//------------------------------// // The student part 3 // Story: The chef's student // by vincent789 //------------------------------// "What happened?" Twilight asks herself as she woke up in the infirmary of the school. "You fainted." Coffee simply said besides her. "Ugh. Why did you reveal all of it at once? And in public no less." Twilight asked as she grabs her forehead. "I made sure that we were alone. Besides I felt that it was necessary to tell you on the spot while we are still alone." Coffee explained. "You have a lot to tell me. But for now I will accept your explanation. Although I am not impressed." Twilight said annoyed. "We understand. I would have a lot of questions as well, if I was in your hooves." Tart said. "Can you tell me one thing?" Twilight asked. "Sure." Tart and Coffee said at the same time. "Why didn't you just go to Celestia when everything was spiraling out of control?" Twilight asked. "Because it happened very fast. By the time we had everything under control and explained everything to Celestia. We were only 3 hours further. That said, you intervened right when everything was under control." Tart explained. "Not to mention, we were aware of your incredible magic power. We felt that most problems on Trixie's side was solved the moment you got put in the equation." Coffee added. "I am going to tell Trixie everything. Are you alright with that?" Twilight asked cautious. "Go ahead. Just don't share this with everyone. Especially don't tell your parents. They will remove you from this school." Tart said. "I can't skip my parents. They are looking into the school and my brother is willing to go very far if I don't tell them." Twilight explained. "Besides I won't let them." "Alright. Just be careful." Coffee said. "Of course." Twilight said as she jumps off the bed and walks off towards home. "Are you sure you should let her do that?" Lulu asked Tart. "I trust your idol." Tart replied. "She is not my idol." Lulu said annoyed. Tart looks at her, "You have three posters with her face on it, in your room." she said. "Okay. Perhaps I like her cooking, I swear that is it." Lulu practically shouted. "Right, so you aren't bragging about her cooking skills, like every day?" Coffee asked. Lulu pouted at that. Which caused Tart and Coffee to laugh. Meanwhile Twilight has arrived at home. She felt especially exhausted today. Not only did she reveal Trixie to her dad. She also got told a unit of new knowledge she wasn't ready for. As she sluggishly walked inside, she was suddenly hugged by Night. "I did it!" he shouted. "Did what?" Twilight asked exhausted. "I passed an act to better regulate the selling of wild endangered meat! This means that a lot of stores now require to adhere to very strict regulation. This also means that you need a license to hunt and sell wild meat." Night explained. "That is good news." Twilight said happily. Night deflated a little at Twilight's not-so-ecstatic reaction. "So, how was school?" he asked as he switched topics. "Donut is now aware that Trixie is still alive. Meanwhile I got told that the mafia isn't an illegal group. They are legal on Celestia's law. Basically they are Lunarium and Celestium." Twilight explained. "They own the mafia?" Night asked. "They are the mafia. It's their way into the underground food market. They normally don't do debt making and such." Twilight explained. "That does explain a few things." Night mulled over the information. "How so?" Twilight asked. "We never gave your friend Lulu and Leaf our address. Which means they knew that we moved into this particular penthouse. Not into the dozen other penthouses around our home." Night explained. "Huh. That is interesting. I did not know that." Twilight said curiously. "It is indeed." Night said. Twilight suddenly had an idea and gained an evil smile, "So I can go to Celestia and report them on stalking?" she asked. Night smirked, "You can. Although I expect Celestia to have foreseen this." he said. Which caused Twilight to deflate a little. "I am going to Canterlot on Saturday. Which is in 3 days." Twilight said excited. "Very well. I am coming with you. I need to explain some things to Velvet's party there." Night said. "Very good. Now why don't we go ahead and eat dinner. Tomorrow is Wednesday and it will be another school day." Twilight suggested. "Okay." Night said as he prepared dinner. Twilight and Night ate dinner and went to bed. Early the following day, Twilight once again rushed to school and arriving 10 minutes before the start of class. "Good morning everyone!" Minno said. "Good morning!" Everyone replied. "Today I am going to explain another tit-bit about Basic Safety." Minno started. "Let's talk Cross-Contamination. So a red cutting board is for raw meat. I will tell you that also include wild meat. Like geese and bear. However each meat type has their own quirk. Like bear has gummy meat and geese is very chicken-like. Which is why certain wild meat types are on yellow or blue cutting boards, instead of red ones." She explained. "However it's not recommended to cut bear next to pig. For that you should try to use a different cutting boards, albeit red ones. The color code is mainly for the prevention of cross contamination." Minno explained. Twilight rose her hoof up high. "Yes, Twilight?" Minno asked. "Clarify Cross-Contamination, please!" Twilight asked. "It basically means, you don't want pig and bear meat to touch each other. It can create bad bacteria that might harm the