• Published 21st Jun 2013
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Sparké - moviemaster8510



A human chef looking to open a restaurant in New York gets more than he bargained for when he winds up in Equestria. While there, he reacquaints with somepony from his past...

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Chapter 11: Sweet Memories

Peter, Twilight, Spike, Celestia, and Crème Fraiche all clinked their glasses of water together at the dining table in celebration of Peter’s victory. Laid out in front of them was a large, half-empty bowl of garden salad with an assortment of dressings available for anyone to use, a pitcher of ice water, and a large, wooden pepper mill.

On plates in front of each of them was the mushroom dish that Peter had made for his challenge, crust, potatoes and all, albeit in a smaller lunch portion. Spike immediately began chowing down, cutting new bites for his mouth as soon as he put one in.

“You know,” Peter said to Creme, cutting himself a bite of the bleu cheese-crusted mushroom, “you didn’t have to go through the trouble of cleaning the kitchen and making us lunch.”

“It was my pleasure, Peter,” she answered. “You of all people should remember that magic makes the cleaning and washing much easier. Plus, with Twilight’s help, we managed to make everything spotless in seconds flat.”

“That was eight different dishes worth of pots, pans, and utensils in there. I should have cleaned up in some way.”

“Peter, your challenge was exhausting. You deserve to rest and enjoy yourself now. Your problems are all behind you. Your father is happy for you, you have a restaurant coming your way, now please, enjoy your lunch.”

Peter gently shrugged and placed the bite that he cut into his mouth, savoring the flavors of the bleu cheese.

“So, Celestia,” Twilight asked, “are there any places that you know where Peter can run his restaurant?”

“Well,” Celestia said, “there are several available lots in Canterlot, and Manehattan certainly has its share of fine dining, but there’s even one lot in Ponyville that I know of that I felt Peter would be the most interested in.”

Peter was prepared to take another bite of his lunch when he set his fork down, wanting to hear Celestia correctly.

“In Ponyville?” he asked.

“Of course. Twilight had told me that you made good friends with Applejack before you came back to Canterlot, and Twilight currently lives in Ponyville, and I know how good of friends you two are. Not to mention, there are Twilight’s other four friends in Ponyville whom I know will love you.”

“Well,” Peter said, chewing a bite of his mushroom, “if they’re anything like Applejack, I’d certainly believe it.”

“I’m just not sure how Fluttershy will react to someone like you,” Spike admitted, his plate already empty. “Either she’ll get scared of you and hide, or she’ll get all excited about you kind of like when she first met me.”

“Define excited…”

“She likes to tend to various kinds of animals,” Twilight said, “and there’s a chance that upon meeting something like you for the first time, she’ll be very happy and eager to know about you.”

“I guess that’s not too bad,” Peter said, taking another bite and swallowing. “I certainly don’t want to cause any waves by scaring the living daylights out of her.”

“Just don’t be surprised if that’s the case. But I’m certain she’ll warm up to you eventually.”

“Wait, shit!” Peter exclaimed, putting his silverware down. “What about the others in Equestria? For all extents and purpose, I’m an alien creature in this world, so how is anyone in Ponyville, heck, this country going to become tolerant to my appearance? The whole reason I could never leave the castle in the first place was because the citizens would be frightened of me.”

“I have planned for that, Peter,” explained Celestia. “I have called for a public announcement for earlier this afternoon that will tell them everything about you and your future here. I would like you to join me then.”

“Join you?”

“Yes. Since you are now a permanent resident here and will need to live in one of our cities to own your own restaurant, ponies should know of your existence and become used to you.”

“Would that be possible just from one speech?”

“Well, how quickly did Applejack and her family take to you?”

“That was four ponies; we’re talking about an entire country here.”

“It’s very possible Peter,” Twilight explained. “I have a friend that was ostracized by Ponyville, but when I told everyone about who she really was, they all accepted her as one of their own in a jiffy. If the other cities in Equestria are told about you in the same way, I’m sure they’ll be just as welcoming.”

