For Love of Manican Food

by Shire Folk

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Fluttershy, Random, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Lyra, Rainbow Dash
Length: 4934

Did you know that there's no place in Ponyville to get a decent burrito? Neither did Twilight.

It's lunchtime in Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle's stomach is calling for something with a little more flavour than what she usually feeds it. How will she and her friends react, though, when the lavender unicorn discovers that there is no place in Ponyville where a pony can get a decent burrito?

Published 2012-03-09 19:04:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-09 19:04:02 UTC

For Love of Manican Food

Inspired by the Equestria Inquirer #14
Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all rights associated to it are owned by Hasbro, not me.

For Love of Manican Food

Twilight Sparkle stared at the sandwich on the plate in front of her with an expression akin to annoyance. Although it was a lovely blend of daisies and daffodils between the two pieces of bread, and although her stomach was making a considerable case for the sandwich on the plate, the unicorn just couldn’t bring herself to eat it.

She sighed. She considered calling for Spike, but then remembered that he wasn’t around today. The baby dragon had gone with Rarity to hunt for more gems that she could use in her gowns. No matter what Twilight thought about that situation, Spike was comfortable with it, so it wasn’t entirely in her hooves. Regardless, Spike being with Rarity wasn’t doing her stomach any favours.

The librarian snorted at her sandwich. She liked daisy and daffodil sandwiches, and had ever since she was a young filly, but something about today was just making it look so unappealing and bland. Perhaps it was that cookbook she’d checked out for Lyra when the mint-green unicorn came by earlier. She’d ended up chatting with the other pony for more than a few minutes, Lyra mentioning that she wanted to surprise Bon Bon with something a little different for the potluck the two ponies were attending later in the week.

“Ugh,” said Twilight, finally breaking down. Her horn became enveloped in magenta energy and the sandwich and plate levitated into the air in the unicorn’s telekinetic grasp. The sandwich flew towards her refrigerator, whereupon she also seized the handle with her magic, opened the fridge, and placed the sandwich within. “I’ll just eat this thing later,” she declared. Twilight’s horn glowed again and her white saddlebags floated over to where she stood before dropping onto her back. She trotted quickly to the door, flipped the sign to show that the library was closed, and left her home.

A few ponies were walking about in Ponyville’s streets around the library this lunch hour, none of them really paying too much attention to Twilight Sparkle as they went about their own business. That suited Twilight just fine for the moment as she began to trot away from her home, stomach reminding her of its empty state.

“Hush you,” she said to the offending organ. “With any luck we’ll be able to find just what I’m looking for to fill you up. Ponyville has plenty of options when it comes to getting food; I’m sure at least one of them will have some.” No sooner had she finished speaking when her mane fluttered in a breeze caused by a pegasus pony quickly flying past her. Twilight smirked in a bit of amusement as the pegasus looped in front of her before landing right in the unicorn’s path.

“Hiya Twilight,” said the cyan pony with a prismatic mane; a cutie mark of a cumulus cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt shooting down from it on her flank, “whatcha doing?”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, “I take it you’re off from your weather pony duties for the day?”

“Yeah, I had the early shift this morning,” answered the pegasus. “So, what about you?”

“I was just going out to get some lunch myself,” answered Twilight. “Care to accompany me?” Rainbow Dash nodded her head in the affirmative and hopped into the air on her wings so that she could slowly flutter in the air while the unicorn walked. As far as Rainbow Dash was concerned, if you have wings, why not use them?

“Hey, where’s Spike at today?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Oh, Spike’s out helping Rarity collect more gemstones today,” Twilight told the pegasus.

“Uh-huh,” said Rainbow, “she’s still got him wrapped around her hoof, huh?”

