Chapter 6
Restaurant Row... Canterlot... Equestria... June 6th... 1:00 PM...
The Mane 6, Twilight's family, Apple Bloom and Moonlight were walking through a certain part of the city of Canterlot. Rarity was amazed by all of the restaurants there.
"This row of restaurants is astounding!" Rarity said. "Each of them 3 hooves! They must have really good food if it has great ratings!"
Twilight scoffed and said, "Don't get your hopes up, Rarity. I've eaten at all of those restaurants. Believe me when I say that they charge ponies like you're going to eat more than one plate of food, but they give you three freeze-dried blocks of food not even rats would want to eat."
"Oh, Twilight," Rarity said, rolling her eyes. "Don't you think you're exaggerating just a bit?" Just then they got surprised by a bunch of rats came up towards a 3 hoof ranked restaurant, stopped, and headed towards an alley, squeaking all the way from the restaurant to the alley.
"Um... those rats said that they were hungry... not desperate," Fluttershy said. That made Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom and Moonlight laugh. Rarity on the other hoof was surprised that rats agreed with Twilight.
"That's why we're going to a place where they don't care what Zesty Gourmand says how to make things," Velvet said. They headed towards a diner. The group walked into the diner, and everypony that was there stopped what they were doing and looked at the group. No. Not the group. At a certain black, alicorn filly.
Moonlight scooted back so the ponies there wouldn't look at her. A waitress there walked up to them and asked, "Can I... help you?"
"Table for 12," Velvet said.
The waitress looked back down at Moonlight. She then looked back at Velvet and asked, "Are you sure?"
Twilight stepped forward and said, "She is not who you think she is. She just looks like Nightmare Moon. Looks aren't everything. It's who you are on the inside."
"Now that is the Twilight I haven't seen in years," came a voice from behind the group. The group turned around and saw a pink alicorn that Twilight and her family knew all too well.
"Cadance!" Twilight said, walking up to her.
"Twilight, it's so good to see you again," Princess Cadance said. She then looked over at the group that was with Twilight's family. "And these must be your friends from Ponyville." The five mares and Apple Bloom bowed towards Cadance. Cadance chuckled and said, "No need for that. You can consider me a friend as much as Twilight."
"Okay," Applejack said as she was getting up, along with the others.
"Cadance, why don't you join us?" Velvet asked. "We would be honored if you joined us."
"I'd love to," Princess Cadance said. "So, where are we sitting?"
"R-right this way, everypony," the waitress said, nervously. She was still nervous that she was going to serve a filly that has a huge resemblance to Nightmare Moon.
They were eventually escorted to a row of tables big enough for all of them to sit at. They even put in an extra seat for Princess Cadance to sit in. In the sitting order from left to right was Spike, Moonlight, Twilight, Velvet, Night Light, Shining Armor, Cadance at the end of the row of tables, Apple Bloom, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity.
They were all handed menus and they looked at what to order.
Diner... Canterlot... Equestria... June 6th... 1:45 PM...
The group had finished their meals. Even Moonlight, which the waitress was afraid to deliver the plate to her. But, it was good. She couldn't believe how good a hayburger was.
"I never thought a hayburger would be so good," Moonlight said. "Must be my current form's taste buds. My last one can't handle pony food."
"All creatures have a different kind of taste bud," Spike said. "Dragons, for example, can bite through gems like they're rock candy."
Pinkie Pie hummed, licked her lips and said, "Rock candy..."
"Well, I am glad that you all enjoyed the meal," Velvet said. She then got out of her seat, and headed towards Moonlight and said to her, "You are a very good filly. You may not have been born a pony, but I know that you can be happy."
"I'm not too sure," Moonlight said. "N-nopony... wants... me here..."
Twilight pulled Moonlight into a hug and said, "That's not true, Moonlight. You are a good hearted foal who needs love. Not hatred." Twilight looked out the window towards the castle. She smiled and said, "And I know just the pony who can help."
Shining Armor looked over towards Twilight and asked, "You're thinking of having Moonlight talk to Princess Celestia, aren't you?"
"I think it's a good idea, Shining," Princess Cadance said. "I can help with that. Let's get going."
"This food is unacceptable," came the voice of a mare. The mare has a light magentaish gray coat, a pinkish gray mane with light raspberryish gray stripes, wore a white shirt with pockets, black legging, and a dark purple jacket. "I won't allow even one hoof on this diner's rating. Not even a single princess would want to eat here."
The group was looking towards the mare. Moonlight leaned towards Twilight and asked, "Who is that?"
