What My Inner Sweet Tooth Was Telling Me

by sunnypack

3 - You Can't Just Not Have Cake

Chapter 3: You Can't Just Not Have Cake

Dinner came around to an excited diarch of Equestria. Celestia hummed to herself as the dishes were served. She barely touched the tea, she barely touched the greens, she barely touched the appetising bread and she barely noticed the tantalising aroma of the cook’s best meals. It was a buffet of delectable cuisine that only royalty were privy to.

Yet, Celestia could not work up her hunger but for one single fact.

She wanted cake.

It would be spurious to even suggest that Celestia didn’t appreciate the effort that was put into making the multitude of culinary masterpieces that adorned her large and encompassing table. It would be outrageous to hint that Celestia had not the appetite for the wide-ranging exotic foods that her cooks had laboured upon for hours at the castle kitchens.

Celestia’s appetite was ravenous, her appreciation undulled, they were simply there to be directed at the one thing she had on her mind the whole day.

For the love of cake!

She dreaded meeting her sister, who would usually sit down for dessert, Luna would always be excited and talkative of the very brief moments they could hold audience with each other on a regular basis. It was endearing and heart-warming and she enjoyed every moment of it but she was running dangerously low on blood sugar.

“Dear sister! It has been some time,” Luna declared, entering the room. Celestia felt a pang of annoyance that was quickly and thoroughly stifled.

“Ah Luna, it is good to see you again,” Celestia replied and found that indeed that was true, no matter the circumstances Celestia would never take her little sister for granted again.

Luna chuckled, banging her hooves on the table for emphasis.

“Servants! We are hungry for confectionary delights, bring forth the sweets!” Luna commanded, her voice not-quite the Royal Canterlot variety.

Celestia gazed sidelong at her rambunctious sister.

“Luna, you’re slipping again and it would do well to ask our servants politely,” Celestia remarked calmly, giving a nervous servant a warm smile to calm her down.

Luna snorted.

“Nonsense, they do not take offence, do you not?” Luna asked a passing servant, wrapping a hoof around him and pressing the poor stallion to her bosom.

“Dear Sir, do you believe the gall of my dear sister, to accuse us of unbecoming behaviour?” she queried the frightened servant. His legs splayed awkwardly behind him in the mad scrabbling attempt to find the firm ground.

The poor servant looked pleadingly at Celestia, in the small hope that she could help him out of this plight. To his relief, Celestia complied.

“Luna, put the poor stallion down, you are giving him a fright,” she commented serenely, taking a sip of tea. Luna put the servant down, watching him scramble to find an exit.

“He simply requires a stronger backbone,” Luna growled, turning back to the table. The maids quickly served the dessert.

Celestia almost choked on her tea, looking at the taunting pastry that lay on her table.

It was apple pie and it came with a small note written by the chef.

Apple pie, Your Highness, with compliments from the Head Chef. it said.

She turned to the side, her expression not betraying a hint of the roiling frustration that bubbled under the surface.

“Kibitz, please schedule a meeting with the cook, I simply must congratulate him on his kind efforts,” she announced, getting up from the table.

Kibitz nodded with surprising agreeability.

“Your Highness has some free time, right after this dessert slot,” he replied, scribbling some changes to the schedule. He gestured to an aide standing close by and whispered something into his ear. The aide sped off, possibly to alert somepony of the change in scheduling.

Luna eyed Kibitz warily. She hadn’t had good experiences with scheduling in general.

Celestia sighed, swallowing the pie and tea as fast as equinely possible.

“Come Kibitz, we must away to the castle kitchens,” she called out, heading towards the kitchens. Luna shot Celestia a puppy-dog glance, to which Celestia guiltily excused herself from.

“I’m sorry Luna, perhaps we can spend some time together later,” Celestia responded to those sad, sad eyes. Luna gave up and mumbled something under her breath.

“Okay, dear sister but you owe me!” she asserted firmly before trotting off in huff.

Celestia felt a pang of guilt that was consumed under a greater need.