Peter paused. He still felt that the situation was ridiculous, yet alone its predicted outcome. However, mulling over being treated strangely and continuing to argue wasn’t going to do him or the ponies in the room any good.

“Well,” Peter said with a shrug as he picked up is silverware, “if you truly say so. Speaking of which, when is this speech?”

“In about thirty minutes,” Celestia answered, “so eat up.”

“WHAT?!”

____________________________________________________________

A large crowd of various ponies were gathered outside at the castle courtyard. While most of them consisted of the towns citizens, whose dress consisted of those worn by nobles and aristocrats, many of the ponies surrounding the edges of the crowd included reporters for various news outlets. The speech was minutes from occurring, and the ponies could only imagine, predict, and clamor about what Celestia was going to talk about. Lyra, who also came to listen, was trying her best to see past the wave of ponies in front of her.

“Move it!” shouted Lyra as she hopped up for a better view. “I want to see too!”

From the inside the palace, just feet from the exit to the balcony that over looked the courtyard, Celestia and Peter stood side by side. Peter looked behind him to see Twilight and Spike looking at him reassuringly, the latter even giving a thumbs up.

“And you’re sure you want to make your residence in Ponyville?” asked Celestia. “Canterlot and Manehattan are very nice places to run a restaurant as well.”

“I’m certain,” he answered without hesitation. “Twilight lives there, and I really can’t see my stay here being the same without her.”

“I’m very happy you think this way. Now, are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Peter replied.

Celestia nodded, and with a steady inhale and exhale, she stepped forwards into the sunlight, her visibility to the crowd below causing a shrill collection of cheers and applause. Peter knew that he would come up eventually, and he could only hope that Twilight was right about the ponies’ attitudes toward him.

With the cheering just barely dying down, Peter squirmed slightly, knowing that the cheering was only delaying everything. The sooner he could get on, the better. As Celestia outside waved her hoof, the crowd began to quiet down.

“Thank you all for attending,” she spoke. “As you know, Equestria is home to thousands of creatures of all shapes and sizes. However, we have discovered one very recently that has come to our attention and assistance.”

Celestia turned back to Peter inside, giving him a nod to allow himself outside with her. Peter nervously gulped and mustered the strength to walk outside. Upon the ponies seeing him, Peter heard the gasps of wonder, horror, and confusion all at once from the crowd amidst the flashes from cameras that sparkled over the area.

“No way!” Lyra gasped, smiling wide.

“This is Peter Falwell. He is a creature called a human from a faraway world.”

Upon this statement, the ponies began to clamor even louder. Peter wasn’t sure what she was pulling here, but it seemed that the ponies were certainly more scared of him that Twilight wanted to give off. Lyra, as much as she wanted to tell them that Peter was harmless, kept her mouth shut as to not incriminate herself with her knowledge of him.

“Before all of you fear for the worst, despite the fact that he is an alien creature, I assure you that after meeting him, he is a very kind-hearted and friendly individual. Because of his being taken from his home, he is now left without one, and I have allowed him to make his residence in the town of Ponyville.”

The clamoring now included some positive exclamations from the crowd. Lyra, especially, clopped her hooves together and cheered, happy to know that her new friend would make his hometown her hometown.

“As well,” included Celestia, “upon me learning about him, I have found out that he was an aspiring chef in his world, and after testing his exceptional culinary skills, I am allowing him to open a restaurant in the town of Ponyville.”

Peter was again pleased to hear the positive reception from the crowd. And what interested him even more was the fact that Celestia, despite being short, sweet, and to the point, was fully convincing these ponies of his harmlessness. Perhaps his acclimation into Equestria society would be easier after all.

“Also, I want to make it clear that as of this very moment, Peter is an honorary citizen of Equestria and shall be treated as such. As eager as I’m sure many of you are to see him or meet him, I wish that he be given some space as to have time to get used to his new home. I only wished to make this brief, so this concludes my announcement. Thank you, and have a pleasant rest of the day.”

