The JeanDélicieux

by Cinnarowe

Echoes Of A Dream

"Look! You can see Canterlot from here!" The mare next to me exclaimed as she leaned forward as far as she could over my lap and nosed the window of the pod we were sitting in, causing it to dangle.

I yelped like a scared cat and my arms reached for the pole in the middle, dragging the mare with me. "Holy shit, sit still you lunatic! We're gonna die!"

Her nose made a 'woooop' noise as it dragged across the moist glass and tumbled to the ground as I attached myself to the pole like a gecko. She giggled at my antics.

"Oh, you're fine, you big silly. Look!" She stood up and started to wiggle and shake around like crazy, causing my world to dangle precariously, and I felt my vertigo set in as we hung there, several hundred feet in the air.

"Cut it out!" I cried as I held on for dear life to my only lifeline and made a few silent prayers while trying to become one with the pole. After all, inanimate objects would not betray me as easily.

"Aww, is someone afraid of heights? Hmm?" She poked my sides and bit her bottom lip as she stifled a laugh.

"D-don't do that!" I whimpered. "Y-you're gonna m-make us detach!"

A look of false shock came across her face. "Do what?" She then scanned around her. "Oh, you mean... this?"

That was the only warning I got before our pod swung back and forth again, causing it to go so far back that I could almost see directly down. I screamed bloody murder.

She finally stopped after what felt like ages of me clinging to my only friend in this world. "R-remind me never to ride a Ferris wheel with you again!"

She put her hoof over her forehead and put on her best hurt look. "Oh no! Anything but that!" She backed away from me as if I was closing in on her.

Sensing a short respite, I peeled myself off the pole and turned to face her. "You son of a bitch." She flinched when I flicked her horn with my middle finger and went cross-eyed for a few seconds.

She huffed at me. "Actually, I'm a filly of a mare." She said before poking my thigh with her horn, giving me a light shock.

"Oh, you asshole!" She yelped when I wrapped my arms around her stomach and sat us down in the seats before releasing my primal tickle attack. The poor thing never even stood a chance.

"N-uh.. n-uh... aaah! Noooo! STOP!" She screamed out through her intense giggles. She was struggling to breathe and trying to escape my lock on her as I continued to wiggle my fingers wildly all over her turquoise coat, though most attention was given to the joints under her hooves and on her belly where she was most sensitive. Her eyes were starting to water from how hard she was laughing.

"S-stahp... p-please... I surrender!" She wheezed as our pod was approaching ground level. Not wanting the ponies waiting in line to see us fucking around in here, I released her from my death grip for now, and she leaped away from me into the seats opposite the ones I sat in. She was heaving for air and blinking tears from her eyes as she fanned herself with a hoof.

I leaned forward and put my arms over my knees in a crouched position with a massive grin on my face. "Wanna go another round?"

She wiped some tears that had rolled down her cheeks. "NO! You win this time, goober."

I laughed, and we paused for a moment to let the pod go by the bottom and start its second round. I looked out the window and saw the safety of the ground right outside and had the urge to jump out before we even started going up again. I don't even think I could, though, because the attendant locked the doors before we started going the first time, so I remained in my seat. I still didn't want to look down or outside the windows as we started going up again, so I opted to stare at my marefriend sitting opposite me instead, now using the window as a mirror to fix her make-up.

She noticed me staring at her and turned to start another round of playtime, but I guess I was wearing a grimace because she dropped it. "Hey, you know I wouldn't do that to you unless I knew it was safe, right?"

"Honestly, just not doing that at all would be really nice. I don't like being this high up."

She snorted. "Ha, says the guy who grew up on one of the tallest mountaintops in Equestria." Her hoof pointed towards the city in the distance again, which was slowly coming back into view as we made our way back up the wheel of death.

I pinched my cheeks and dragged my eyes down to create a ghoulish face. "Y'know, I wasn't exactly hanging off the side of the cliff for the past twenty-three years." I put my tongue out after I finished speaking and dragged my mouth out horizontally, making my face look worse.

