//------------------------------// // Christmas Special: A golden desert // Story: The Chef's Life // by vincent789 //------------------------------// This takes place during the spike and the golden resort arc. Twilight woke up from a good night sleep. As soon as she looks outside, she sees the entire resort sparkling. As it turns out, in a single night. The entire resort has been decorated accordingly to Christmas. The only thing lacking was snow, which wasn't going to happen regardless. This resort is inside the dragon territory, which if that still didn't make sense. Dragons don't like the cold. After a solid five minutes of staring at the decorations. Twilight enters the bathroom to clean herself up and get ready for the day. As soon as she left her room, she heads downstairs towards the breakfast area. While slowly walking towards the restaurants, she sees that even the inside of the hotel she was staying in, has been totally decorated. As soon as Twilight arrived at the breakfast restaurant. She noticed that everything was already in swing. In fact, it felt as if she was late. Which is odd, since breakfast was supposed to start an hour from now. Nonetheless, Twilight goes to the restaurant reception and gets a table. Since this is a buffet type breakfast, Twilight got her own table. It felt a bit lonesome, as she was the only one sitting on this table. But nothing can change that. Or so she thought. Spike was about to prove her wrong. As he came running out of nowhere and take a seat opposite to Twilight. "Hi, Twilight!" Spike said happily. "Uh. Good morning to you too." Twilight said slightly confused. "Oh yeah. Good morning. So are you interested in taking a look of the kitchen?" Spike asked curiously. "Actually I came here to eat breakfast first. Why the sudden request?" Twilight asked worried. "Well. You see. The kitchen... if you can call it that. Isn't exactly kitchen like right now." Spike said ominously. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked confused. "What are the rules you expect any kitchen to have?" Spike asked instead. "Uh. Well to be efficient, to waste as little as possible. And to be as clean as possible. Why?" Twilight asked. "Yeah. The last one is kinda..." Spike said. Twilight's mood instantly turned serious. She stands up from her chair, proceeds to levitate Spike along side her. And walk towards the kitchen. "I can walk myself!" Grumbled Spike. As soon as he was finished saying that, Twilight's levitation disappears. Causing him to fall to the floor. After a few seconds of stomping, Golden noticed the direction Twilight was heading. He also saw Spike following quickly behind her. He gulped, as Twilight looked less than pleased. He quickly entered the kitchen himself to see what the fuss is about, and instantly realized why Twilight was annoyed. The kitchen is a big mess. In fact it was dirty, the level dirtiness was guidelines breaking bad. In fact if anyone besides the staff saw this, oh boy, they will complain from here to Equestria. It was then that the doors opened and revealed Twilight. As soon as Twilight saw the kitchen, she stood there shocked. Spike simply looked extreme uncomfortable, his mere presence in this kitchen was enough to make him feel uncomfortable. "What happened here?" Twilight asked, her voice calm, but her anger was noticeable. "I honestly don't know." Golden admits. "I am NOT asking you." Twilight said annoyed as she points towards Golden. Golden simply gulped as he nodded. "What happened here?!" Twilight asked, shouting loud enough that someone in this kitchen could tell that the question was for them. "Well you see..." A stallion came up to Twilight. The way he held himself suggested that he was a simple chef. "What?" Twilight asked. "We tried to make Golden Chocolate volcano lava cake. And well, it exploded." The stallion said. "You added baking powder instead of soda, didn't you?" Twilight sighed. "We did. I am sorry." The stallion admitted. "Alright. I admit, that is an easy yet costly mistake to make. Tell you what, I will personally help you clean this mess up. How is that?" Twilight suggested. "I can't let a guest help us. This is something I am going to have to fix myself." The stallion said adamantly. "Do you know how to clean this mess up? Do you know how to effectively remove this particular chocolate? Do you know how long it will take, without the proper knowledge?" Twilight asked with her eyebrow raised. "Fine. Please help me." The stallion sighed. "Spike. Do you mind to get me some special soap? I need Stallion Brawn Soap. It is designed to remove chocolate." Twilight requested. "Sure. I know how to get some. How much do you need?" Spike asked. "Seeing as the amount. I need about fifty liters of it." Twilight said. "Understood. I will go ahead and get some." Spike said as he runs out the door to try and get some. "Golden. I need every cleaning tool you have. And about fifty buckets. Can you get me those?" Twilight asked. "Sure thing." Golden said as he ran towards the cleaning department. "And chef. Do me a favor and shut off every source