//------------------------------//
// Breaking into the Kitchen 
// Story: Reincarnation 
// by Silver Butcher 
//------------------------------//

Leaf Storm was standing in her living room, her office door was open and Angel was vibing in the anti-gravity. Leaf took a deep breath and went Nirik, she looked at her green flames and raised her hoof, shooting a fireball at a presently unpacked vase, as soon as it hit the vase it turned into magical smoke that went straight to Leaf Storms horn, it swirls and she fired the smoke like a blast of magic at her kitchen counter, upon hitting the counter the vase appeared and tipped from side to side before settling.
"Yes!" She gave a laugh of success and hoof pumped "First try!" Leaf did a little dance and raised her hoof to fire another fireball before blinking, her flames now bright pink, she looked at the fire in confusion and it immediately went back to being green. "What!? No, wait I wanna see what Pink does," Leaf shook her hoof and frowned as it stayed green.
"Stupid Magic fire," She muttered angrily, Before she could play with her Fire anymore she heard the call to action and extinguished herself as she made her way into her office. As she suspected Angel was once again stealing her Donuts, she left him to his sugary treats and made her way to her seat, buckling herself in. she picked up the letter with her duties for the day, and took a deep breath.
"If I end up with an Opal Chicken I'm a get real mad real fast," She unfolded the note and read her tasks.
" Greetings from your chief of staff Discord, Today you will be sneaking into the kitchen storeroom, you are to steal a barrel of Pickles and place it in the 7th floor common area, You will then take a Pickle and throw it out the first Window you find, afterward you are to go to the 6th floor and steal as much chalk as you can carry and dump it into the Pickle barrel before dumping it down the stairway. Also this Letter is now a house plant,"
Right on queue upon finishing the letter, it exploded and both Leaf and Angel watched as a tiny palm tree floated around with them.
"I'll take it," Leaf decided as she unbuckled herself and took the Palm tree in her magic, taking it to her little balcony and looking around. One of her neighbors was out watering a few flowers, Leaf set the tree down and snuck back inside to avoid conversation. "Angel I'm going to work, don't mess with the tree," Leaf exited her home and made her way to the stairs, She was about to start heading up when a familiar face tracked her down.
"Leaf Storm," Shiver cheered upon seeing her "Heading up to the kitchen?" Leaf looked around and motioned him to move in closer.
"I'm off to serve some none specific Chaos,"
"Oh! Can I help!?" Shiver looked fairly excited and Leaf looked around.
"Discord never said I couldn't let someone in on it," she decided.
"Oh yeah, what are we up to?" Shiver demanded as he moved in closer and lowered his voice "Because I have a set of chattering teeth if we need a diversion,"
"First agenda, we have to steal a Barrel of Pickles from the Kitchen storeroom and get it to the 7th floor,"
"You wanna steal from the kitchen," Shiver grinned from ear to ear "Here not even a week and already attempting the Ultimate heist! If we don't make it tell my wife I wish she existed," The two made their down a floor and spied at the entrance to the Kitchen floor, There was a very small area set aside for the entrance, it was set up with a few benches and a window to order at and one to pick up food from.
"Alright," Shiver said as he put his arm around Leaf's neck "The chefs are very serious when it comes to the ruling staff only, so there's no way we're getting in without sneaking in, and if we get caught they'll ban us from the buffet and ordering for a week, if we get caught with the Barrel we'll be banned for a month, trust me you don't wanna go through the hassle of going out to eat, First you have to get out threw the front gates, find a place that isn't overrun with nobles, then you have to wait for them to let you back in, it takes like 20 minutes and it sucks,"
"So is any part of this story going to help us get in?" Leaf questioned.
"I've been planning a heist for years," Shiver said seriously "They always put out the Fresh baked goods at midday on Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays, and I work on all those days so I've never gotten to tase Flowers famous Honey Buns,"
"Pretty sure it's Sunday," Leaf noted.
"Exactly," Shiver said "They bake the goods today and store them in the Walkin, reheating them the afternoon next day and serving them, Oh you just can't begin to comprehend the agony of always smelling them being cooked but never getting a taste, But as luck would have it, Your Pickle Barrel should be in dry storage, right next to the Bakery Walk-in Fridge section, Their's an air vent you can sneak into that will take you straight into the Bakery freezer, should be easy to get to. the walk-in has three doors facing the front door the right one will take you to the dry storage." Leaf's ears were burning but Shiver hasn't finished his plan as he continued telling her every detail he could think of.
