Chapter 7: Culinary Discussions
Roses are Red: Chapter 7
The sun was dipping below the tree tops on the far side of the Everfree Forest, plunging the entire land of Equestria into an orange and yellow haze. Lakes and rivers shimmered and reflected the sunlight, while the many red rooftops of Canterlot darkened. Even the clouds in the distance hanging over the everfree were touched by the sun’s light, shifting and changing colors to all sorts of beautiful oranges and pinks.
Ponies stood out on the balconies of their houses or apartments and looked on at the pulchritudinous spectacle that lay before them, taking one last look at the marvelous ball of gas before it descended from view for the night. “Oh’s” and “ah’s” whispered throughout the Canterlot city streets, further proving the awe that had stricken everypony who saw their sovereign princess’s sun. The entire world had almost stopped for this one glorious moment.
Lilo and Carbon stood on Carbon’s apartment balcony, joining the hundreds of thousands of other ponies who were staring at the sun. Lilo had changed into her Rosebud disguise again in the chance that somepony should spot her changeling form by happenstance from the street or another apartment. Her mouth hung slightly agape, and her wings were flared to their fullmost size.
“Are sunset’s like this often here in Canterlot?” Lilo asked, refusing to look away from the sun.
“Not as often as some of us may like,” Carbon replied, staring straight ahead as well, “but then if these marvels were not a rarity, would we no longer think they are beautiful?”
Lilo thought for a moment, folding her wings back against her body. “I guess we wouldn’t. Something like this should be savored, not exploited.”
Carbon nodded his head. “We think something is truly beautiful because of the uniqueness and authenticity that it displays, not because of the aesthetic appeal it stirs within our hearts.” He looked at Lilo. “Nothing can wear beauty as a mask, for doing so would bring about a vileness that is improper and unnecessary.”
Lilo turned her head, her eyes locking with Carbon’s. An unexplainable feeling shivered through her spine, but the feeling was warm rather than cold. Her heart fluttered in her chest, but only for a moment as Carbon looked away again to catch one last glimpse of the sun before it descended behind the everfree tree tops. They stayed a while longer, gazing off of the balcony as Luna’s moon rose behind them, until Carbon sighed.
“I think it’s time we head back inside before it gets cold,” he said, turning and trotting for the sliding door. “Let’s get dinner going, I’m starving.”
“I’ll be right with you!” Lilo replied, watching as Carbon disappeared back into the apartment. A strange yet familiar fragrance hung in the air around Lilo, but she could not quite put her hoof on where she remembered this smell. It was thin and nearly odorless, yet when she finally made for the sliding door, she felt there was a slight spring in her step.
Lilo entered the apartment to the sound of pots and pans clanging around in the kitchen, as well as the heavenly aroma of the sauce Carbon had been cooking all day. She skipped into the kitchen and stopped, watching as Carbon set a rather large pan down on top of the kitchen counter. Around the pan were all the assorted ingredients that were going to be added to the lasagne aside from the sauce, which still sat on one of the burners on the stove. She slowly walked over to him and he stepped aside, making enough room so that she could stand in front of the pan.
With a small smile on his face, Carbon asked, “How would you like to put together dinner tonight?”
Lilo’s disguise dropped, and she gazed at Carbon. “You want me to make us dinner?”
“Why not?” Carbon said with a shrug.
Lilo turned back to the pan with a wide grin stretched across her face. “Where do I begin?”
Carbon sidled up next to Lilo, looking over her shoulder. He pointed to the strips of fringed noodles.
“You’re first going to want to cover the bottom of the pan in a layer of those,” he said.
Over the course of fifteen minutes, Carbon explained to Lilo the steps of how he made his lasagne. After the bottom of the pan had been covered by the first layer of the fringed noodles, he then had her add the mixture of the ricotta cheese and the spinach, using the entire bowl and spreading it evenly over the noodles. Next she placed another layer of fringed noodles on top of the ricotta cheese mixture, followed by pouring a lot of the sauce over the second layer of noodles. After placing a third layer of noodles onto the sauce, Lilo finished off the lasagne casserole by coating the top with a thick layer of mozzarella cheese. She stepped back and gazed at her creation.
