Coffee Cup Conniption

It was a bright and cool November morning in Ponyville. Ponies were trotting about the streets, some already in boots and coats due to the cooler temperatures.

Not among those dressed up but trotting around town all the same were two friends, Seren Starfall and her friend Vereia Noing, both of whom were wearing only scarves.

Seren was a gray unicorn mare who had gray eyes and a slightly messy black and white mane and tail, with a teal star for a cutie mark. She was wearing a light and dark blue striped scarf around her neck that complemented her colors quite well.

Vereia was an earth pony mare with a lighter gray coat and a short teal mane and tail. She wore a pair of small but fashionable glasses over her dark blue eyes and had a unrolled scroll with a quill on it for her cutie mark. She wore a scarf much like Seren’s except that it was yellow as opposed to blue.

Seren had taken a train from her residence in Canterlot to Ponyville to catch up with Vereia as they hadn't seen each other in a while to talk about what they had been up to lately. Seren had told Vereia about a failed story pitch she’d made to a writer.

It was supposed to be a deep story set in a post-apocalyptic Equestria where the character would come out of an underground shelter, overcome many hardships, and triumph over an overarching evil that was plaguing a mostly dead wasteland that was struggling to rebuild itself.

Seren then explained that the writer didn’t want to do it. When Seren asked him why, he answered her by taking out a out a large stack of thirty or so books with similar stories, some of which had over fifty chapters. In short, it was an unoriginal and overdone idea.

Vereia hadn't been up to much lately either. She had gotten a job writing some opinionated articles for the Ponyville newspaper.

Seren and Vereia trotted across the town square and talked with each other as other ponies going about their morning routines passed by them. Seren looked around and turned to face Vereia. “So, pretty nice weather lately, huh?”

“Well, if you describe cold as nice than I guess so. I would prefer it be a little warmer,” Vereia replied in a flat tone.

“Well, it’s nice for mid-November, at least.” Seren replied before looking around the town square.

“I guess it is, although the attire of some ponies may tell a different story,” Vereia said. She and Seren continued to trot across the town square, side by side.

“Uhh huh,” Seren replied in a distant and monotone voice, still looking all around her.

Vereia looked at the unicorn beside her and saw her looking all over the place for… something. “What are you doing?” Vereia asked, wondering if Seren could even hear her.

Seren stopped looking around, and gave a sigh. “Sorry, I was trying to see if I could spot any good restaurants or coffee shops around. You got a Moonbucks around here or something? I didn’t have anything to eat or drink before coming here. My train left at like… 6:00 sharp, so no place was really open yet.“

“I suppose I did tell you to get here around 8:00 or 8:30 'ish so we could spend the entire day together,” Vereia replied, putting a hoof to her chin. “We do have a Moonbucks here, actually. It's a couple blocks down from where the old Golden Oak Library used to be, or as it’s now known the Golden Oak Memorial Site. I heard they took what was left of the old tree and did something with it, I can’t remember. All I know is that they planted a sapling and put a plaque there in remembrance.”

“Well, could you take me there?” Seren politely asked. “It’s almost 10:00 and I need myself some coffee.”

“Sure, we can go there. They just released the new Hearth's Warming cup designs for this year and I’ve been interested to see them. They’re always so creative. This way,” Vereia said, leading the way, moving north at a brisk trot.

They got up to the Moonbucks building, as indicated by the inviting circular green and white stylized logo of a unicorn levitating a cup of their iconic brew, seen both on the building itself and the doors as they walked in.

Seren and Vereia went into the building. It was a bit different than the one Seren frequented in Canterlot; a little less modern, but still nice looking on the whole. It was more brown, rustic, and homely-looking, as opposed to the one in Canterlot which bore a more mythical design and slightly darker colors. It was still warm and inviting like the one in Canterlot, just in a different way.

It was of course the middle of the morning rush, so Seren and Vereia found themselves having to wait in line before being able to order. Eventually the two ponies ordered their favorite coffees, and something to eat as well. They gave their names to the barista, and sat down at a table waiting for their coffee to be made.

After a few minutes of them talking, the pony yelled out both their names, and Seren went up to get both orders. The unicorn came back a few seconds later, her horn aglow with a charming pink aura levitating two sandwiches and two medium-sized coffee cups. She set them on the table, and sat down again.

The design of the cups was very minimalist but pleasing to look at. They were a charming lavender color, with the iconic and inviting Moonbucks logo on the front with a design resembling that of a Hearth’s Warming wreath jutting out from it.