poor pony that eats the end product. Or cause an unwelcoming allergic reaction." Minno explains, "Good question!" "Anyways that is about it about Basic Safety. More you might have to learn theoretical and practical." Minno finishes. Twilight throws her hoof up high again. "Yes Twilight?" Minno asks. "Doesn't Basic Seasonal Ingredients belong to Basic Safety?" Twilight asks. "No. That mostly talks about what you should eat in certain seasons and what you shouldn't. If it does belong in it, it mostly belong in Advanced Safety." Minno explained. "Now let's just do some self-studies on math. I will prepare our next lessons meanwhile." Minno explained, as Twilight opens her math book and diligently works on math. After an hour of math, the bell finally rings and Twilight with her classmates enter the canteen. Twilight buys an rice ball and a packet of orange juice. As she takes a seat on one of the benches she looks towards the kitchen. Twilight notices that Royal was not only getting lots of attention from her classmates, but also from the kitchen staff. To the point that even Twilight felt his uncomfortable feeling. Twilight rolls her eyes and stand back up from her bench as she approaches the group of classmates. "Hey guys, What is going on?" Twilight asks curiously. "We just want a rice ball made by Royal." Someone said. "Yeah and some fresh juice." Someone else added. "The rules state that you can only obtain that during lunch break not during drink break." Twilight stated. "Your such a buzzkill. It only takes like 10 minutes. Not a big deal!" The same duo stated annoyed. "You do realize that your behavior can get you banned from the canteen buffet all together!" Twilight replied annoyed. The group looks at her, "Who would tell the staff anyways?" They ask her with annoyance. "Uh, the guy you are bothering? He can still report all of you. Even if you call it a buzzkill, it won't matter. He has full right to do more than that actually." Twilight said with an eyebrow raised. They all look at Royal, only to grumble and disperse. This happened on the exact moment that disciplinary staff member enters the kitchen. "Is everything okay, Royal?" The disciplinary staff member asked. "Yes. Twilight already resolved the situation." Royal said with relieved sigh. The disciplinary staff member looks at Twilight. He smiles and nods. Twilight returned the smile. The disciplinary staff member then proceeds to take a seat in the canteen to prevent another case as the last. "Thanks Twi! They would bother me every drink break." Royal said with a sigh. "I see. Perhaps The disciplinary staff could reinforce the rules about the drink break better." Twilight said in front of the disciplinary staff member that took a seat in the canteen. Royal looks at the staff member, only to start laughing. "Yes, I hope they will." Royal said while laughing. The disciplinary staff member simply raised his eyebrow at Royal and Twilight. "Now you look more relaxed. I am going to go eat my rice ball and drink my juice. I don't want to miss class after all." Twilight said with a smile. "Sure. Thanks for the help." Royal said as he waved at Twilight. Twilight returned the wave as she sat back onto the bench. And ate her rice ball and drank her orange juice. After a few minutes the bell rings and she stood back up and walked towards class. As soon as Twilight enters the classroom she notices a surprising lack of students. "Where are the others?" Twilight asked. "They got caught by the disciplinary staff for trying to sneak into the canteen kitchen. This is everyone." Bella explained. "I guess they didn't learn their lesson. I already warned them. Well, good luck to them." Twilight said with a groan. "I heard that you did that. Good job." Bella said. "Shall we start class?" she asked. "Yeah. Let's start." Twilight responded. "Today I will talk about Basic Business that means, the money side of food. Every ingredient costs money, including water. And every dish costs money. A business or Horeca* is a place to buy food and ingredients. Meat and milk cost money. And a donut also costs money. As it contains lots of different ingredients." Bella started. "But an added cost is the production. That means the cost from ingredient to final dish. The plating, the cooking and the like. Paying rent, staff and equipment. Not to mention debt. All of these increase the cost of the final product. For a chef it's important to make delicious, efficient and inexpensive dished and drinks. A too expensive and disgusting dish won't sell. Which losses money and trust. Which you will need as a restaurant or cafe otherwise you will face bankruptcy." Bella explains. "The average cost of a dozen donuts are 10 dollars. Even though the donut with nothing added cost only about 20 cents. This is why inflation and recess exists. I will explain more about that another day. For now please go fill in the questions of page 1 to 15." Bella finishes. Twilight was especially interested in the business side of food. She knew it was important if she ever wanted to start her own restaurant. Not to mention the fact that she now understood roughly why some dishes on the menu were so expensive. Yet something in the book caught her attention. Twilight raised her hoof up high. "Yes, Twilight?" Bella said. "Under which circumstance would you raise the price regardless of the cost of production and ingredients?" Twilight asked. "Very good question!" Bella said proudly. "Let me explain that one." "So besides