//------------------------------// // A Peaceful Meal // Story: Little Fragments // by Skijarama //------------------------------// WARNING: This Chapter may contain spoilers for Little Memories, specifically from the chapters ‘Grace in the sky’ to ‘Rainbow’s Decision.’ One Hour after the events of ‘Rainbow’s Decision’ in Little Memories… Rainbow Dash hadn’t felt this great in a long while, she realized. She leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and taking a long, deep breath through her nose. She let the fresh air pool in her lungs, invigorating her system. She savored the mouth-watering scent of greasy, fatty, fried foods that wafted up and into her nostrils and stimulated her senses. Her stomach growled eagerly in anticipation, and she didn’t even have the self-awareness to be embarrassed by how audible it was.  It was kind of hard for her to wrap her head around it, but in the end, she supposed Luna had been right to convince Celestia to follow through on bringing Discord’s statue to Ponyville. The Spirit of Chaos was not being released, as the solar alicorn had hoped, but Rainbow could say without any question that after confronting him and declining such a tempting offer, she felt better than she had in what felt like years. “Good evening!” A friendly mare’s voice sounded, causing Rainbow to open her eyes and remind herself of where she was. She was seated at a large round table outside of a local diner, the ‘Greasebun Eatery.’ Joining her at the table were Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Twilight Sparkle, and of course, her mother, Princess Celestia. Late evening sunlight washed over them, casting orange stripes of light over their surroundings and adding to the tranquil environment of the rustic establishment. A brightly smiling unicorn mare stood by the side of their table, a notepad and a pencil held in her honey-colored magic aura, along with a stack of menus she was presently distributing to each of the ponies at the table. “Can I get you anything to get started? Water, snacks, appetizers?” “Ya got croutons?” Rainbow asked without missing a beat. “Or crackers?” The mare nodded. “Why yes, we do.” “A bowl of either of those, please.” “A simple cup of tea will be fine for me, darling, thank you,” Rarity said politely with a nod of her head. “I’ll have some tea, too,” Fluttershy agreed happily. “Ah think Ah’ll be fine till it’s time to order, thanks,” came Applejack’s statement. “Jello!” Pinkie declared eagerly, completely ignoring the fact that it was a dessert item. “Spike and I are good,” Twilight added absently, her eyes trailing intently over the menu. The waitress was not at all disheartened by this, though, clearly used to the odd mare’s eccentricities. She then turned to Celestia, her smile becoming strained with a hint of nervousness. “A-and for you, your majesty?” “A simple glass of water will suffice, thank you,” the alicorn assured the mare with a tender smile and a nod. “I am here as a mother wanting to spend time with her daughter. Don’t overexert yourself on my account.” The mare seemed taken aback by the soothing tone and combination of words, and for a second, she looked like she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Hey, relax. I’ll share my crackers with her.” That finally snapped the mare out of her trance. She gave a quick nod before turning and shuffling away. Rainbow watched her go before shaking her head and nudging Celestia in the side with her elbow. “Jeesh. Some ponies just never lighten up around you, do they?” Celestia sighed but nodded her head. “So it would seem. But one of the many burdens that come with the crown.” “The other one being saving the world, right?” Celestia tittered into her hoof at that, her demeanor lightening up considerably. “Something to that effect, yes.” “But saving the world is so much fun,” Pinkie protested to the two of them, her eyes flying wide open. “I mean, helloo! In what other lines of work can you wear a snazzy necklace with a cool gem and turn evil bug queens into trees with friendship and rainbows? ‘Cause I can’t think of any!” “Well, I mean, I could probably homebrew something like that in O and O, with enough time,” Spike mused to himself, rubbing his chin with his claws. “O and O?” Twilight asked, glancing sideways at him. “What’s that?” Rainbow leaned back in her seat, draping her forelegs over the backrest into a casual reclining pose. “Ogres and Oubliettes, Twilight. It’s this new game that came out a couple years ago. Spike’s kinda been fawning over it off and on for a while. He has the starter’s set and everything.” “It’s a roleplaying game,” Spike clarified at Twilight’s bewildered expression. “You make characters with stats and personalities, and then, with some dice to help add a degree of chance and risk to the events, act out epic and heroic adventures! I’ve been trying to get a group together, but right now the only pony who’s signed on is Big Mac. We could make it work with just us, but it’d be a lot better with more ponies.” “Oh… I see,” Twilight acknowledged, though the far off look on her face suggested she was doing anything but seeing what Spike was telling her. “It sounds… interesting.” “Kinda cool in concept,” Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. “I think it’s kinda lame in execution, though. All