//------------------------------// // The student part 2 // Story: The chef's student // by vincent789 //------------------------------// Today was truly the day. The first day in actual class. Twilight calmly woke up at seven and ate breakfast at 7:45. At eight she departed to school and around 8:50 she was in class. Only for school to start ten minutes later. "Good morning everyone! As you all know, My name is Minno Pepe. I will be your homeroom teacher for the rest of your stay in Lunarium. I would love to do introductions. But sadly we don't have that time. I am going strait into teaching you cooking." Minno explained. "Today we are learning about Basic Safety and not theoretical version, but the hoof on version. I will ask you a question and you answer it to your believes. I will write down your answer and you will be told if you are correct or not in theory class. And yes this is a test. So be on your best!" Minno said. "I will call each of you into that room," Minno points at a closed room to the left, "And inside you will be told the questions and you will tell your answer. After this you can take a break until theory class which is at 11:00. Good luck. You will need it." Minno finished. "First Twilight Sparkle!" Minno shouted, as Twilight followed Minno into the room. "First thing first, This is not a test. We are just curious how high each of the student's ability lays. You will not earn points but you will earn bragging rights." Minno calmly and curiously explained to Twilight, Twilight now appeared much calmer. "Oh and tell those outside of this room that the 'Test' was very hard and stuff. I will only tell you this information, so don't share it." Minno said with a mischievous smile. "Okay. One more thing before we start." Twilight said. "Yes?" she curiously looked at her. "I may have fired your sister up to beat you at a food dual. It should happen in a few days." Twilight explained. "Oh?! Who? I have many sisters." Minno asked surprised. "Lulu Pepe." Twilight answered. Minno's eyes widen, "You got her to," she looked very surprised. Overly so. "Is something the matter?" Twilight asked worried. "Well before she met you, she was very anti-food. You see people kept abusing her good taste buds. I am very happy to hear that she is become like this." Minno said as she smiled brightly. "She is also overly obsessed in becoming as good as me. Even though I am nothing special. Food cooking wise." Twilight added. "That is fine. Having some ambition is very important in cooking." Minno said, "Well let's start shall we? We can always talk about my sister more later." "Let us begin!" Twilight confirmed. Minno nodded, "First question, After barbecuing meat, some part are black, can you still consume it?" she asked, "Yes, although it depends on how black, and the type of meat. Generally it is okay, as long as you wash the meat as good as possible before baking it. On a barbecue that is." Twilight answered. "Second question, If your bottle of unopened sauce is expired. Can you still use it?" Minno asked, "Yes and no. If you are at home you can possibly. In a restaurant you will throw it away immediately." Twilight answered. "Third question, You have knife that isn't yours, yet it appears to be the only knife in your kitchen and you have to make something, will you use it anyways?" Minno asked, "No! You should never use an unidentified knife in a kitchen. You can make plenty of things without a kitchen knife. Like things that are small and require minimal cutlery. Like a simple wrap with snack tomato and previously prepared ingredients." Twilight answered. "Final question, What is my favorite food?" Minno asked with a mischievous smile. Twilight rose her eyebrow at her, "Carpaccio." she answered. "Well done. All those questions were correct. I hope to hear more about my sister through you. Now it's showtime! Go out and tell them a good lie." Minno said smiling, only for her face to turn dramatically serious. "I will." Twilight said as she turns her face to a scared and overly pained face. And as she steps out, she says, "Well those were some spartan questions. I hope not to see more of those." in a exhausted voice. Twilight's behavior got everyone on edge and somewhat terrified. Then Twilight's face did a 180 and she said, "Well I am giving you extra. I asked her to give you guys extra hard questions. Feel my pain!" Twilight then laughed crazily. "Oh come on!" Everyone shouted back. Twilight blinked at the now surprised Minno. Minno regained herself and smiled mischievously at Twilight only to turn serious at the others. "Very well. Extra hard questions, coming right up!" Minno shouted. Twilight then walked towards the break room as she out loud said, "That was fun." "What is fun?" Said a somewhat annoyed Royal Chef. "Uh. What are you doing here, Royal?" Twilight asked surprised. "I am in charge of this year's canteen." Royal said, "But let me ask again. What is fun?" "Messing with my fellow students." Twilight said with a mischievous smile. "Ah. That I agree with. They need to light up. They looked way too tense." Royal said. "But enough about that. Why didn't you visit my