Cutie Mark Crusaders Royale

by Bluecatcinema

Culinary Conquest

Pureblood was in the Canterlot Castle kitchen, making his favorite sandwich.

"Ok, radish, aubergine, elderflower..." He recited, putting the said items on the bread. "Some honey mustard on top..." He set down the knife and licked his lips. "Hmm, my favorite..."

He was about to take a bite out of the sandwich when...

"Prince Pureblood!" Iron Hooves called. "The carriage is ready to depart!"

"Coming!" Pureblood sighed, taking the sandwich with him as he rushed out.

He, Hurricane, and Vito were going with their parents to attend a family get-together at the Napoleon estate.

"Took you long enough." Vito frowned. "Delaying us for a sandwich?"

"Not just a sandwich." Pureblood said, affronted. "My favorite sandwich."

"Whoop-dee-do." Vito rolled his eyes. "Seriously, why must you take so long to make something like that?" He gestured to the sandwich.

"Hey, when it comes to my sandwich, it has to be done right." Pureblood explained. "Add a smidge too much of something, and it all goes to port."

"Yeah, whatever…" Vito scoffed.

"Have fun out there, guys." Miracle smiled, having come to see them off.

"Will do, Mir." Hurricane nodded. "Let's just hope you get more focus in the next chapter."

"Remember, everypony: best behaviour." Daring declared as she held the giggling Michael in her hooves.

"Yeah." Caboose nodded. "We don't want a repeat of what happened last time, do we, Hurri?"

"Dad, I told you, that gopher had it coming!" Hurricane groaned. "He gave me a funny look!"

"Been there." Daring frowned. "This aye-aye down in South Amareica kept giving me the stinkeye."

"But I'll bet you didn't try to blow it up." Caboose added.

"It was just one stick of dynamite!" Hurricane protested. "The gopher was barely singed!"

"I can't wait to show grandpa my Cutie Mark." Vito declared. "And tell everypony about my new marefriend."

"Now, now, son." Blueblood chided him. "No need to brag."

"Your father's right, Vito." Dusty declared. "You can tell them about those things, but don't show off."

"That'll be a challenge." Pureblood snarked.

"Can we just go now?" Vito frowned.

The Pegasi pulling the carriage took off, taking them into the sky. They arrived at Bitaly before long, landing in the courtyard of the Napoleon estate.

"Hello, everypony!" Grimoire greeted them. "Glad you could make it!"

"We're happy you came to our door." Zecora added. "Your being here makes my heart soar."

"Hi, grandma, hi grandpa!" Pureblood and Vito hugged.

"Hi, everypony!" Hurricane joined the hug.

The rest of the Napoleon and their significant others were already there. Most of them had gotten married, save for Vinny and Slot (though Vinny and Berry Punch had gotten engaged a couple of months back). They all started greeting the new arrivals.

"Hey, kiddo!" Vinyl rubbed the top of Vito's head. "You're getting so big!"

"Thanks, Vinyl." Vito blushed.

"You too, Pureblood." Lyra added. "Look how handsome you're becoming."

"Aw, thanks..." Pureblood said bashfully.

"Hi, Hurricane." Berry Punch smiled. "Still wild and whacky?"

"You know it!" Hurricane said proudly.

"Just like her father." Daring chuckled.

"Check it out, guys!" Vito showed off his new Cutie Mark to his great-uncles. "Got it for teaching!"

"Nice!" Salt smiled.

"You go, V!" Slot nodded.

"That's our great-nephew." Lars chuckled. "I knew that at least one of our nieces or nephew would have smarts!" He placed a hoof on his shoulder, "You and I are going to have a lot to talk about in the nearby future."

"Thanks, Lars. And that's not all that happened." Vito grinned. "I got myself a marefriend, too!"

"Get out!" Vinny gasped.

"No joke." Vito nodded. "She's a Changeling. Neat, huh?"

"Your marefriend's a bug?" Slot asked.

"No, she's not!" Vito said defensively.

"He's right." Hurricane agreed. "If there was an insect that size, her exoskeleton would collapse under it's own weight."

Everypony stared at Hurricane.

"At least, that's what my mom said once." She shrugged.

