“Careful!!” Dianne yelled as she was wearing a construction uniform as she was backing up towards the train station. James and Blake were carrying a large four tiered pink cake with edible flowers, apples, oranges and grapes on it. Ange and Rachael were flying over head with some ropes to hold the cake in place as the other two walked and both Sophia and Camilla were there to help if things go south. Near them following behind were two people, one was a chubby woman with dark pink and red hair that and pink eyes. She wore an apron with some splotches of ingredients on it and beside her was a tall skinny man with short orange hair and wore a simple clothing with a orange and white bowtie. I knew these two to be Mister Carlos and Betty Cake, the two who owns Sugarcube Corner and Dianne's bosses. At the moment Carlos was close to have a panic attack as he watches the cake lean to the side.

“Blake Careful!” Dianne snapped at Blake as both Blake and James rightened the cake.

“I am!” Blake snapped back. “This is just a heavy cake!” Sooner or later we finally got to the train station, where both Blake and James set the cake down, James letting out a breath before collapsed onto the ground with Blake from exhaustion. Mister Cake almost collapsed due to terror but was caught by his wife.

“Easy there honey, deep breaths.” She said soothingly to him. Carlos did just that before he could stand on his own, a little shaky but standing. I was standing not to far from the ordeal because I didn't want any cake on my clothes but it didn't mean I wasn't playing some role Dianne's plan, I was told to delay the train from leaving the station and with me being a prince, all I had to do was talk to the conductor.

The next part was… tricky. As it seems it was a little awkward to get the cake into the train, so I stood out with the Cakes as the others were playing tetris with the actual cake.

“Thank you again for helping us Isaac.” Betty thanked me with a smile. I didn't understand their need to thank me, I really didn't do much of anything with the exception of delaying the train.

“Umm… you're welcome… I guess?” I said with a little confusion. Before long the others were done with moving the cake inside and Dianne poked her head out.

“Come on Isaac! We need to leave!” Dianne said, which she sounded like she was in a rush.

“Umm, mind making sure she doesn’t do anything… too crazy?” Carlos asked me. I could just say yes and move on but that would be a lie.

“I'll try but I can't promise anything.” I said to him genuinely though it didn't help him in the slightest. Before anything else could be said, the blaring horn of the train caught my attention and reminded me that the few minutes of delay were up. With a wave and a nod, I quickly boarded the train before closing the door behind me. I turned around and almost yelped as I saw Irena standing behind me. I don’t know how but this kid could sneak up on someone easily. “What… but… whatever.” I said, giving up in trying to understand how she got behind me or even on the train without anyone noticing for that matter and it was too late to tell her to go home as the train began to move. When I joined up with the others, they were also surprised to see Irena tagging along behind me. Even Lydia was there, though I didn’t see her. I asked about it and she said that she was already on the way to Canterlot to talk to my mother, who was also her teacher.

“So Dinna… why did you get us to carry this large cake anyway?” Racheal asked, earning her a glare from Blake who did most of the carring. Dianne gasped at this.

“You don’t know?! Racheal, this cake is not just any cake!” Dianne explained before gesturing to the large cake. “This is the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness! Or the Mmmm.”

“The Mmmm?” Sophia asked.

“Mmhmm.” Dianne responded. I blinked at this as I saw Irena walked to the cake drooling a bit. I pulled her back a bit, earning a frown from her.

“I'd rather you didn't unleash the wrath of Dianne.” I said to Irena simply, knowing how Dianne gets when something she deems important goes wrong. Of course this confused the young dark Celestial before she glanced at Dianne in time to see the latter taping the area off with police tape.

“Hey, wasn’t Jacqueline supposed to be here as well?” Ange asked.

“I believe she’s a bit busy with taking care of the farm since her sister is sick and James… well, sore.” Blake said, rubbing her shoulders a bit. Upon sight of Blake, I was reminded of her newly formed relationship with Camilla that had escalated only a month ago and while waking up in the same bed lacking any clothing didn't deter either of them, it was nice to know Blake and Camilla are happy with one another.

I simply nodded before seeing the train was leaving. I sat on the few seats that were in the desert cart of the train with Irena on my lap. She frowned as she couldn’t have a bit of the cake that was in front of her.

“Cheer up, when we get back I'll buy you a whole dozen mooncakes.” I said to Irena. She brightens up at this as the train stopped, it didn’t stop Dianne’s talking though.

