Recipes For Friendship

by Mr Merritt

Twilight Risotto Part One

With a thump, the hot air balloon made a solid landing with pin-point accuracy just outside of Ponyville Library. Its occupants, a young grey Earth colt and an older lavender unicorn mare, had just returned from a literal castle in the sky. Despite having enjoyed an once-in-a-lifetime experience, Peppermill was happy to be back on solid ground. With a grunt, he hopped over the edge of the basket grateful that the pack he had taken to Rainbow Dash’s house was no longer as weighty as it had been on the way there.

“There…” announced Twilight Sparkle with a smile. “You’re back in Ponyville in one piece.”

“Thank you…again for all…your help Twilight.”

“I’m happy to help. I don’t often get an excuse to take my balloon out. You should go into the library while I get the balloon packed away. I think Spike has some sweet tea ready for you.” Peppermill gave the mare a grin as he trotted into the library as asked, licking his lips at the thought of a nice cool drink. Especially if it was made by the claws of the friend he considered his equal in all things cooking.

“Spike?” called out Peppermill as he nudged the front door to the tree-cum-building and entered.

“Hey, welcome back Peppermill.” The purple baby dragon came into the main room of the facility bearing a tray with two large glasses of iced tea. “So, how was cooking at Rainbow’s house?”

“Fun…once I managed…to convince her to…actually clean up…the place.”

“Somehow the idea of Rainbow having no time to clean her own house doesn’t surprise me that much…” Spike chuckled as he offered the colt a seat and a glass. The grey colt took a long sip of his drink, giving a sigh of contentment afterwards.

“It would break…Applejack’s heart if…I told her I would…take this over…Sweet Apple Acre…Apple Juice…anyday.”

“Heh, I promise I’ll keep your dirty secret.”

“Thanks…”

“Uh, listen…” began Spike suddenly. “I kind of need to ask a big favor from you Peppermill.”

Everyone…seems to want…favors from me…lately Peppermill thought to himself. But he motioned the dragon to continue.

“In a few days I am going to Canterlot to do some…business.”

“Business?”

“Librarian assistant stuff, if you must know. Anyways, since I am the only capable cook in here I usually just leave a few easy things for Twi to heat up. We figured out long ago not to let Twilight anyway near a kitchen. I assume you know that unicorn magic and cooking don’t work too well together…”

“Yes…I remember learning that…from my father. Any unicorn…prep cooks and sous chefs…were told to do it…by hoof or…not at all…”

“Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal. Twilight knows better than to try anything…complicated. But lately she has become a bit obsessed with learning how to cook. Beats the hay out of me why, but without me to keep her out of the kitchen I’m afraid I might come home to a disaster area or worse.”

“This is sounding…more and more…like my fault…” remarked Peppermill soberly. “It seems…every pony I know…has suddenly looked to me…as some sort of…cooking teacher.”

“It’s not like that at all!” insisted Spike. “They are going to you because they know you are so good at it. To be honest, until you came along I was getting requests all the time. And after seeing how you managed that ruby casserole recipe I gave you, I’m more than happy to name you the King of the Kitchen.” Despite himself, the grey colt had to blush with embarrassment at the accolades poured upon him by the baby dragon.

“I’m assuming…you would like me…to keep an eye on Twilight…if she decides…to try her hoof at cooking…while you aren’t around…to watch?”

“Would you? I’d owe you…”

“I seem to recall…that you already owe me…from when you asked me…to distract that…one stallion who was…flirting with Rarity…the other day.”

”That wasn`t a distraction. Rarity just had to…focus on her work rather than deal with some nopony…”

I hope I…never start acting…like that around fillies. thought Peppermill, hiding a smirk. Fortunately for the desperate dragon Twilight Sparkle entered the library, which gave Spike the chance to change the subject.

“Hey Twilight!” exclaimed Spike in relief. “It looks like Peppermill might be willing to help you out with some meals while I’m away.”

“Spike, I thought we already discussed this. I appreciate you wanting to help me, but I think I have the book that will finally help me figure out how to succeed in the kitchen, see?” Twilight levitated a book from a nearby desk and showed it to the dragon and colt. It was a large hard-covered tome with the title How To Succeed In The Kitchen.

“Again with the book.” groaned Spike. “Twi, I keep telling you that you can’t always rely on books. There is more to cooking than just following a recipe word for word.”

“Spike…is right.” commented the colt. “A recipe is…not an end-all and be-all. It is…a guide at best. Some of the…greatest dishes…have been made…from taking a…known dish and…making it your own.”

