Adagio and her partners followed Silvercoat Neighsay as he lead the way and soon a large castle came into view.
"WOW! This place looks amazing! Are you really going to let us stay here Mr. Neighsay?" said an impressed Sonata.
"Indeed I am Ms. Dusk but please let us not be so formal, please feel free to call me Silvercoat and if you don't mind I shall call you and your acquaintances by your first names. If that is OK with each of you that is," said Silvercoat.
Sonata clapped her hooves in delight as she said, "That's definitely good with me."
Aria shrugged her shoulders and coolly smiled as she said, "Meh as long as you got good food at this place I don't care what you call me."
Adagio still feeling reluctant about all this but determined to put that aside for her partners happiness and not wanting to offend this seemingly nice pony respectfully nodded and said, "Of course its fine and once again we thank you for all of this Silvercoat."
"Ahh think nothing of it Adagio it is simply my duty as a gentlestallion, anyway it looks like this little conversation of ours has helped time pass rather quickly as we are here," said Silvercoat before the others looked up and saw they were now standing directly in front of the castles entrance.
Suddenly Silvercoat's horn began to glow as he said, "Just give me a second to undo the lock spell and...." as he paused the door began to glow as well and opened up, "There we are... now then allow me to lead you to dining room so we can get you fed and then perhaps I can hear something else from the lovely Aria besides talk of food," he said with a joking grin on his face.
Aria blushed at this while Sonata giggled and Adagio simply smiled as her doubt about Silvercoat was beggining to slowly fade away as to her it really looked like this guy was as good natured as he seemed.
As they all followed him through the grand halls of the castle they couldn't help but notice the various tapestries and decorative vases that lined them. Adagio was the first speak up as she said, "These are quite nice Silvercoat, where exactly did you get them?"
"Oh those, all over actually I acquired them in my travels to various lands over the years," said Silvercoat.
"That is so cool! Are you an explorer or something?" said Sonata.
"Something like that.... I prefer to think of myself more as a collector, gathering all kinds of trinkets and knowledge from across the world to benefit others," said Silvercoat before he paused to open a door and gestured for the three to enter saying, "and that includes recipes so how about you three make yourselves comfortable while I prepare a feast of some of the greatest foods I have ever encountered."
They all nodded at this as they flew into the dining room and he walked away, seemingly to the kitchen.
As they prepared to set down Aria's stomach once again growled and she flew back and poked her head back out the door saying, "Um not that the whole feast thing sounds bad or anything but how long do you think it will take cause if it's gonna be a while I'd rather just have whatever snacks you have laying around instead."
"Don't worry my dear it will all be ready in just a few minutes," said Silvercoat.
Aria smiled and said, "Cool," before flying back into her chosen seat where she noticed that once again Sonata was giggling before she looked at her and with an annoyed look said, "OK what's funny this time."
Sonata grinned at this and said, "Oh it's nothing.... my dear," before she began giggling again.
Aria blushed as she angrily said, "Yeah he called me dear.... so what!"
"Well between that and him calling you lovely earlier it seems like he has taken quite the liking to you," said Sonata.
"What?! Of course not you heard him earlier he has a wife and son who are away for the night... no way does he mean it like that!" said Aria.
"Well we haven't seen any evidence of that so far so for all we know he just lied so we wouldn't feel uncomfortable, you know a single guy inviting three girls to his place doesn't sound quite right," she then laid on the dining table with her hooves under her chin and her tail in the air in the typical gossipy teenager pose as she continued saying, "So do you think he's cute?"
Aria's blush deepened as she yelled, "I'M NOT COMMENTING ON SOMEONE ELSE'S GUY LIKE THAT!"
They continued bickering like this for sometime while Adagio warmly smiled at them thinking, "Wow! I didn't realize how much I missed there sisterly bickering like this... how long has it been since I last saw it?"
Before she could finish that thought though they heard the door opening and Sonata quickly floated back to her chair as Silvercoat reentered the room levitating several dishes onto the table as he said, "Thank you for your patience ladies, I'm sure you'll find that this food was well worth the wait," it was only then that he looked up at the three and upon seeing Aria's still blushing face and Sonata's failed attempt to hold back a grin he asked, "Is everything alright?"
Sonata let out a little giggle as Aria prepared to say something she would likely regret, as she probably didn't want to let it slip what they had been talking about, Adagio intervened saying, "Oh it's nothing... we were just trying to guess what kind of food you would bring us is all."
"Ah that makes sense," said Silvercoat, "Well wonder no longer ladies as the food is now here so please feel free try whatever you would like first."
Adagio noticed Aria turn to her and silently say, "Thank you," before she began digging into some kind of large pastry dish, while Sonata looked over the table amazed trying to figure out what to pick first. Adagio decided to simply grab what appeared to be a bowl consisting primarily of lettuce but with other fruits and veggies scattered throughout it.
As she ate she was thinking about whether or not she should complement their host now or wait until later when she could comment on multiple dishes but that train of thought was quickly broken as she heard Sonata yell, "OH MY GOSH THIS IS AMAZING!" as she munched on what appeared to be some kind of hard shell with meat, cheese, lettuce, and various things she didn't recognize inside of it before Sonata spoke up again saying, "What is this little peace of heaven?"
Silvercoat simply smiled as he said, "Firstly I'm glad you liked it so much, I wasn't sure what if you ate meat like griffins or strictly plants like us ponies so I decided to make several different dishes to be safe. Secondly that my dear Sonata is called a taco, it's a little dish I picked up the recipe for in a country called Mexicolt. Curios place as both griffins and ponies seem to live there in peace thus producing such foods that mix both diets, to bad more places can't be like that."
Sonata didn't fully listen as she looked down at her plate as a look pure contentment and realization came to her face as if she just found the meaning of life as she said, "Taco," over and over again.
Meanwhile Aria, who just finished devouring the pastry, was attempting to give Sonata a smug look trying to silently say, "Look who he's calling dear now."
Adagio chuckled at all this as she ate and any doubt she had left about this went away and she thought to herself, "This is just absolutely perfect, their is absolutely no way things can go wrong from here."