//------------------------------// // Chapter 76; Cooking // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and Star Shine continued their day as they normally would. None of them really wanted to focus on the morning’s events and the others were quite happy to oblige in this unspoken request. Rainbow Dash was still a little down and after a few hours Star Shine suggested she have a nap to see if she felt a little better after she had some more sleep. Even though Rainbow Dash didn’t feel tired she took the suggestion and went up to her room. She didn’t want to sleep and instead just did some reading. “You think she’ll feel better after a nap?” Scootaloo asked Star Shine after Rainbow Dash had gone upstairs. Scootaloo was a little confused about Star Shine’s suggestion. She didn’t think Rainbow Dash looked that tired. It wasn’t like she needed a nap to get through her day. She hadn’t even done any morning training having spent the night with Star Shine. “I’m not sure.” Star Shine admitted, giving a small shrug. “I just wanted her gone for a bit really.” he added, heading towards the kitchen. “What? Why?” Scootaloo asked a little indignantly, following him into the kitchen. Rainbow Dash was down but she hardly deserved to be kicked out of the room for a while because she was depressed. It wasn’t very fair on her. “Relax Scoots.” Star Shine replied, turning around and plonking a small hat on Scootaloo. She reached her hooves up and felt that it was a small chef’s hat. She let out a little giggle as she felt it. “I just thought we should make her something nice. Try and cheer her up a bit.” Star Shine said. Scootaloo nodded so enthusiastically her hat almost fell off. “I thought you might like the idea.” Star Shine commented, laughing at the display. Scootaloo shied away a little in mild embarrassment. “So what are we going to make?” Scootaloo asked, checking the cupboards and preparing to grab utensils and pots and pans as soon as she found out what she needed. She was keen to be as helpful as possible, both for the sake of Rainbow Dash and even Star Shine. Star Shine himself checked the cupboards to make sure that they had everything they would need for what he had planned. He smiled as he saw that they did and started taking various ingredients out and placing them on the counter. “We’re going to make one of Rainbow Dash’s favourite foods. She loved it a lot when she was younger but always found it too difficult to make. If it didn’t involve flying she rarely had the patience to keep going with something she didn’t get straight away.” Star Shine replied. Scootaloo listened intently. She was learning something new about Rainbow Dash and, if she could grasp it herself, something that Rainbow Dash really enjoyed but couldn’t make for herself. Something Scootaloo would be able to make instead. “So what is it?” Scootaloo asked, practically bursting at the seams. “It’s something called a curry parcel” Star Shine replied. Scootaloo seemed a little confused so Star Shine went into a little detail. “Well you’ve heard of curry right?” he asked. Scootaloo nodded. She wasn’t quite that ignorant. “Well a curry parcel is pretty much a bit of curry inside some dough.” Star Shine explained. “It’s pretty cold up in Cloudsdale where all the Flight Schools are so spicy and hot foods are pretty popular. Curry’s much easier to make and even eat when it’s made like this.” “So what do we need and what can I do?” Scootaloo asked. The reasoning behind what they were doing made sense. She couldn’t say she really knew a lot about Cloudsdale food and what the temperature was like high up in Cloudsdale. She’d never been. She could tell that Rainbow Dash’s house was a little colder than on the ground and if Cloudsdale was higher then it must have been a bit colder than even that. “Well we’re mostly going to need some pans for cooking, and a sheet to put the parcels on when I put them in the oven. You can make the pastry while I cook the curry. Think you can handle that?” Star Shine asked. Scootaloo gave a salute and got to work. She scoured the cupboards and produced some pans and sheets like Star Shine asked, as well as a bowl to mix all the pastry in. Star Shine and Scootaloo got to work on their individual tasks. “...Say, Star Shine?” Scootaloo asked nervously. Star Shine looked across at her and saw she was fidgeting. “When...When do you think you’ll be leaving?” she asked. Star Shine stopped his work and moved across to her, draping a foreleg around her and holding her close. “I kinda let it slip in Canterlot actually.” Star Shine said, nuzzling up to her. “I said that I’ll send you home on a train next week, not that I’d be going home with you.” he said. It was something he had let out that neither Rainbow Dash or Scootaloo had caught. “You’ll be gone that quickly?” Scootaloo asked. She didn’t think that it would be that close. “Well I don’t know for sure actually.” Star Shine admitted. “I plan on