“This looks better than my usual creation,” Carbon said, smirking.
Lilo beamed. “Does it really?”
“It does, really,” Carbon replied. “Let’s get this into the oven. It will take forty five minutes to cook.”
Lilo stepped aside and watched as Carbon picked up the pan in his teeth and brought it over to the oven. He placed the pan inside on the top rack and shut the over. He then pressed a few buttons on the panel on top of the stove, changing the heat and setting the timer for when the lasagne should be ready. Lilo winced at the beeps that came from the stove.
“Alright, so, forty five minutes,” Carbon said after he had pressed the start button. “C’mon, let’s go find something to do until then.”
They walked into the living room and took their places on both couches. Carbon lay down on the couch that faced the fireplace while Lilo took the other couch. They both sat in silence for a while, fumbling at their hooves or glancing at each other occasionally. Carbon tilted his head and cleared his throat.
“So, uh, where are you from?” Carbon asked. “I heard you mention something about the Broken Leylands?”
Lilo’s ears perked up and she glanced at Carbon. “You want to know more about me?” she asked. “W-why?”
“I’ve spoken quite a bit about myself,” Carbon mused, bring a hoof up to his chin, “but I haven’t heard you talk about yourself at all.” He paused, watching as Lilo looked away from him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t-”
“No, I... I should tell you, or somepony,” Lilo said quietly. She took a deep breath. “As you have probably heard, the Broken Leylands is a desolate plain of nothing but desert and rocky chasms. There are a few cities out there, but the cities are all protected by massive twenty meter walls so that they could keep the bandits that roamed the deserts out. No laws truly existed out there unless you happened to be in one of the cities; it was everypony for themselves.
“Well, I was born out there.” Lilo paused, shifting on the couch. “My mother gave birth to me while our... hive was moving from one city to the next. Apparently we had been driven out when our camp had been discovered by the city we were feeding off of, so the hive was moving to another city in the hopes that they could secure a better source of food there. Needless to say that many of the changelings in our hive were starving and living off the scraps of love our scouts brought back; my mother was no exception.”
Lilo looked up at Carbon. “She died giving birth to me. She didn’t have much strength left after I had been born so she let go and passed on.” Lilo looked away again towards the map of Equestria. “I was raised by one of the broodmothers from then on, along with several other changelings who had also been orphaned by their parents.”
“What about your father?” Carbon asked.
“I never had a father,” Lilo said. “Changelings aren’t well known for keeping families. The mother is usually the one who raises the offspring, and once the offspring are old enough they are separated from their mother. It keeps attachments minimal between each other, and also teaches us that we cannot grow attached to our... well, our food.” Lilo flinched.
“Oh,” Carbon said, looking down at his hooves. The room remained silent for a moment before he asked, “What happened after that?”
“I grew up to be a broodmother myself,” Lilo replied. “We traveled across the Broken Leylands for years, constantly being driven away from potential sources of food by the city guards. They were on high alert since our discovery during that first city, and we had been pushed back towards Equestria. Eventually the Queen made a desperate break for the nation, pushing our hive to the limit so that we could escape our pursuers.” Lilo sniffed and added quietly, “Although, for some, she pushed the hive beyond their limit.”
The room fell silent again as Lilo continued to stare at the floor. She heard the couch Carbon was resting on squeak, but she didn’t pay attention when Carbon’s hoofsteps thumping quietly on the carpet, assuming he was walking back to the kitchen. Lilo closed her eyes are sighed. She heard the hoofsteps stop and felt the couch cushion next to her deflate, and after looking up, she saw that Carbon had taken a seat next to her. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t move away from him when he extended one of his wings around her back.
“I’m not sure what to say,” Carbon said, sighing. “I don’t think there is anything to say. What you have been through, I just can’t imagine it.”
Carbon tensed when he felt Lilo lay her head up against his neck. He looked down, seeing Lilo’s eyes watering.
“I have only known what it is like to be hungry and live in despair,” Lilo whimpered. “For years I have watched as changelings around me collapse from exhaustion and starvation, for years I have watched the changelings I was meant to raise die because they didn’t get the nourishment they needed. I spared them all of my own love reserves I could, but it was never enough.” She closed her eyes and pushed her face more against Carbon’s neck. “We came and we saw Canterlot, we thought all of our worries had ended, only now we are more broken and scattered than before.”
