Food Wars! The Advent of Sunset Shimmer!

by ratedoni

Dish 09: Tea

“Well, apparently the weeding is starting already,” Sunset said more to herself, but her new partner had keen ears because she only pushed upwards her glasses with the two first fingers of her hand, the outside light making the glasses shine slightly.

“In this school, you can be found wanting at a moment’s notice. It may seem like a simple cooking school, but the whole place is nothing but a jungle, where only the best predators can go ahead, deeper into the wilderness until they find a bigger predator and they themselves fall,” The look of concentration and seriousness was enough for Sunset to release a long sigh as most of her energy was zapped by such a serious response.

“I’m pretty sure that sounded way more cooler in your head,” Sunset said making Samui go full red at that kind of response after her ‘cool speech’, not that Sunset found it cool, just, way over the top. Even if the girl wasn’t that good at cooking she was good at entertaining Sunset so everything was fine for now. The problem was the dish they were going to prepare “so, Boeuf Bourguignon is the dish,” the redhead was focused on the whiteboard and the instructions being written on it.

“So what is that thing then?” If this had been back home, Sunset knew there were several girls that could be responsible for that almost comical response for something this serious; either Pinkie or Muffin, but being on Totsuki the question could only come from one boy known as Soma. Looking at her left, she was sure Samui would have jumped over their working station and planted her fist on Soma’s face at that kind of words, but Sunset was feeling magnanimous and decided to save Soma some more than deserving pain.

“Boeuf Bourguignon, or also Beef Burgundy, is a French staple and one of many dishes that were considered ‘peasant food’ that were elevated to haute cuisine -it means high cooking for those that don’t know French-, which was created by using wine to tenderize the meat which in any other situation would have been impossible to prepare. Also, random pop culture fact, this is the favorite dish of the comic book character Clark Kent before he was ret-conned into a vegetarian,” Sunset Shimmer said in a very academic kind of voice making Soma, Megumi, Samui and other students around look at her perplexed and in wonder “what? I read comics, anyway, let’s get this thing ready because it is not an easy dish to make,” At her command everyone started to cook, not paying attention to others or what they were doing, only on their own work.

The atmosphere around had changed and Sunset could feel the stress that was gathering on the other students, their frustrations and their bodies ready to cry at any moment. It was wrong for Sunset to enjoy something like that, but it was still a very Sunset part on her. She might be called a Demon more often than not, but the idea of bullying them was not on the menu this time, pun completely intended on her part. She was here to learn how to hone her own abilities and to enjoy the world that had been opened to her, but not to enjoy too much and let the older Sunset free to roam and make everyone’s lives a living hell, no matter how tempting it was considering the old man’s orders to help prepare the other students for the problems they will have ahead.

She had taken her time and decided to keep the flame low to keep the juices in and let the beef marinate and soften. The recipe was in fact not that hard, at least to the standards that she saw back home at Canterlot, but it needed some attention, especially to the best moment to prepare the rest of the garnish, but something happened that took Sunset away from her happy place. It was the sound of Megumi and a gasp that took her from the almost Zen feeling of the kitchen to a surprise.

She haven’t had much time to meet Megumi, but she knew that the girl was too nice and mellow to get into the whole over-competitive world of Totsuki, she even wondered if her days were numbered, not that she wished something like to a girl that was the Japanese version of Fluttershy, but her lack of confidence and the permanent gloomy aura around her was not conductive for change.

At first she wasn’t sure what was going on, but soon both Samui and she understood what had happened.

“Cowards, the lot of them,” The bespectacled girl said making Sunset widen her eyes in surprise “I may not be the friendliest girl around, nor do I hold a candle to someone as egocentric and petulant like Soma, but to fall so low as to cheat,” the smug grins of a certain duo gave the two girls all the information they needed to understand the situation. Soma and Megumi had been the target of sabotage, probably by salting the meat until it was inedible. Sadly Sunset couldn’t give them a hand, but when Soma didn’t lose confidence and instead went to search for more ingredients she knew he was not giving up, then she had all the information she needed by looking at a small jar on his hand. She knew what his plan was and like hell he was going to upstage her this day.

Without looking at Samui she turned off the cooking station much to the surprise and shock of her partner, instead she also went to the cabinets and took out a couple of things that brought back happiness and nostalgia to the redhead.