Twilight sighed. “You could say that. Now let’s see,” she mused, “the café should be right up Stirrup Street. Ah, there it is.” In front of the two ponies stood the quaint building with its thatched roof and outdoor tables. Through the pink-tinted windows the pair could just see numerous ponies inside, enthusiastically eating their lunches while sharing local gossip. The waiter pony, a cream-coloured earth pony stallion with a sleek cobalt mane, was currently attending to a table where Derpy Hooves sat with Raindrops, the waiter pony presenting the wall-eyed Derpy with the plate of blueberry muffins she’d ordered. The two pegasi saw Rainbow Dash and waved at her. Rainbow Dash gave them both a friendly wave back, while Twilight Sparkle was a little more reserved in her wave. She still remembered how the two mailponies had accidentally dropped a flowerpot, anvil, hay cart, and piano on her while she was researching Pinkie Pie’s ‘pinkie sense’.

“Uh, Rainbow, Pinkie’s tail wasn’t twitching earlier, was it?”

Rainbow Dash laughed and landed next to the pale lavender unicorn, Twilight currently checking the sky. “Gee Twilight, you’re still worried about that? Don’t worry. I’ve heard from the forepony that Derpy and Raindrops haven’t tried lifting anything too heavy for them to carry, for the most part.” Twilight gave her a look. She’d had to spend a week in Ponyville’s hospital after she finally gave in and believed in the bubblegum-pink pony’s mystical pinkie sense.

The pair sat down on hay bales opposite each other at one of the café’s traditional purple mushroom themed tables. A vase of black-eyed susans was set in the centre of the table between them, and Rainbow Dash reached forward and snatched one of the flowers in her teeth. She began munching on her appetizer.

The waiter pony came over to them within a minute. “Good afternoon,” he said, passing menus to the two friends from where they were tucked into his coat. “Is there something I could get for you to drink while you decide?”

Rainbow Dash swallowed. “I’ll have a glass of apricot berry punch please.”

“Apple juice please,” Twilight said as she activated her telekinetic levitation to look at the menu. Her violet eyes began to scan the list, pausing momentarily to take in each item. The waiter pony nodded at their selection and began to trot away. “Wait!” Twilight called suddenly. He stopped and turned around.

“Is something the matter, miss?”

Twilight gave him an apologetic look and put the menu down. “I’m sorry, but your restaurant just isn’t serving what I’m looking for today. Sorry to waste your time.”

“Hey, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash called after the retreating pony, startled. She turned to the waiter, even more apology in her rose-coloured eyes than her friend’s. “Sorry about this. Here, for the flower.” Leaving one golden bit on the table, Rainbow Dash fluttered into the air and dashed after the unicorn.

Twilight was already halfway across the street when Rainbow Dash caught up with her. “What was that all about?” asked the pegasus. The unicorn gave her friend a rather sheepish smile.

“Sorry about that, Rainbow Dash, but they don’t have burritos there.”

The weather pony gave Twilight a confused look. “They don’t have what now?”

“Burritos. They’re a traditional Manican food.”

Rainbow Dash looked even more perplexed at Twilight’s simple explanation. “I’m sorry Twi, Manican?”

Twilight Sparkle just shook her head and gave her athletic friend a patient smile. “Oh Rainbow Dash, Manico is a province in southern Equestria. It has a much more tropical environment than the temperate one we enjoy here in Ponyville. The ponies there eat spicier foods than we do too.”

“Spicier, huh?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s where we get our hot sauce from.”

Rainbow Dash at last showed recognition in her face. “Oh, right, Manico!” She landed. “So, what’s the sudden craving for Manican food?”

“Well, Lyra borrowed a cookbook from the library earlier, and it kinda got my mind going towards wanting some Manican cuisine. I haven’t had it for a while, not since I left Canterlot to come here for the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Well, that’s no surprise. There aren’t any Manican ponies or restaurants in Ponyville.”

Twilight chuckled a little. “You’re kidding Rainbow Dash. I’m sure there’s got to be some place in Ponyville where a pony can get a decent burrito.” Rainbow Dash placed a hoof close to her mouth as Twilight began walking away.

