When Peppermill had asked Big Macintosh to start the initial prep of the evening meal while he attended the DJ P0N3 concert in town, the stallion had been quite eager to help. He had always held a fascination with the skills his adopted brother had, and he knew just how important this meal was to the colt. Fortunately, Peppermill had already done the majority of the hard stuff, leaving final touches and keeping the food at a proper serving temperature to the stallion.
The biggest problem was trying to resist the temptation to sample the upcoming meal.
“And ah know if so much as a crumb wuz missin’ he’d be fit to be tied…” sighed Big Mac as he longingly gazed at two small pots full of wonderfully scented sauces. He found himself slyly looking around, and began to inch a massive hoof towards the closest pot when…
“Oh crumbs…that was…close…” wheezed a sweaty grey colt as he burst through the door from outside the kitchen. Big Mac snapped to attention, grateful that his naturally red coat often hid blushes of embarrassment. Peppermill was thankfully too busy catching his breath to notice or comment, as he gazed up at his elder brother.
“They are…right behind me…” he panted.
“Ah reckon so…” agreed the stallion, gazing out the window of the door to see the filly and two mares in the distance.
“I…need to clean up…”
“You go on ahead, and ah’ll welcome our guests.”
“You could…probably consider…getting the table…ready too, if possible.”
“Eeyup.” The colt gave a tired nod, and trudged into the house proper towards the second story bathroom. Big Mac, thankful for the minor distraction from his protesting stomach, began to gather a crisply starched tablecloth that had been picked out by the colt for the occasion. As he began to carefully set the table, he could hear the sounds of a conversation approaching the house.
“I must admit your farmland is beautiful Applebloom.” Big Mac’s ears twitched at the rather pleasant Trottingham accent he assumed must have came from Vinyl Scratch’s friend, the one Rainbow Dash seemed to think would get along with Peppermill. She does sound mighty fancy…and as ah recall she ain’t all that hard on the eyes either…
“Usually the most scenery I see are skyscrapers. But trees can be cool too.” agreed Vinyl.
“Vinyl, I think you were a bit more interested in the apples rather than the scenery.” smiled Octavia.
“Hey, I have every right to be drooling over all that fruit. I’m starved…”
“Well, ah reckon ya won’t hafta wait too much longer.” This statement was from Applebloom as she held the door open for her guests. Big Mac had just finished setting the tablecloth in the dining room, and returned to the kitchen to greet the mares.
“Howdy ladies, an’ welcome to Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Ah reckon ya’ll remember my big brother Big Macintosh?”
“Of course, and may I say it is very kind of you to make these arrangements for us.” smiled Octavia.
“Yeah. Rainbow Dash has some cool friends, willing to bail her out like this.” agreed Vinyl.
“Well, ah reckon sometimes Miss Dash don’t always think her braggin’ all the way through. But at least this time around we can get a good meal from it.”
“Ah reckon sis and Dash’ll be around mighty quick, so we can dish up. Ahm famished!” piped up the filly.
“You ladies can wash up in the bathroom, just on the right down the hall. Applebloom, ah reckon you can go and get AJ an’ Rainbow Dash over here before we all starve.” The filly turned around back outside to find the last of their dinner guests while the mares headed to wash up. Amazingly, as they walked off the chef of their impeding banquet returned from the other direction where the stairwell was.
“I wuz just about to start setting the table.” explained the stallion.
“In that case…I’ll starting plating the food. Can you…make sure to seat…everypony?”
“Eeyup…” And with that the two Apple boys went their separate ways, little realizing they were about to partake in one of the more interesting dinners in Sweet Apple Acres history.