Starting the phone call while looking at the streets down below from the hotel window was a new experience to the unicorn turned human. Besides a couple of trips to the beach of a camp, never before had Sunset traveled so far from her adopted home, not alone like now. The feelings of homesickness truly surprised her due to how hard it made her think about Canterlot and her friends.
The sound of the phone being picked up at the other side of the phone made Sunset stop her ruminations waiting for the voice to start the conversation.
“Good morning Sunset.” The redhead heard and had to contain her laughter at the words uttered by the shy girl on another continent.
“Is already night on here Fluttershy, how’s everything on Canterlot?” The once bully had truly changed if one of her usual targets could greet her through the phone with so much happiness.
“Well, everything is fine. Rainbow is really excited about getting into High School that she had problems yesterday getting to sleep,” Sunset could already see the athlete completely wired up and basically bouncing on the walls “how is everything back there? Did you have any trouble with the people on that school?” the worry was evident on the shy girl.
“Now that you mention it, yeah, there was a problem. There was a girl who looked like me but with blonde hair that had some problems with me and another guys. She was ready to deny me access to the school just because of her pride, you should have seen her face when her grandfather –who is the director by the way- came in and accepted the guy I was doing the exam with and told her I was already on the school.”
“Sunset, please tell me you didn’t laugh in her face.”
“Well, just a little bit.” Sunset said with a grin on her face while Fluttershy simply sighed if the sound of air being exhaled aloud was any indication.
Talking with Fluttershy really did help the way she felt right now and it eradicated the feelings of homesickness. Well, almost all of it, because Sunset would still miss Canterlot for a long time, but she also knew this was for the best if she wanted to use this bizarre ability of hers.
She could see it on her mind the day she knew there was something weird on the way she saw dishes and ingredients, and it was quite the surprise for her friends. It had all started a couple of months ago in Rainbow’s birthday.
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If someone was from Canterlot, more like than not they had the best birthday parties ever, all courtesy of a young girl who seemed to have been born to create those kinds of parties. And it was now rainbow’s turn to receive one, even though the young football player knew that it was not possible for her.
Since she had met Pinkie Pie in elementary school she had a Pinkie Pie Birthday Bash, one every year except this one and she knew why. They weren’t friends anymore. Sure, the rumors had been squashed pretty fast by the one person who had apparently started them but the damage was already done. Sighing once again, Rainbow went back home after kicking the ball for a while in the park.
And in just a second, her gloomy cloud was dispersed once she saw how her backyard was decorated with fake palm trees, tiki statues and even a small pool filled with floaters in the form of lemon and orange slices.
The shocked young girl was pulled out of her stupor by her parents who grinned wildly just like the rest of her friends standing behind them with similar grins, several of them with cellphones out taking photos of her flabbergasted expression.
“But… how… I mean… what?” The way Rainbow was affected by the surprise made the other four girls smile before rushing in her direction and embracing their friend in the biggest hug they could. Their laughter made both Rainbow Blitz and his wife sigh in relief watching their daughter smile once again. With that out of the way they went back to the kitchen where their other guest put everything in order for the best part of the birthday party.
“What? You thought I wouldn’t give you your own Birthday Bash? Silly Dashie, there is no way in both heaven and hell that this Pie would miss such a humongous opportunity to show you how important you are in our lives.” The pink menace said with the same kind of positive energy as they remembered her. The same kind of voice they had missed in some sort of way once they began their little quarrel.
“As our dear Pinkie Pie said, there was no way we would miss the opportunity to celebrate with you darling, after all, you don’t celebrate15 every day.”
“You couldn’t have keep me out of this place even if ya called Granny telling her Ah haven’t done my chores back home.”
“You were always there at every one of my birthdays Rainbow, it was only natural I would be here celebrating with you.” at the words of her oldest friend Rainbow put her arms around them –even if the action of embracing all four was a little tiring to her arms- and did her best to not cry at their words.