Celestia and Peter both gave some final waves to the crowd over the banister before retiring inside. Twilight and Spike looked overjoyed, knowing how receptive the crowd outside was being.

“That was…” Peter began, “great! They all really seemed happy for my being here.”

“Of course, Peter,” Celestia answered. “I do not know how your kind on your world treat others that are different than you, but here, you are welcome and free as any one of them.”

Peter knew as much that his kind were less than savory to people different to them, yet alone aliens from different worlds, but he knew that he’d be opening the biggest can of worms by talking about it.

“That’s fantastic,” Peter opted to say instead. “So what now?”

“While ponies are going to give you the space to allow you to get to know your new home, news of your existence must be spread before I can send you off. The other cities, including and especially Ponyville, still need some time to get the news.

“Here’s what I was planning until then. I wanted you and Crème to make that delicious pizzoccheri for dinner tonight. Later tonight, there is a train that should leave Canterlot at ten o’clock. It should arrive in Ponyville early tomorrow morning. That way, you can spend all day getting to know your new town.”

“That sounds good,” said Peter, who suddenly yawned. “If you don’t mind though, I’d like to take a nap before I do all that.”

“Go right ahead,” she said, walking away. “You have had a physically and emotionally exhausting day. You deserve some rest.”

As Celestia turned the corner, Peter drowsily walked to his room, Twilight and Spike following him.

____________________________________________________________

After an exhausting four minute dragging of his feet across the floor, Peter eventually made it to his bedroom. He looked around. His clothes and pajamas from before were still piled up by his bag. His computer and phone were put back on the dresser, leaving him to merely fall onto the bed and get some sleep.

Peter fell onto the bed, lying perpendicularly with it at the front end. Peter was too tired to move, and the covers felt so soft. Twilight, seeing this, trotted back into the room and picked Peter up with her magic. Despite feeling the familiar tingle over his body, Peter let Twilight do her thing. With a second aura enveloping around the covers, they pulled themselves forwards, leaving an open space for Twilight to set him down.

Peter was gently set down before Twilight rolled the covers over him and tucked him in nice and tight. Peter gave a smile to Twilight for her deed, but she hopped upon the bed and walked up to Peter with her hooves on either side of Peter’s body before she laid down upon his stomach.

“Twilight,” groaned Peter, his voice fatigued and the extra weight pushing on him, “what are you doing?”

“Oh Peter,” exclaimed Twilight, nuzzling her cheek into the front of Peter’s neck, “we get to spend the rest of our lives together. I missed you so much when you left, and now you’re here again. I want to spend some more time with you. That’s all I want right now.”

Peter gently scratched Twilight’s neck as Twilight grinned from the pleasure.

“Okay,” he whispered. “You can stay with me.”

Twilight, content with his answered, settled her full body weight on top of Peter and rested the side of her head on the top of his chest. Peter smiled as well, seeing Twilight peacefully sleep on him, placed one hand on the back of her neck and one hand on her upper back, feeling the muscles inside shift and react to his touch.

Peter knew Twilight was right. He missed her very much as well, and the fact that they were together again, just like this, was pure bliss in his mind. Peter could hardly even notice as Spike climbed onto the bed and curled up into ball along the contour of Peter’s right foot. Peter closed his eyes as his he drifted off into a much needed nap.

Crème Fraiche was walking back to her kitchen when she came across Peter’s open door. She peered in wondering how Peter was doing. She smiled upon seeing him asleep, but upon seeing Twilight sleeping atop of him with Spike nestled at the front of the bed, she gave a content smile as she shut the door, leaving the two to their nap.

========================================

Peter was in bed. It was one week since he returned home from Equesrtria. And while he was thankful that his father was happy for his return, he knew that he’d never see Celestia, Crème, or Twilight ever again. He would sometimes roll over and hope to see his best friend Twilight sleeping right beside him, but as usual, there was nothing but an empty space on the bed.

