Chapter 5 - Consumption
Lyra walked back in an hour later with a paper bag floating in behind her and another in her teeth.
“So, before we start,” she said, “what do I do with these extra grapes to make the raisins you mentioned?”
“Raisins, right. Just leave the extra grapes outside in the sun.”
“What?! They’ll go bad.”
“Yes, in a manner of speaking. They’ll dry out. But they’ll still be good to eat, and they’ll last longer. Humans throughout history would dry fruits to make them last for the winters.”
“But why? If you ran out of fruit, why not just wrap up winter and grow more?”
There were, in some cases, a deep cultural divide between us. A beautiful divide.
“We can’t. Winter in my world comes and goes when it wants, and we can’t do anything about it.”
“Golly! Your whole world’s like some planetary Everfree Forest! Oh, you poor dears!”
“We’re used to it. And we’ve some terrific patchwork solutions. Trust me, when you eat those dried grapes in a month, you’ll find it’s an entirely new taste.”
We went into the kitchen. Knives, cutting boards, bowls, and other implements were extracted from cabinets. She even had a cute chef’s hat for me.
“Let’s start with the celery. Wash the stalks and then I’ll chop them up fine.” I said.
I held some stalks on the board and started making slices. Lyra stared at my work.
“Hands really are so much better than hooves, aren’t they?” She looked down at her own hoof, seemingly disappointed.
“While I’m doing this, can you peel some of the apples?”
Lyra’s horn glowed. A knife flew up and hovered in the air. One of the apples floated out of the bag and sailed toward the knife, turning as it went, a long peel unfolding off.
“Magic is much better than hands if you ask me,” I said. “And you’re in no danger of cutting yourself.” I turned to keep my eyes on my work.
I dumped the celery pieces into two bowls that would hold the finished product. “All right, let me have the peeled apples, and I’ll cut them up into bite-sized pieces.”
I’d always been proud of my skill at knife-work in the kitchen, though that peeling technique she showed made me ready to throw away my cutting boards. Still, apples are soft and slicing them up is easy once you’ve got the cores out, and if you do it fast it looks like a conjuring trick or like juggling.
“Magic is commonplace. Watching you do that, it’s just so. . . cool!” said Lyra.
“I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” I replied. Apparently they don’t have a lot of aphorisms in Equestria, or at least they’re not like ours. She cracked up laughing.
“Oh, that’s clever! Because if you went to the other side, then that side wouldn’t be the other side any more, it’d be your side, and the other side which was your side would now be the other side, and by that rule the grass would be greener!”
“You’ve got it! So, let’s work the division of labor here. I’ll use my fabulously dexterous hands to pluck the grapes off the vines and separate the yolks from the eggs, and you can use your powerful and impervious hooves to shell the walnuts while your magical horn squeezes the juice from the lemons without getting any seeds in it.”
We looked into each other’s eyes, and for a moment just held the gaze. I’d never felt this close to a human, and I could see that she’d never connected with other ponies like this either.
As I whipped the egg yolks, oil, and lemon juice into an improvised homemade mayonnaise to serve as dressing, I thought again how incredible this situation was. I knew this was going to be the best meal I’d ever had, irrespective of the taste of the food.
“All right, we’ve got all the ingredients mixed, let’s just stir this in and then we can eat it.”
She looked askance at the dressing. From what I gathered, ponies didn’t go in much for sauces and dressings. Well, I might change that, at least for this pony.
I also didn’t know exactly how they ate. Forks and spoons? Strap on a feedbag? I figured I’d hand her the bowl and see what happened. She looked into it, still a little doubtful, then made her horn glow and floated up a piece of celery.
“Try to get all the things at once,” I said. “That’s the key to this dish.”
She concentrated harder, and more of the salad rose toward her mouth. She chewed slowly.
“Oh! It’s good! It’s sweet but like in more than one way and crunchy in more than one way too, and I’d never have thought that that egg sauce thing would tie it all together like this!”
I didn’t have a horn, but I think I managed to glow myself a bit. I was grinning from ear to ear. I’d so rarely had occasion to cook for others.
She still hadn’t set out any way for me to eat, but I figured the mirror image concept again. I picked up a handful of the salad and brought it to my mouth. I was getting dressing on my hands, but I'd wash it off when it was over. It wasn’t worth ruining the moment. We finished about half of what we had set out, when we wordlessly agreed that we weren’t hungry anymore. I walked over to the sink and started to rinse my hands. Lyra got up and walked over to me.
“Wait. Please. Let me.”
A washcloth floated to the tap and soaked itself, then gently began scrubbing the mayo from my hands. I held them still and let her do as she liked. She looked me in the eye, and it struck me that she was girding herself and summoning her courage.