She giggled cutely, in the way I've come to love about her. She stood up and carefully crossed the short distance to sit next to me again, causing the pod to tilt slightly from our collective weight.

I sat still. She wasn't trying to play with me this time; she just wanted to sit with me.

She pulled her hooves around my hand and rested her head against my shoulder before she sighed happily and sank into me. Round two of the wheel of torture was turning out to be slightly more acceptable. The pole might have been my anchor, but this mare was my rock.

I put my head on top of hers and took a whiff of her silver hair. Hmmm... smells like spring. I dreamily nuzzled her hair, and she giggled. I had suddenly forgotten about my fear of plummeting to my doom as we sat there and enjoyed each other's company.

Canterlot was in view again, and she turned her head slightly under my chin to look at it. "Hey, Jean?"

"Yeah?"

"I... I wanna go to Canterlot." I lifted myself off her head and looked down at her. She had a distant expression I couldn't quite place as she was looking longingly toward the city in the distance.

I looked over as well before nodding. "Yeah, we can do that. I haven't seen mom and dad in a while. We could visit them if you want?"

She shook her head. "No, I... I wanna go to Canterlot, and then stay in Canterlot." Oh? What brought this on?

"You wanna move to Canterlot? What about your job?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "I don't wanna be behind that counter ever again. I swear, next time someone yells at me because of a slightly moldy blueberry in a pre-packaged basket, they're gonna get it."

I shivered at that. Bless the soul of those who would piss this mare off. Her fury was nigh unavoidable, and her words held more weight than steel. Whoever was at the receiving end of her rant would not walk away unscathed.

She continued. "And what about you? You don't seem like you're enjoying the printing office either."

I shrugged and shook my head. "It's not exactly my dream job. But you know I'm not doing it for the cash. I just don't like being home alone when you're at work."

She smiled at me and stared into my eyes. "When we were in that contest, I was... I don't know. I felt like that was what I was supposed to do. It made me happy, and it was because I was doing it with you that made it so special."

I smiled and kissed her forehead. "I never said I was against moving," I started as she leaned into my kiss. "I'm just surprised. You were the one who wanted to move to Manehattan in the first place." I gestured out into the towering heights of the buildings that we could almost see the roofs of from where we were at.

She looked in the general direction I was gesturing to. "Yeah, it all felt like a dream come true back then, but now every time I look at Canterlot, I just get so... excited!" She exclaimed as she looked back at me. "It almost feels like it's calling my name!"

I snorted and twisted my face while covering my nose with my fingers, making my voice nasally and false. "Hey Willow, it's me; Canterlot. I've been trying to reach you about your extended warranty." She laughed loudly at my stupid act and pushed me with her hoof.

"Hey, I'm serious! Don't you ever want to move back there?"

I laughed with her and grasped her hoof in my hand. "Wherever you go, I go. If you wanna move to Canterlot, we move to Canterlot. It doesn't matter where we are."

Her eyes lidded, and she gave me a dopey smile. "Right answer." She said before leaning her face toward mine and locking my lips in a deep kiss. I put my hand on her cheek as I leaned into the kiss and was quickly lost in the moment as the Ferris wheel continued its rotary adventure.

---

I held my mare's face close as I continued to kiss her passionately, but her soft lips had changed shape for some strange reason. My eyes felt really heavy all of a sudden, and when I opened them, I was staring at a trio of sugar-covered plums resting on a particular pink flank that I just so happened to be locked in a deep kiss with.

My eyes widened, and I yelped before leaping up from my position on the mattress, causing my it to move and the blanket I had resting on fell over the flanks and covered the rest of the body associated with them.

The form of the pony was now stirring from her spot on the mattress and a head emerged from the covers and turned to face me. "Aw... don't start what you won't finish." She grumbled and winked at me.

I sputtered in my haste to try to find my wits, and my face turned crimson, realizing what I had just been doing. What the fuck, dude... "W-why are you in my bed?!" I pointed at her accusingly.

"I'm not in your bed." She croaked.