It was the sound of the door that made her release them, not wanting her parents to see her being mushy, but instead of her parents the one that came outside of the door was the one girl Rainbow was not happy to see. A certain lying friendship-destroyer redhead. Before she could do something both Pinkie and Fluttershy took a hold of her arms to stop her from making anything rash.
“What is she doing here?” her words made Sunset wince slightly, it was clear that the young athlete was still mad at her, not that she didn’t have a reason for it.
“She was the one who prepared all this.” Rainbow felt Rarity’s hand on her shoulder while she explained that which didn’t make sense to the birthday girl.
“But why? I mean… you-”
“I began all the problems… I know.”
“Then why do all this? And don’t tell that is because you are sorry.” Maybe Rainbow didn’t feel as angry as she felt almost a year ago when everything started, but that didn’t stop her from feeling animosity for the redhead.
“Partly… but also because, well… I know how important birthdays are for you girls so I wanted to do my part.” Sunset simply said going back into the kitchen as Rainbow stood there not knowing how to take those words.
“Uh, can somebody explain what just happened?”
“Well, Sunset has been working at my uncle’s restaurant so she had the idea of making the food for Rainbow’s party.” Fluttershy said and all her friends put their attention on her.
“She is been working with your uncle? As what? Dish washer?” Rainbow was obviously trying to make a joke; at least Fluttershy hoped it was a joke.
“Oh no, that was only the first few days, now she is one of the chefs inside the restaurant.” Fluttershy said with a big smile on her face at Sunset’s good luck in her new part time job.
“Wait, what? Fluttershy, how long has Sunset been working with your uncle?” Rarity asked still quite surprised about that news.
“I believe it has been two months.” before anyone could comment on that short amount of time before becoming one of the chefs Sunset went out holding a large covered tray while Rainbow’s mom put several pitchers of some kind of red juice in the backyard table. It was obvious this was the food for the party and even though Rainbow was not too picky when it came to food, she was still wary of what Sunset had done. And with one flick of her hand Sunset removed the spherical cover letting all five girls see the steaming hot dogs in front of them. The smell of spices and meat filled their nostrils and without noticing, all seven –including Rainbow Blitz and his wife who were also intrigued about Sunset’s culinary work- started to salivate automatically.
“Why it smells so nice? I mean, those things have pineapple!” Rainbow would have screamed in fury at Sunset’s sin of destroying a simple hot dog by putting pineapple in them, but instead she could feel herself being pulled to them. As one the seven took one hot dog each and after a second they all took a bite of the simple looking food and as one they all reacted.
Rainbow’s mouth was filled with so many flavors that traveled through her whole body. It was sweet but also spicy, it was an experience like none other; she could feel a slight crunchiness inside it followed by the meaty delicacy of the sausage, alongside the savory sweet and spicy combination of pineapple and some combination of sauces.
The next moment Rainbow opened her eyes she wasn’t on the backyard of her house back in Canterlot. This time she was wearing her one piece swimsuit, under the warm sun and standing in front of the bluest sea she have ever seen. The sound of the waves and the sand under her feet filled her with so much peace and happiness. At the next blink she was back home but the image had been so vivid.
“Oh my sweet lord! I have never tasted something as good as this!” Even the always-ladylike Rarity was enjoying a huge bite of her hot dog with a huge smile on her face. Looking around Rainbow found even her parents in rapport at the creation of Sunset Shimmer.
“What did you put in them? That tasted like no hot dog I have ever eaten!” Rainbow asked still surprised by the amount of flavors that were packed in such a simple thing as a hot dog.
“It was something that came to mind when Pinkie said she wanted to use a Hawaiian style for your party and your mom was thinking about making hot dogs. So I put those two together and I created this, I call them the Tiki Hot Dogs!” Sunset said with pride that everyone present knew she deserved after doing them.
“So what’s in them? I felt the pineapple on them but besides that I don’t know how you created them.” Rainbow’s Mother –ironically also named Rainbow Dash since basically the first woman of her family was named like that- asked Sunset still surprised at the culinary abilities of the young teenager.