you do is sit around and imagine the cool stuff happening.” “A powerful enough illusion or fantasy spell could, in theory, enable one to materialize their adventures at the game table,” Celestia mused thoughtfully to herself. “Although a mage of that caliber would be quite difficult to come by...” It was around this time that she realized just how intently Spike was looking at her. She tilted her head. “What?” “...Can you be my dungeon master?” he asked hopefully. “Cause that sounds AWESOME!” Rarity giggled into her hoof before reaching over and ruffling Spike’s spines. “Oh, Spikey Wikey, I do believe Princess Celestia has a schedule far too full to commit to something like that…” Celestia nodded in agreement with that assessment. “That is true, Rarity. Forgive me, Spike, but as much as I would love to, I am afraid my business as the central ruler of Equestria leaves me with precious little time for such social commitments. It took me months to find a window to come down here as it is.” “Darnit,” Spike mumbled under his breath, crossing his arms and sulking. Rainbow chuckled to herself but otherwise added nothing else to the conversation, allowing her mind to wander and relax as her friends and family kept on talking. Eventually, the waitress returned with the starters everypony had ordered, and soon enough was taking down the orders for the main course. All of the meals were pretty standard fare and exactly what Rainbow would expect from them. Salads, hayburgers, sugary things for Pinkie and Celestia, and so on. Nothing caught her attention when she ordered her triple-layered potato sandwich with sourdough.  However, when the food was finally brought to their table, Rainbow’s eyes locked onto the dish set in front of Twilight at the same moment that she was taking a big swig from her own glass of water. For there, sitting in front of the hungry amnesiac, was a plate of tortillas stuffed with melting cheese and vegetables. A platter full of quesadillas. Goopy, gooey, cheesy quesadillas. Rainbow gasped by reflex, her eyes flying wide as a torrent of water went flying down her throat. She immediately flew into a wild coughing fit, her hooves curled up to her chest. “Oh dear, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked urgently the moment she recovered from the shock of the sudden commotion. She rose from her seat and drifted over to pat Rainbow on the back, helping her calm down and get it out. “I’m fine,” Rainbow dismissed after a moment before glaring daggers at Spike. “Spike, I thought I told you to not let her order quesadillas!” He shrank back from her glare, a rosy blush appearing on his cheeks, joined by a sheepish grin. “Er… sorry… I kinda got distracted…” he mumbled out, averting his eyes. Rarity tilted her head. “Oh… that may have been my fault. He was listening to me rather intently on the way here while I was talking about business at the boutique,” she realized, giving everypony else an apologetic look. “And, seeing as I have no clue why you don’t want me getting this food,” Twilight piped up, giving Rainbow a quizzical glance. “I decided to order some for myself and find out what all of the fuss is about.” The pegasus, after a few moments of silence, held her hooves together over her mouth and took a long, deep breath. She then let it out while lowering her hooves back to the table. “Twi,” she said simply, looking the other mare dead in the eyes. “Just… what?” Twilight tilted her head. “I honestly don’t see what the big deal is. It’s just a tortilla with cheese and veggies in it,” as if to punctuate her point, she then took a bite out of it. Her eyes lit up the moment she did, and she let out a pleased hum. “Hmmmm~ and they’re good, too!” “Yeah, Ah don’t get it neither,” Applejack pointed out, leaning forward slightly. “Is there somethin’ Ah’m missin’?” “Yeah, it sounds like there’s something you know that the rest of us don’t,” Pinkie added, leaning over at Rainbow and narrowing her eyes conspiratorily. “Including me, which is no bueno, señorita Rainbow Dash.” Spike leaned past the thoroughly flummoxed alicorn to address the table as a whole, his eyes studying her meal up close. “Twilight… you have a phobia of quesadillas,” he stated matter-of-factly. Twilight was silent for several seconds, and Rainbow could practically see the cogs turning in her head. She swallowed what was in her mouth and went to speak once, twice, three times before something came out. “I’m sorry, could you run that by me one more time?” “It started when you were little,” Celestia cut in, drawing all eyes to her. “I had taken you and the other foals in your class on a field trip to a collection of factories in Manehattan as a part of our studies on the various waves of industrialization that have swept across Equestria in recent decades. One of those factories specialized in the mass production of tortillas and cheese. They were supposed to be packaged together as a sort of easy-to-cook-at-home package.” “Ooh, I’ve never actually heard this story myself,” Rainbow suddenly chimed in, sitting to attention and facing her ears forward. “This was before I met her, and Twi never talked about it with me aside from uncomfortable shudders and thousand-yard stares.” “What happened to me?” Twilight asked curiously, leaning forward as well. Her eyes were wide and