“Are you trying to protest or something? Because if this is a joke I quit and I will ditch your body on the closest ravine.”

“What a warm reaction, just trust me, this is all part of the plan,” Sunset tried to give her partner a reassuring smile, but it only came as a strange combination of smug and cute that made Samui just snort “anyway, want some tea?” the redhead said as she put water to boil. A few minutes later and the whistle signaled the next stage of her plan.

Sunset poured the hot water into the teapot and rejoiced at the calming smell of the leaves; she was surprised to find a teapot of such quality even though it looked as plain as any other. Give it to the school; they knew how to get the right tools. Soon, the smells of the black tea were enough to make both Samui and Sunset almost forget about the time limit, but when the time was right, Sunset began to pour the now perfect batch of tea into the pot, mixing the seemingly strong tea with the unfinished recipe.

Samui was surprised at what was going on, but by smell alone she knew that whatever Sunset had done, it truly changed the recipe into something even better. It was true that she was more used to the sound of oil heating up and of meat grilling to perfection on top of the sizzling grill, but this was something to learn about.

Soon, just as Soma and Megumi were presenting their finished product, which looked great to the two girls, the finished Boeuf Bourguignon that Sunset had altered was in front of Professor Chappelle who was right now recovering from the honeyed beef of Soma, but now here was another version that will surprise him, hopefully in the right way.

“So, you two did something that no other student did, what was that about the tea pot?” the professor tried to use his glare but it was useless after trying to regain control of his face after such a big smile.

“Why don’t you taste it and see for yourself?” Sunset said inviting her partner and the previous team to go ahead and take a bite. Looking at each other, both Soma and Megumi took a fork and after a bite, they were no longer inside the classroom. Soma knew about this, he had seen it on the entrance exam. This time, they seemed to be in a grandiose dinner hall of an opulent mansion. All the floors were marble just like the columns, the white walls and the exquisite tables, chairs and many other decorations filled the place with such elegance that the four people sitting around the table could stay in shock and amazement.

Soft chamber music played as they enjoyed the delicacy in front of them, as if they were part of a great celebration or maybe just the lucky ones that went beyond normal flavor and went into another world. Next second they all returned to the normal world with smiles on their faces.

“Sunset Shimmer, you used tea to also help on the tenderization of the meat, right?”

“That’s right Professor, like Soma here I decided to use another product to help on the process, of course, it is very different from the honey that Soma used,” Sunset said already smirking at Soma and his face of amazement.

“The big difference between the two is that while the product the other team used, the black tea used to tenderize the beef is not an easy product to use,” the stoic voice of Samui said once more doing that thing with her glasses just so they would shine, really, how long did that girl practice that move? “making tea from leaves and have a flavor that will not overpower the beef or make it bitter is something that only someone that has used and prepared countless pots of the drink, isn’t it Sunset Shimmer?”

“Well, guilty as charged,” she could only say making Professor Chappelle once more explode in laughter.

“I see this class is going to be a joy to teach, you get an A, sadly I am not allowed to give either team a bigger grade,” at those words Megumi released her breath, finally allowing herself to calm down.

The two pairs separated and Sunset was about to talk with Samui a bit, but something made alarms go off in her brain. Quickly moving, she put a hand behind Soma’s head and the other took a hold of the hand that had that monstrosity ready to feed Megumi. With a quick move, the one that ended up eating that weird mixture of octopus and who knows what else was none other than its creator.

“Come on Megumi, let us girls unite, shall we?” any kind of response the timid girl could give her savior was lost at the outburst of Soma.

“I KNEW IT WOULD TASTE THIS BAD!”

Author's Note:

Samui is based upon a character on the beginning of the anime of Soma, she is among the students that heard Soma's words at the entrance ceremony. She is the one that is behind the girl holding up an abacus, I liked her style so I brought her into the cast.

Comments

[Marauder15]

I feel sorry for Sunset.

[diablo4000]

Heh love this chapter and hope to read more and updates to the other cross overs.
I can't wait to see or read Susnet expressions and thoughts on Soma meeting Takumi Aldini.
Paticularly the scene on the bus when they are returning, bet she be trying os hard not to laugh as well.

[ratedoni]

8188978 She made Soma eat it saving Megumi in the process

[Moonlight Tome]

HA! Soma got a taste of his own cooking!