booth at the festival?" Royal asked annoyed. "I am sorry. I had a lot on my head and wasn't exactly ready for some partying. I more or less felt somewhat obligated to improve my cooking after my failure known as the first entrance exam." Twilight explained. "I understand. Which is why you are obligated to taste something I have made during the event. Everyone else answered based on my fame. Not because he or she actually liked it." Royal said as he drags Twilight into the canteen kitchen. "Oh, okay!" Twilight said as Royal shoves the dish in front of her. "Let's see. It appears to be some kind of salad. I can see some fish, I think that is red snapper. Some lettuce, some old cheese. Okay It smells kind of amazing. Let me taste it." Twilight took a bite. "Yes. It's kind of terrible. The fish and cheese don't mesh well and the dish is trying to be overly sweet, but is more overly dairy. I hate it." Twilight said as she throws the rest of the dish into the trashcan. "I agree. Everyone else said that it was amazing." Royal said. "I agree, It's amazingly terrible!" Twilight said in pain. Royal laughed out loud. "I guess their reviews were kind of true." he said as his laughing turned into wheezing. Twilight could honestly not laugh, "Perhaps I should give you my dish. You will hate it." she said annoyed. "Oh? It looks like some kind of sandwich." Royal said as he took a bite. "Oh! This is. Yes, this is terrible!" he said. "That is peanut butter and mayo." Twilight said with a mischievous smile. "Oh my Celestia. It's terrible. Who would eat this?" Royal said as he throws the rest in the trash. "Cadence." Twilight said with a dead eyes. "No. That is not possible," Royal said with absolute disbelieve. "It's the absolute truth. You can test it can't you?" Twilight said. "Oh lord. I will, later." Royal said. "Well, time to go back to work." "Good luck." Twilight said and as she entered the canteen, only for her to be overwhelmed by annoyed students at her acting. They were talking about her acting to be very realistic and that she was evil. But they appeared to be smiling. Twilight would simply mischievously smile at them. "Atleast she is just mischievous and not overly serious." Twilight reasoned, which caused everyone to agree and disperse. Twilight approached the retail side of the canteen and buy a single energy bar and a small packet filled with juice. As she took a seat and munched on the bar she took a good look around. The room was quite large and boring. The wall are painted white, the same could be said about the ceiling. The floor is lined with pine planks. The tables and benches were both made of steel. The lamps too were made of steel. It felt like a prison. That being said, the room is much larger than a prison. It was the size of a large church. With a very tall ceiling and wide space. This truly felt like a church. nonetheless Twilight finished her coffee break and moved towards the next classroom. Which was housed in a large library. It appeared that the teacher was already waiting inside. As Twilight opens the door Bella looked up. "Your name is Twilight, no?" Bella asked. "My name is indeed Twilight." Twilight confirmed. "Thank goodness. I am terrible at remembering names. I am Bella Gratin. Nice to meet you." Bella introduced. "Nice to meet you too. Are you perhaps related to Aspic Gratin?" Twilight asked. "I am his older sister. Why? Do you know him?" Bella asked surprised. "I was his classmate in Celestium. You looked similar to him." Twilight explained. "Ah. So you are the, in his words, amazing chef that skipped theory." Bella said. "I did skip theory. I was already advanced enough that that theory was too easy." Twilight explained again. "I see. Just so you know. If you already know this theory, you are still not allowed to skip it." Bella explained. "Don't worry. I wasn't planning on it. Besides the theory here is so advanced, that there is no way I can skip it." Twilight said. Bella smiled, "Good." she said, "Please take a seat. Your classmates are inbound." Twilight took a seat on the front row and looked forward to the class. After a few minutes, everyone has taken their seat. "Welcome everypony! I am Bella Gratin. I am skipping formalities and I will get started immediately. Today is an important day. I am teaching you on Basic Safety." Bella started, Twilight grabbed a notebook and pencil as she listened to her explanation. "This means everything related to the basic nature of safety in cooking. Let's start with Knife usage. The knife is a dangerous tool in a kitchen. If you are not careful, you might cut yourself or others around you. When carrying a knife, remember to hold it down and with the sharp end pointing to yourself. If it drops you have a split second to dodge it. Meanwhile if you carry it with sharp end outwards and someone makes a sudden motion, they might stab themself. So don't do that." Bella explained. "Meanwhile, when you finished your usage of the knife, you must cleaning it immediately and place it somewhere safe. You don't want to clutter you station with knifes. Nor do you want someone to cut themself if you put the knife in water