"Same difference!" I barked back. A quick look down made me aware I was only in my underpants, and I blushed before my arms quickly went to cover my upper body on instinct.

She chuckled raspily before her head fell down on her pillow with a 'pomf', using her magic to pull the blanket over her again.

"Mmm...'s too early for this. 'night." She grumbled as she pulled the thick blanket over her face and vanished under its warm depths.

I blew the hot air staining my cheeks out of my nose and rushed over to my drawer to pull out a shirt and some sweatpants before putting them on quickly and walking back over to the mare to stand over her.

She didn't move or react to me standing there, so I squatted down and poked her form through the blanket. Her body shifted, and the blanket was pulled down by her magic, allowing my blue pupils to stare into her brown ones.

"Why were you sleeping next to me?" I deadpanned.

Her eyes closed again, and she sighed before mumbling under her cover. "I couldn't sleep."

I figured as much. Couldn't really blame her for the kissing part either... that was on me. Just barely from under the covers, I could see the band-aid still stuck to her upper lip. Good, it survived the night. Doesn't looks like it's been leaking, either.

"About what happened just now... I was asleep. Don't get the wrong idea." I said, scratching the back of my head.

A hoof lazily raised into the air, and she made a dismissive waving motion as she slowly drifted away into sleep again.

The world was slowly starting to fall back into pieces as sleep was leaving my head, and the reality of my life was put back on track. I mused for a moment thinking back to the paradise I had been in just a few moments prior. So it was a dream...

I sighed softly, pushing it back as I stood back up and scratched my head before walking over to open the curtains. Light was already coming in through the thin cloth. When I opened it, my eyes winced at the brightness, and I felt some trace amounts of the headache from yesterday flare within my skull for just a brief moment. I looked out to my snow-filled yard and noticed it had become slightly more elevated than last night. Figures.

The sun was just barely above the horizon in the distance, and given the fact that I could actually see the sun today meant that the snow had finally stopped falling. I leaned a bit more forward in the window to look up into the sky directly above the Canterlot and noticed it was perfectly clear today.

I leaned back and yawned, stretching my body as far as it would go before feeling some pops in my spine, which satisfied me.

I sighed again. Well, no time like the present. I thought. Today, I would need to have a little chat with a certain mare. I looked over to her at the thought and saw that she had once again buried herself under the safety of her covers.

"I'm gonna go make some breakfast. If you don't wanna starve, I suggest you help." I said as I turned for the door. The only response I got from her was a muffled groan from under her covers which made me laugh.

I opened the door to my living room and was quickly hit with the cold air that was present within the larger area of my home. I hugged myself tightly and rubbed my elbows in an attempt to generate heat on my skin and looked over to my fireplace which was now only ashes.

My bare feet slapped against the ground as I made my way over and grabbed some pieces of tinder and used newspaper before stacking it inside the fireplace into a neat little stack. I ensured the bits of paper were rolled into little balls underneath the stick structure I had created.

Satisfied, I grabbed some matches from atop the fireplace and fished one out of the box. I dragged it across the rough surface on the side of the box, causing a flame to come to life. I then stuck it under some newspaper balls, and slowly, the flame spread on the paper.

Making sure the fire would be self-sustaining for the next few minutes, I headed into the kitchen to grab my needed equipment for breakfast. Since my morning had started with quite a bit of... spiciness, I decided spicy food would be best for Sugar and me today. Been a while since I've cooked for two...

Almost as if on cue, Sugar wormed out of my bedroom door, still wrapped in my blanket. Slowly, the blanket wiggled across the floor towards my open kitchen adjacent to the living room while I turned on the stovetop plates to heat them up.

Not a morning pony, I see. I smirked. I left my frying pan to heat itself, went over to the living blanket, and poked it with my toes. I heard a muffled 'oop' in reply. "Get up, lazy. I'm not your maid."

"mm..mfb," Came the reply.

Okay, enough of that. I reached inside a small opening and snaked my hands around the pony before lifting her off the floor with a heave. As soon as her eyes were exposed to the lights from my kitchen, she squirmed, and her hooves shot to her face to cover her eyes. "Gah! Lemme go!"