Carbon wrapped one of his forehooves around the back of Lilo’s neck, holding her closer to himself while she broke down into hysterical sobs. His own heart felt heavy as he listened to the crying changeling next to him, and a few tears of his own came to his eyes. He looked down at Lilo, and he rested his cheek down on top of her forehead, careful not to poke himself with her horn.
The changelings had marched upon Canterlot in an attempt to feed themselves with the love that they desperately needed, only to be repelled quickly after the invasion had happened. Why they had not come to Princess Celestia and asked for help was unknown, but now the changelings were being rounded up and taken to Canterlot Castle for who knows what reason. More so, any changelings within the city were unable to contact each other through their “hive mind” because of some magical field that had been thrown up around Canterlot. Carbon held Lilo closer.
When the first beeps from the oven echoed throughout the apartment, Lilo’s sobs had long since subsided, and both she and Carbon were sitting silently on the couch. Carbon nudged Lilo, causing her to look up at him. Darkened streaks from where her tears had fallen down her cheeks still stained her chitin.
“Feeling better?” Carbon asked, giving Lilo a slight smile.
Lilo nodded her head.
“Still want to eat?”
Lilo thought for a moment, then nodded her head again. Carbon lifted himself from the couch.
“Well, that was the timer for the lasagne going off,” Carbon said. “Let’s get it out of the oven and eat.”
Carbon trotted to the kitchen, quickly followed by Lilo after she had risen from the couch. He opened the oven and, grabbing a rag between his teeth, took the pan and moved it onto one of the burners above the stove. Looking over the edges of the lasagne to see if any part was burned, he then took a knife from one of the drawers and cut into the lasagne.
“Hey Lilo,” Carbon said, still cutting the lasagne. “Do you think you could get me two plates from the cabinet?”
Lilo hastily took two plates from the cabinet and set them down next to Carbon. She meekly scraped one of her forehooves against the floor. “Carbon, do you think the changelings were wrong for invading Canterlot?”
Carbon stopped cutting the lasagne. After a moment, he set the knife down and faced Lilo. “I... don’t blame them, Lilo. I do, however, question their actions. Why didn’t Queen Chrysalis come to Princess Celestia and ask for help in the first place?”
“I don’t know,” Lilo said, looking away. “She wouldn’t tell us anything once we were approaching Canterlot, and she became increasingly more quiet and agitated as the day of our invasion was approaching. Noling knew what the matter was, only that she seemed to be harboring some sort of resentment towards both Celestia and Luna.”
Carbon had cut two pieces of the lasagne and placed them on the plates. “But her ponies were starving. Why would she sacrifice them rather than help them?”
Lilo trotted after Carbon as he took the plates to the small table in the corner of the kitchen. “I don’t know, Carbon. It... It was completely unlike her to openly attack a city like she did.” Lilo sat down in front of her plate of food. “I never knew she had such a dark side to her leadership. I remember the time when she came to visit me and the foals I was raising. I watched her has she played for hours with the foals, watching her laugh as they wrestled and nipped at her with their tiny fangs. It was adorable and... motherly.”
Carbon took a bite of his lasagne, remaining silent as Lilo continued, “From that moment on there was without a doubt that Queen Chrysalis cared deeply for all of her subjects. I wasn’t the first broodmother she had visited, and I wasn’t the last either. She never allowed for the scouts to give her more love than any other changeling, and when times were tough, she would refuse love entirely so that the weaker could survive a bit longer.”
Carbon looked down at his food, less interested in the prospect of eating. Lilo had begun eating, however, and her eyes widened when she put the first piece of lasagne in her mouth. She devoured her piece of lasagne quickly to Carbon’s amazement. He had only taken four bites of his own by the time Lilo had finished. She was busy licking the leftover sauce and cheese on the plate when she notice Carbon was staring at her.
“Can I have some more?” Lilo asked.
“Uh, sure,” Carbon said. “You have something on your lips.”