“This won’t be good.”

—MLP—

The apple tree shuddered as strong tangerine hooves squarely struck its trunk. The ripe apples up in the tree’s canopy shuddered once before falling down into baskets placed below. Applejack removed her cowpony hat from her head with a relieved sigh and wiped her brow with a foreleg before replacing her hat atop her straw-coloured mane. The cowpony placed each basket into her saddle before sliding underneath it. The apples now secure, Applejack stood up, satisfied at how they were positioned on both flanks.

“All right,” she said to herself as she began to trot back to the farm buildings of Sweet Apple Acres. “Now time to get these apples in storage. They won’t keep if Ah leave ‘em out here.”

“APPLEJACK!”

The earth pony nearly lost her apples as she jumped her full height into the air in surprise. It didn’t take the mare more than a moment to locate the shouting voice’s owner. Three ponies were rushing towards her, two in the air and one on the ground. “Wha—Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy? Pinkie Pie? What’s going on everypony?”

Rainbow Dash dropped onto the ground in front of the cowpony. She took Applejack’s shoulders in her forehooves and stared straight into the earth pony’s green eyes from an inch away. “Applejack, we’ve got a big problem!”

“Problem?” asked Applejack. “What sort of problem?”

“It’s Twilight!” Rainbow Dash wailed dramatically, falling over onto her back.

“The poor pony’s gone crazy again, AJ,” said Pinkie Pie, the party pony a little displeased. “She’s causing a fracas up and down Ponyville because she can’t get her hooves on a burrito.”

Applejack looked at her in confusion. “Ah’m sorry sugar cube, but could you say that again?”

The pink-coated mare sighed, took a deep breath, and began explaining. “So Twilight left the library for lunch—she’d made a lunch but she didn’t really want to eat it because she wanted something different—met Rainbow Dash and went to the Blue Carrot Café—I’ve always wondered about that name, Blue Carrot Café, because carrots aren’t blue, they’re orange! I think I saw a white carrot once, but somepony told me that that was really a horseradish…”

“Um, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy gently interrupted.

“…but then radishes are, well, radish-coloured, and horses and ponies are all sorts of different colours, so I don’t know what they were doing calling a white carrot a horseradish…”

“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said again, slightly louder than before. Fortunately, she caught the earth pony in a pause for breath.

“Yes Fluttershy?”

“Oh, sorry to interrupt Pinkie, but you’re getting a little bit off topic.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “Oops. Silly me. So anyway, Twilight and Rainbow Dash went to the Blue Carrot Café, which is a really strange name—”

“Pinkie,” Applejack growled impatiently.

“Right! Oops! Sorry. But they left before they could even order anything because Twilight noticed that they didn’t have burritos on their menu, so Twilight came by Sugarcube Corner in case Mr. or Mrs. Cake knew how to make burritos, but they weren’t in and I had no idea what she was talking about when she said ‘burrito’. Hm, that’s a really funny word isn’t it? Burrito? It just kinda rolls off your tongue. Burrito! Burrito!” She started giggling.

Rainbow Dash pushed Pinkie Pie out of the way. “Anyway, after that Twilight started going from stall to stall in the marketplace, and now she’s galloping around town asking anypony she can find if they’ve even heard of burritos before like it’s supposed to be common knowledge or something.”

“Um, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy began in her soft voice. “I know what a burrito is.”

“What?” the cyan pegasus rounded on the timid light-yellow one. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Because you never mentioned that Twilight was looking for burritos before,” Fluttershy answered, slightly averting her teal eyes.

“Does that mean that you have some?” Applejack asked. “Because if this is what Ah think it is, Twilight’s going to cause some kinda big catastrophe like the last time if we don’t take her seriously. All of Ponyville could be in danger! Ah don’t even want to imagine what could happen to the farm iffen she goes bonkers again.”

