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The Cocoa Hut [closed: Pyro]


KaityKat

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Cocoa-Nut.png

Morning came to Ponyville the same as it did every day. For most ponies, anyway. Tucked away in a forgotten corner, sat a modest little building. Unassuming in it's appearance, aside from the large sign hung haphazardly over the doorframe. The sign read, in large bold red letters, "The Cocoa Hut" followed by the smaller subtitle "Exotic chocolates and candies for the adventurous tongue". Strung under this sign was a banner that read "Grand Opening Today!" in the hopes that passersby might be interested enough to stop by. The curtain was drawn on the display window, hiding what was going on inside.

Cocoa Nut had worked tirelessly the night before. She wanted everything to be perfect for her new shop's first day. She'd dreamed of opening a confectionery since the day she got her cutie mark. She was putting the final touches on her giant statue in the display window when suddenly she exclaimed "Yes! That'll be great!" and abandoned her work to disappear into the back room. When she reemerged, she carried out a bowl of red candies and placed them on the counter. She giggled maliciously to herself, for a moment, before returning to the sculpture.

When she could see the light from the morning sun peeking through the curtain, she decided it was time to open the shop. She pulled on a rope that hung by the window which opened the curtain revealing to the world what she'd been working on. A giant, life-like sculpture of Nightmare Moon, poised to strike. Under this was a card that read "Happy Nightmare Night". She stood and admired her work for a moment before depositing herself behind the counter to patiently await her first customer.

 

That patience lasted about a whole five minutes before she'd gotten a random idea and quickly excused herself back to her back room, again, to do some cooking. The smells of chocolate, spices and fruits wafted through the shop as she worked.

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Tiger yawned a bit as he made his way down the road. Ponyville was a nice place and all, but it seemed pretty boring most of the time. Oh well, it was just a visit after all, he would be home soon enough. 

 

The earth pony was dressed in his typical outfit, his pants and necklace, and had left his spear back in his room. As he walked, he eventually spotted a chocolate shop that was apparently just opening today, and with a pretty cool chocolate statue in the window. 

 

After admiring the statue, he entered the store and started looking around as he waited for whoever was running the place to show up. 

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In the back could be heard a loud crash of something metal falling onto a hard surface, followed immediately by an exclamation of "Well, that's fun!"

A few moments later, out from the kitchen emerged a mocha-colored earth pony with brown and red hair carrying a large mixing bowl on her head filled with a brown liquid one could only assume was some kind of chocolate. She looked at the newcomer with interest for a moment before she jumped slightly, almost upsetting the perched mixing bowl, and said "Oh! A customer!" she giggled to herself "Forgot I was running a business, for minute. Ha!" she went to the counter and addressed the new pony "Hello, and welcome to the Cocoa Hut! I'm Cocoa Nut!" she said, gesturing a little more than is normal, the mixing bowl teetering precariously on her head "How may I subvert your expectations, today?"

She waved a hoof at the display cases full of confections of many sorts. Mostly, they were little characters made of candy. Celestias, Lunas, Nightmare Moons, a few of each of the six friends of Princess Twilight, and then there were others that appeared pretty normal, but had cards labeling them with odd flavors like black licorice flavored mousse, or hayburger hard candy. On the counter sat a sign that read "You name it, I make it."

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Tiger looked over at the sound of the new voice, giving a whistle of approval as the mare came into sight. She looked pretty good, and if her chocolates tasted as good as she, and they, looked, this place would do great. 

 

“Name’s Tiger Blood, was just wandering when I found this place. All looks pretty good, almost as good as you.” He said with a wink, picking up one of the Nightmare Moon figures as he sauntered to the counter. He leaned against it when he got there, examining the figure for a moment before taking a bite out of it. 

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Cocoa was taken aback, tho it didn't show. She'd heard Ponyville was friendly, but this was a little more than she'd bargained for. She almost giggled. She wasn't used to being hit on --run away from, looked at funny, she's even had crosses held at her, but not usually hit on--, and here this fella was, not such a bad sight, himself, if she was honest, laying it on as thick as molasses in winter. She figured she'd go ahead and see where this led.