Peter wanted to cry so badly. He wanted with all his heart to see them again. He missed them so much. However, he remembered the one rule that Celestia gave him before he left for home.

“Remember, Peter. You must not tell anyone back on your world that we exist. Not your friends, and certainly not your father.”

Of course, it was hard for Peter to remember those words without remembering the final hugs he would receive from Celestia, Crème, and Twilight before they would see him sent off. Along with the last words from Celestia he would ever hear as he was teleported.

“I love you…”

Peter couldn’t take it. He grabbed his pillow and smothered it over his mouth. He screamed as loud as he could, the pillow muffling his forlorn cries. He would never meet a mentor as good as Crème Fraiche again. He would never have the closest thing that he had to a mother like he did with Celestia ever again. And he would never have a friend as good as Twilight ever again…

========================================

“Peter,” cooed Crème. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”

Peter fluttered his eyes open. He barely made a white shape to his left gently nudging her hooves into Peter’s ribs. Upon the blurry features sharpening, he saw as Crème Fraiche was waking him up, and Twilight and Spike were standing at the other side of the bed.

Peter groggily sat up, feeling his bed-frayed head.

“It is alright,” Crème explained. “You may bathe once more before your train ride home. However, I need your assistance in the kitchen.”

“Right,” Peter grunted, shifting himself to the side of the bed where Twilight was.

Before he could walk back to the door, he knelt down and gave Twilight another hug.

“Peter?” questioned Twilight. “What’s this about?”

“Did I ever tell you how badly I missed you when I came back home?”

“No… but what about–”

“I used to cry myself to sleep every night because you weren’t in the bed beside me anymore.”

“Oh, Peter…”

Twilight eased him further by returning the embrace, wrapping her arms around his torso.

“But now you’re back with us,” she whispered again. “You have me, Spike, Crème, Celestia, and all the friends you could make back in Ponyville.”

“I really thought I’d never see you again.”

“Me neither, but please, Peter, that’s all in the past now. You’re home again. Now go help Crème. I’m sure she wants to spend some time with you too.”

“Yeah…” Peter spoke, standing back up. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Come Peter,” quietly called Crème. “I am quite eager to know your secrets.”

“Coming.”

Peter walked out of the room, following Crème to the kitchen. Before he couldn’t see them any longer, Peter gave one last look to Twilight before he had to continue walking.

____________________________________________________________

“Alright,” Peter explained as Crème Fraiche kneaded the wheat-mottled pasta dough, “just put that in the fridge for a half hour and then we can cook.”

“Goodness,” exclaimed Crème. “That’s a lot of time!”

“Well, we can pop open that Riesling that I saw in the fridge and talk about stuff.”

“Stuff? What kind of stuff?”

“I don’t know. Let’s just see how this all goes.”

Crème gave Peter a nod as she picked up her dough, placed it in a small pan, and walked to the fridge with it. Upon opening the door, she put the dough inside and grabbed an unopened green, glass bottle from the fridge. As she walked back to Peter with the wine, she grabbed two wine glasses from the glass rack next to the sink, handing one to Peter and taking the other one for herself.

Crème also used her magic to pull the cork out of the bottle with a pop. Crème rotated and tilted the bottle to Peter’s glass, pouring the sweet alcohol into it halfway.

“Thank you,” Peter said.

Crème began to fill her own glass, stopping halfway and setting the bottle down on the counter.

“Now, Peter,” asked Crème, “what was it that you wanted to talk about?”

“I know this may seem like a really stupid question to ask,” Peter admitted, “but you missed me when I left back for Earth, right?”

“Why of course! You were almost like a son that I never had.”

“That’s good…”

Any sense of fun and enjoyment was taken out of Peter’s voice as he asked his next question after a sip of wine.