Seren began to drink her coffee. Vereia, with a smile on her face, took the coffee cup in her hooves and inspected it. After a few seconds of looking at the cup her smile began to fade and she looked at Seren confused. “Umm, Seren?”

Seren swallowed the bite of her sandwich before letting out an acknowledging “Hmm?”

“Where is the Hearth’s Warming cup?” Vereia asked.

Seren gave her friend a puzzled look before taking another sip of her coffee. “Ummm, in your hooves?”

“Oh Seren, honey, no no no, I don’t think you understand. This can’t be the Hearth’s Warming cup, there’s nothing on it,” Vereia quickly said.

Seren was confused and wondered what Vereia meant. “But they were handing these cups out to everypony, so I think it’s pretty safe to assume-”

“Seren!” Vereia yelled, cutting the unicorn off. She pushed her cup over to Seren. “Tell me where on this cup is there anything even remotely related to Hearth's Warming!”

Seren gave a sigh and pushed Vereia’s cup back to her, and began to inspect her own. She didn’t really know what the big deal was, nor did she really care all that much. All she was hoping to do was sit down and enjoy a nice cup of coffee with a friend. However she had a sinking feeling that she was going to get more than what she bargained for, and not in a good way. “I kinda see a Hearth's Warming wreath around the logo there… Why are we discussing this!?”

Vereia looked at her cup again. “Where is the thing representing Hearth’s Warming? Isn’t this holiday about love, togetherness and when Equestria was first founded? I don’t see anything like that on this cup. They can’t just throw a wreath around the logo and expect that to encapsulate all this holiday stands for, can they?”

“I don’t know, Vereia. I don’t think it's that big of a deal.” Seren said, rolling her eyes. “You should just drink your coffee before it gets cold.” The unicorn kindly suggested before taking another sip of her own.

Vereia grumbled, and tried to bring the cup up to her lips, her hooves trembling more and more as she brought the cup closer to her face.

Seren watched Vereia with genuine concern, worried if the poor mare was going to have a stroke or something.

Vereia had the cup about an inch from her mouth and was shaking like a leaf. Finally, she put the cup back down, shaking her head, and glaring. “I’m sorry, I just cannot drink from this cup.”

Seren looked at Vereia, speechless and in complete disbelief, her eye twitching from how irrationally the earth pony was acting.

“This cup is not representative of Hearth’s Warming! I'm going to go ask at the counter if this is the actual cup they went with!” Vereia said as she stood up from the table and walked to the counter.

Seren facehoofed as her ‘friend’ went over to investigate this oh so pressing and important issue further.

After about a minute, Vereia came back and sat down again. “You are never going to believe what I just found out!”

Seren was lazily resting her head against her forehoof with a glazed look in her eyes, completely over the cup issue. “Is it that your coffee's getting cold?” The unicorn dryly asked while looking out the window and taking another sip of her own.

“No! It’s that this is the actual Hearth’s Warming cup design this year!” Vereia said, putting her cup down on the table.

“Oh, wow, what a shocker.” Seren responded in a monotone voice.

“It is a shocker, Seren!” Vereia replied, the blatant sarcasm of the unicorn completely lost on her. “I mean there are so many things wrong with this cup I mean it's even totally racist!”

Seren let out a growl and turned to face Vereia, clearly tired of her rant. “Will you just shut up about the stupid cup already, Vereia!? I don’t know what your hang-up is, but I don’t care! I’m just trying to enjoy a coffee over here while you keep ranting about this cup that's doesn't really look all that bad! You’re really starting to get on my nerves now, so please just get off it before you lose a friend, ‘cause seriously I am really fed up now!”

“Sorry, Seren, but I'm voicing my opinion! Obviously you wouldn’t see what the issue with this cup is ‘cause you’re part of the race it represents!” Vereia responded, unmoved by Seren’s eruption.

Seren nearly spit out her coffee in surprise. But she held it in and swallowed hard, glaring at the pony across from her. “Wh-What in Celestia's name are you talking about?”

“My race isn’t depicted on this cup, and neither are the pegasi. How can all these ponies here enjoy their coffee when the cup doesn't even acknowledge they exist?”

“Ughhh, this cannot be happening...” Seren moaned as she buried her head in her forehooves in embarrassment as she noticed some ponies from neighboring tables and booths giving them glances.