“It is simple to see the ingredients but I’ll try to explain.” Sunset said taking one of the hot dogs before taking a bite “first of all, the sausage is a special one made by me. It is a combination of both lamb and beef meat with a little bit of anise and garlic so it will be very savory once I grilled them”
“Where did ya have the idea to mix those two?”
“Is not that bizarre Applejack.”
“Ya can call me AJ after letting me eat something like this.” The blonde girl said with a huge smile before going back to devouring her hot dog.
“Thank you, so, would you believe me if I tell you this is something really normal? Well, unless you are from Finland, apparently they love hot dogs a lot over there. So, that’s the sausage, but I rolled a slice of bacon around them that I left marinating in a combination of pineapple and orange juice for a while.” Just imagining the juice and the way the bacon would have absorbed the flavor was enough to make them keep eating.
“But what about the pineapple and this strange sauce on top of it?” Rainbow Blitz was simply in love with what he was eating and he was really thankful to have listened to both Pinkie and Fluttershy about letting the redhead cook for them.
“Well, what I did was put pineapple on a pan and I sprinkled some salt, allspice, nutmeg and powdered Chile Ancho; it is a Mexican chili that is not really spicy but gives great flavor. For the glazing sauce I put pineapple juice, rum, some ginger beer, finely chopped ginger and palm sugar and cooked it.”
“Palm sugar?” asked Fluttershy completely enthralled with Sunset’s explanation about the food, it was like watching one of the cooking shows her mom liked to watch from time to time but even better.
“It is made from different types of palm and is usually used in sauces and confectionery. I used it because it has a much more creamier flavor than regular sugar so it went well with the glaze. Finally, I let it simmer and put a coat of the glaze on top of the pineapple on the bun.”
“And what’s with this deep fried thingy? I mean, this is not corn or potato. Potato, that’s a funny word.”
“It is Taro Root,” Sunset said quickly before Pinkie started on her usual tirades “it is a root that is used a lot on Africa, Oceania and several islands, including Hawaii. I shredded it so it would be easier to deep fry it. I put it on top of the hot dog so it would give it a very nice crunchy feeling to it. And finally I put some Mexican crema on top so it would cut some of the spiciness and let all the flavors coalesce once you bite on it.” Sunset finished making everyone want even more to eat these incredible hot dogs.
Rainbow herself was already on her second one before she took a look at the juice pitchers, for some reason they seemed familiar to her.
“And what’s with the juice?”
“Oh, those? Well, I talked with your mom while I was cooking them and she told me how much you liked Hawaiian Punch when you were a kid, but then stopped drinking it when you started to train and play football. I suppose it was obvious considering all the sugar and preservatives it has.” Rainbow sighed remembering how much she loved the beverage and how she used to drink it with Fluttershy on one of their play dates when they were younger.
“Don’t tell me you bought Hawaiian Punch for Rainbow.” Rarity was very surprised at the way Sunset prepared herself for Rainbow’s birthday.
“Of course now… I recreated it with real juice.” The redhead said with a huge smile enjoying the look of surprise on the teenagers.
“Wait, what?” they all asked at the same time.
“Yeah, I mixed pineapple juice that I didn’t use, orange and apple juice alongside apricot and mango nectar. I also put some sugar and strawberry juice for flavor and to give it a deep red color, so what do you think?” she asked as Rainbow quickly filled a plastic cup to the brim and after the first sip she was once again capable of watching the beach from before, but this time accompanied by her family and friends.
Next thing Sunset knew she was being hugged by Rainbow as the redhead stood in complete surprise at their action. Just tasting the usual flavor of the punch was enough to send Rainbow into another world and she wanted to convey her emotions to Sunset. Then Sunset’s hand was grabbed by Rainbow Blitz who had a completely serious look on his face.
“Would you marry my daughter?” he said shocking everyone present on the backyard. Applejack then laughed knowing well that if her family had been present her granny would have been asking the same question to Sunset. That’s how Sunset’s culinary adventure began, and with nobody noticing in the elite of cooking, a firestorm was started and it would burn through the world.