“Well, no,” Fluttershy answered slowly, “I don’t have any burritos, and I don’t know how to make them, unfortunately. But I do know what they are. I have a cousin in Manico. I went to his house two years ago, and we had some of the most delicious Manican food on a picnic near the rainforest! There were so many different birds and lizards and insects there.” She sighed. “It was like a dream.”

“Yeah,” muttered Rainbow Dash, “but how’s that help our problem Fluttershy?”

“Oh, I guess it doesn’t. Sorry.”

“I’ve got it!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “We hold a great big Manican food party! We’ll all have so much fun stuffing our mouths with Manican food that there’s no way Twilight will go on a big, wild, Princess-has-to-come-save-the-day rampage!”

“That’s a great idea Pinkie,” Applejack agreed. “There’s only one problem, though. None of us know how to make Manican food.”

—MLP—

A moan of contentment left Derpy’s mouth as she chewed on the freshly-baked blueberry muffin that was on her plate, a little bit of butter spread onto the hot muffin’s top. Raindrops laughed at the ridiculously happy look that was probably on the grey pony’s face beneath her yellow mane. Derpy just giggled a little to herself and took another bite of the muffin while the mare with a jasmine coat and teal mane across from her dug into her alfalfa salad. The muffin was good, and nice and moist from being freshly baked, but not quite as good as the ones she baked back home with Dinky.

“Derpy!” a voice suddenly shouted next to her. The pegasus flailed about for second, nearly losing her grip on her muffin and almost falling off of her hay bale. She looked up. Twilight Sparkle was standing in front of her, the lavender unicorn with her slate-blue mane with pink and purple highlights giving the golden-eyed pegasus an apologetic look. “Sorry about this interruption,” she said.

“Oh, it’s no problem Twilight Sparkle,” Derpy said, making sure that she had a steady grip on her muffin. “How can I help you today?”

“I know that this will sound a little strange,” Twilight Sparkle began, “and I know that you make the best muffins in Ponyville and this has nothing to do with muffins, but you wouldn’t happen to know how to make a burrito would you?”

Derpy placed her muffin back down on her plate. She looked back at Twilight Sparkle, smiling apologetically. “Sorry Twilight Sparkle, but I don’t even know what a burrito is.” The lavender unicorn appeared to try and withhold a frustrated scream before she started to gallop off. Five seconds later she appeared to lose all restraint.

“Doesn’t ANYPONY here know what a burrito is!?”

Raindrops frowned as her gaze followed the unicorn before looking back at the pegasus across the table from her. “What’s eating her mane?” she asked. Derpy shrugged and reached for her muffin again.

—MLP—

Fluttershy rapped lightly on a door and smiled when it opened a few seconds later to the house’s inhabitant. “Hello Lyra,” the kind pegasus greeted.

“Oh, hi Fluttershy,” the mint-green unicorn replied. “What brings you here this afternoon?”

“Well actually,” said Applejack as she came forward with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, “it’s about Twilight.”

Lyra looked anxiously at the four ponies outside her door. “Oh dear. What is it? Did something happen? She was just fine when I went by the library earlier.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” Applejack assured her. “Actually, we wanted to talk to you about that book you borrowed from her. Do you think we could come in and talk for a minute?”

Lyra blinked and then nodded her head. She stepped back and rose onto her two hind legs to let them pass. “Of course. Come in, come in.” Once the four ponies had entered, she closed the door and dropped back onto all four hooves.

“Wow, you have a really nice living room Lyra,” Pinkie Pie complimented the unicorn, looking around the abode.

Lyra smiled. “Thanks Pinkie. Now, what was it about the book that you wanted to talk about?”

“Well, it’s like this,” Applejack began. “Twi—”

“Ever since you got that book out, Twilight’s been acting all weird!” Rainbow Dash sharply accused her.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack sternly fired at her friend. “That is not how you go around treating other ponies.”

“But it’s true!” Rainbow Dash argued. “Since Lyra got that book out, Twilight’s been going on a burrito rampage through Ponyville.”