“Hearth's Warming is about celebrating all of Equestria and all the ponies who inhabit it, right? So why does the cup only feature a unicorn?!” Vereia continued. “Remember last year's cup? It had the normal logo of a unicorn but an earth pony and pegasus beneath it done in the same style and the background of the cup was the colors of the Equestrian flag. Now that was a good design!”

“Celestia, please save me,” Seren muttered in pain, feeling so embarrassed that she could barely bring herself to move.

“You agree with me, right, Seren?” Vereia asked the unicorn who was still covering her face with her forehooves.

Seren felt a tap on her forehoof that snapped her back to reality and uncovered her face to see Vereia looking at her. “Huh, wha?”

“You agree with me, right, Seren?” Vereia asked again, now having her attention.

“Oh-Oh yeah, sure, it was great, one of the best, loved it.” Seren replied robotically.

“Well, at least you agree with me! Hmmm.” Vereia said before going silent.

Seren took the last sip of her coffee and finished it off. “Well that was a good cup I guess,” The mare remarked in a monotone voice. “Probably would have been better if someone had drank with me, but whatever,” she said before lazily knocking the cup over with her forehoof and watching it roll for a couple seconds before stopping.

Vereia looked at the cup roll and smiled. “You know, you just gave me a good idea, Seren!”

Seren looked up. “Huh?”

“You’re right! We have to take these cups down!” Vereia said enthusiastically.

Seren looked at the earth pony with wide eyes. “B-But I didn’t say anything!”

“Don’t worry, just let me do the talking.” Vereia said standing up. “Patrons of Moonbucks! Lend me your ears!” she shouted, turning all eyes in the coffee shop to her.

“Oh please, Celestia, no.” Seren muttered to herself before slamming her head onto the table in embarrassment. She wished she knew a teleportation spell or some other way to get out of here and get away from this psycho mare who she barely even considered a friend anymore.

“My name is Vereia Noing! I am a mare who lives here in Ponyville and I am deeply offended by this coffee cup!” Vereia shouted while holding the coffee cup up high. “I am offended by its blatant disregard of any race that is not a unicorn! There is no representation of anything even remotely Hearth’s Warming related on this cup! And it is shameful!”

Some ponies’ voices could be heard beginning to criticize her.

“It’s called a minimalist design, you dork!”

“Are you seriously getting bent outta shape over a coffee cup?”

“I think the new design looks nice."

“Getatta Heernao! Your coffee's ready!”

“Oh, thank you.”

“If any of you dare to drink out of this cup and you are not a unicorn, you are racist and you support this racial discrimination!” Vereia fired back at them. “What will we look like if we just stand idly by and let unicorns rule over us? We need to have a cup that acknowledges everypony's race and embraces what Hearth's Warming is all about! That's why I suggest we boycott this establishment so we can show Moonbucks that we will not take this kind of racial discrimination! And furthermore we—” Vereia stopped her rant when she felt a hoof tap her on the back.

Vereia turned around to see a yellow eyed, brown furred earth pony stallion with a white mane and tail standing behind her and turned to face him.

“I am the manager of this Moonbucks I heard you yelling from my office. Why are you disturbing my patrons?” The stallion sternly asked.

“I want to kill myself.“ Seren whispered to herself before lifting her head up from the table. She looked around the coffee shop to see literally everyone, even the barista and cashier looking in the direction of the manager and Vereia, wondering what would happen next.

“I am incredibly offended by this racist coffee cup!” Vereia yelled at him and angrily stomped her forehoof. “I demand you give my bits back and formally apologize to me! I am traumatized that you would even think this design would be a good idea!”

“I’m sorry, miss, but I cannot give you a refund, and I will not apologize for something I have no control over.” The manager answered calmly and professionally. “I ask that you calm down or you will be forced to leave the building.”

Vereia looked at the manager, her eye twitching and anger only getting more visible until she finally snapped. “SCREW YOU!!!” she yelled before throwing the coffee cup to the ground and spilling the contents all over the floor, causing everyone in the shop to gasp.

She stomped on the now empty coffee cup. “You are promoting racism! I can’t believe that you—AS AN EARTH PONY—are in favor of this!”

“Miss, I request you leave this building at once!” The manager threatened. “Leave right now or I will call the police and have you charged with disorderly conduct and borderline vandalism!”

“I haven’t vandalized anything, but you have incurred my wrath now! I write for the newspaper and I am going to do an article blasting this place and your racist coffee cups!” Vereia shouted before grabbing her scarf and quickly wrapping it around her neck. “I will run you right out of business, you’ll see! And I will make sure those cups are changed! Hearth's Warming is about celebrating all races of ponies and NOT just unicorns, and I’m going to tell that to corporate office! Come on, Seren, let's leave this terrible place!” she shouted as she went out the door.