"Hmm... Nah," I said, not really caring about her protests. Time to wake up the sleeping beauty. I cradled her in my arms like a baby and began to coddle her. "Is the widdle pony tired? Is she? An iddy biddy widdle bitty tired? You wanna go potty?"

She deadpanned at me from her position in my arms, stuck her tongue out at me, and blew a weak raspberry before squirming out of my grasp and placed herself back onto the floor.

"That's weird. Don't do that." She criticized me as she looked up at me with a frown and a sour look on her face.

I crossed my arms and huffed. "You were sleeping like a baby, so I just assumed you wanted to be treated like one. Pardon me for being considerate!" I heard a groan behind me after I turned to head back to the stove before hearing hoofsteps behind me.

She yawned as she walked up next to me while I got some olive oil and spices out of my closet and started to dab some of the oil into the pan.

"What are we making?" She asked tiredly as she took note of what I had gathered. I added some cumin and mustard seeds to the pan and mixed them with the olive oil before adding salt and pepper.

"First of all, do me a favor and throw some more stuff on the fire." I pointed across the living room to the fireplace that was beginning to dwindle.

"Once you're done, get over here and heat this up," I said as I pulled a pack of fresh baby spinach out of a drawer in the fridge and tossed it on the counter next to the stove.

Sugar nodded and went off to take care of the fire as I continued with my craft. I shook around the frying pan a bit to fry the spices a little in order to draw out the flavor and spice as much as possible. Alright, let's get in the zone.

My eyes lidded, and I felt my hands and instincts take control as I cut an onion in half and peeled it. After throwing the peel off to the side, I sliced into the onion while holding it down with clean precision.

After about five seconds, I finished cutting the onion into thin slices. Next, I lifted the cutting board over the frying pan before dunking it into my prepared mix of spices. I then grabbed my wooden spatula and started to mix it all together.

The food sizzled, and smoke went up into the vents above my head. I could smell the onion caramelizing, which made me smile. I loved the smell of warm food early in the morning. Hot chocolate would be pretty good right now... Or maybe some coffee.

I hadn't noticed Sugar Plum standing next to me again until she was up against my hip, taking in the smell before she spoke up. "So, what should I do?"

I looked down at her as she looked up at me inquisitively with her head tilted to the side in the way ponies do sometimes that just makes me forget they're individuals just like me and not beings purely created for hugging.

I smiled at the sight and pointed at a pan I had already started heating next to mine. "Scrambled eggs with a bunch of other stuff to make it better." I winked.

She smiled back and nodded. Using her magic, she opened up the pack of spinach. She wrapped her magic around the stick of butter resting next to the cutting board, took a clean slice with her magic, and added it to her pan. Scary how magic works like that. You can just use it as a knife.

I bumped her hip with my own. "Give me a couple of teaspoons of those." I held my pan towards her magical grasp on the butter, and then two small pieces flew into my pan, which got a chuckle out of me.

"Y'know, magic is crazy useful. I wish us humans had something like that."

She smirked at me carefully to avoid disturbing her band-aid too much. "You do, though. Your fingers are magical on their own. I may be able to use magic on simple things like this, but that doesn't make me a good chef."

Compliments will get you nowhere. I shrugged. "Just born different." I joked.

She rolled her eyes and went back to her cooking. Before she could though, I stopped her. "Remember to not let them sit in there for too long. Just enough to get the sogginess out, okay? I'm not eating it if it's brown."

She gulped and nodded. She needed to get better at regular cooking too. She was my most trusted pastry chef, but she had yet to do much else besides that and dishwashing. I had tasted her home cooking before, which was a... crunchy experience.

"Yes, boss." She replied. Good mare.

She dumped the contents of the small plastic bag into the pan, which instantly started to sizzle, and she quickly began to blend it around with her own spatula to avoid it from burning. In reality, it only needed to heat up for about thirty seconds, but I'd try to let her find it out for herself. She needed to learn to be independent about this stuff.

