes pancakes!"
"Right, could you get to the point?"
"Well I haven't met you before, but my friend Ruby knows you, and it sounds like you and she got real history!"
Roman nearly spat out his coffee as his eye bulged out of its socket. "You know Red!?" This only meant that this mare was no pony, but someone from Remnant, a friend of his nemesis as well. He pretended to be unbothered by the discovery, and simply returned to his coffee with a soft smile. "Did some purple unicorn bring you to Equestria?"
"There are unicorns here!?" Her smile grew wider, Roman swore it could split apart if she wanted to. "OMG! This place is like, the best! I always wanted to be friends with unicorns! Oh, are there pegasi too!? Oh, I will really make use of my name if there are! I'm Nora Valkyrie by the way."
"Uh, you're a pegasus, just like me." Roman pointed out.
"What!? No way!" Her wings unfurled and nearly slapped a customer. "Wow, I can fly!"
Except she couldn't, she tried to but failed greatly. Roman watched as the girl fell and planted her face on the floor.
"You need to learn how to first, Smiley." Roman told her as she rose back to her hooves. If it weren't for the fact that these ponies in this coffee shop were part of whatever business Spice runs. If not, then Roman and this Nora girl would be the center of attention.
Before he could even take another sip from his coffee, Nora grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him to her face. "Well, you better teach me now, buster! Or else I'll break your legs, and you got four!"
"Hey, watch the clothes! Alright, fine! I'll teach you!" Nora released the thief upon his decision. "Ugh, not like I have anything better to do until tomorrow."
"Oh, are you doing your cool heists tomorrow? Can I come? I can be an awesome muscle if people act mean to you!"
"I thought you were a good guy?"
"I am, but I'm also bored!"
Roman watched as Nora flexed her wings, she moved them around just so she could get used to them. Soon enough she started to hover above the ground. She looked towards him with pride as if she had discovered a new way to break legs.
"Look, I can fly!" She said as she hummed The Ride of the Valkyries.
Nora flew around at a slow pace since she had just started learning how to fly, Roman watched as she hovered about the empty lot they've used for Nora's little practice. Honestly, Roman would've left much earlier before while she was distracted, but a few factors kept him from doing so. One was that this world made him soft, another is that she was from Remnant and her reason to be in this world was not caused by Twilight.
"Hey, this is like learning how to ride a bike! But instead of a dad, I'm being taught by a criminal! Also, I don't know how to ride a bike..." She said the last sentence with a bright gleam in her eyes, which was directed at Roman.
He scoffed at her. "Oh no, I ain't teaching you how to bike, Smiley. You've already wasted enough of my precious time."
Nora drew out Magnhild in its hammer form and threatened Roman with it. "Don't make me turn your legs to dust! Play the father role or else!"
"Or else what, brat!?" Roman took on a fencing stance, he jabbed Melodic Cudgel in the air to show he meant business. "Unlike you, Smiley, I know a thing or two about duels between hunters. I don't think you've even graduated."
"Ozpin in Oscar's head said you didn't graduate either!" She snapped at him. "That doesn't matter! Get ready to eat food through a tube!"
But before the two could even begin what would have been an epic battle between two gingers, their attention was stolen by a passing ice cream vendor. The two froze there in the center of the empty lot, eyes solely on the pony who stared back. Roman and Nora then locked eyes and gave each other a short nod.
Soon after, the two sat on the curb with ice cream in their separate hooves. Roman with his Neapolitan on a waffle cone, and Nora who had strawberry popsicles, popsicles because she asked for a dozen. Roman is still amazed that someone other than Neo could eat frozen confectionery without suffering a brain freeze.
Honestly, this world was changing Roman for the worse.
"So, Smiley, if Twilight didn't bring you to Equestria, was it the God of Darkness?"
Nora shook her head. "Nope, I just had coffee!"
"You're kidding..."
"I wish, ha!" She laughed. "Ren was making coffee for my other friends, but left it unattended after! So, being the sneaky thief like my dad-"
"I'm not your dad."
"Oh shush and let an orphan dream! Anyway, I stole the whole pot of coffee, and there were three!" She laughed again, but this time she added "mwa" at the start to show her new dad that she was also evil like him. "I then drank all the coffee and found myself here."
Roman took a moment to soak in the information. At first, he doubted it, but after what he went through the past few weeks, he was inclined to believe her outlandish story.
"But I still don't believe you..."
"Want me to prove it?" Her face adopted a psychotic look as she brought out three pots of coffee.
But this only worried Roman. "Easy now, kid, let's not do anything hasty."
Too late, she chugged all three pots along with her popsicles, the amount of sugar combined with caffeine knocked the girl onto the ground where she convulsed violently. Roman acted quickly and tried to keep her stable, but the girl dug her grave, now she must lie in it. Or so he thought, as Nora continued her coffee reaction on the ground, she started to glow brightly.
Something powerful slowly pulled Roman towards her. He ran off somewhere safe just so he wouldn't get sucked into whatever magic Nora had conjured. Roman's eye widened as he watched the girl being consumed by light. And soon enough, in just a flash, she vanished. It left Roman confused and worried.
There was no sign of her, only the popsicle sticks that she discarded, the ones that were not pulled into her strange gravity field. He wondered if he was just seeing things, or if he had lost his mind finally after so long in this world.
Well, the only thing he knew was that he was not going to talk about it.
"This story is just getting weirder and weirder..."