with the sharp point facing up. Once you are done cleaning it, you place it on a knife rack or in a knife block." Bella continued. "When you need a knife, remember to use the appropriate knife for it. You cut meat with a chef's knife or butcher's knife. Cheese with a cheese knife, etc." Bella added. "And finally when using it, always use the bridge technique. That means you put the point end on the cutting board and cut it down like that." Bella said as she showed the motion with a fake knife. "Now about which cutting board is for which. The color says it all. Use green for vegetable, red for raw meat, white for dairy, brown for baked meat, blue for raw fish, yellow for raw chicken meat and finally purple for non-allergy produce, which means nut free or dairy free." Bella said. "Make sure to use each accordingly. We don't want cross contamination in a kitchen." Bella added. One of the students held their hoof up high to ask a question. "Yes?" Bella said. "What if all the green cutting boards are used, yet the chef asks you to cut vegetables." the student asked. "Good question. You go to the chef and tell him that there are no green cutting boards left. Which on should I substitute?" Bella said. "When he told you which one. You shall use that one and clean it immediately after use." she added. "Did that answer your question?" Bella asked. "It did." The student confirmed. "Good. Let me continue." Bella said. "The preparations before entering a kitchen goes as following. You wash you hooves, you put gloves on your hooves, you put your hair in a hair net. You put a chef's jacket on, you put chef's trousers on, you put a kitchen apron on. And ready you are." Bella said. "Remember to clean you station before and after use. Only put the things on your station that you need in the moment. Everything else you remove. You want a clean and clear station. Make you experience as simple as possible. Also make it as efficient as possible. It's always handy to have chef's knife ready. These are the basic safety regulations." Bella finished. "If you have questions, put it in my inbox that you will find near the teacher's break room. Thank you for listening." Bella said as the bell rings. "You won't get homework yet. See you tomorrow." she added as she left the classroom. Twilight finally finished writing everything down. She and her classmates left the library and into the canteen. It's lunch time and the retail side of the canteen is being overwhelmed by the students wanting to get a snack. Twilight luckily brought lunch with her. Rice with a plum and some maize cookies, a small salad and something sweet. As she snacks on her lunch, her head was still repeating the things that Bella explained. Twilight was impressed with the explanation. It was clear cut information. Simple, yet efficient. She couldn't wait for tomorrow. As Twilight took a look on her schedule, she saw that next up is practical class. Twilight gulped at Donut's name every time. Just because they weren't after her or Donut didn't mean she wasn't nervous. Twilight had been searching for this stallion for quite some time. Making it all the harder for her to face him. "Should I tell him about Trixie?" Twilight asked to herself. "I promised Trixie, so yes." she answered herself. Twilight gulped as she finished the last of her lunch. She still had 15 minutes left, but she decided to use that time to talk to Donut about Trixie. As she roamed the empty hallways towards the test kitchen classroom, she bumped into Tree Seed, the vice-president of the student council. "Why are you going to class? You still have 15 minutes." Tree asked curious. "I want to talk to Donut in private. Is he already in the classroom?" Twilight answered. "He is, but why?" Tree asked. "I am sorry." Twilight said as she shook her head. "I see. This is normally not allowed. You must stay in the canteen until class is about to start. I will make an exception." Tree said as he wrote it in his book. "Thank you." Twilight said as she moved on. Tree watched her depart, "I wonder..." he said as he moved toward student council room. Twilight meanwhile arrived at the class. She took a few deep breaths and entered the room. Donut looks at the clock and confused at Twilight. "You are 10 minutes too early." he said. "I know. I need to talk to you." Twilight said nervously. Donut looked at Twilight, she appeared nervous, no scared. He puts his phone down and asked, "Sure, about what?" "Trixie." Twilight said. Donut's eyes widen as large as dinner plates. He immediately deflates, "What about her?" he asked. "I am just here to tell you, that she is fine. I promised that I would find you." Twilight said. Donut then just stood there. He was shocked. He truly thought that she was dead. As he caught himself he asked in a raspy voice. "Is that so. How is she doing?" "She is doing much better. I found her a few years ago on the street abused. My family took her in and helped her get better. She is now Celestia's personal student." Twilight explained. Twilight noticed that Donut's face was gaining color. She realized that he might have gotten depressed by Trixie's potential