The Chef's apprentice

by vincent789

Epilogue (end of book 1)

Twilight days flew by after the day she entered her internship and her first encounter with the mafia. Some days she would be taught by Star and she would create dishes she never thought she was capable of and other days, she was busy cutting vegetable with Bella.

These were peaceful days. However today was a less peaceful day. Today Twilight and her family were going to Manehattan for two things. One is succeeding the entrance exam and second is searching a nice home to live in.

But Twilight herself decided to head straight towards the school. Meanwhile her parents and Shining would tour the area.

Twilight was standing in front of the school, doing her best to stay as calm as possible. She walked through to front door into the reception. Twilight approached the reception and asked for the head of the school. She was pointed towards an elevator and the top floor.

As soon as she entered the floor she saw a test kitchen. six judges, and both the principle of Celestium and the principle of Lunarium. They were sitting across the kitchen.

"Twilight Sparkle, Please take a seat at the test kitchen." Judge one asks.

Twilight proceeds towards the test kitchen and took a seat.

"Okay. In front of us is a small table with a select amount of ingredients for all corners of Equestria. Make something with it." Judge two asks.

"We will judge, based on skill, creativity, originality, understanding, taste, smell and look. Make the best dish you can think off. There is no time limit but we expect a dish to be made under 3 hours. Good luck." The principle of Lunarium said.

Twilight nodded and looked at the table. She proceeds to grab some cheese, some lettuce, a selection of vegetables and a fake chicken.

Twilight proceeds to wash her hooves and put a net in her hair. She then cut the cheese into tiny cubes and the vegetables besides the lettuce into strips. Meanwhile she is baking the chicken in olive oil. Once the chicken has been baked, she moves it into a soup pan and pours some red wine and a selection of herbs into it.

While that is cooking, Twilight moves each vegetable into their own bowl and the cheese cubes also. After that she washes the lettuce and plucks big leaves of it. Once the leaves are off, she moves the lettuce remains into the pan also.

Meanwhile Twilight makes a quick cocktail sauce. And starts to grab her favorite black plate out of her bag. She cleans it and placed a bit of the sauce on it, together with some spices.

After a few minutes, Twilight removes the chicken and starts to cut it into strips. She then places some chicken strips and sauce onto the lettuce leaf and places cubes of cheese and vegetable in it. She then closes the lettuce into lettuce wraps and sliced it into two. She then placed it onto the plate, one below and one above. And done!

"I am finished." Twilight said.

Judge one blinks, "That took you 30 minutes. Very impressive." he said.

"We judge take a look, while the principle smell and taste it." Judge one explains, they then proceed to inspect it closely.

Judges appears impressed, and the principle of Celestium smiled at the smell. And the principle of Lunarium took a bite.

After a few minutes of talking they decided to talk to Twilight.

"I will explain skill. I am impressed, these cubes are exactly the same diameter in size and the strips are all of equal length. Very impressive." Judge one said. "I give you a 8."

"I will explain creativity. First the fact that you made such a large meal with the small amount of ingredients is impressive. It both looks good and smell good. For the amount prepared, good job. Also you used no recipe. Very good." Judge two said, "I give you a 9."

"I will explain originality. Just like judge two said, you used no recipe and only you wits. This is rare dish, I only see it outside Equestria. And you never travels outside Equestria. That makes your one-of-a-kind." Judge three explains, "I give you a 10."

"We explain understanding." Judge four, five and six said. "First me, your ingredient knowledge seems very high, you knew what to make based on what you had. Impressive" judge four explains,

"Your Knife knowledge has improved. You cut everything fast and effective. You knew which knife was best of meat and cheese. Good job." Judge five explains,

"Your kitchen knowledge was good too. You knew where the spices and pans were without much searching. I even made it extra hard by placing them hidden in your kitchen. Yet it didn't make a difference. Very impressive." Judge six explains.

They look at each other, "We give you a 9." they said.

"I will explain smell." The principle of Celestium said, "It smelled fresh. You chose the right ingredients. The spice combo was very impressive. You used spiced kit hair, correct?" he asks.

"That is correct." Twilight replied.

"Very impressive. Most don't even know it exists. For that I give you a 9." He said.