Twilight sighed and said, "Zesty Gourmand. She's a strict food critic with a weird sense of taste. She's so picky. Whenever she comes to inspect a restaurant, she threatens to shut them down unless they make major changes, and give up their individual ways of cooking."
"Wow," Pinkie said. "That is... so... rude." Pinkie Pie furrowed her brows when she said that last word. "Nopony tells somepony how to cook or what to serve. It's like somepony telling Rarity how to make dresses the same style. Or Rainbow Dash how to fly properly."
"She has a point," Rainbow said.
"Yes, yes," Rarity said. "If somepony made me make dresses the same style, I'd have to shut down my own store."
"But Miss Gourmand!" the waitress serving her said. "The cook has prepared the food exactly how you wanted it to be in your order!"
"Well, this isn't how it is supposed to be served," Zesty Gourmand complained. "I'm telling you that this diner won't have what it takes to be able to satisfy any princess."
The waitress looked towards Princess Cadance, smirked, looked back at Zesty Gourmand and said, "Actually, just to let you know, we have an actual princess dining here. In fact, she comes here whenever she wants to get out of the castle for something to eat."
"WHAT?!" Zesty Gourmand shouted. She looked around until her eyes caught Princess Cadance, who was smirking at her. "Why?! Why is she even here?! She's not supposed to be dining in such a low class restaurant."
Princess Cadance walked towards Zesty Gourmand and said, "No, it's the restaurants you ranked three hoofs that are low class. Ponies expect something that can fill their stomachs and enjoy their meals. The restaurants that you made changes to, they aren't that filling. It's their choice on what to serve and how to decorate. Not yours."
Zesty Gourmand growled and said, "Food is an art. Not something to fill their stomachs. The way you ponies make food is unworthy."
That made everypony in the restaurant gasp. The ponies there looked at Zesty Gourmand in shock. Princess Cadance sighed and said, "You're a food critic. If you think that food is an art, than you're the wrong kind of critic." Princess Cadance turned around, and headed back to her table. But then the group started heading out of the diner. Cadance then said, "Remind me to tell Celestia about this." Twilight nodded in response.
Canterlot Castle... Canterlot... Equestria... June 6th 2:00 PM...
The group arrived at the castle to speak with Princess Celestia. The guards saluted Shining Armor since he was their captain.
The group stopped, Shining Armor said to Twilight's friends and Apple Bloom, "The six of you stay right here. Everypony else is allowed to come in with me." Then Twilight, Velvet, Night Light, Spike, Moonlight and Cadance went into the throne room to see Princess Celestia sitting there. She was expecting them.
"Hello, Twilight," Princess Celestia said to her student. "Hello, Sparkle Family. And Moonlight." Twilight and her family bowed, leaving Moonlight and Cadance to stand up correctly.
"Hello, aunt Celestia," Princess Cadance said.
"I see you had a good day, Cadance," Princess Celestia said. Then she looked down at Moonlight. "Hello, Moonlight. Have you been enjoying your days here in Equestria?"
"I've... I've been trying to enjoy it," Moonlight said. "But..." She sighed.
"Is something wrong?" Princess Celestia asked, concerned. She then thought of something. "Do you miss your family?"
Moonlight then started shedding some tears. "I haven't seen my parents in years. They... they died when I was four. I can't even remember what they look like."
Twilight stopped bowing, walked over to Moonlight, and pulled her in for a hug. Twilight shushed her, trying to calm her down. Twilight softly said to Moonlight, "It's okay. It's okay."
Moonlight hugged Twilight. Twilight nuzzled the filly.
"Moonlight, I know you miss your family," Twilight said. "But how about this? You have been through a lot of emotional pain. If it is okay with you, I would like to make you a part of our family."
Moonlight looked up at Twilight in shock and asked, "You... you really want to be my mom?"
"It wouldn't be fair for you to live the rest of your life without a mother," Twilight said. "I want you to have a loving family. If you would have that."
Moonlight looked up at Twilight, shedding tears, and starting to smile. She snuggled a lot more, saying, "Yes. I... I would love to have a family again. Thank you... thank you, Twilight."
Twilight smiled, along with all the other ponies looking at the two. Twilight then used her magic to bring out the adoption form that Princess Celestia sent her. She filled it out, and levitated it to Princess Celestia.
"I shall have this filed immediately," Princess Celestia said. "Now, if there is anything else you need to tell me, let me know."
"Actually, there is one thing, Aunt Celestia," Princess Cadance said. "It's about that food critic, Zesty Gourmand."
From above, using an invisibility spell, Princess Celestia's sister, Princess Luna, was watching the group from above.