“I’m telling you, the Mmmm will win the bakers competition!” She declared.

“This is not so!” A new voice called out. We all turned to see a beastkin in the doorway to the train. He stood in the doorway in a white chef uniform and had one of those ‘Evil villain’ mustaches. His wings were folded back as he held a large plate in his hand.

“Here we go.” Blake grumbled as she sat down next to me and Irena, sounding like she knew who this guy was.

“You know this guy?” I asked in a low voice while Dianne argued over how the cake was going to be an easy victory.

“Yeah, he’s Gustave Le Grand, a well known pastry chef that I learned about in school.” Blake answered in a low voice as well as Gustave showed off his dish; a plate of Éclairs.

“Yeah I heard of him too,” Camilla added in. “Said to be one of the few chefs that works in the castle.” I arched a brow at her as Blake smiled at her before another person seemed to enter the train. I recognised him to be Joe that runs the Donut shop out in Canterlot. He proclaimed that his dish will win and I saw it was a replica of the city square of a city near Everfree out of donuts. While I'll give him points in style, I don't think simple donuts would do much against éclairs and a fucking colossal cake.

“I have a feeling this ride will take an abysmal amount of time.” I said to the two of them while Irena ogled at the donut city, an audible rumbling of her stomach greeted my ears.

“Wait for it.” Blake said as a third being came in. An older woman with more wrinkles that are needed. Her dish was simply a chocolate moose which Molly, her name, calls it a Chocolate Mousse Moose. This seems to make Blake chuckle at the name alone.

“It’s a moose… made out of mousse.” She laughed. The four bakers seemingly got into an argument on who will win the competition. Was all cooks this competitive?

“I can already tell I'm going to have a headache by the end of this.” I said to myself though Irena seemed to have found my words amusing in some way as she giggled before giving me a playful poke.

After a few hours the sun went down and soon everyone was heading off to their rooms to sleep. After the three bakers went off Dianne stopped the rest of us from going, saying that the other bakers will sabotage the giant cake so one of their dishes will win.

“And why do we have to be dragged into this?” I asked Dianne, not liking the idea that I'm being forced to stay in here. What if I wanted to go to the other cab and chat with some people there, etc.

“Dianne, you’re overreacting.” Lydia said, using her magic to move Dianne out of the way.

“Yeah, I want some shut eye.” Rachael said before she flew off into her room. Soon we all headed to our rooms, Me with Ange and Irena, Sophia by herself since Dianne was going to guard the cake, Lydia also by herself and Blake with Camilla.

“You sure you want to head to bed Isaac? Me and Blake are going to play a few games before crashing.” Camilla offered me. I arched a brow them and thought of it briefly before shaking my head.

“Nah.” Was all I said before giving them a simple wave before entering my room, seeing Irena curiously looking around before seeing the passing scenery outside the window. Ange was getting comfortable in bed as this was happening, she looked over at me and smiled. I smiled back and sat down at my bed and let out a sigh, knowing that with our luck something might end up happening that can either be weird, dumb or quite frankly batshit crazy. It doesn't help that the train ride feels slower than normal, so there's that to fuck with my mind. I was so deep in thought that I hadn't noticed Irena poking me, no doubt to bring me out of said thought. I looked down at her as she rubbed her belly, telling me that she was a little hungry still from seeing all of that food from before.

Luckily Ange was prepared for this as she pulled her bag out and got some sandwiches for us for this trip to Canterlot. Irena was quick to snatch one of the sandwiches and it was only by luck that Ange had made three in total, almost as if knowing Irena’s tag along.

“I still don't know how she got through everyone.” I said even though it was mostly to myself but Ange heard me say this and chuckled.

“I don’t know either, but it’s not so bad.” Ange said, nibbling on her sandwich. Irena hummed happily as she ate her sandwich, already almost done with it as I just took a few bits out of mine. Irena was just about done with hers but judging by her expression, she was still hungry so with a roll of my eyes and a shake my head, I split mine and one to her. She was quick to swipe it off my hand and devour it. It was only after she finished that she let out a burp and a happy sigh. Ange giggled a bit from this as Irena leaned against me happily. I smiled at this as I draped an arm over her shoulder, gaining an appreciative hum from the dark celestial. I looked over at Ange and saw that she had laid down to rest for a bit while I was left to my own thoughts with the inability to rest, the occasional bumps of the train made sure of that.