The onions were now turning a nice, golden color. I mixed it a little more to get all the butter spread around before lifting up my pan and dumping it into Sugar's spinach. She looked confused at me for a moment before I gestured for her to continue while I started on the eggs. She seemed to get the hint and continued to mix it around again with her magic. The smell that had begun spreading around in my house, along with the warmth of the growing fire in the living room was really calming to me, and I could actually feel the Hearth's Warming feeling once again enter my mind.

That feeling used to come much more frequently when I was a child, though I guess that was because I was always around my parents. I could only really get that good feeling when I had other ponies and my mom around and... I haven't had much of that for a while. Since my mother lived so far away now, we could only see each other a couple of times every year. Hearth's Warming is one of them, and maybe one of the mandatory vacations or national holidays.

I shook my head to clear it of any thoughts before any unpleasant memories surfaced, and I noticed that Sugar had already removed her pan and put it on a dishcloth on the counter. She turned to me for confirmation, and I gave her a thumbs up and a sideways smile before starting on the scrambled eggs. Not so hard when ya try.

I added some Yak-yak masala with the lingering grease of the onions and mixed it around with my wooden spatula in the pan. Next, I grabbed a small bowl, quickly cracked open a few eggs, and added them to it before whisking it around to blend it into a yellow soup.

Sugar had started to set the small kitchen table for us with her magic and had somehow managed to leave her magic on in the sink, and I was now watching the frying pan she had used wash itself with a dish brush.

I poured the egg mixture into the pan and started frying it. "Hey, how do you do that?" I nodded towards the sink.

"What do you mean?" She asked while levitating some utensils out of a drawer nearby.

"How do you keep your magic going like that when you're not paying attention to it?"

She looked over at it, and her mouth made an 'o'. She shrugged. "Idunno, it's kinda hard to explain. I guess you could say it's like winding up a music box to a specific motion, and it just kind of goes until it runs out."

Holy damn, what? The things they don't teach you at school as a non-pony... I laughed and continued to stir the eggs. "Fuck me... Unicorns rule the world."

She snorted at that and continued her task. "You'd best believe it."

The eggs had now become spongey and stained with the spices I had added. Perfect. I then grabbed the pan that Sugar had placed off to the side and put it together in a large mixture before blending it.

By the time I was done, Sugar had already finished her job at the table and was now pouring us some pineapple juice. I opened my large bread box resting at the back of the counter and retrieved a small bag from inside that held some Naan bread I had picked up from one of my neighboring businesses just down the road from my restaurant. I need to re-stock on these. I thought as I took note there were only a few left. This is enough for now, though.

I dumped everything into a bowl and carried it to the table, bringing the bread with me. Sugar sat down on the chair, and I saw a look of hunger flash across her face. I then suddenly noticed that she still had some red stains on her coat on her neck, now that I could see with actual lights.

"Looks like we didn't get everything off yesterday," I pointed at my own neck as an example. She frowned, touched her neck, and looked at her hoof, thinking it would bring back any stains. I shook my head. "We'll eat first."

She nodded, and I placed the bowl of food on the table between our plates and put one piece of Naan bread on each of our plates while she looked on and licked her lips. I got some yogurt from the fridge that we would use to glue it all together and add some extra flavor to it.

"Goodness, this is making my mouth water... don't mind me." She said as she used her magic to spoon herself several helpings of food and placed it on her bread. She then used a teaspoon to add some yogurt and rolled up her bread.

I did the same. Now then...

"So..." I started, finally given some time to actually talk to her.

She looked at me and frowned as she took a small bite out of the food to avoid causing any pain to her lip.

"About yesterday," I continued, waiting for her to react to what I was saying. She stopped chewing her food, and her frown had morphed into a sad one.

"What about it?" She asked, her voice breaking a little. I pointed at the spot between my own lips and nose with a finger.

"How's that feeling?" I asked.

She shrugged. "It's better. It's not throbbing anymore, but it feels a little swollen." She mumbled as she softly touched a hoof to the band-aid covering her wound. She winced at the touch, apparently still hurting a little. It was pretty fresh, after all. She looked back at me and her look from last night returned. "Thank you, by the way. I know I already said it, but... yeah. Thanks."