“Oh, you mean this book?” Lyra inquired. Her horn glowed with teal light, and the same glow covered a book that had been lying open on the coffee table in front of a couch. Its covers snapped closed, and Lyra moved it over so that it was in front of her. “All Equestrian Cuisine by Bobby Neigh,” she said happily. “There are dozens of recipes in this book from all sorts of ponies across Equestria. There are hors d’oeuvres from famous high society chefs in Canterlot, traditional apple desserts from Appleoosa, grilled grass steaks from Fillydelphia, a bunch of different foods from Manico, Trotréal maple—”

“Wait, wait!” Rainbow Dash almost shouted. “Manican food!? That book has Manican food in it?”

Lyra nodded. “Yes. I was actually hoping on making these Manican quesadillas for a pot luck Bon Bon and I are attending with Carrot Top, Derpy, Colgate, and Doctor Whooves later this week.”

Applejack sighed. “Ah hate to impose this on yah Lyra, but do you think we might be able to borrow that book for a bit? Ah promise we’ll have it back to you before sundown.”

“Well sure Applejack,” Lyra said, levitating the book into Applejack’s saddlebag, “but whatever for?”

“Well, our friend Twilight’s been going a little bit…crazy,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Crazy’s an understatement,” Pinkie Pie spoke up. “If this keeps up she’s going to go all magic-spewing wacko on us!”

“Pinkie Pie’s right,” said Applejack to the mint-coated unicorn. “And the last time that Twilight went crazy because we didn’t take her seriously, she caused all o’ y’all to go gaga over her Smarty Pants doll until Princess Celestia herself showed up to put an end to it. We don’t need to have thirteen-foot apple fritters running through Ponyville because she lost control to some freaky spell she cast when apple fritters turned out to be the closest thing to a burrito she could get her hooves on.”

“Thirteen-foot apple fritters!?” Pinkie exclaimed. “Ooh! Could we convince her that cupcakes are closer to burritos than apple fritters and then she can make them gimungous instead? I’ve always dreamed of dancing with and eating a giant dancing cupcake!”

Rainbow Dash began to push the babbling, bubbly, earth pony outside. “Eh, ignore her,” she said to Lyra. “Thanks a bunch!”

“No problem!” Lyra called after them with a smile. “Just make sure you bring that book back! Twilight said I’m responsible for it!”

—MLP—

“Alright now,” Applejack said from within the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, “let’s see what we got here.” Rainbow Dash licked the corner of her hoof and turned the book over to the table of contents. “Manican food…Manican food…Manican…”

“There it is!” Fluttershy said, pointing as she hovered above the book on her wings. “Traditional Manican Cuisine, chapter five. Black-eyed Pea Burritos, page 5-12.”

“Alright!” exclaimed Applejack as Rainbow Dash started flipping pages rapidly.

“Ooh, this is so exciting,” Pinkie Pie declared as she started bouncing up and down. “I’ve never made burritos before.”

“Here we go,” Rainbow Dash said. “Page 5-12, Black-eyed Pea Burritos, serves four to six ponies. Let’s see here, six twelve inch tort…tortilla shells. Hey! Are these tortilla shells supposed to be Manican for tortoise shells, because I’m not making these things if I have to do anything bad to Tank.”

“Oh, no Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy explained. “And it’s not tort-ill-ah shell; it’s pronounced tort-ee-ah shell.

“It’s a type of unleavened flatbread made from wheat flour or finely crushed corn flour,” Pinkie Pie added.

Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie Pie in surprise. “How did you know that, Pinkie?”

“Well, duh! Everypony at least knows what tortillas are, Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack sighed. “Well that’s a mighty relief,” said the cowpony. “Ah was worried too for a second there. Now what else do we need?”

