Come sail away…come sail away…come sail away with me…
The warble of the grey Earth colt’s voice filled the kitchen of Sweet Apple Acres as he busily chopped up a cutting board full of root vegetables. He was in a spectacular mood this day, and he was in the mindset that he really didn’t care who may have found out this fact.
…come sail away with me…
This was a good thing, for as Peppermill perched on top of the stool bobbing his head to a beat only he could hear, he didn’t notice the arrival of a two pony audience. His elder sister Applejack and her close friend Rarity stood in the entryway to the room, bemused smiles on their faces. Neither of them said a word as the colt continued to prepare the food.
…come sail…away…?
Somehow, the colt’s sharp hearing noticed the presence behind him and his song faltered. He looked back over his withers at the two mares as they continued to grin at him. He hung his head momentarily, and then gave a rueful laugh.
“I know, I know…I can’t…sing to save my life.” Peppermill hopped off of the stool and approached the mares.
“Ah reckon it ain’t so much yer singin’ as it‘s yer song sugarcube.” a grinning Applejack drawled.
“I agree.” admitted the glamourous unicorn. “That isn’t a song I would have ever expected you to like darling.”
“Mother always said…I had a…eclectic taste in music. It came…from having met…so many different kinds…of ponies while…in the restaurant.”
“I reckon there ain’t anything wrong with that sugarcube.” Applejack nodded.
“Considering the clientele of your family’s business, I imagine you had a number of popular musicians eat there.” Rarity commented.
“Yeah…musicians…” If the two mares had been inclined to notice, they might have registered the slightly pained note Peppermill had applied to that final word. As such, they were far too amused at learning a new little quirk in their favorite chef…
***
Meanwhile somewhere above Ponyville…
Dash,
Totally stoked to come and hang with you.
Can’t wait for this awesome grub you’ve been promising.
Hope it’s cool if I bring a friend.
Lates.
VS
Rainbow Dash re-read the brief letter for the third time with growing trepidation. On one hoof she was going to get to spend a solid week with one the most awesome ponies in Equestria, one she considered as cool as her and a good friend. On the other hoof she was mentally bucking herself for what was beginning to look like another case of her bravado getting the better of her.
Of all the things she had to remember, she had to remember that Rainbow grumbled. The blue mare tossed the paper onto the cloud table in front her cloud sofa and rubbed her temples with her forehooves. She gave a fleeting glance towards her sparse kitchen, a far cry from her sumptuous cloud living room of her literal castle in the sky. All doing that served was to bring back memories of how she had gotten herself into this mess in the first place.
She had been making small talk with the famous disc jockey while chilling in the local watering hole and the talk had turned to the musically inclined mare’s popularity among the young fillies and colts of Equestria. Not wanting to be outshone, Rainbow Dash had told Vinyl of her number one fan Scootaloo and her friends in Ponyville. One thing led to another, and the Element of Harmony’s thoughts went to a particular grey colt among her circle of friends. The knowledge of Peppermill’s considerable culinary skills, and the overwhelming need to one-up the white unicorn had to led to a statement that, in hindsight, she knew would come back to bite her.
“I’ve been taking some cooking lessons, and my teacher says I’m doing pretty well. I am one of his best students, in fact.”
It had seemed like an innocent white lie. Peppermill had shown her a few things, mostly because he felt Rainbow had to stop relying on frozen foods and quick take-out meals for her nutrition. She was nowhere near his level, and didn’t expect to be so. But the words came out as fast as the plan formed in her mind.
“I bet I can whip up a meal you’d sell your turntables to get another bite of!”
Vinyl hadn’t really responded to this boast other than to nod with that easy grin of hers. Having made Equestria’s capital city of Canterlot her home base, Rainbow hoped the unicorn would be genuinely impressed. And if Vinyl by chance tried to call her bluff, she had a perfect counter. She would simply explain that she couldn’t just do it at a drop of a hat, on account she would want to get some advice from her ‘teacher’ not to mention ingredients. The fact that said teacher was a colt was an important point Dash decided not to bring up. But Vinyl simply nodded, and Rainbow assumed that would be the end of it.
And then that darn letter had to show up, along with a flyer promoting a big one mare show Vinyl had decided to hold in Ponyville to coincide with her visit.
“What in the heck am I supposed to do?” lamented the rainbow-maned mare. There was no way that Peppermill, as good of a teacher in the kitchen as he was, could help her make a major meal on that short of notice. If it had just been Vinyl it probably would have been okay. But if this ‘friend’ that the unicorn was bringing along was who Rainbow suspected, that was going to make things a lot more difficult. The knowledge that she would lose face in front of a pony like her sat like a lump in Rainbow’s belly.
…
…unless.
A stupid, crazy, desperate plan began to creep into the mare’s mind. It was a tremendous longshot, especially given what she would have to do to pull it off. Begging was considerably not cool, but her pride demanded that she at least try. She had very little time to implement it, but as many ponies knew flying by the seat of her non-existent pants tended to be the style that suited Rainbow Dash.
After all, the hardest part is to get them to go along with it…