"Thou young foal did live a sad life," Princess Luna said, making sure nopony heard her. "Tis sad she had been transformed into a form that we have taken form for the past thousand years. We shall make sure she gets good dreams." She then teleported out of the room.
After Moonlight, what's next in your inventory?
shame, hope Twilight meets moondancer. Amend fences much earlier, maybe it'll be easier since its not too long?
Did you forget to bold this one?
Wtf
10676703
It does explain why she is so thin.
10676703
as long as it tastes good, fills me up and doesnt look terrable i dont care if what it looks like
10676703
If food cannot sate the hunger, then it is lower than garbage.
Интересно будет ли кроссовер с другим твоим произведением
10676703
Well, some restaurants made their reputations as prestigious places for a meeting between rich clients. Some to a point when saying "if you asking for a price you can't afford it" actually applies. To show off the "class" serving of food in such places turns into an art and single serving may end up quite small simply because nobody goes there to actually eat.
Zesty just thinks that all restaurants have to be like that even though in most cases that is the shortest way to ruin your business. Her standards are not necessarily wrong. They just can't work outside 1-2 restaurants in the entire Canterlot. The fact that she turns every single place in the exact copy of the rest only exacerbates the problem.
In short: Zesty is either Karen or very close to be one.
I hate Zesty Gourmand, she is very bad at her job and needs to pull that thing out of her ass. On an unrelated note..... MAKE THE CHAPTERS LONGER! It’s irritating that the chapters are so short. It might be because I’m a fast reader or it could be the chapters are just short, either way, make them a little longer please.
10676820
Agreed, without question.
10676906
I wonder if there’s gonna be a crossover too.
"In other news, Former Food Inspector 'Zesty Gourmand' has been suspended from her official status of the D.O.C.R. Associate, (Department of Consumptionary Resources) due to unprofessional misdemeanor and false ratings. Internal investigations are still pending due to affected restaurants as based on claims/complaints reported to Princess Celestia..."
OUCH. Can't tell what Zesty's paycheck/credit is but her bank account just imploded.
Also, laugh it up... Consumptionary.
Stupid word I just came up with...
I'm just waiting for Blueblood to come into the story and screw up Moonlights life.
You know what? I'll actually grant that food is an art. Or at least it can be considered as such. But art takes multiple forms and is subjective. The first thing you think about when you think of art is a visual form. But music is also an art form. Dance is an art that uses multiple mediums. Stage magic, literature, movies, video games, all art forms. Art has a broad definition that generally refers to creativity. So I can grant that food is an art form for the taste buds. But as I said, art is subjective. This means that no critic in the world (or any world in this case) has the authority to dictate how people should enjoy it.
Fun Fact: Not even all critics would agree. There's a video game that its port to another console has a different rating than its original release despite the fact that there are no differences between the games. The reason for this is that they were rated by different critics. And as a secondary Fun Fact, video game critics don't always know what they're doing. I recall a video of a critic actually trying to play a video game, and having trouble at the start. The most frustrating part is the fact that I knew it wasn't that difficult (okay, I've never played the game myself, but that's just a technicality).
My point is that even critics are subjective. I'm not quite sure why I felt like I needed to write an essay on the topic of a single paragraph. But I think it demonstrates that I know what I'm talking about.
10678073
Actually, "Consumptionary" is a real word. It's an informal obscure word (and even my spellchecker is disagreeing with me). But it is a real word. Or at the very least, it can be easily switched with "Consumptive", which is a real word according to my spellchecker and is still relatively obscure.
10679311
And promptly get his shit pushed in as retaliation!
Wow I am surprised by this, normally in situations similar to this she usually is quite aggressive towards the main character
Teeth = taste bud
But its called the culinary arts?
Ack my head
10722151
In this case there is no perceived wrong to herself and as far as she's been told their situations aren't all that dissimilar. Wouldn't it be interesting though if (I forgot the boy's actual name) was the "parasite" and NMM was a victim?
No sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake clap your hooves and do a little shake?
Best princess about to help Moony ... ♡♡♡♡♡
The wanna be critic sure done goofed ( ͡° V ͡°)
Where's the sunshine and the ladybugs?
Imposter!
Wait, Apple Bloom's here? When did that happen?
10989399
If you haven't been paying attention, Apple Bloom was with them throughout the entire trip.
10990415
Well, she's been awfully silent (she only commented on Twilight's hourglass, and that could've been said by anyone).
Not that it's a bad thing; just something I noticed.
I'm kinda suprised that more people didnt go with Fancy Pants, almost every story with a kid or NMM or some such he always is super polite and everyone loves him