I half expected for Irena to have fallen asleep by now but when I tried to move my arm back, she let a small whine. So with nothing to do but count the trees that passed by, I was bored and not even five minutes in.

About five more minutes and more tree counting later I heard the soft snoring from Irena as she was now fast asleep. I moved my arm and replaced it with a pillow, which made Irena wrap her arms around it and slept there. I quietly chuckled when did this before leaving the room, wanting to sit down without feeling confined in a small space. So I did and one of the few, if not, only seats available were by the deserts.

I was still close to the doors and I could hear some muffled noises in the room of Blake and Camilla. In the desert car Dianne was nowhere to be seen, so it was me with the four deserts. It wasn't until I sat down that I felt myself get tired, the boredom finally getting to me and the thought of a nap was all too pleasing. I closed my eyes and leaned onto the window before I let sleep consume me.

It felt like ten minutes past but I was jolted awake by a loud scream. My eyes opened and I saw that it was day time, I was still in the desert car and Dianne was screaming in shock. Lydia was also there as the two stood by the ‘Mmmm’ which had a large chunk of it bitten off.

“My ears…” I groaned softly as I rubbed my eyes.

“You!” The voice of an angry Dianne said before I was face to face with an angry party planner. “What are you doing here!? Did you eat the Mmmm? It was you wasn’t it, you couldn’t help it can you, no one can resist the urge to eat the most amazingest cake in all the-”

“Down Dianne.” Lydia said, using her magic to pull Dianne back from me. “Isaac, what are you doing sleeping out here?”

“The room was too small, I wanted to sit down on a comfy chair and before I knew it I was having the greatest nap of all time.” I said to the two of them as I stretched my limbs a bit. “Is that good enough of an alibi, detectives?” I asked them both jokingly. Dianne eyed me for a few moments before Lydia spoke.

“I believe he’s telling the truth.” Lydia said just as the others were coming in, asking what’s going on.

“What’s going on? Someone in this room defaced the Mmmm!” Dianne proclaimed. She then pulled out a deerstalker hat and pipe and added. “But I’ll find out who did this crime!”

“Does Dianne smoke?” Camilla asked before we all saw bubbles started to come out of said pipe. “Never mind.” I would've loved to get up from my chair but Dianne still deemed me the prime suspect, even going so far as to tying me onto the chair and now my nose is starting to itch… great. Luckily Ange was nearby saw my torment of the itchy nose and remedy that by scratching my nose to help.

“Thanks.” I said with obvious relief in my tone after Ange was done. She smiled at me before looking over at Dianne, who was getting talked to by Lydia, who was now wearing a bowler hat, saying that I wasn’t the one and I shouldn’t be tied down to a chair.

“Likely story, but we need to find the one who had dun do it…” She stated before walking towards the window, blowing bubbles out of her pipe. “And I already know who dun do it.”

“You do?” Both me and Lydia asked.

“Yes, it’s none other than… Gustave!” She yelled in the Beastkin face before everything went to black. There was a countdown to an old black and white movie as the scene turned into an old cheese evil villain movie. Gustave was portrayed as the evil villain with billowing cape, evil glass eye with scar, and worst of all: twirling his mustache evilly!

He opened his mouth, which the screen changed to show what he’s saying, to say that he’s finally going to win the bakers competition. The others were portrayed as passengers in old clothing, as the scene changed to Dianne tied up on the train tracks, yelling at Gustave that he will never get away from this as Gustave finished the job by slicing the large cake with a buzz saw. The screen went black and we were all back in the cart.

“Ooo, I love old black and white films!” Sophia said happily, making me realize that her hair was covering her right eye.

“Dianne, it wasn’t Gustave.” Lydia said.

“Oh yeah? How so?” Dianne asked, blowing more bubbles.

“Well for one you stated that you were tied up, so how did you get here before anyone of us?” Lydia asked before pointing at the cake. “And the cake wasn’t buzzsawed, it was bitten into.”

“Can I please be untied now?” I asked out loud, hoping and praying silently that I would be cut loose but as fate would have it, Dianne simply glared at me and I quieted down. “Figures.” I grumbled.

“Okay… so it wasn’t Gustave,” Dianne stated, making the Beastkin let out a sigh. “Then the real culprit was… Joe!” Dianne yelled, again the lights went out and instead of a black and white movie, it started as if it was a spy film. “Or should I say, Double O seventeen!”