of heat and water vapor of any kind. The hotter this kitchen is, the harder it is to remove. Plus the wetter it is, the stickier the chocolate is." Twilight requested. "Understood." The chef said as he started shutting off, ovens and furnaces. "Here is the cleaning equipment. What are you going to do?" Golden said as he placed the cleaning equipment on the ground. "I am going to scrape off all the chocolate off the ground and walls first. The special soap is for cleaning it off objects. However I need you to stop any chef from using this kitchen for atleast the next twelve hours." Twilight said. Golden sighed, "This is going to be a long day, isn't it?" He asked. "Without the knowledge of how to remove this, it would take weeks to months." Twilight said. "Dully noted. Good luck. I will try and keep the chefs off your back." Golden said as he headed for the main kitchen. "I got us fifty liters of that special soap. How can I help you?" Spike asked. "Can you mix one liter of that special soap with ten liters of hot water? Once you are done with that, grab a scraper of any kind, and start scraping any surface that isn't a wall or the floor." Twilight instructed. "Alright. Let's do this." Spike said determined. For the next twelve hours. Spike, Twilight and the chef clean up the entire kitchen from the chocolate. And thanks to Twilight's knowledge of it's removal. They were done in less than twelve hours. It took a total of eight hours to completely remove the chocolate and an additional two hours to clean the kitchen off any other residue. In the final two hours. Twilight explains to the chef and to Spike on the inns and outs of how to make lava cakes in general. In an attempt to stop another explosion. In exchange, the chef talks about what the Christmas feast and party is going to be like. And Spike explains his relationship with Equestria and the two princesses. "Alright. How are things here-" Golden was about to ask. Until he realized that they were done. The kitchen was clean and ready to be used once more. "Sir golden. I am afraid that I had to throw everything away that was in this kitchen. That which wasn't caught in the explosion had to be removed in order to make the cleaning easier." The chef admitted. "Considering that normally it takes weeks or months to clean this up. That is a small price to pay. It is alright. Everyone makes mistakes. Your punishment is that you will have to make everything you destroyed once more. The lava cake on the other hoof will be place in the hooves of a chocolate specialist." Golden said with a sigh. "Understood. That is something I planned on doing anyways." The chef said. "And Twilight. I will grant you a lunch from our best as thank you for assisting." Golden said. "Sure. But I want to do it together with Spike." Twilight said determined. "No. Spike was in part, responsible for what happened here." Golden denied. "Regardless, he cleaned it up. You will grant this lunch alongside Spike. There is no other way." Twilight said stubborn. Golden sighed, "Fine. But he is immediately fired for his chef work in the Golden resort. Is he alright with that?" he said. Spike sighed, "Well I never really fitted in, anyways. They didn't like a dragon chef anyways." he said. "Spike. You wish to be a chef?" Twilight asked. "Yeah! Well, as princes. My father wasn't all too pleased with it. But my mother supported my wish." Spike admitted. "Interesting." Twilight said mysteriously. Both Spike and Golden both raised their eyebrows at Twilight. Twilight either ignored it or was too busy dragging Spike into the restaurant for lunch. Either way, Twilight totally ignored their obviously annoyed stares. With Twilight's belly grumbling for a lack of breakfast, Twilight's desire for lunch was incredibly high. Spike not so much. He was still sulking for being fired, after being hired for less that one week. Regardless, Twilight was too hungry to care. "So what are you going to choose to eat?" Spike asked. "Any recommendations?" Twilight asked. "Well. I suppose you can't eat meat." Spike said, but before he was going to answer the question. Twilight intervened. "I actually can eat meat." Twilight said. Spike raised his eyebrow. "Well in that case. I recommend the Dragon special. If I remember correctly, it's a piece of bread with spicy chicken wings on it." he suggested. "Than I will take that." Twilight said excited. After a few minutes, the waiter arrived. "How may I take you two's order?" The waiter asked. "I want a glass of milk with the dragon special." Twilight said. "The dragon special contains chicken. Are you alright with that?" The waiter asked. "I am fine with it." Twilight said. "Alright. What about you, sir Spike?" The waiter asked. "I will take the same." Spike said. "Alright." The waiter said, he clearly showed signs of sadness over the fact that Spike left the team. Twilight could tell. She kind of felt bad. But sometimes you have to try and kick someone out of a different establishment if you wish to hire them instead. "Why did you kick me out of my job?" Spike asked Twilight. He clearly looked