“Here we go,” Rainbow Dash continued. “A half-cup of dried and fully cooked black-eyed peas or a drained can of them, a teaspoon of olive oil, a diced red onion, two cloves of minced garlic, a chopped zucchini, a diced red or green pepper, a teaspoon of cumin, quarter teaspoon of cayenne, teaspoon of dried oregano, and two teaspoons of divided sea salt.” She withdrew from the cookbook and frowned. “I wonder where we’re going to get all of that stuff.”

“What kind of recipe is that?” Applejack asked. “There ain’t any alfalfa, oats, daffodils, or even apples in it!”

“It’s just a recipe, AJ,” Rainbow Dash told her. “We can make a few changes to make it an apple burrito if you really want.”

“You’re darn right I do,” Applejack told her definitively.

“We can probably pick up most of the ingredients in the marketplace,” Fluttershy said. “Especially the zucchini, peas, garlic, pepper, and herbs, but I’m not sure about the tortillas or sea salt.”

“I know I haven’t seen those before in Ponyville,” Pinkie Pie offered.

Rainbow Dash suddenly smacked one hoof onto another as she connected the dots. “Canterlot!” she exclaimed. “Twilight told me that she hasn’t had a burrito since she left Canterlot for Ponyville.”

“Ah get it,” Applejack said. “Since Canterlot is such an important place with Princess Celestia being there and all, there’s gotta be a lot of different ponies from all over Equestria livin’ there.”

“And that means that there’d be a lot of different foods a pony can have in Canterlot,” Fluttershy added.

“Including burritos and cherrychangas!” said Pinkie Pie. “I don’t think I’ve actually named it yet. Chimicherry or cherrychanga? Chimicherry? Cherrychanga?”

That struck a sudden chord with Applejack. “Now wait just an apple-bucking minute there Pinkie. Ain’t your cherrychangas Manican food?”

Pinkie gasped. “You know what, I think they are! Thanks Applejack. I never would have guessed that.”

“Well how in the hay would you know how to make one o’ yer cherrychangas if you can’t get tortillas in Ponyville?”

Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh that’s easy Applejack. I just order them in on the Sugarcube Corner’s delivery form from the Supermareket in Canterlot.”

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy all groaned.

“Does that mean that you have some tortillas here Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy.

Pinkie put a hoof to her mouth in thought. “Hm, no, I think I ran out last Tuesday.” Rainbow Dash groaned again and took to the air above the other ponies in the kitchen.

“Alright then,” she said. “I’ll go to Canterlot and get the tortillas and sea-salt.”

“Good,” Applejack said. “There’s a train leavin’ in ten minutes.”

“There’s no time to catch the train!” Rainbow Dash argued. “It’ll be faster if I just fly there! I can get to Canterlot and back in ten seconds flat!” She flew out of the confectionary shop, or would have if her prismatic tail was not caught in somepony’s teeth.

“Hold on there, Rainbow,” Applejack said through clenched teeth. “You mean to tell us that you’re going to get to Canterlot, find the store, find the tortillas and sea salt, pay for ‘em, and get back here all in ten little seconds?”

Rainbow Dash stopped and considered. “Hm… You’re right, that is a lot. Okay! To Canterlot and back in five minutes flat!” She took off again, this time her tail evading Applejack’s snatching teeth.

The other three ponies sighed and looked at each other. “All right y’all,” Applejack began, “if Rainbow’s as fast as she’s always boasting then the rest of us had better get to work.”

—MLP—

The hairs on Mayor Mare’s tan coat stood on end as the doors to Town Hall blew open with a furious BANG! In the doorway stood a pony, relatively new to the town, that the Mayor had gotten to know quite a bit about from several personal meetings with her, and royal missives from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Twilight Sparkle didn’t even rush into the building. Her horn glowed brightly with magenta light before the pony vanished in a flash of light. Before Mayor Mare could even blink the unicorn had reappeared almost a foot away from her in a second flash of light from the teleport spell. “Miss Mayor!” Twilight demanded. “Tell me that you of all ponies in this town know what a burrito is!”