Lilo’s tongue licked around her entire muzzle before she trotted over to the pan of lasagne and cut herself a massive piece. She was almost skipping back to the table, and after she had set her plate down, she went straight to devouring this piece as well. By the time Carbon had finished with his piece, Lilo was licking her own plate again for whatever scraps were left.
“I won’t need to wash the plate if you keep that up,” Carbon said with a smirk.
Lilo stopped licking the plate and hastily sat up straight. Her tongue was still moving along her teeth inside of her mouth.
“Sorry,” Lilo said, blushing. “It was really, um, delicious.”
“You are feeling better as well,” Carbon observed, rising from his seat and carrying his plate over to the sink.
Lilo quickly followed Carbon, taking her plate with her. She set her plate down next to the sink and said, “Yes, the food was so good that I forgot about everything else.”
“That’s good,” Carbon said, turning the sink on and rinsing both plates. “Hey, Lilo, can you go and make sure that the front door to the apartment is locked?”
Lilo turned to make for the apartment door, but she stopped suddenly and looked behind her. “Didn’t I already see you lock the front door earlier?”
“I don’t remember,” Carbon said nonchalantly.
Lilo shrugged and trotted over to the apartment door. She noted that the door was, in fact, locked, and so she turned back around and walked back to the kitchen. She halted in the doorway to the kitchen, however, when she spotted Carbon waiting for her with two plates, each holdings a strange looking pastry. Lilo slowly stepped over to the table, eyeing the pastries.
“What are those?” Lilo asked, pointing to the plates.
“It’s apple strudel,” Carbon replied, smiling.
Lilo raised one of her eyebrows. “What is ‘apple strudel?’ “
“Wait, you have never had apple strudel?” Carbon asked, shocked. Lilo looked down at her hooves, causing Carbon to cringe inwardly. “Right, uh, well, they are probably one of the best kind of pastries out there. Try one.”
Lilo leaned forward and took a bite of one of the pastries. Her eyes lit up, and in the next second she had completely devoured the apple strudel in a couple of bites. Carbon chuckled and pushed his plate in front of her.
“Here, you take mine,” he said, walking over to a box that sat next to the oven. “I’ll just get another.” He paused before grabbing another strudel out of the box. “Oh, and try to savor it, Lilo. I’m predicting that you are already going to have a stomach ache tonight, no need to make it worse.”
Lilo’s tongue had been slowly sliding underneath the pastry when she stopped at looked back at Carbon. She sucked her tongue back into her mouth and grinned sheepishly, taking the plate and moving it so she was sitting across the table from Carbon, who sat down with his own plate. She slowly ate the second apple strudel, shooting a few glances at Carbon to watch how he ate his strudel.
“Do you think I’ll really get a stomach ache?” Lilo asked once they had both finished their strudel.
“Probably,” Carbon replied. “I haven’t seen a pony with such a... small stature eat so much so fast before.”
Lilo pouted. “Small?”
“Well, you are smaller than most mares I have met,” Carbon said with a shrug.
“I’ll show-” Lilo stopped as she felt something catch in her throat. Her stomach twisted, and after bringing a hoof up to her mouth, she bolted for the bathroom down the hall. Carbon watched as she sped away, and only seconds later he heard her heave into the toilet. He sighed and rose from the table, trotting after her to make sure she was alright.
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TY for another great chapter.
2523401
You're quite welcome.
Cheers mate.
i.imgur.com/IgSoNwV.jpg
Being a changeling is often hard.
2523626
That made my night. Thanks.
I'd like to think that Lilo is the the victim in this chapter, but then I imagine how the toilet must feel...
This is going in my library of philosophy. That is the kind of deep shit I like to see.
3572854
Damn son, that's some deep stuff right there.
I'm not used to getting to know characters so well, I really am enjoying this. Great work, hell00001.
3572854
)
It feels like the author was making a parallel of different sunsets, to the constant and forced sex at the brothel being made emotionless, versus normal emotional sex between lovers that happens less often.
Fake intimacy versus actual intimacy.
Even couples that can't keep their hands off each other probably max out at like 4 sessions a day or 2 especially intense ones (I just know that I am going to get responses saying "my significant other and I bang hardcore 10 times a day, each time on a different horizontal surface in our home"
An interesting deception. But,., why?