"Once there you can put the Barrel in the lift, it can only be operated with a Key card on the 7th floor, but no card is required if you use it from the Kitchen. The Lift should be clear for another 5 hours, they use it to stock up the 7th floor for mealtime," I'll go chill on the 7th floor and, once it's clear, I'll block the stairway and wait for you,"
"Alright so we have every part of the plan but the part that gets me inside,"
"Just wait by the entrance and watch me work my Magic, and move fast," Shiver walked to the front counter, looked at Leaf with a sly look, and then started banging on the order window.
"I demand a Honeybun," He cried out "Give me one," Leaf took her place next to the entrance and, sure enough, it opened up towards her, hiding her from view as Flower and a short Diamond dog came out, both looking exasperated.
"Shiver why must you always do this?" Flower demanded as her Diamond Dog friend walked over to Shiver and waved a large spoon at him.
"I have to clean that," He said pointing to the glass screen in front of the ordering area "every time you do this, I have to clean it,"
"Then hand over the Honeybun Fern and I shall leave," Shiver stood his ground for about three seconds before running away with a yelp as Fern began swinging his large spoon at him.
"If we make an exception for you then every creature will start doing this," Fern said angrily, he and Flower made sure to wait for Shiver to head up the stairs before turning back into the Kitchen, leaving the area outside the Kitchen empty. Fern set his spoon on the order counter and reached under it to get the glass cleaner when he noticed something and let out a groan.
"Who was playing with the vent?" He demanded as he walked over to the opening to the ventilation system the Vent having been halfheartedly put back into place, He picked it up and looked inside, finding it empty and with far less dust than one would expect "AH, someone cleaned it." He Put the vent back into place and tightened it back into the wall as Flower came over to see what the commotion was about. "Nevermind," He said "Someone forgot to tighten the vent hood after cleaning,"
Leaf was grumbling as she made her way through the ventilation shaft, she barely fit and was using her magic to force her way through it. She was coated in dust, cobwebs, and things she didn't want to think about. After what felt like forever she found herself over a vent hood that was covered in a glass cap, looking down she frowned as she looked into the freezer. The Glass cap was sealed shut to keep the cool air in and Leaf banged her head on it.
"Dammit Shiver," She said as she was forced to continue going forward, She made her way past multiple vent hoods and saw many creatures working away in the kitchen making lots of different kinds of meals for different ponies.
"We have an Order of 3 Hayburgers, One Hayburger plain, 2 Hamburgers, 5 Sides of Tater tots, one side of Fries and one side of Onion Rings," Leaf kept crawling through the vents when she was suddenly forced to a stop.
"Oh no," She said as she felt something pulling on her, after a moment she was pulled to the Closest Vent Hood and shot out, ending up in a Room full of Cleaning Supplies.
"Aha!" Fern said, a Unicorn standing next to him, "I knew no one here cared enough about cleanliness to clean out the vents," Leaf shook her head and coughed out some dust before looking down at Fern who was tapping one of his feet and looking her up and down. "Care to identify who's under all that muck?"
"I'm Leaf Storm," She said simply.
"Ah, so you're the Kirin everyone's been talking about," he said "Just so you know, we typically toss out intruders but seeing as your new around here, and you saved me about a month's worth of vent cleanings, I'm willing to offer a deal. If you can prove you have what it takes to be back here you're welcome to come and go as you please, so long as you agree to come in on reserve should something happen and leave us understaffed," Leaf took a deep breath and burst into Green flames, after a moment she was burned clean and turned the flames off.
"I'll take that wager," Leaf replied "What do I have to do?"
"Show me you got what it takes, cook up something to really knock my socks off," Leaf smiled and offered him her hoof.
"deal," She decided as Fern took her hoof and shook it.
"Fantastic, Sunstone go grab our friend an Apron while I jolt down what she'll be needing for her dish.



Leaf was standing in front of a cooking station wearing an Apron with the words 'supervision required ' written on it, laying in front of her were almost all the ingredients she would need for her meal, A block of Cheese, a Bag of Plain Flour, Corn Flour, Milk, a single Egg, onions, and Pickled Ginger," She was waiting for the last two Ingredients to arrive as they hadn't had them in stock. Sunstone the Unicorn teleported in next to her and placed the last of her ingredients before her, a bottle of Dashi Stock, a bottle of okonomiyaki sauce, a bag of tenkasu crispy tempura crumbs, and a Pan specially made for her dish.