 

"Is that so, Mr. Blood?" She started, not sure exactly how did this flirting thing work?  She leaned against the counter also, the mixing bowl on her head threatening to disembark from its perch, not that she noticed. "Well, I have a very extensive selection for you to browse." She swayed as she spoke, taunting the mixing bowl. Daring it to topple. Completely oblivious that it was still there. "How are you enjoying the taste you've had so far?" She asked, ending her sentence with her head tilted Tiger's way. The bowl seemed rested where it was.... for a moment. Suddenly, without warning, the mixing bowl that'd been more or less content staying on Cocoa's head through all her motions decided to take a little vacation.

It rolled down her forehead and turned over topside down directly onto Tiger's head. The contents gooping all over.

 

Cocoa was mortified.... but also, it was incredibly funny. She stifled a laugh, cleared her throat and said "I'm so sorry! That was my bad. I forgot to put it down! Please don't be mad at me. You can have that Nightmare Moon Candy for free. Take ten more."

She continued to panic, thinking she'd lost her first customer, not to mention ruined any chance with the handsome stallion that she only just started to admit to herself she kinda liked. Wait.... did that just come out of her mind-mouth? Hm. Interesting.

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Tiger smirked more as Cocoa decided to return his flirting, in her own way. He watched her, not really paying attention to the bowl either. In fact, he was about to take another bite when the bowl decided to visit him. He stood frozen for a few moments, mouth open mid-bite before he started laughing. 

 

“I’ve had worse things than chocolate on me. Well, this kind of chocolate, anyways.” He chuckled, jerking his head to fling the bowl into the air before catching it with a hoof and setting it on the counter with his partially-eaten chocolate. He then wiped his eyes clear and tasted the chocolate. With that out of the way, he walked outside and proceeded to shake himself off like a dog to get as much off as he could before heading back in. He winked at her again before finishing the figure he started in one last bite. 

 

“It’ll probably take a shower or two, but it’ll come out.” He added, picking out some more figures. “Thanks for the chocolate though, tastes pretty good. Keep up the good work, Cocoa.”

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She smiled and kinda chuckled a little. "There's just one problem, there." she giggled a little more as she admitted "That's not chocolate. At least... not really." she reached over and put her hoof in the mess in his mane to show him. As she pulled away, the goop stretched and pulled like taffy, snapping when she pulled away. "It's a new chocolate-based glue I've been working on." she tasted it, looking like she was looking for a specific flavor "Hm. Yeah, if you don't wash out in the sink with vinegar soon, you'll never get it out. still trying to work out the kinks." she moved some of her own hair to reveal a hidden bald patch in the back. "C'mon, I'll help you back here." she gestured around the counter and led him to the kitchen in the back.

 

As they entered the kitchen she said "Welcome to my secret lair. My lab, if you will." she welcomed. The room was a disaster. Utensils and dishes strewn everywhere. Even honest to goodness test tubes and beakers. She brought Tiger to the industrial-sized sink, gestured and said "Quicker we scrub your head, the less hair you'll lose." she laughed a little then winked at him. "Kidding. you'll be fine.... but, really, we should hurry."

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“Huh, no wonder it didn’t come out. Still tastes good.” He shrugged, following her into the back and looking around the room. He followed her to the sink, nodding a bit at her words. 

 

“Well then, shall we? It’s hard to look this good.” He winked, getting into position to help wash off the stuff. “By the way, nice lab doc.”

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She chuckled at his attitude. She wasn't sure if she liked his confidence, or was annoyed at his conceit. She decided she'd go with liking his confidence.... mostly because he had the looks to back it up, and, from the looks of it, the experience to warrant it. As she went to get the vinegar, she noted the scars he had on him, and wondered how he'd acquired them. She quietly giggled thinking he probably had a story he was all too willing to tell for each and every one. So she decided she'd save the questions for a time she was ready to hear them. She came back to him with a large bottle of vinegar in her teeth, turned the water on and began scrubbing. "I really am sorry about this. I can be pretty absent minded, sometimes. My thoughts are disconnected and I get distracted easy." she blushed a little and dumped practically the whole bottle of vinegar on his head as she kept scrubbing "I also may or may not be a little bit kinda completely insane.... just ask anypony at home." she admitted reluctantly, giving a half smile.