The manager sighed and faced the ponies in the coffee shop. “Sorry about that everyone, just resume what you were doing like normal. We are committed to keeping a safe and friendly environment here, so I’m sorry all of you had to witness that.” The manager turned around and tapped Seren on the shoulder. “Were you with her, miss?”

“Would I be able to say not anymore?” Seren asked in response.

The manager chuckled. “I guess so, as long as you’re civil and not causing a fuss like your friend I’m fine with you staying.”

“Oh trust me, she’s not my friend anymore.”

Seren decided to have another cup of coffee alone and toured Ponyville for the rest of the day. She was pretty much stuck there until her scheduled train left at 6:15 PM, and she didn’t want to have to pay the fifty bit fee to change her train if she could avoid it. She went to some of the regular hotspots like the Carousel Boutique and Sugarcube Corner. It was an interesting day and she actually thought she saw the famous Princess Twilight somewhere but she wasn't sure.

Seren didn’t see Vereia since she’d stormed out of the Moonbucks, and she honestly thought that was for the best. She hated her now, not only for embarrassing her to the max but also ruining her morning. Seren had tried to salvage what was left of the day and made the most of it, and honestly she couldn't care less what became of Vereia.

---

A few days later, Seren had been relaxing at home sipping on a cup of tea and reading a Ponyville newspaper. Ponyville newspapers were easy to come by in Canterlot with Ponyville being a nearby and important city. Despite the fact that she disliked Vereia now, Seren was interested to see if she made good on her ‘threat’ and wrote about the coffee shop. She turned a couple pages and found Vereia's article.

How I was attacked and traumatized by Moonbucks’ racist coffee cups!

Hearth’s Warming is a time where all of Equestria comes together and we celebrate the founding of this great land and the bonds that tie us together. This is the time of year where we should celebrate and embrace everything that makes us special, and not just assume one's race can be defined by a single unicorn on a coffee cup!

Unfortunately, Moonbucks would tend to disagree with me, as their design this year is one of the most racist and disgraceful things I have ever had the displeasure of holding in my hooves! This cup is disgraceful and is an affront to everything Hearth’s Warming stands for! It is simply a lavender cup with the Moonbucks unicorn on it and a Hearth’s Warming wreath around the logo! That is not representative of Hearth’s Warming! It has no acknowledgement of earth ponies and pegasi, which is absolutely disgraceful. After giving it some thought it might be possible that Moonbucks logo may be a symbol of unicorn supremacy! And now that Hearth’s Warming is here, they are trying to push that unicorn supremacy on the holiday itself! I never thought about it until I saw this coffee cup and how racist they really are!

While at the Moonbucks, I tried to take a stand and fight back against these coffee cups, but the ponies in the shop fought me back! They yelled at me and escalated the situation and made me feel like I was being attacked AND I WAS but I told them not to buy into the lies and racism! I was being attacked and berated from all sides and then the manager came up to me and was very disrespectful and told me to stop whining and he escalated the situation further! He very violently swatted the coffee cup out of my hooves and ordered me to leave the shop, making it look like I threw it on the floor myself, HE FRAMED ME! I spoke my mind and was put down by everyone! I’m going to make a difference and show Moonbucks that racism and disrespect like this for ponies like me who are not afraid to voice their opinions in public cannot go unnoticed! I will be sending a letter to Moonbucks corporate explaining the cups and rudeness of the manager, and there will be a difference. I WILL MAKE HEARTH'S WARMING GREAT AGAIN!!!

-Vereia Noing

After reading the article, Seren was laughing so hard she was beginning to cry. She was convinced that Vereia was completely insane and knew she wouldn't actually make a change with any of this. Instead of throwing the paper away, she folded it up and put it on her table thinking she might cut out the article and save it for later. She could always use something to give her a good laugh every now and again.

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this stupid little comedy thing I threw together.

I have actually been working on a bigger project for the last 5 months, but there is an issue that's delaying it's release. So I decided to throw this together in 3 days so I could have something to show that I'm not dead.

That project other should be out ohhh sometime around late November/early December so stay tuned! As all the other cool kids say.

Special Thanks to
Setokaiva for Editing
Zolfyyy for Proofreading and Editing
And WildfireTheSmug for the Titlecard

Links to any pages they have are in the main description.

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