"And finally taste." The principle of Lunarium said, "It taste very good. The chicken you baked then boiled in wine, then marinated in vegetables. That is a very complex way of making good chicken. The spice combo tasted unique and the texture was surprisingly soft, despite the lettuce wrap. Very impressive. I give you a 9." he said.

"This means, you got an overall, 9." Judge one said. "You have succeeded. Your third place wasn't a fluke after all."

"Welcome to Lunarium." They all said together.

"Thank you." Twilight said happily.

"You first class start in three weeks. Good luck." The principle of Lunarium said, "Oh and I expect a lot of you." he added.

"I know." Twilight answers as she moves to the elevator and headed back down.

"Did you succeed?" Morning asks just outside the elevator.

"Yes. I got a 9. Third place is officially mine." Twilight said happily.

"Congratulations!" Morning and her class shouted. The rest of the class were standing outside of the building.

"Thank you. This means that this is officially the last day I meet you guys. Today we are searching for a home and tomorrow we will move here." Twilight some saddened.

"That is only if we fail our entrance exam. Which is in two days. We studied our butts off and decided to take an early exam." Leaf said.

"Oh but school will start in three weeks. It would mean skipping internship." Twilight said surprised.

"Don't be silly, we decided to also go on an early internship like you. While we are still learning about meat and stuff." Lulu said a tad bit exhausted.

"But promise me on one thing. Don't get a burn-out okay?" Twilight requests.

"Of course. Don't worry. We take more breaks than you probably." Marie said smirking.

"Touché." Twilight said. "I have to go though. My parent are waiting over there." Twilight said pointing towards their parents.

"Of course. We are going back to Canterlot. See you at Lunarium." They said as Twilight moved toward her parents.

Twilight waved at them and moved on. She and her parents moved to the real estate ownership for nobles and chose a penthouse. It was relatively close to both the school and the train station.

As Twilight and her parents entered the penthouse, they took a good look around. It was in excellent state. In fact the only signs of it every being used was a single room with a wallpaper. It was blue with moon symbols and a single ultra large bed. The size of an alicorn.

"About this room. This bed and wallpaper has been enchanted onto it. We can't remove it. It's the only down side." the marketer explained.

"Well it could be a good guest room." Twilight reasoned.

"That it could." Her parents repeat.

As they continued the tour, they saw a gym, a swimming pool, a build in casino and the largest kitchen Twilight has ever seen.

"We will buy it. On the condition that you remove that casino." Velvet said.

"Very good. Let's talk the details." the marketer said.

Twilight's parents left the penthouse as Shining was exploring potential personal bedrooms.

Twilight meanwhile walked into the enchanted room. "This room must belong to Luna. But how old is this penthouse if that is the case. She was banished eons ago. Does that mean that this room was enchanted here. Or is this some kind of..." She talked herself to sleep as she laid on Luna's bed.

In her dreams.

"Illusion?" Twilight finished.

"Exactly." Luna's spirit appeared.

"How is that exactly possible?" Twilight asks curiously.

"Well. This skyscraper is the closest point to my secret hideout. In a separate dimension." It explained.

"Ah. A point of crossover. A projected illusion." Twilight said nodding.

"Exactly. It's good to see you. Twilight Sparkle." It said.

"It is good to see you too. It's been a few years." Twilight replied.

"Yes. It seems your chef's career is going strong. I can't wait what this timeline will offer." It said excited.

"Am I walking in your past hoofsteps?" Twilight asks.

"In the cooking world. Yes. This time around, you won't be the element of harmony, but a chef. Yet I have the feeling that you will defeat Nightmare Moon with cooking instead." It said interested.

"Do you know what will become of Trixe's fate?" Twilight asks.

"Of course. But I won't spoil it. You will have to read it yourself." it said.

"Hey! No fourth wall breaking!" Twilight said annoyed albeit smiling.

"I know. But seriously, I won't tell you. It might change the timeline." it said.

"I understand. It was nice talking to you. It seems my brother is shaking me awake. I have to go." Twilight said.

"Have a good day!" Luna's spirit said before disappearing and ending the dream.

"Twilight WAKE UP!" Shining said shouting.

"Hi, Shiny!" Twilight said smiling.

"You were awake, weren't you?" Shiny asks,

Twilight smiles in responds,

"UGH." he said annoyed.

"Enough playing around Twi. We have to go back." Night said.

"I know, Let's go." Twilight said.

Twilight and her parents then moved back home and immediately started to pack their stuff.