I will apologise to her later, when I have gotten my hooves on some cake! she thought to herself.

They arrived at a fairly quick pace, after all, Celestia was cake driven.

“Ah Saucier Sanguine!” she greeted to the shocked group of chefs and assistants that made up the palace kitchens.

“It is good to see you, princess,” he chortled back the griffon inspecting his talons habitually before giving a short bow.

“To what do I owe the fine pleasure of this visit, Your Highness?” he inquired, his accent distinctively Prench.

“I believe congratulations are in order for your fine cooking skills, the apple pie was indeed a delightfully delicious delicacy,” Celestia praised, giving the chef one of her most winning smiles. The old griffon blushed and preened a little.

“Ah, you are certainly an expert flatterer, princess,” he replied, and then he said the words that Celestia had been hoping to hear from him.

“Is there anything I can do for you, Your Highness?” he asked, whipping a small towel onto his shoulder.

“Oh it’s just a small request,” Celestia drawled, hoping the griffon would bite.

The Prench chef shook his head.

“Nothing is small regarding the princess!” he laughed, shocking the whole kitchen, he realised what he said a moment too late. “Ah, I meant, nothing we make for the princess will be small… that is not to say that your portions have to be big or–”

He stopped himself, blushing a deep crimson.

Celestia gazed with widened eyes at the chef, unable to ask the question now.

If I ask for cake, it’ll make it worse! she thought to herself furiously.

Oh I don’t mind anymore I need some cake!

She addressed the nervous chef.

“I do not mind, dear master chef, perhaps if I were to lay my hooves on your delectable cake…” Celestia hinted, giving the griffon a warm smile.

The Prench cooking master gave Celestia a dutiful and grateful nod, turning around to address the servants.

“A strawberry cream filled cake with extra icing!” he yelled out, motioning for a couple of pegasi who were standing idly to get a move on.

“Yes, chef!” came the resounding response as everyone got to work furiously.

“Chef!” a young voice called from the back of the kitchen.

“What is it junior assistant chef, Treacle?” Saucier shouted over the preparation of the cake.

“It seems we’re out of flour and sugar!” he shot back.

“Sorry princess,” the griffon apologised, rubbing the back of his neck with an awkward claw. “You’ll have to wait until morning when we get restocked.”

Celestia fought to make sure none of the disappointment she was feeling was coming through.

Oh, well I could probably quickly teleport to Ponyville and grab a cake from the cake shop there, they open quite late, unlike the Canterlot shops… I’ll just drop in without a fuss and be on my way, she thought to herself, trotting up to her room to begin the teleportation spell.

Kibitz called out after her.

“Princess, princess… PRINCESS!”

“Oh, Kibitz, whatever is the matter?” She asked him knowing full well what he was going to say.

“Princess we still have to keep to the schedule, I’ve worked around this delay but we cannot move anything further,” he explained, rapidly scribbling something down in a levitating notepad.

Celestia inwardly groaned, her patience starting to wear thin.

“Off we go then,” she almost grumbled, correcting her dangerously slipping posture.

Sugarcube Corner will close by the time I am free! she thought to herself, gloomily.

Perhaps I could teleport to Griffonia in the meantime, between breaks, no wait their time zone is two hours ahead. The Minotaur Lands? Yes, they may have some flour and sugar I could bring back, maybe the staff could… she mused, as she turned around the corner to met a dead end.

“Oh dear…” she mumbled, as Kibitz collided with her backside and fell over.

“Oh Princess Celestia, you are off your game today! Perhaps you should take a break from the rest of the day,” he told her, brushing himself off magically.

Celestia looked at her assistant in barely concealed surprised.

Kibitz groaned, “Don’t look at me like that, you were the one to ask a vacation for myself, I am merely returning sage advice.”

Celestia smiled. Perhaps she would be getting cake after all.

Comments

[Dinoguy1000]

“Oh, Kibitz, whatever is the matter?” I asked him knowing full well what he was going to say.

Slipped into first-person narration here.

[sunnypack]

5469532 Fixed, thanks.