moving out when you can fly, and I really think you could be flying that soon, that’s all. If you can’t fly then of course I’ll be coming home with you until you can.” he explained. “Oh…” Scootaloo replied dejectedly, going back to her work. “Don’t worry Scoots, I’m going to be coming back and I won’t be leaving you permanently.” Star Shine reassured her. “I know, but I’m still sad you’ll be going.” Scootaloo replied. Star Shine gave her another nuzzle and went back to his work. She’d need to be happy if she wanted to fly properly on her own. Maybe without even realising it she’d stop herself from flying. He’d still have to leave, whether she wanted him to or not. She might not be able to fly without it any time soon in her current state but the brace would allow her to fly pretty soon. When everything was done and everything was ready Star Shine sent Scootaloo up the stairs to get Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo found Rainbow Dash laid down on her bed reading a book. “Hey Rainbow Dash, dinners ready.” Scootaloo said. Rainbow Dash smiled and put her book down. She got up out of bed and followed Scootaloo downstairs. She could smell what they had made before she even made it to the kitchen and started smiling in anticipation. She entered the kitchen and her smile grew wider as she saw what was laid on the table. “I haven’t eaten one of these in forever!” she exclaimed, eating before even recognising Star Shine. After a few seconds she realised she was being watched and laughed sheepishly, stopping eating. “Well I’m glad you like them.” Star Shine commented. “Eat up, it’s fine.” he added, smiling. All three of them started eating together. “Hey this is delicious!” Scootaloo exclaimed. She’d never had curry before. They kept eating and soon enough all the food was gone. Rainbow Dash helped them clean up afterwards. She had definitely been cheered up. Not just by the food but by the effort put in by Star Shine and Scootaloo to cheer her up. They played some games together to pass the rest of the day before putting Scootaloo to bed. “Today’s been pretty busy but tomorrow should be better. Nothing ever happens on Sunday.” Star Shine said as Rainbow Dash tucked Scootaloo in. Scootaloo smiled and yawned. “Goodnight Scoots. I love you.” Rainbow Dash said, kissing Scootaloo on the forehead. “Me too.” Star Shine added, giving Scootaloo a nuzzle. “I love you guys too.” Scootaloo said. She smiled, gave another yawn, and closed her eyes. Star Shine and Rainbow Dash left her room, leaving her alone to sleep. On the other side of town another little pony was also being put to bed. Diamond Tiara was being put to bed by Firefly of all ponies and not her dad. Firefly wished that Filthy Rich would do it. He would occasionally do it but most of the time would claim he was just too busy. The way things were between Diamond Tiara and her dad made a whole lot of sense to Firefly and would make sense to anypony who really knew it all. “Can I ask you something?” Diamond Tiara asked Firefly as he pulled the cover over her. “Sure, you can ask me anything Miss.” Firefly replied, smiling at her. “Why did you tell Feather Quill I didn’t go inside the house? You could have gotten me in trouble but you didn’t.” Diamond Tiara asked. It was really nice of Firefly to do that. He could have ruined everything but he didn’t. “I didn’t want you to get in trouble. I don’t know why you went into the house but I trust you. If ponies found out you did go in then it would be bad for you and I don’t want that. I just didn’t want you to get in trouble.” Firefly replied. “Thanks.” Diamond Tiara said, reaching up and giving Firefly a kiss on the cheek. “It’s alright miss, but you need to go to sleep now.” Firefly said, heading for the bedroom door. “Goodnight Diamond Tiara.” he added. “Goodnight...uhhh I don’t know your name.” Diamond Tiara said. It seemed odd to her she didn’t actually know his name given how much time they had spent together in the past week or so. He’d also been employed by her father for several years before he was made her personal guard and escort. “If you’re interested it’s Firefly miss. Sweet dreams.” Firefly informed her. Diamond Tiara smiled at him, which melted his heart a little bit. He never really could understand why more ponies didn’t see her as he did. “Sweet dreams Firefly.” Diamond Tiara replied, closing her eyes. “I wish more ponies saw you the way I do.” Firefly said, closing the door and leaving Diamond Tiara to her sleep. “Me too…” Diamond Tiara said quietly to herself. If more ponies saw her as a cute little thing that could do no wrong then things would be so much easier for her. She smiled to herself as she fell asleep, remembering that a lot of ponies did actually see her that way thanks to everything she had been doing, and was continuing to do. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. Nothing really happened on Sundays but occasionally, something did.