“Making it your own?” Twilight showed some interest in the subject, and it was one the colt found nice to be able to delve into for a change. He didn’t consider himself to be even close to being Twilight Sparkle’s equal in intelligence, but he liked to think he knew a little more about the nuances of cooking and cuisine than your average pony.

…and it was a lot less boring than one of Applejack’s ‘1001 Things You Ought To Know About Apples’ lectures.

“No two cooks…will or should…make the exact same dish. Even if the…only real difference…is one extra…ingredient. A dish is a…reflection of the cook…not a copy of something…on a page.”

“Hrmm…” Twilight seemed unconvinced, and all Spike and Peppermill could do was share a look.

“I’ll tell you what…let me look…through one of…the cookbooks I found…at Sweet Apple Acres. Maybe I can…figure out a way…to help you understand. But at least…let me get…settled back home. Mind you…I don’t know if…I’ll ever be able to…sleep in my bed…as well as I did…on a cloud.”

***

“Argh!” This painful exclamation came from Peppermill’s room on the second floor of the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse. He lay on his bed, glaring at the open book before him. Ever since he had come back home he had been wracking his brain and pouring over every available cookbook he could find, and was coming up empty for ideas. And with Spike’s business trip the very next day, he was beginning to feel he was going to fail in his mission.

“It just…doesn’t…feel right…” lamented the colt, tossing the book away and grabbing a pillow to pull over his head. Thoughts of a disappointed Twilight floated in his mind, followed by an angry Spike. He hated the idea of failing at what, he felt, should have been an easy task.

“I was able to get…Rainbow Dash of…all ponies to cook. Why is it…so hard to help…Princess Celestia’s prized student?” Peppermill moaned.

“Wuts goin’ on in here?” The youthful drawl of a familiar yellow filly made Peppermill lift the pillow just enough to see his ‘sister’ Applebloom in the doorway.

“Please…I’m not in…the mood, Applebloom.” Peppermill sighed, giving the filly a sullen look from beneath the pillow.

“Geeze, are you still frettin’ about wut yer gonna teach Twilight to cook?”

“Yes I’m ‘frettin’” grumbled the colt. “I’m going to…fail miserably. No pony…is going to…want my help…if I can’t even teach…a super smart pony…like Twilight.”

“Now that’s nonsense an’ you know it!” snapped Applebloom. She tugged the pillow off of the colt’s head so she could look him in eye. “You are one of the best chefs in Ponyville, maybe in all of Equestria. No pony is gonna think less of ya ifin you mess up once…” The colt glared at the filly for a long moment, then responded.

“So you think…I’m going to fail and…let everypony down…but I shouldn’t…let that big me.”

“Don’t go puttin’ words in mah mouth!” snapped Applebloom. “You ain’t failed yet. Ya still got tahm to come up with something.” All this did was make Peppermill huff and turn over to show his back to the filly. “Look, wut kind of recipe are ya tryin’ to find? Maybe I kin help…”

“Twilight Sparkle…is all about books…and science…and stuff like that. I was hoping…I could find something…that could reflect…that. But a lot…of the stuff I know is…by memory or feel…”

“By feel?” questioned the filly, cocking her head in puzzlement.

“You know…how you see…things like ‘a pinch of this’…or ‘season to taste’…in cooking? Those are not…precise measurements. You learn that from…years of cooking or…from making the same dish over…and over again. And even…if there was an…exact amount…no two ponies would…agree it…was the best.”

“Huh, you sound jus’ lahk Granny when she was teachin’ me about Zap Apple Jam.” remarked the filly. “She told me that no two batches of jam are the same. All it takes is an itty bitty change to make the jam different from season to season. I remember askin’ her why she didn’t use one of those fancy kitchen timers when making it, an’ she told me you just knew.”

Kitchen…timer? A sudden though bubbled in Peppermill’s mind as Applebloom continued to go on about zap apple jam. She never even noticed him toss the pillow away and sit up in the bed.

“Applebloom, could you…please hand me…that cookbook?” The filly blinked at the colt’s sudden change in mood, but did as she was asked, watching her ‘brother’ as he leafed through the pages. A smile grew on his face when he scanned one particular page as a plan formed.

“Of course…why didn’t I…think of this before!” exclaimed Peppermill jubilantly. He bounded off the bed, gave Applebloom a quick hug and raced out of the room and down the stairs. By chance, he had left the book open on the page he had been looking at, and the filly just had to peer at it.

“Riz…otto? Wut the hay is that?”

Comments

[Knighthawker]

......... You know, I've been meaning to learn how to make fresh bread.... any chance you could help me with that?

[-Brutus]

This is pretty awesome, I'd love to see what Peppermill came up with to teach Twilight.

[ElJorro]

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