Mayor Mare could see the red veins in the eyes of Princess Celestia’s student. She was obviously very upset about something or other. “I’m sorry Twilight. Could you repeat the question please?”

“Burrito: a traditional Manican dish consisting of a tortilla folded over a filling, as of refried beans, cheese gratings, or alfalfa sprouts. Where in Ponyville can I get a decent burrito?”

The mayor looked behind her anxiously as Twilight snorted obnoxiously in the mare’s face. The lavender unicorn had been at this for far too long. Her stomach was completely devoid of any remnants of her breakfast and was keeping up a consistent rate of growling every minute and sixteen seconds for a duration of precisely eight seconds, with a standard deviation of point four-six seconds.

If she didn’t get a burrito soon, she was going to—

“TWILIGHT! STOP!”

The unicorn whipped around at Rainbow Dash’s voice. In Town Hall’s open doorway stood the cyan pegasus, as well as Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash was forcing away a pained wince while her wings looked a little more ruffled than usual.

“You gotta stop this Twi,” Applejack said as she came into Town Hall. “It’s not healthy for ya.”

“But it’s taken me over a year to realize that there’s no place in Ponyville where a pony can get a decent burrito! I had no idea that our food options were so limited here until today because we’ve all been so busy.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “Not anymore Twilight,” she said. “We found somepony who can make burritos!”

All of Twilight Sparkle’s hostility melted away to be replaced by a face beaming with hope. “You have?” Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all stepped away from Fluttershy to show the light-yellow pegasus in all her pink-maned glory…

...holding up a platter of six burritos in her right forehoof.

Twilight trotted up to her friends, scarcely able to believe her eyes. “How did you? Where did you? I looked everywhere and asked everypony I knew but I still couldn’t…” She sniffed the plate, and inhaled deeply the smell rising from the wraps. They were warm and fresh, and she could even smell a bit of cheese in them too. Twilight looked around at her friends again, and gasped. “Rainbow Dash! What happened to your wing?”

“Oh, it’s really nothing Twilight,” the pegasus said modestly. “Just a little sprain is all. I flew a little recklessly on my way back from Canterlot and crashed into the Cake’s kitchen. Luckily Pinkie was there to open the window for me.”

“You flew to Canterlot and back today?” Twilight asked Dash, stunned. “How long did it take you?”

Applejack laughed. “Five minutes on the button, just as she said,” the mare answered, “and that included time shopping for tortilla shells and salt.”

“And don’t forget the cheese I also grabbed,” Rainbow Dash reminded her proudly. “I figured that it’d work well in these things, and it sure smells like it does.”

Twilight just stared at them until her stomach growled again. She blushed and looked down at it while her friends and the mayor simply laughed. “Well Twilight Sparkle,” Mayor Mare began, “I believe you were asking me where a pony might find a decent burrito in Ponyville.”

Twilight’s blush deepened and she looked at the platter in Fluttershy’s hoof. “Go on Twilight,” urged the pegasus, “try one of them. I’m sure you’ll like them, thanks to Pinkie’s experience in cooking Manican cuisine.” Twilight’s horn became encased in magenta light, as did one of the burritos on the plate. She brought it to her mouth in her spell’s grasp, and bit down into the burrito. The unicorn practically melted and her stomach rumbled loudly for more. It was beyond decent.

It was delicious.

Twilight swallowed hard and looked at her friends with as much gratitude as she could muster. “Thank you everypony. It tastes wonderful; I can’t remember having a better tasting burrito in any of the Manican restaurants in Canterlot.”

Applejack beamed. “Well we’re all mighty glad you enjoy it Twilight. Eat as much as you—”

The stomachs of the four hungry ponies that had skipped lunch making lunch growled sharply. Twilight was the first to break out laughing.

—MLP—

Thanks all for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

May the Grace of the Valar Protect You

Shire Folk