production and ingredients, there is also another factor that plays a big role in business. And that is your guests. If you advertise your products to lets say, a commoner! Then you must remember this, They averagely visits restaurants more often. But they have less money. This means you need to focus on making delicious and very inexpensive dishes." Bella said. "The same can't be said about nobles or royals. Nobles are generally richer than most commoners. They tend to visit restaurants based on their prices and exclusiveness. That means that it's delicious and rather expensive at the same time. They do this to show their capital off to other nobles. Not to mention the bragging rights. More expensive will also discourage commoners and the poor from entering these establishments. Which in this case is preferable." Bella explained. "The royal on the other hoof is totally different. And also the most random. They visit whenever they want to. Regardless of price and quality. They tend to visit some restaurant more often when they have something they like. But besides that. They are very irregular." Bella said. "If Celestia heard that," Twilight said with an evil smirk. "Don't. You. Dare." Bella said with a smile. Twilight simply laughed. "And to answer your question. Increase the price for noble and decrease the price for commoners is basically it in a nutshell." Bella finished. "Is there a way to get both a commoner and a noble in the restaurant?" One of the other classmates asked. "Yes. But it's very difficult." Bella said. "Anyways please finish those pages before the bell goes off." Not a moment later, "RING!" the bell goes off. "That will be your homework if you didn't finish it." Bella said. "Good luck with Donut. He is a strict teacher." "I am sure we will be fine." One of the classmates optimistically said. "Lets hope so." Twilight said uncertain. Twilight and 3 classmates enter the test kitchen where Donut was waiting. "Welcome everyone. My name is Donut. I am your practical teacher. I have 15 years of experience running my own business and my entire lifetime of standing in a kitchen." Donut introduced. "Hey Donut." Everyone responds. "Let us begin, shall we?" Donut said. "Let's start with Basic Prep. This is one of the most important curriculum and something to always remember." "So, what is Basic Prep? Well Prep stands for preparation. In this case it talks about everything you do before you start in a kitchen. This includes, Cleaning your hooves, putting a hairnet in your hair, putting you hair into a ponytail, etc." Donut begins to explain. "Let's start with the first step. Putting your kitchen clothing on. This ranges from thick heat and knife protected coats to thin t-shirt with minimal protects all-round. After that you put a kitchen pants on. Then you put your apron on. After that you wash your hooves and you put on a hairnet. In some restaurant you also put on a mask over your mouth. However that isn't always the case." Donut said step for step. While also showcasing each and every clothing piece and protection piece. "You could choose to put water and soap on your hooves or disinfecting alcohol. They both do the job. Now that explained it. Go and follow my instruction and put it all on." Donut instructed. Twilight and classmates then proceeded to do exactly that. Donut inspects their way of following the instructions. "Very well done. You all seem experienced in this. Which is good." Donut praised. "Now what do we do, you all may ask. Well I am going to put a bunch of vegetable on your test kitchen and a green colored cutting board. Each test kitchen has a name on it. Find yours." Donut said. Twilight proceeded to take the one closest to Donut's desk. "Oké. Everyone you will cut it the way you want it. Remember to cut it like you will put it in a vegetable soup. That's all, good luck!" Donut said as he takes a seat in his teacher's chair. Twilight looks at her test kitchen and sees some carrot, some leeks, some artichoke and celery. Before she starts she remembers something. Flashback "Twilight I am going to need some vegetables for my soup. Let me explain how you should cut them." Bella Lulamoon said. "Wait is there a specific way to cut it?" Twilight asked surprised. "There is. You should cut Carrot like ingredients into halve moons. These leeks I want with the green and tip chopped off. You can proceed to then chop it fine. Do the same thing for celery." Bella explained. "What about Artichoke and the like?" Twilight asked. "You would only put that in vegetable soup. But you should cut off the stem and remove the inside. Then finely chop the outside and put it into your soup." Bella explained. End of flashback Following that memory. Twilight quickly and effectively chopped everything exactly as was told. Donut took a look at the classmates. They were still busy figuring out how to cut everything. Donut then moved to look at Twilight, only for him to pause and smile. "Well done. You did exactly as I wanted them." Donut said, "I don't care what the other teachers say. Twilight does belong in the genius class." Donut mumbled. "Did you say something?" Twilight asked curious. "That was nothing. Honestly this was all I wanted to teach you today." Donut said, he looks at the clock and said, "You can home Twilight. I have nothing more to teach you right now." "Oké, I will go home then. See you tomorrow!" Twilight said. Donut nodded and waved back. Twilight had left today's school feeling a bit happier.