"Hey guys. I probably should tell Trixie and Celestia that I am moving." Twilight said.

"That would be kind of you. Then go." Velvet said as she was moving her telescope into a wooden crate with pop plastic sheets.

Twilight then ran and made her way to the castle. Moving past the commercial district and going past the donut shop. She had arrived at the castle. On her way she noticed an increased security everywhere. It would appear that Twilight's encounter with the mafia had left a mark on the city.

Twilight walked up to the gate and was stopped by the guards. "Halt. No access permitted." they said.

"Why?" Twilight asks curious.

"Celestia's student is currently busy with an important magic spell. She must not be distracted." they said.

"But I need to bother them." Twilight replied.

"No." They said.

"Fine." Twilight said, Before breaking Celestia's shield spell and teleporting inside.

The guards were left dumbfounded. "We might have an intruder." the left one said.

"Nah. I don't get paid enough for it." The right one replied.

"Yeah. Let's ignore it." the left one replied.

Meanwhile Twilight has entered the library. She detected an annoyed Celestia heading her way. So she decided to make a book fort using all the books in the library as an distraction for Celestia.

After a few moment, Celestia and her guards storm inside the library, only to find a very large book fort in the center of it.

Celestia sighs and calls the guards away. "Twilight?" she asks.

No responds, confused, Celestia heads into the fort only to find a large hole in the ceiling. Celestia groans and follows the hole. She spots some hoof marks on the floor leading towards Trixie.

Meanwhile Twilight was heading deeper in and sees Trixie. She sees her large spell and realized that something was wrong. The spell was too unstable to succeed and will go out of control any minute now.

Hearing the clops of an alicorn behind her, she turns around. And sees Celestia.

"Hey." Twilight simply said. "Tell her that I am moving to Manehattan tomorrow." she said,

And before Celestia could reply, Twilight casts a Canterlot wide Nullification spell, Destroying Trixie's spell behind her. Only to teleport away before anyone could say anything.

Celestia blinks, only to groan again and also teleports to Twilight's location.

"Twilight, stop!" Celestia shouts.

Twilight blinks at Celestia's sudden presence in her bedroom. " Hey, Celestia." she said.

"Don't "hey!" me, Twilight! Although I thank you for stopping Trixie. Don't make me tell her that!" Celestia said, "She will get super depressed."

"I know. But it's at fact that can't be changed. We already bought the house and are moving our gear today." Twilight said in understanding.

"But-" Celestia started only to get cut off.

"Once I become a chef, I will return to Canterlot. I promise." Twilight quickly added.

"Okay. But I will have to send her to Ponyville once she gets older. So you will have to go there." Celestia explains.

"I know, to beat a certain someone right? Don't worry, I will be there." Twilight said.

"It seems you know what is going on here, no?" Celestia said calmly smiling.

"Yeah. I am fully aware." Twilight said, "I guess this is goodbye. I am sure that I will meet you again, once I am at my career's prime."

"Yeah. Until then." Celestia said hugging Twilight,

"Yeah," Twilight hugged back in return, Twilight could swear that she saw some tears.

"This is not goodbye. this is see you in the future." Twilight added.

"Yeah." Celestia's hair temporarily stopped being a rainbow, for what seemed like a few minutes.

"I am sorry, I don't-" Celestia started only for Twilight's hoof to stop her.

"I am not Luna. I will return. She too will return then." Twilight said smiling as bright as the sun itself.

"Yeah." She responded with. "I guess I should assist Trixie. I will tell her it carefully." Celestia said.

"Give her a lot of TLC from me, yeah?" Twilight said as a smiling Celestia teleports away.

"Well, That was something." Twilight said as she returned to packing stuff for the following day or two.

Author's Note:

And that is it. This book was a journey.

But it's only the beginning.

Expect more in the future.

-Vincent

Comments

[Comickook]

Great job on the final chapter of the first story in this series. The exchanges, characterizations and future story set-up are all wonderfully done in all the right places. Greatly enjoyed Twi reflecting on the events of the recent past while preparing for her entrance exam. Loved the parts of the judging of her prepared meal and Luna's "visit" to Twilight in the dream world.

VERY definitely looking forward to book two.

[vincent789]

11744915
Do excuse the timeline early on a bit. My writing wasn't that good early on.
It was my first proper story at the time. But it will get better.