I nodded while taking a large bite out of my food as I continued to watch her. I thought back to last night. She spent some time crying before she tried to get some sleep, and at one point, it had gotten so bad that I needed to sit on the bed and pet her to get her to relax. I really wasn't enjoying seeing her like this. While this was a first, I have noticed her becoming more distant in the last few months. She would frequently look more downbeat and upset about something, and right now, it's clear what it was.

"I wanna know what you're thinking. I can't help you if you won't let me." I offered.

She shifted uncomfortably and brushed some of her fiery orange mane out of her eyes and pinned it behind her ear. I started to eat my own food while waiting for her to respond. "I... What do you want me to say?"

I sank my food down with a helping of pineapple juice. "Well, I want you to say a lot of things. And knowing you, some of those things might not be on your terms. I am not letting you go back there for now, though." I said sternly. "I haven't seen it this bad between you two before. Can I ask what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

I frowned and insisted further. "I'm not going to get you in trouble, Sugar. You know I won't."

"I don't want to talk about what happened, not right now." She said, putting her hooves to her head and rubbing her face. "I didn't want to ask you if I could stay longer because I didn't want to impose on you, but since you're offering, I'll take it." She said, hiding behind her hooves. She's afraid. Things haven't gotten this bad before, then.

I nodded at that and took another sip of my juice. "You're not imposing, but I'm glad I don't have to force you to stay. When you're ready, I'll walk you back home."

She sighed, looking past her hooves up at me. We looked at each other for a long time, daring the other to look away. She didn't last long under my stern gaze before looking down at her food. "Okay."

I stood up from my seat and crossed the distance between us before bending down to be at eye level with her. "I'm not dropping this. One way or another, we're going to figure this out. And don't tell me it's none of my business; you made it my business by collapsing into my house last night."

She hid again. "I wasn't going to say that..."

I cupped her cheek and gently tried to make her look at me again, but she refused. I put a hand on her back instead. "You know that even if you hadn't come running into my house late at night, I still would have dropped everything I was doing if I had heard about this."

She finally looked up at me again, and her lip quivered as she blinked back some tears and nodded. She seemed deep in thought and looked conflicted between talking to me and keeping quiet. I could only guess what kind of horrid shit Cog's been telling her and making her shut up about, but I wasn't going to sit here and imagine fictional scenarios that I knew nothing about. For now, I'd let her eat her breakfast.

One thing I did know, I would not let this slide. Sugar Plum might be a bit of an oddball, but she's my oddball. I looked at her band-aid. No matter what happens to your marriage, what I'm looking at right now should never, ever, happen.

The thought of someone fucking up their loved ones like this made me want to storm out my door barefoot and walk across the freezing city to give Cog a piece of my mind.

No. I can't do that to Sugar. I have to be the adult one here. I sighed and suppressed the feeling of anger that came over me. A skill I had gotten quite good at. Headaches were the result. Speaking of, one just popped up.

---

After finishing our slightly awkward breakfast, we cleaned up and made our way into the living room. Sugar did the dishes while I prepared some hot chocolate for us to enjoy. I gave her extra marshmallows and whipped cream as a treat for taking my advice and staying over. She was like a filly on Hearth's Warming Eve; it was like nothing had ever happened.

I had just gone over to tend to the fire before I heard three very firm knocks on my front door. My head whipped around at the noise. Sugar had already vanished into my bedroom before I even saw her move. Shit, I didn't know he knew where I lived.

I was unsure how to proceed. I could just open the window next to the door and tell him to fuck off, but that might make things worse between him and Sugar. I had an anti-unicorn lock active, which would send a signal to the central that installed it if it was ever broken, letting them know it had been forced open with magic. If that happened, local law enforcement would be dispatched immediately, so I wasn't worried about that.