“Ooo, a spy film!” Rachael said as it sounded like she was eating popcorn. The scene showed off the main train, only that the inside was some sort of fancy party with everyone in formal wear, I was behind the bar, Blake and Camilla were putting on a show by dancing, and Joe was laughing with Sophia and Ange laughing nearby as he drank a glass of wine. The scene changed to show Joe near the door to the desert car, able to make a hole in the glass and through a gas ball inside, knocking Dianne out. He walked up to the cake and, with a pull of his tie, more gas came out which revealed lasers, which he used a mirror to cut the cake. The scene ended with Ange and Sophia at Joe’s feet worshiping him as he smiled, before it went to black and the lights came back on.

“What do you have to say about yourself, Joe, if that’s your real name?!” Dianne asked rudely, poking the man with the pipe as she did.

“Dianne, it couldn’t be him.” Lydia said with a groan. “Joe doesn't fit the idea of sleek and stealthy spy. He’s more big, gruff and messy!”

“Hey!” Joe yelled with a frown.

“Though you do look good in a tux dear, maybe you can come over to my store and we could set you up with something.” Sophia said with a lady like laugh, earning a dreamy smile from the donut guy.

“Well then there’s only one person left, the only one who could win in the bake off is nothing than… MOLLY!” Dianne stated, pointing at the old woman. This caused the lights to go out a third time and the screen showed a neighponese style movie with the looks of an old style train coming by. I was dressed up as some kind of Shogun with Racheal, Ange, Lydia, and Sophia nearby.

“Ooo, I love the dress.” Sophia gushed over the sight of her in a dress. The scene changed to see Molly, in a ninja outfit with Blake and Camilla in the same outfit.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m some sort of anime side character?” Camilla asked as the scene went on.

“Hey, you look good in black clothes.” Blake said with a chuckle. The scene went on as Molly knocked out Dianne with a frying pan and cutting the cake with her sword. Soon the three of them did a pose and disappeared in smoke. The screen went black and the light came on.

“So it was you! Confess!” Dianne yelled at the old shaking woman.

“Dianne!” Lydia yelled at her. “It wasn’t her! She’s too rattly to be a ninja, and the cake was bitten into, not cut!”

“Fine… then it was… Isaac!” Dianne declared as she pointed at me. Everyone's gaze were casted towards me while I was swaying my head from side to side as I was reminded of an old song I enjoyed.

“No, already got an alibi from him.” Lydia pointed out to her.

“Gustave!”

“No, already cleared him.”

“Joe!”

“No… Dianne…”

“Molly?”

“We just cleared her!” Blake yelled at this.

“Can I please be untied now!?” I yelled in complete frustration. I was chair bound and agitated beyond comprehension, at any second I could suffer a total meltdown that, at the moment, seems like a pretty fucking good idea at the moment. “For my mom's sake, I will burn the cake if I have to sit through another one of your weird short films!” I yelled, my frustration becoming pure anger now. This even spooked Dianne at the mention of the cake’s harm. She was quick to untie me and back away, all in a blink of an eye no less. “Thank you…” I said with a sigh as I rubbed both of my wrists. The others were a bit spooked at my outburst, giving Lydia a way to take control with this investigation as she swapped hats with Dianne. She asked everyone to go to their rooms and wait as the two look around for clues. I didn’t need to be asked twice to head to my room. I marched towards my room, walked inside and flopped onto my bed, groaning a bit as I did. As I laid there I felt someone poke me. I turned my head and saw Irena standing there, staring at me. Right, she wasn’t there when I was tied up.

“Oh, hey.” I said, sitting up as I looked down at her. She waved at me, tilting her head a bit in her way to ask what happened. “Someone took a chunk off the cake and Dianne had me tied down to a chair because I was supposedly the prime suspect.” I told her simply with a frown. She frowned as well, looking at my wrists which was still a little red. She looked at me with a worried look. I gave her a comforting smile before saying. “I'm fine for the most part, a little angry but other than that I'm alright.” I said to her before gently ruffling her hair and adding. “So don't worry about me, kiddo.” I said to her.

She smiled at me before she pulled out a book from a bag she had and sat next to my bed. Soon, maybe after thirty minutes, there was a knock on the door to say come out to the dessert cart. With a sigh, I stood up and stretched my legs a bit before heading out into the dessert cart.