“My leaving wasn’t too hard on you and Celestia, was it?”

“Well, Celestia has always sported a brave face, even in the most trying of times. She certainly missed you very much, even if her voice or motions never showed it. I, on the other hand, was beside myself. While I know that Celestia loves me like she does anypony, you were truly the only one that I felt really loved me the way that she did.”

“I… I see.”

“A few weeks after you left, I even strongly considered taking my leave so I could explore the world and possibly follow my dream of running my own restaurant. However, on the night before I would give my notice, I looked into this kitchen for what I thought would be the final time. I could only remember it with you inside of it.

“It was then that I knew that I couldn’t possibly leave this place. There were far too many memories of us that I didn’t want to leave behind, and I knew that leaving here would also mean leaving behind everything I knew about you. And throughout the years, Celestia still loved me… And I still loved her… I knew I couldn’t find such love anywhere else but where I already was.”

“And I hope you were still happy then?”

“Yes, I was still happy, but it wasn’t the same as back then… it wasn’t the same as right now…”

Crème took a sip of her own glass.

“And what about you?” asked Crème. “Did you miss us?”

“Like crazy,” he said, taking a much more generous sip. “I told Twilight a little earlier that I spent many nights after returning crying because she wasn’t there beside me anymore. And Celestia was like a mother to me… there was no way anyone could replace her, not even my pop. And you…”

Crème turned to Peter waiting to give his answer.

“You were always there.”

“Huh?” she asked in surprise.

“You were my muse throughout it all. You might have shown me some of the basics of cooking, but when I was learning more intermediate and difficult things from my pop, when I was taking school at the Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute, to when I was driving up to Manhattan, I always had you on my mind.”

“Really?”

“You truly were an inspiration to me, Crème. If I hadn’t met someone quite as knowledgeable or gifted as you are with cooking, I can’t say that I’d be as blessed as I am now.”

“But… what about your father?”

“Yeah, but if it hadn’t been for your own love of cooking, reassuring words, and your ability to express yourself through it, I don’t think I would really even want to own my own restaurant, yet alone cook in one.”

“Was I… really that inspiring?”

Peter could see that tears were welling in Crème Fraiche’s eyes that she tried to hide. Peter snatched Crème’s wine from her magic aura and put it on the counter along with his glass. Crème, noticing this, then watched as Peter knelt down and wrapped his arms around her neck.

“Yes, you were,” he answered. “Every day, I held true to your words of being just as good of a cook as you are, and I worked every day to achieve that. Even if I thought then that I would never see you again to see if I had, I knew that if I continued working, on and on, then one day…”

Peter’s eyes began to tear up as well.

“…maybe one day, I could be as good a chef as you.”

“Oh, Peter,” sobbed Crème Fraiche, “you are!”

Crème hugged Peter’s chest with her hooves, her face pressed into it as she sobbed. Peter consoled her, rubbing her back, admiring how silky her coat was even after all these years. Peter rested his cheek in between Crème’s horn and her ear.

“And now that I’m here,” Peter said, “you don’t have to remember anymore, because I’ll be right here if you need me.”

“I know…” she sniffled, pulling away from him. “You couldn’t imagine how happy I was to see you again when you came through those doors.”

“I could imagine it a little,” Peter said, standing back up. “But thank you for that, I really needed to get that off my chest.”

“I’m glad to have helped.”

“Speaking of help, you should get the other ingredients for the meal soon.”

“Right. And you said I could use kale or spinach?”

“Yeah, and make sure to use a mild cheese like gouda or brie, or whatever you want.”

“I’ll go get them right away.”

Crème turned on her hooves and walked into the pantry for her other ingredients. Peter, truly happy to be working with his muse again, smiled as he took another sip of wine from his glass.