death. As tears filled donut's face he asked the one thing that Twilight was waiting for, "She is alive?" He asked as a clump got stuck in his voice. "She is more than alive. She is having the time of her life." Twilight said. At this point Donut was just crying out loud. "Thank Celestia, she is still alive. Thank you so much!" Donut said as he hugged Twilight. Twilight returned the hug albeit with less crying. Twilight was smiling, a big beautiful smile. A mature smile. They were having this moment for a long time. Twilight had used her magic to lock the doors and cover the windows. Ponies were trying to get in 20 minutes ago. But failed as Twilight had shut it tight. Twilight had than heard that Tree in the distance said that everyone can skip this class until tomorrow. Tree than said to Twilight though the door, "Take you time. I understand that you are telling him about Trixie. Thank you." As 30 minutes had passed he finally let go. He was in a state of pure happiness and shock. "All this time I though she had died. The mafia can be ruthless." Donut said. "As far as I know. Their power don't extend to the Royal family." Twilight reassured. "That it doesn't. That it doesn't." Donut said on repeat. "So what does she do, besides being her student?" he asked. "She works in a Donut restaurant. One of your rivals to be precise. Don't worry. That man has a heart of gold. He will take good care of Trixie." Twilight explains. "I see. I am glad that she hasn't forgotten about our ability to make good donuts." Donut said with a smile. "I am just glad that I found you like this. I planned to go on a pony hunt, once I arrived in Manehattan." Twilight said. Donut laughed. "Yeah. I guess the princess found me first." he said. "That is somewhat good news. But also somewhat bad news." Twilight admits. "What do you mean?" Donut asked confused. "Well. The mafia is aware of me. They are also aware that I am here. Luckily right now I am on their positive side." Twilight explains. "Oh my lord. That is bad news indeed." Donut said. "Does the principal know?" "Yes." Twilight said. "Than you don't need to worry. He is very influential stallion. His power even extends to the mafia." Donut explains. "Well that is good news. Should I tell Trixie about you?" Twilight asked. "Please do." Donut said. "I will tell the rest of my family that she is alive." he added. "Very well. Saturday is the day I will teleport to Canterlot. I will tell her then." Twilight explains. "Thank you. I am in your debt." Donut said. "NO! No debts." Twilight adamantly said. Donut laughed, after a while Twilight joins in on the laughter. "Very well. But we will repay you somehow." Donut said. Twilight just groans with a smile, "Fine." Donut smiles until he looks at the clock, "Ponyfeathers I missed class." he said. Twilight looked at the clock 2 O'clock, Twilight class would normally end at 3. "We still have an hour." She said. "That is not enough. Tell you what. You can go home. I will write this class down as a class the skipped class thanks to unforeseen circumstances." Donut said. "Thank you. I will get going then. See you tomorrow." Twilight said. "Wait. Take this business card. It has the location of my bakery on it. Well the original bakery. You will find a bunch of bakeries of the same name and same chain closer to your home. But please visit the original. It also has the business hours on it." Donut said as he gives Twilight the card. "Thank you." Twilight said as she leaves class. As she walked towards the exit she bumps into Coffee. Coffee looked at her with a smile. "Thank you for getting him out of his depression. To tell you the truth. We never meant it to go this far. Some underlings of the mafia took things in their own hooves and force Coffee to pay up. When in reality he never had a debt. We just used it as an excuse to eat his delicious bread for free. Our underlings did not know that, which let them to forcefully order him to pay up. Which led Donut to tell his youngest daughter to run away. She nearly died in the process. When the mafia found out, they did everything in their power to get the daughter to return. Not because of spite or debt, but because some of them loved their donuts. And they were worried about Canterlot being to hostile to live in." Coffee explained. "We never meant for it to get so out of hoof. Luckily she found a new place to make donuts and a new home thanks to you. Those underlings are removed to say the least. And don't worry, the mafia is just toying with you. They are interested in you because they see your talent. The mafia is actually just a cover for Celestium and Lunarium to do business with the underground. They are not evil and are actually protected under Celestia's law. They are legal mafia." Coffee explained. "I am also part of the mafia, I guess." Coffee added. Twilight mouth gaped at the massive piece of information. She looked at Coffee and then she fainted. "Was that too much?" Coffee asked Tart. "No. She just didn't see it coming." Tart answered. "Though I truly did find her cute." ??? said. "You are not helping." Coffee and Tart said. "Sorry." ??? said apologetic.