annoyed. "What if I told you, I did it with a reason. What would you tell me?" Twilight probed instead. "If your reason was out of fun, I would be sad and angry. If it is out of revenge, then I would be sad. If it is out of annoyance, well then I don't know." Spike said. Twilight quickly realized that he hasn't had a very good life. Despite being a princes, he hasn't been treated like one. "No. None of those. I simply am searching for an assistant." Twilight said. "So you want me badly enough, you will try to fire me?" Spike asked saddened. "No. Of course not. I didn't know you were this close to being fired. In fact, I will share the fact that this place treat dragon staff with malicious intent. With some of my friends. Lets see how quickly Golden will lose customers." Twilight said, an evil smile donned her face. Golden heard that in the background. He gulped, and looked at Twilight. Twilight simply and slowly turned towards Golden. Her evil smile widening at the sight of a scared Golden. "No! Don't! As much as I am sad to have left this establishment. I am not malicious enough to take actions." Spike said. "You don't... But what about the others?" Twilight said as her smile widens to abnormal proportions. "No." Spike said adamantly. "Fine. I am just joking. I am far too nice to do that to Golden anyways." Twilight said pouting. Golden sighed in relieve. He knew Twilight wouldn't do it, but the what if, scared him anyways. Spike laughed, "So me getting fired..." he asked. "Accidental at best." Twilight said shrugging. Spike sighed, "So, what are you doing for Christmas?" he asked curious. "I am... not sure. To be honest I am probably just going to join the Christmas feast and rest. Until I am going start my new place. I might send my family some gifts, but that is about it." Said Twilight, she wasn't one to skip Christmas. But with everything going on as it is. She wanted to spend a more quiet Christmas this year. "So, I am guessing you didn't know then." Spike said. "Know what?" Twilight said, slightly confused. "Besides the Christmas feast. This year they are hosting a massive food wars tournament." Spike said. This immediately grabbed Twilight's attention. She wasn't one to pass up on a food wars. "Oh? What is this about exactly?" Twilight asked, suddenly very interested. "As you probably don't know. The dragon kingdom has a lot of cooking schools. Every territory has atleast one cooking school. And once a year, an organization named Shokugeki hosts an cooking tournament every year. They also change in which month its held. This year it's held in December and in this resort. Normally this is an invite only. But only in December, they also allow entree from outsiders. Only a total of twelve outsiders are allowed access." Spike explained. "On top of that, the resort allows their greatest chef to join the event. Every year the theme changes. And every year twelve individuals, chosen by the resort, are allowed to join." Golden explained additionally. "Where do I sign up?" Twilight asked. "No need. I actually already signed you up. I knew you would want to join the moment you heard of it." Golden said. "Unlike the members of the schools. We the outsiders are allowed to know what the theme is." Spike said. "Exactly. And this years theme is pretty hard. This years theme is 'Golden'. As you know, anything with the golden status is known to be either very expensive or very delicious. I am going to be one of the judges." Golden explained. "Oh! The hardest theme in twelve years time." Spike said surprised, and worried at the same time. "I see." Twilight said worried. Despite being decently good with cooking, Twilight isn't very good at food wars. In fact it was sheer luck that got Twilight into Lunarium in the first place. She didn't expect to win. Nor does she expect to stand a chance with such a big event. "Don't be worried! You will be just fine!" Spike encouraged. "Actually. I am not very good at cooking." Twilight admits. "I am just good at encouraging others to fight harder." "I know. I invited you, not to win, but to show determination above all else." Golden admits. "You want me to work and fight hard. But not to necessarily win, right?" Twilight asked. "That is correct. If I got be real honest. You are not a winner, you are an idol. A pony to inspire to be, a fighter." Golden said. "No. Not a fighter. You are Twilight Sparkle. A chef with all your heart. You don't care about winning, you care about caring." Spike encourages. Twilight smile turns more and more serious. Until suddenly the waiter arrives with the food. As Twilight quickly inhales the food. Bones and all. The gears in Twilight's mind started to turn. How could she put up a fight without the intention to win? Simple! Do what she has always done. Care for the food, and care for who receives it. As Twilight's eyes sparkle with passion. She stands up. "Can I maybe use a spare kitchen? The one in my room won't do. I need to start preparing." Twilight requested. "Sure. You can use my kitchen. What are you going to make?" Golden asked. "A golden desert." Twilight said.