Hesitantly, she said, “Please. . . can I touch them? I—I’ll understand if you say no, but it’s just that I’ve been dreaming and working at this for so long, and now that you’re here and they’re right in front of me—“
I threw down the washcloth and wiped my hands as fast as I could, on my own body. Not dry, but not dripping. Then I put my right hand on her cheek.
She gasped, and her eyes went wide, but then she understood and closed them. She rubbed her head softly back and forth, and I tried to spread my fingers as far as possible so she could feel the separation.
After a moment or two, I said softly, “Then. . . may I touch your horn? I haven’t worked at it, you’ve done all the work, but I have dreamed, oh how I’ve dreamed.”
She opened her eyes slowly, and they said yes so that she didn’t have to. I reached out with my left hand, and what it felt like I really can’t describe. It was soft and hard and warm and cool all at the same time, and if that doesn’t make sense then I can only think it’s because of the magic. I imagine Lyra will have the same difficulty explaining the feel of five fingers if she ever writes her own narrative.
It was a perfect moment. All my over-analysis and neuroses, and all Lyra’s fears about being a human-lover in a pony-centric world were gone.
Which is why it hurt so much when the garden door opened right then, and Bon-bon trotted in, already speaking.
“Hey, Lyra dear, I came back early because it—WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT?!”
We heard fear and rage, both in one scream, then she tore out of the house and slammed the door, and both Lyra and I had backed off from each other. We had gone from an ideal moment of joy to an ideal moment of dread, just like that.
Stats
Page generated in 0.058 seconds
Total duration
813 users online
1,027,896 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
SHIT.JUST.GOT.REAL.
I LOVE this story. Keep it coming!
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shits about to go down
under ground
]
[ok that was crappy keep um coming
Dam-it Bon-Bon don't you know how to knock.
OH SHIT DAWG!
static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/facilierohcrap_7996.JPG
Ahahahahaaa! This is great. Keep it up, I'm really enjoying this story so far. I can't wait for more.
One love bro you're an awesome writer can you give any tips I was going to write a mlp halo crossover (not violent) and wondered what you have to say
Thanks so much to all you bronies/pegasisters for your praise/shock.
174472
I've never played the Halo, but I would say two things: One, be strict in your proofreading; nothing takes a reader out of the story more than a language error. Two: write what you know. With the games I have played, I always have funny or odd anecdotes about things that happened in the game that I didn't expect. Maybe put one of those in the story.
Awesome story! Keep up the great work
LOL
173991
its her own house, why would she?
Alright, I chose to read the two chapters, and so worth it. Good night, everyBrony and Pegasister!
I've read this fic 3 times already, JUST in anticipation for chapter 6. Oh, why isn't it out yet?!
Pardon me a moment... Okay... had to make sure my heart hadn't stopped. In the words of M.Night Shyamalan: "What a twist!" Right back to the grind come along Pinkie. Okay! Oh cookies! Can we get some? Fine... they cost 5 stars though. Enjoy them. Okie dokey lokey! "And that's how Camlio five stared that story!" Uh... Pinkie. What the hay are you talking about?
By any chance did he make her a Waldorf salad? It has the raisins, the mayo, the apples, the wally-nuts, and the celery. I spy a Waldorf. :D
Damn me and my slight knowledge of diseases.
565401
Huh?
BON BON NOOOO!
Oh dayum
I know the one thought that would go through my head...
...Fuck...
BON BON YOU KILLED THE MOMEN
AND THE SHITSTORM BEGINS!!!!!
I personally thought bonbon would be like "Hay Lyra... I'm drunk. Not gonna hang out with Berry Punch anymore that's for sure!"
2783748 lol
The soft but hard I understand form certain different things but without the hard you would get what touching a baby penguin feels like.
2934650 Wish I could touch a penguin.
2971773 I wish I could touch an otter!
those weasely buggers are friggen adorable 
I wish I could touch a frog.
Because frogs.
This picture describes what I'm feeling.
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTqX9dUbnjhT_gJuCf6V5OFNnfj40aX4NODF7-5s8dKYmU0Ktlm-g
OH SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!
OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When you were touching Lyra's horn, this is all I thought:
i.imgur.com/yWA4S01.gif
And:
31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lspwymuvGv1r3xauuo1_500.png
Ahem...
CALLED IT!!!
That is all.
Is it bad that my first reaction to somepony saying "WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT?" would be to chomp a cigar and say, A big, ugly, hairless ape. got a problem with that?
5722086 no it is a nice reaction
Lyra's Being so sweet... Dawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww....Man earth sucks why can't I get pulled into Equestria by a sweet and cute mare?
Saw that coming a mile away :l
6712951 Join the club