alight with eagerness and curiosity. Just one more part of her past to add under her belt. Celestia winced at the memory before continuing. “As it stands, in the middle of our tour of the factory, I guess you and a few other foals got curious and wandered away from the rest of the group. I’m not sure what happened to you, but after maybe half an hour one of the workers came running up to me, frantically telling me that you had fallen into one of the cheese mixers. By the time we managed to get everything shut down and pull you out, you had somehow gotten trapped inside of one of the finished packages, all but suffocated by cheese and tortillas.” Twilight was quiet for several seconds, her mouth slowly falling open. “So… I somehow survived going through an entire production line?” “Okay, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but I kinda gotta agree with Twi on this one,” Rainbow chipped in with a raised eyebrow of her own. “How does that even work?” “I can only assume that, in her panic, Twilight must have experienced a magic surge and managed to teleport her way through anything truly dangerous, landing inside of one of the packages. It would explain why there was so much excess cheese with her inside. She would have brought it with her.” “...huh,” came Twilight’s eventual response, her eyes unfocused. She then let out a quiet laugh and lifted up another piece of quesadilla, taking a bite. Once she swallowed, she grinned, a few pieces of stringy cheese still stuck between her otherwise pearly teeth. “Well, I guess that’s one memory I hope I don’t get back. Because this is delicious!” Rainbow immediately wanted to protest that sentence, but the words stuck in her throat. She just stared at Twilight in disbelief as she dug in wholeheartedly, completely uncaring that she was eating a food that had once petrified her. The pleased hums and little snorts she gave off as she went made it perfectly clear that she was genuinely enjoying the meal. After a moment, all Rainbow could do was stare. And then she began to laugh. It started off quiet, but in no time at all in swelled into an uproar of howling guffaws that drew the eyes of other tables, and doubly so from those at her own. Twilight even stopped mercilessly devouring her plate of cheesy goodness to give Rainbow a questioning look. Finally, after what felt like forever, Rainbow leaned back in her seat and took a deep breath. “Oh, man… I did not realize how much I needed to hear that,” she sighed blissfully before looking back down at Twilight and grinning at her. “I agree. A phobia of good food is one memory you could totally do without.” A few more giggles and chuckles were shared around the table, some of the others sharing additional quips or thoughts on the subject matter. Rainbow tuned them out for the moment, instead choosing to focus on the warm smile on Twilight’s face. She got lost in that look, one she did not get to see anywhere near enough. But in this moment, surrounded by their dearest friends, the look was as bright as the sun itself, and Rainbow planned to savor it for as long as it lasted. And then a ladybug appeared in the corner of Rainbow’s vision, heading directly for Twilight. Her blood ran cold, and all of the joy she had been feeling a moment ago was replaced with dread. Her eyes flew wide, and she reached out to stop it, to swat it away. Too slow. It settled on Twilight’s nose, making the alicorn let out a quiet gasp as she went cross-eyed to stare at it. Rainbow’s heart stopped for a beat. After a few moments of silence, Twilight smiled and gently pried the ladybug off of her muzzle with her magic. “Sorry, little bug, but my nose isn’t for sitting on,” she told it before passing it over to Fluttershy. “Do you mind taking care of this?” “Oh, not at all,” Fluttershy replied with a smile, holding out her hooves and letting the small insect come to a rest. She then gently guided it down to the grass below, allowing it to scuttle out of her hooves and vanish amidst the emerald blades. Rainbow was quiet for a second, her eyes wide and her brain processing what had just happened. After a few seconds, her face split with a large grin and she let out another, far more reserved chuckle, feeling rather stupid after that. Twilight gave her an odd look. “Rainbow? What’s so funny?” “Nothing,” Rainbow dismissed with a shake of her head before taking a bite of her own food. “Nothing at all.” Spike, however, was not content to leave it at that. He looked up at Twilight with a flat look. “You have a phobia of ladybugs, too.” Twilight paused for a moment before looking down at Spike in abject confusion. “...you’re joking.” “He isn’t,” Celestia confirmed with an amused look of her own. “A swarm of them invaded your home one day. They were everywhere.” “And your brother told you that the little spots on their shells were tiny eyes watching you everywhere you go,” Rainbow added, grimacing at the memory. “You had nightmares for weeks.” Silence fell over the table, all eyes on Twilight as they waited for her to respond. She did not say a word. She merely lit her own, took another bite from her quesadillas… and laughed. It didn’t take long for the rest of the table to join her. When at last the laughter died down, Rainbow leaned back and closed her eyes. She hadn't felt this good in a long time.