I was worried about causing a scene. I was worried about him trying to collect Sugar, and I don't think she'd be brave enough to refuse him in the state she was in. I was worried about containing my anger and many other things, and I would never have enough time to figure them all out while standing here, so I swallowed thickly before walking steadily toward my door.

Once again, I heard three sharp knocks on my door while I was walking. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," I said loud enough to be heard through the door.

Standing in front of my door, I took a deep breath. I then reached down my hand, grasped the handle, unlocked it, and pulled.

I was half expecting to be shanked by a unicorn horn, tackled, or blasted by magic, but that didn't happen. I looked down at the pony in front of me, and my brow went up. Well, I wasn't expecting that.

Instead of seeing Cog's nasty face on the other side, I was met with a pegasus I had never seen before. A pegasus in armor. Dark, lavender armor.

The guard stiffened at attention and spoke very clearly. "Good morning, sir. I am here as a courier for her highness Princess Luna." He said as he pulled a scroll out of his saddlebags. My brow went up as he hoofed it over to me, and I took it. Luna sent him?

"I... uh, Thank you?" I said, almost as a question. He nodded and turned around to take off, but I stopped him. "Wait! Uh, what is this?" I asked as I held up the scroll, unsure what to do with it.

He looked somewhat confused and cleared his throat. "It is a letter, sir. Her Majesty wished for you to receive it this morning. I recommend you read it."

I closed my mouth, which had been slowly opening, and looked down at the scroll. I noticed the seal on the scroll was a very detailed sun with many swirly lines lining it. Snorting in disbelief, I turned back to the guard and nodded. "Thanks, I'll do that."

He nodded and turned again before flying off towards the castle. I looked at him fly off for a bit before a cold breeze hit my body, and I shivered, retreating inside my house again and closing my door before locking it.

From inside, I heard Sugar speak up. "Who was that?" Her head poked out from my bedroom door.

I held up the scroll for her to see and smirked as I walked back into the living room. "Royal Guard. Luna sent me mail, I think."

Her eyes widened, and she stepped out fully. "Wow. You two made pen pals already?"

I shrugged and smirked at her. "Yeah, looks like it. Jealous?"

She blew a raspberry at me, but it wasn't very effective due to her injury. "Well, what does it say?"

I sat down on the couch, and Sugar hopped up next to me as I fiddled with the seal. I pulled it slightly, and it came off with a small 'tck'. I then unrolled the scroll and read it out loud as Sugar looked over my shoulder.

Dearest Jean,

I once again wanted to thank you for our lovely time spent together.
I hope this letter safely reached your home in Canterlot, as I spent
quite some time last night searching for your address in the archives.
It seems I had forgotten to equip you with a means to prove your invitation
to the castle's guards to be valid. Please, forgive me.

Attached to this scroll, you will find a pin only given to ambassadors and
politicians who frequent the castle for day court. However, it should work
all the same for you to enter as you please. I have also given you a note
stamped with my sister's emblem to ensure you are escorted to my chambers.

I look forward to seeing you again, my friend. Please, do not be a stranger!

-Luna

P.S. My sister is writing this letter for you to better understand.

I gawked at the scroll's content, reading it several times before something clicked in my mind. Holy fuck, dude, Princess Celestia wrote this letter! My attention was driven away when I saw a small pin sticking out of the scroll. It was in the shape of Princess Celestia's cutie mark, the sun, and it was golden and shiny. So I'd guess... it was probably worth a few bits.

Right under it was a pinned, folded note. I removed it and opened it, revealing a very official-looking stamp of Princess Celestia's cutie mark and writing that circled it, which said 'Equestrian International'. Well, I guess that solves my problem with how I was supposed to get in. I mused, still sort of flabbergasted at the sudden turn my life had taken.

I heard Sugar chuckle near my ear. "Oh my gosh, look at that thing! Do you realize what that means? Princess Celestia herself wrote this on Princess Luna's behalf!" She shook my shoulder with a hoof. "That's insane, Jean!"

I looked over my shoulder at her, still holding the pin in my hand and feeling its smooth surface. I nodded dumbly and turned my head back to look at the pin, and an idea entered my mind. "Well, now I know what we're doing today."