"Hey, a Changeling's not that bad. Once she's older, she can take the shape of all the hottest mares you can think of." Vinny smirked.

"Like Fleur de Lis?" Slot asked, earning a jab from Vinyl. "Just kiddin', babe."

Meanwhile, Mayor Mare was adoring Michael.

"Oh, isn't he gorgeous?" She squealed, pinching his cheek. "Makes me want to have one of my own..."

Murray coughed nervously.

"Everything's alright, bro?" Caboose asked.

"Yeah, it's fine." Murray said nervously. "I must've had an allergic reaction, or something..."

"Kids can be a handful sometimes, but I never regret having them." Daring admitted.

"I can see why." Mayor Mare cuddled Michael. "I'd love to hear the clip-clop of tiny hooves..."

Murray coughed again.

"Whoa, I think you're coming down with something there, bro." Caboose declared.

"Oh come now, don't be so stiff, Murray. Me and Salt are going to have a foal of our own soon." Redheart smiled, pointing out her bump.

Salt and Redheart had gotten married not too long after Sonny and Bon-Bon did (who got married after Lars and Lyra), and right after the honeymoon, Redheart was pregnant.

"Hard to believe that in a couple of months that we're going to be parents." Salt smiled.

"Not that any of us are surprised." Vinny smirked. "We Napoleons are naturally virile."

"Well, that's true." Salt said smugly.

"And let me be the first to say welcome to the club, bro." Caboose grinned. "Want me to teach you the secret hoofshake?"

"I think I'll pass." Salt rolled his eyes.

As the family members continued talking amongst themselves, Pureblood came to realize there was somepony missing.

"Hey, where's great-uncle Sonny?" He asked.

"Oh, he's in the kitchen." Bon-Bon answered. "Been there since we arrived, actually."

"Really?" Pureblood mused. "What's he doing?"

"He's trying to recreate our father, Clyde Napoleon's, famous aquilegia soup." Grimoire revealed. "It was dad's best dish. He passed away without ever sharing the recipe with us. Sonny has been trying to recreate it these last few years."

"And failing." Murray added. "Every time, the soup ends up tasting like raw sewage."

"That reminds me, could you go to the kitchen and fetch a plate of mini raviolis?" Grimoire asked Pureblood. "We could use a snack before the big meal."

"Will do, grandpa." Pureblood nodded, secretly grateful for the opportunity to escape Vito's bragging (Dusty and Blueblood were too busy chatting with Lyra and Lars to notice).

Pureblood made his way to the kitchen, only to be stopped by a mafia griffin.

"Whoa, hold it right there, kiddo." The griffin said gruffly. "No one is allowed into the kitchen."

"It's fine, sir." Pureblood declared. "Grandpa asked me to grab some ravioli from in there."

"I don't think that's a good idea." The griffin retorted. "Mr. Arson was very clear that he wants no one to disturb him when trying to make the aquilegia soup. He gets very hostile."

"How hostile?" Pureblood asked.

Suddenly, commotion was heard inside, after which Sonny pushed one of the kitchen staff out.

"Get out of the kitchen, you culinary klutz!" He yelled. "There's no room in Tartarus's Kitchen for greenhorns like you, you filthy f-"

"Ahem." Pureblood cleared his throat.

"Oh." Sonny stopped mid-curse. "Pureblood, what brings you here?"

"Um... Grandpa wanted some raviolis." Pureblood said awkwardly. "But it seems like you're very busy, so I'll just grab 'em and-"

"Sure, come on in... but don't touch any of the food." Sonny gestures inside.

Withinn the kitchen, several pony staff members were rushing back and forth, working on the meal. Pureblood spotted a tureen on the far side of the room.

"Is that it?" He asked. "The aquilegia soup?"

"Indeed it is." Sonny nodded. "I've been trying to perfect this recipe for a while now. Every year, I change it up, hoping to get it it right."

Picking up a ladle, he took a sip and grimaced. Sonny then set the ladle in the soup.

"Pureblood, make sure nopony touches this soup." He instructed. "I gotta go extract sap from a timberwolf out back."

"Without hurting the poor thing, right?" Pureblood asked.