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Tiger hummed to himself as he helped wash the goop off of him, listening as Cocoa began speaking, all of it just apologies and explanations this time. Just as well, he supposed, he kinda wanted to know more about her anyways. 

 

“Crazy? I dunno about that. Just cause you think differently? The world would be a pretty boring place if everyone was the same. So you get absentminded, frees up room for your great ideas.” He replied, trying to smile at her from his current position. “Sometimes the things ponies call crazy are actually brilliant, it just didn’t fit their description of normal.”

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She stopped for a minute.

She fought back a tear, and said evenly. "You know what?" She continued scrubbing "I think you're right. Screw what they think." she smiled real big. Nopony had ever called her eccentricity brilliance, before. She'd always heard euphemisms like ".....different" or "special" but they'd always had a patronizing undertone. She wasn't used to being called brilliant...... she decided she liked it.

"I like you." She found herself saying out loud. She blushed a little realising she'd said her thoughts out loud without meaning to.

She interrupted whatever thought he'd started to entertain after she'd said that with "Alright! We're done! I think I got all of it. Unfortunately, your mane's gonna smell like vinegar for a while, but not much to do about that...." she said apologetically.

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Tiger smiled a bit at her response, smirking as she continued by saying she liked him. He didn't get much time to bask in that before she kept talking though. He chuckled to himself as he began drying off, smirking over at her again. This had certainly been more fun than he had expected out of a chocolate shop, that was for sure.

 

"I've had worse. So, this has been fun, but what should we do now? Got anything you want to taste test, miss 'I like you'?" He teased, nudging her with his shoulder and winking at her.

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She blushed as she playfully slugged him "Shut up." she said "I just meant that you're a nice guy... don't let it go to your head."

She thought about the question for a moment "Oh, yes." she said "I have a new candy that I want you to try for me. It's a brand new take on a cllassic." She handed him what looked like a butterscotch candy, but he would find out was more akin to a "Hot Tamale" candy.... but spicier. way spicier. After giving him a minute to suck on the candy, she held out a bowl for him to spit it into if he couldn't/didn't want to handle it.

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Tiger chuckled at her response, watching her as she thought over the question and eventually handed him some kind of candy. He looked at it for a few seconds before popping it into his mouth. He hummed to himself as he sucked on it and the spice started to get to him. He kept going though, making faces as he considered the flavor of it. Eventually, when it got too spicy even for him, he let it fall into the bucket and nodded to her.

 

"Probably want to tone down the spiciness a bit if you plan on selling to the public, but it's otherwise good." He smiled a bit, smacking his lips a bit in appreciation.

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"You seem pretty good at knowing what the public wants." she started "I'm kind of looking for an idea to introduce for Nightmare Night." She explained "Something new and exciting, but something ponies will love." she popped one of the spicy candies into her mouth and walked over to the counter, gesturing to the bowl she'd placed there with the red candies. "So far, this was my idea." she hoofed the bowl over to him "You guess which candy you're getting. Then you try it. If you're right, you get a free chocolate. There's Cherry, Strawberry, Watermelon and Cinnamon." She giggled evilly at the last one.

"Anyway, so yeah. It's not the most creative idea I've had." she frowned slightly.

At this point, her eyes just began to water, but her face showed no other signs of being affected by the candy.

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“Well, that happens when you deal with them a lot.” He shrugged as he listened to her speak, looking over at the bowl as she mentioned what was in it. He sorted through the candies for a moment before turning back to her. 
 

“Seems like it could be fun, getting a candy and possibly chocolate. I dunno how exciting it’d be, but seems fine. Maybe you should put them in one of those bowls with the fake claws that spring out to ‘grab’ you.” He chuckled at the suggestion. 

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