"We?" Sugar asked.

I turned to her again with my best evil grin. "Yes, we. I'm going to the castle, and you're coming with me."

Comments

[Cinnarowe]

11443624
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

[StarzGecko]

Oh nice new chapter. Huh I guess the dream was a memory of his marefriend which now sounds like… she isn’t around anymore

Time to help the Sugar

[WoomyWobble]

Oh, you'd best continue this! Restaurant stories are always the greatest. Betya that Luna ain't suffering no wife beating fools. Great and interesting story so far. Good characters and all that.

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

Happy early Hearth's Warming Cinnarowe.

I work foodservice as a day job, but sadly nothing as refined as what Jean gets to do, sadly no Princesses in my immediate future
It can get pretty hectic at times.

I also do a bit of cooking at home, my specialty though is more in line with Sugar Plum's, I'm the unofficial baker of the family. yesterday I made some brownies to take over to a sick church member, but they stuck to the pan so at the advice of my stepdad I turned it into a trifle.

As to the story, I'm curious as to this mystery Marefriend of his dream, and I'm interested to see how he handles the invite, some of the palace officials/chefs are likely to be rather fussy about visitors to say it politely. As to Cog, he better pray to Faust that this is a mental issue that can be helped with some therapy or counseling. If he's just using Sugar as his "I'm mad make me a #$%^&* sandwich" then I will think very strong words.

[Emtu]

11444502
I would not be surprised if Luna had to be physically held back from taking off (by multiple guards, naturally) and kicking that guy's ass as soon as she heard about it.

[Shadowshame]

Very nice story so far I’ve got some anticipation for what’s next

[Green121]

I wonder if Jean's parents have a food related background. If yes, then who did he learn after, his human mother or his pony father?

[Lunar eclipse airsoft]

More pls
Great story so far i approve
Greatly

[ibanix]

Glad to see more, here are a few noticed “oops”:

> She flinched when. I flicked ger horn with my middle finger and went cross-eyed for a few seconds.

. to , and ger to her

… actually that was all I noticed.

Please, friend, make this a story that doesn’t go on for 20 chapters and then go on hiatus. This is a good one. Give it the full due.

[Cinnarowe]

11444502
Thanks, working on more chapters as we speak!

11444693
A happy early holidays for you as well, friend. It does indeed get hectic! I also get my pastry practice in good around the holidays, as well as preparing our holiday dinner which takes a lot of time to prepare!! Better get cookin'

11444925
11445175
Very happy you're enjoying it, thanks!

[Airy Words]

Jean's extreme focus on food preparation sounds very much like a cutie mark talent. Also, if the dream was a memory from when he was twenty-three, how many years have passed until the present day? Developing the cooking and business skills to run a successful restaurant takes time. Is Jean now thirty-five years old?

The dream raises questions. Was it a memory? Or a fantasy? Was it the repurposed dream of someone else?

[SuperBattlePony]

Am I the only one bothered when fics have ponies eating eggs?

[Totally Not A Pony]

11450169
Gotta have eggs for most baked goods, which ponies are decidedly shown to enjoy even in canon...

But to answer your question, probably not. I think it’s not much of a stretch to imagine ponies as essentially ovo-lacto vegetarians rather than adherents to a strictly vegan diet (and I can even shrug and just roll with those fanfics that add fish as an occasional delicacy of pegasi in particular), but that’s just me and mileages will undoubtedly vary.

[Cinnarowe]

11450169
Been a while since I watched the show but I'm pretty sure they eat eggs canonically, especially seeing as Pinkie lives in a bakery.

[redandready45]

Sugar had started to set the small kitchen table for us with her magic and had somehow managed to leave her magic on in the sink, and I was now watching the frying pan she had used wash itself with a dish brush.

Yeah, this image would be incredible for someone who never experienced magic before.

Jean is moving up in the world, isn't he?

[Zepher]

11495933
And to think he's only been there since before he was born. Just gets you all tier eyed doesn't.

[Zepher]

11453781
They do.