"Alright Ms. Storm," Fern said "Cook away," Leaf lit her horn and picked up the Cheese, Slicing it into bite-sized pieces and measuring them by grams, she stopped chopping when she had 100 grams and placed the bite-sized pieces in a bowl before pulling out a second bowl and combining 140 grams of Plain Flour, 10 grams of Cornflower, and 1 tbsp of milk. She then pulled out a third smaller bowl and broke one egg into it and whisked it for a while before adding it to the bowl with the flour. She Grabbed the Bottle of Dashi Stock and poured it into a measuring cup, once she had 450 milliliters she slowly began adding it to the main bowl before taking the whisk and mixing it together.
Leaf turned on the Stove and took out the pan, after adding some cooking oil and letting it heat she added her batter, the pan had wells, and Leaf slowly began filling the wells up and began putting one piece of cheese in each well. As she was doing this she used her magic to chop up the onions and the ginger, she pulled out three measuring cups and filled one to 1/2 a cup with onion, another to 1/4 with the pickled ginger, and the third one to 1/2 with the tempura crumbs.
Once she had some cheese in each piece she began sprinkling them all with Onion, Ginger, and Tempura crumbs. She let them cook for a while and, once they started to look crispy she used her magic to cut a square shape around each well. As Leaf let them cook she took a few toothpicks and used them to flip her food, slowly making them ball-shaped as they cooked.
As Leaf grew close to finishing her meal several staff members were drawn in by the smell and were eagerly awaiting her meal to be finished cooking. Leaf storm asked for some plates and began moving her finished meal onto them while cooking more with her ingredients, by the time she ran out of ingredients she had 3 plates with 10 balls on each. She turned off the stove and lit her horn, picked up the okonomiyaki sauce, and began pouring it over the balls in a zig-zag pattern, after a moment she set the ball down and nodded.
"Behold my Cheese Takoyaki, typically you use Octopus but since not every creature here eats meat I used cheese, you can also use ham, bacon, or chicken," Leaf storm lit her horn and pierced each ball with a toothpick, and took one for herself before Fern walked over and took one, he took a bite and his eyes bulged for a moment before he inhaled the rest of it.
"Sunstone write this down, and order the supplies you were sent out for in bulk,"
"typically Takoyaki is also topped with Aonori powder and Bonito flakes, and the okonomiyaki sauce can be replaced with BBQ if you so choose,"
"Sunstone make a note of that," Fern called out "And Ms.Storm, feel free to go swipe whatever it was you were after,"
"I'm here for an entire barrel of Pickles," Leaf declared bluntly
"Dry Storage, next to the Bakery freezer," Fern replied as he pointed her in the direction before walking over to Sunstone, Leaf chuckled at the lack of questions and made her way to claim her prize, she opened the door and looked around the large room, after a moment she found a few barrels and found the Pickles, She lifted it in her magic and began moving it towards the lift when she heard the sound of it arriving. Unsure as to what to do she set it down and hid behind it. She watched as the Lift came to a halt, and Brick the Guard walked out. He stood in front of the lift, staring out into the storage room in silence.
Leaf hid behind the Pickle barrel in silence, not wanting to be questioned about why she needed it. After about two minutes the door opened and Flower flew in, in her claws was a small box and the smell instantly hit Leaf storm and she realized that she had just stumbled on a Pastry deal. She continued to hide as Flower landed and offered the pastry to Brick, who took it and placed it down before leaning into Flower, Leaf watched in shock as the Married colt kissed the Griffin and pulled her in close.
"Oh Brick, I've missed you," Flower said as she rested her head in his chest for a moment, "I have to go, we have a lot to do, meet me tonight, my place, 9:30" They kissed again and Brick pulled her in, they continued kissing and Leaf tried to stop looking and hit her head, she watched as a box began tipping at the end of the shelf, and knew there was only one thing for her to do. The Box hit the ground and the two snapped apart. Brick looked around and walked towards the misplaced Pickle Barrel, finding nothing around it he turned to Flower who shook her head, the sound had startled her half to death.
"Happens sometimes," Flower decided
"Want I should move this?" he asked, pointing to the Barrel.
"It's probably old, take it up to the 7th floor, It'll be thrown out along with any other leftovers after the school has lunch. Brick picked up the Barrel and Carried it to the Lift, making sure to grab his honeybuns on the way, once in the lift he kissed his hoof and blew it at Flower before hitting a button and being sent up. Brick sighed and shook his head, shame evident on his face.
"Your a coward," He said to himself before pulling himself together and walking out into the empty 7th floor, He put the Barrel next to the empty buffet table and made his way out, after going down the stairs there was a bang and one of the removable trays on the buffet table poped up as Shiver looked around.
"How suspicious," He mused "Why is Brick using the kitchen lift?"
"Trust me," Leaf said making him jump, he hit the floor and looked to the Pickle Barrel as the lid popped off and Leaf emerged from it "You do not want to know,"