"...Yeah, let's go with that." Sonny shrugged.

Sonny walked out the back door... and the sound of a timberwolf howling in pain ensued. Wincing, Pureblood trotted over to the soup, and sniffed it.

"Hmm, smells okay." He murmured, "Maybe a little taste wouldn't hurt..."

Pureblood lifted out the ladle, and lapped the spoon within. He instantly shuddered.

"Ugh, great-uncle Murray wasn't kidding." He grimaced. "Great-uncle Sonny's going to be humiliated if everypony hates his soup again..." Looking around, Pureblood spotted some condiments and spices on a nearby shelf.

"Hmm…" Pureblood pondered, "Maybe I should…" He shook his head. "No. Sonny wants no pony to mess with it…" But then the bad taste came back into his mouth. "Ick…" He glanced back up at the spices, "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to add something to make it a bit better."

He grabbed a stool and perused the shelves, and grabbed the ingredients.

"Ah, here we go." Pureblood smiled, as he began adding them, "A little saffron, a little basil, and a pinch of oregano…" He then sniff the soup, being greeted with a more pleasant smell, "Hmm, now we're cookin'. All we need is…" He then saw some rosemary. "Bingo!"

He added the rosemary to the soup and dipped the ladle into the soup, preparing to taste-test the soup once more, when he heard the back door opening. He quickly released the ladle and stood to one side.

"Got it!" Sonny smiled, holding a small cup of sap. "Any problems, kiddo?"

"N-no, none at all." Pureblood said nervously.

"Good, good." Sonny nodded. "Now, grab those raviolis and run along. This master chef needs to get to work on the other courses."

Pureblood grabbed the plate of raviolis and left the kitchen. He nervously glanced back at Sonny, as he put the sap into the soup and gave a small nod as he went on to his other courses. Without taste-testing his creation, Pureblood couldn't be sure of it's final flavor.

A short while later, everypony were sitting at the dinner table, awaiting the main course, with Pureblood acting a bit nervous.

"Something up, bro?" Vito asked. "You're looking a little... out here."

"Everything's fine." Pureblood smiled weakly. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Now, everypony, when Sonny brings in the aquilegia soup, we need you to try and act like you really enjoy it." Murray declared.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Vinyl frowned. "Was Sonny's last aquilegia soup that bad?"

"Hmm, let's see, there was that one time when it ate through all our spoons, another time where it blew up the entire room, and the time before that, it gave us the meadow mumps, and who can forget the time when it came alive..." Slot ran down.

"Took us so many bolts to put it down…" Murray shuddered.

"And Caboose kept making puns about it the weeks after." Vinny glared at Caboose.

"What's the big deal?" Caboose asked. "Everypony laughed, didn't they?"

"Sonny's been trying his hardest to perfect this recipe ever since our father died, and he's not going to stop till he does... it's safe to say it's been tearing him to shreds in recent years." Grimoire declared.

"No kidding." Lars snorted. "The first time he messed it up, he spent two hours showering, trying to scrub away the 'stink of failure'."

"And there was the breakdown a couple of years back. Nearly burned down the kitchen, blaming it for his failure." Slot mused.

"Last night, I woke up to find him going over his recipe for the hundred time." Bon-Bon revealed. "And he kept muttering possible recipe combinations all day."

"If the soup winds up terrible yet again, I don't want to think about Sonny's reaction." Salt remarked.

"I-I'm sure it won't be so bad." Pureblood said nervously.

"Good evenin', everypony." Sonny announced as he entered, pushing the cart with the soup tureen on it. "I have prepared for you my father's very famous aquilegia soup, made to perfection, and is guaranteed to not leap to life."

"Yeah, I still can't get the taste of face-hugging soup out of my mouth." Salt grimaced.

"Let's get this dished out." Sonny brought out bowls and served the meal out to all of them. Everypony glanced at it, unsure. "Well, dig in..."

Grimoire and everypony shared uncertain glances, then Bon-Bon sighed.

"Oh, for Pete's sake..." She took a sip out of the soup, much to Pureblood's fear. "Mmm... oh my gosh..."

Everypony glanced at her in shock.

