It's A Cheesy Chapter
It was an average day in Ponyville. In the warmth of the afternoon summer sun, ponies were busy on this day. It was nearing the Summer Sun Celebration, and the city of Ponyville was bustling in the afternoons. However, that did not mean that everyone in the town was hurrying. Princess Twilight Sparkle was taking a leisurely stroll near her castle, after going to the market for some supplies. She went into her home and smelled something cooking. It smelled nice, and she was feeling a bit peckish, so she went to investigate.
The kitchen, of course, was the most likely source of this smell. However, she found it wasn’t coming from there. It was coming from… Where? She got near a window and the smell seemed to get stronger. From behind the castle, there was a small yard, and Spike had just loved to do grilling out there in the summer. But it didn’t smell like grilling. Normally he grilled Asparagus or sometimes burgers, corn, or maybe zucchini. But this didn’t smell like any of that.
Spike had been outside, grilling to his heart’s content. He had been taking some cooking lessons from Pinkie Pie, learning how to make more exotic dishes. Who better to teach him than the mare who was known for trying anything? So, every day Pinkie tried to show him foods from other cultures. They had covered foods from Saddle Arabia, Maretania, Mustangia, Prance, and now Maresico. Maresico’s dishes were all week long. Pinkie, in her wisdom, always started with something easy and worked her way up to harder dishes. Today’s dish was about as easy as they came ingredient-wise, but Spike was putting a lot of pressure on himself about the presentation. He wanted those grill marks to be beautiful. The sizzle of the grill was his music, the smell of his cooking dish ensnaring. This was going to be amazing.
As Twilight was going around the castle to the backyard, the smell became stronger, and suddenly she felt her stomach curl a little. The smell… It smelled like feet to her. Spike’s feet almost. The only thing that made that smell for her was cheese, and she knew that. Melted cheese often did that for her. But it was usually accompanied by other smells, so it didn’t bother her all that much. Why was the only thing she was smelling melted cheese? Surely Spike wouldn’t just melt cheese on a grill? That would take forever to clean! No, there must have been more to it than that.
When the backyard came in sight, Spike was blocking her view of the grill. Wearing a chef’s hat and his favorite apron, Twilight couldn’t help but smile a little. He really was getting good at cooking. She made a mental note to thank Pinkie Pie for giving him lessons.
“Spike!” Twilight called, smiling.
The dragon turned to her with a grin of his own. “Hey Twilight! Did you get the things I asked for from the market?”
“Yep! Sour Cream, tomatoes, avacado, onions, and cilantro.”
“Awesome! Pinkie said I’ll be needing those for tomorrow’s lesson. I would have gone to get them myself but I was busy trying to get today’s done.”
“It’s no problem, Spike. I needed a break from trying to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration next week. Princess Celestia has given me quite a bit to do, and if you hadn’t given me a reason to stop and help you with your lessons, I don’t think I would have stopped.”
“Yeah, you have pulled some all-nighters before when it became too much. When you take a break and get back to it, though, your work is always much better.”
Twilight smiled. “I’m just glad I could help you. If being your friend means an extra trip to the market so that you can succeed, I’m happy to do it.”
“Thanks, Twilight. You’re kind of rubbing off on me, you know. I’m trying to get the grill marks on this just perfect like you would.”
“What is “this”, anyways?”
Spike looked down at the grill and turned it over one last time before deciding it was perfect, and pulling out a plate to put it on. Then he turned to Twilight. “Pinkie had me make a quesadilla today. Want one?”
Twilight shot up in the air so fast she might have beaten Rainbow Dash’s speed record. She let out a shriek, and then bolted away. Spike blinked, perplexed at her reaction, studied the quesadilla and then spoke to himself.
“Maybe my grill lines were a little off…”
Twilight was flying faster than she ever thought she could, making a mad dash for Sugarcube Corner and smashing right through Pinkie’s window. Pinkie blinked at the sudden intrusion.
“What a crasheriffic hello, Twilight!”
Twilight went right over to Pinkie. “You taught Spike to make quesadillas?!”
Pinkie nodded. “I wanted to start him off with something simple before we moved onto harder things. Why?”
“Because I don’t like them!”
“So don’t eat them, silly!”
“Pinkie, you’re not understanding me!” She lamented, anxiety rising in her voice.
“I heard what you just said but-“ Pinkie cut herself off as realization struck her. “Twilight, are you afraid of quesa-“ She was stopped by Twilight’s hoof over her mouth.
“Don’t say it!”
Pinkie smiled. “You are scared! Oh Twilight, don’t you remember the first adventure we ever went on as friends? Do you remember what I told you about fears? You just laugh to make them go away! If you can laugh at that, you can do anything!”
“Pinkie that is not my point! You should have told me that’s what you were having him make, or have him make it here so I wouldn’t have to see it or smell it! My castle is going to smell like feet for weeks!”
Pinkie put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Twilight, it’s not going to just go away. You have to face your fear!”
“I’m not scared!”
“Can you say that with a straight face to Applejack?”
“Wait- what?”
“Twilight, Applejack represents honesty. You can’t lie to her and get away with it! If she heard you right now, what would she say?”
Twilight was caught off guard. “That’s- That’s not-“
“Twiiiiiiilight.” Pinkie said in a warning voice.
“Even if it was true, the problem with this is that if I was afraid, there wouldn’t be any origin point of the fear! There was no food poisoning, no bad experience, no reason for any of that!”
“Didn’t you learn from your time with my Pinkie Sense that there are some things you can’t explain?”
“Yes, but-“
“This is one of those things. It doesn’t matter how you got to be scared, just that you are scared. And you have to face your fear.”
“Pinkie…”
“I’m sorry if I made you scared, but maybe it was a good thing. Now you can face your fears.”
“I’m not afraid!”
“Oh really?” Pinkie asked. She reached into her mane and pulled one out, Twilight skittering backward. “Tell it you’re not scared.”
“I-I’m not scared.”
“Say it again! Louder this time!”
“I’m not scared.”
“One more time!”
“I’M NOT SCARED!”
“Good job!” Pinkie said. She went to Twilight and held the quesadilla. “Now say it right to it’s face!”
Twilight’s voice grew small. “I’m…” Her vision started to tunnel and her mind began to fog. Just before she fainted, one thought crossed her mind.
Maybe I am afraid just this once…