____________________________________________________________

Night had fallen over Equestria, and Celestia, Crème Fraiche, and Luna, who was now up, were seeing Peter, Twilight, and Spike off at the castle exit. Peter had his bag over his shoulder while Twilight had her saddlebags with her. While Twilight and Spike had finished with her goodbyes with the princesses and Crème Fraiche, it was now time for Peter to give his own goodbyes. Peter walked up to Luna.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Peter,” Luna said, putting her hoof up for a shake. “I wish you luck in your future endeavors.”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Peter giggled, instead grabbing Luna by the waist and hugging her tight.

Luna’s eyes shot open and her teeth grit from the initial shock, but knowing that Peter meant no harm and was fully accepting of her despite her past and her word choices during the test, she gave him a warm smile. Peter set her down, allowing Luna to preen her ruffled wings. Peter then gave a hug to Celestia.

“It’s been very pleasant to see you again,” Celestia spoke. “I hope our next meeting isn’t so… distressing.”

“Perhaps it won’t be if I invite you to my restaurant.”

“I look forward to it. Farewell, Peter.”

With some final pats on Celestia’s back, Peter moved to Crème. The two shared a happy look at one another before Crème stood on her hind legs and leaned onto Peter, constricting his chest with her arms. Peter followed suit by putting his own arms around his muse and mentor.

“It’s so glad to have you back,” Crème whispered into his ear.

“It’s great to be back,” Peter answered.

“Please do contact me when your restaurant opens. I want to be among your first customers.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Peter let go of Crème, still amazed by how great she looked to him after all these years.

“Well,” Celestia spoke, “your train leaves in less than twenty minutes. You best be going.”

“Alright, Princess Celestia. Farewell!”

Peter, Twilight, and Spike walked out the door and down the steps into the city, the former and the latter waving goodbye as they made their way to the station. Celestia and Luna happily watched them go as Crème sniffled, her eyes watering once more with a thankful smile on her lips.

____________________________________________________________

The train was waiting and fuming at the platform. Few ponies were scrambling in, being as late in the night as it was. However, as Twilight, Spike, and Peter came closer to the station, the dreary atmosphere became a bit brighter. Peter waved back to the numerous ponies who noticed him and waved at him and responded to every, “Hello,” with a, “Hey.”

The ponies at the station gasped as Peter walked up to the platform to board the train.

“Hello there,” said a grey coated stallion conductor with a spotlight cutie mark shining a flashlight on Peter. “I know you’re new here and all, but I can’t let you ride the train without–”

“It’s alright,” spoke Twilight’s voice, which brought the light down on her, “he’s with me.”

“Oh! Why, of course Ms. Sparkle. Go right on ahead, you three!”

“Thank you, sir.”

Twilight, Spike, and Peter boarded the train through the rear car. However, Peter stopped at the edge of the entryway.

“What’s you’re name?” asked Peter.

“My name?” asked the conductor. “My name is, uh… Night Watch. Why do you ask?”

“When I open my restaurant in Ponyville, swing on by. I’ll buy you a drink.”

“Really? You’d do that for me?”

“Why not?” asked Peter, turning to face him. “You are giving me a free train ride, after all.”

Peter’s honest smirk got a positive reaction from the stallion.

“Thank you! That’s quite generous of you!”

Peter, without another word entered the train, taking a seat near the back. Peter and Twilight tossed their selective bags onto the seats next to them and sat in comfortable enough positions to sleep in. Within a few minutes, the conductor checked his watch, realizing it was time to head on out.

“All aboard!” he shouted.

He then mounted into one of the cars, looking out for any last-moment passengers. Seeing that there were none, he closed the door and the train began to lurch forwards. The initial momentum was jerky, but as the train eventually gathered speed, the movements were far more gradual and smooth.

Peter slumped down as Twilight laid her body on the seat, Spike nestled with his back to her stomach like a cat would. Peter smiled, knowing that by tomorrow morning his life would begin anew. All that separated him from it now was the morning sun. Peter slowly shut his eyes, wanting the world of sleep to transport him to the next day as soon as possible.