"Whoa, Bon-Bon, I get it that Sonny is your husband, but you are over-playing it on the pretending to like it." Vinny snorted.

"Who's pretending?" Bon-Bon took another sip. "This is most delicious thing I have ever eaten in my life."

Curious, the others glanced at their bowls. Everypony began to take sips, except Redheart, who was stopped by Salt.

"Just to be safe..." He took a sip, much to Redheart's dismay. Immediately, he lighted up.

"Whoa." Salt gasped. "This is... incredible! You guys gotta try this!"

Everypony tried the soup, and groaned at the deliciousness.

"Amazing..." Lyra sighed.

"Outstanding..." Vinyl agreed.

"You've outdone yourself, bro." Lars declared.

"What a wonderful soup." Zecora announced. "My tastebuds have been thrown for a loop."

"Yummy!" Michael beamed.

"Extra-yummy!" Hurricane agreed.

"Best soup ever!" Vito grinned.

"Wow." Redheart said, finally allowed some.

"Just like pop used to make!" Caboose nodded. "Or close enough."

"My tongue feels like it's on an adventure." Daring smiled.

"It's delicious." Blueblood declared. "Right, darling?"

"Mm-hmm." Dusty nodded.

"Fantastic!" Berry grinned.

"Dang straight!" Vinny chuckled. "It's like my mouth died and went to heaven."

Pureblood took a spoonful. The soup was perfect. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I must say, Sonny, I don't know what it is you did, but you've outdone yourself... this is just as good as when father made it." Grimoire smiled.

"Wow, that good, huh?" Sonny chuckled. "I knew that adding Timberwolf sap would make it better. Hard to believe that after all these years, I finally perfected this soup…"

Sonny took a sip... and frowned.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Bon-Bon asked.

"Yeah, this stuff is delicious." Slot smiled.

"I know... it is delicious." Sonny agreed. "In fact, it's too delicious... somepony mess with the soup."

Everypony stopped eating.

"Mess with the soup?" Salt gasped. "Mess with it how?"

"It's not poisoned, is it?!" Slot gaped.

"No, oh no!" Sonny said soothingly, "I mean, somepony added things to it." He took a sip again, "And from the taste, it seems to be saffron, basil, oregano… and…" He sips again, "I can't seem to put a name to the last one…"

"Rosemary."

Everypony glanced at Pureblood.

"What was that?" Sonny asked.

"Rosemary." Pureblood muttered. "It was me, great-uncle Sonny."

"You?!" Sonny gasped.

"Yes. I took a sip of it while you were out doing who knows what to the timberwolf, and it tasted... well, terrible." Pureblood exclaimed. "I couldn't let you fail again, so I added some things. I was about to taste-test it when you came back in."

"You did this to the soup?" Sonny asked. "And never even tasted the finished product yourself?"

"Sorry." Pureblood hung his head. "I didn't mean-"

"Don't be sorry." Sonny smiled. "Be proud! You did what I never could; You replicated your great-grandfather's finest recipe! You did in a night what I couldn't do in twenty years."

"Congratulations, son." Blueblood nodded.

"Who knew we had another chef in the family?" Dusty smiled.

"A chef, me?" Pureblood gaped.

"Not only a chef, my dear niece, an connoisseur!" Sonny declared proudly. "A vituoso, an artiste, a maestro!"

"Well, I always did have a knack in the kitchen." Pureblood mused. "I never imagined it could be an actual skill..."

Suddenly, Pureblood's flank flashed, and an image of a ladle in a bowl of soup appeared.

"My Cutie Mark..." Pureblood gasped.

"Welcome to the club, bro!" Vito smiled, pulling his brother into a one-legged hug.

"Well done, Pureblood." Grimoire smiled. "Now, let's all get back to enjoying this wonderful soup."

"And maybe later, you and I can do a bit of culinary bonding time." Sonny offered. "Right, kiddo?"

"Right." Pureblood winked.

Comments

[HolyCross9]

Good to see that Pureblood has gotten his cutie mark. I wonder who will be next?

Also, when will Zecora be pregnant?

[Koala2001]

YAY!! Another cutie mark!