The first thing I saw was the other three deserts were hit with whoever ate the cake, some of the énclars had large bits out of it, the donut city got decimated by the wrecking ball of hunger, and all that was left of the chocolate moose was it's head. The three bakers were upset with this before Lydia got everyone's attention.

“Yes well… it seems that the other three dishes were hit, I'm guessing around the time everyone left to their rooms and Me and Dianne were investigating.” Lydia explained before adding. “But one case at the time. I know who did it.”

“Yes we do!” Dianne said before looking at Lydia. “We do?’’

“What the fuck did I miss?” I asked out loud for anyone to hear. I was seriously confused with the whole ordeal with these desserts.

“Errr, right, well first off Dianne said that she ran all the way to the back of the train, the caboose, chasing the culprit only to miss them. You see it didn't really happen that way.” Lydia explained as she pulled out a brown envelope from her bag. “You see Dianne, the culprit didn't disappear, they flew up to the ceiling.” Lydia explained as she pulled out a glowing blue feather. As if upon queue everyone turned to look at Rachael with a gasp.

“Ah ha! I knew it was you… Gustave!” Dianne yelled, earning both a facepalm from both Lydia and Gustave.

“Dianne, Gustave doesn’t even have blue feathers, and he’s not a Skyborn.” Lydia pointed out. “And I know this is a Skyborn feather is due to the glow. Since Skyborn make their wings appear and disappear, it would make it odd for anyone to see if Skyborn lose their feathers. But in truth they do, just they will glow for some time before they dissipated.”

“So she’s the culprit?” One of the bakers asked.

“No, this leads to the second clue, where Dianne ran to the boiler room, only to see a worker… but that’s not true since I found this in the workers hat!” Lydia said as she pulled out a strand of pink hair. Everyone gasped as everyone, other than Dianne, looked over at Ange who looked around and laughed nervously.

“Ah ha! So it was a pink strand from your Rainbow hair!” Dianne pointed out to Rachael.

“I don’t have pink hair Dianne.” Rachael before having to push Dianne off. “And get off.”

“So it was her? Or do you have something else?” Camilla asked, now sitting in a chair as this was all happening.

“Well, yes… as Dianne was explaining what had happened, the blinds were pulled all of a sudden and heard someone bang into something. Which by the way Dianne, happened because of Magic…” Lydia pointed out to the pink Terren. She walked over to Sophia and arch a brow. “Did anyone ask why Sophia had her hair like this?”

“W-why wouldn’t I? I can change my hair look anytime I-” Sophia was cut off when Lydia pulled back her hair, showing that her right eye had no eyelashes. A lot of people gasped before looking at Dianne, earning an odd look from the party planner “Alright! I wear fake eyelashes!” Sophia cried out and sobbed before adding simply. “Oh and I took a small bite of the cake.”

“Me too…” Ange said softly.

“Ahhh… dang it same here.” Rachel said as well. I looked at all three of them, then at the cake and back before making my bewilderment known with my hand gestures that didn't really mean anything.

“A bite? That's a bite? It looks like you sawed it in half with a chainsaw!” I yelled with pure confusion. This only got nervous chuckles from all three of them. Ange was the one who looked more ashamed than the other two but I guess I shouldn't be too mad at them since this could be centered around Dianne hyping the cake off to epic proportions. I rubbed my eyes with an exasperated sigh and simply sat down on a nearby stool.

The rest of the ride to Canterlot went by better than how it was. The rest of the desserts were eaten by the other bakers because of Dianne, again she has a way to make things so good that they couldn’t help it. I for one didn’t want to deal with the rest of them so I returned to my room with Ange and rested there with Irena quietly reading. Once we got to Canterlot everyone other than Me, Blake, Ange, Irena, and Camilla went to the bake competition while we went to one of the many restaurants in Canterlot for something that’s not train food or something sugary.

It was literally only minutes after we arrived that I was soon the talk of the town and I tried my best to ignore this but it was increasingly hard to do so, especially when every other noble would walk up to me and greet, obviously trying to butt in my circle of friends. It was fortunate however, that I am already very well known for my blunt manner of speaking and kindly told them to fuck right off. For those that didn’t take the hint I have another thing to deal with them; her name is Blake.

When we arrived at the restaurant Blake already threatened four nobles that she will kick their asses if they try again, one of them she had to throw due to… reasons. She was oddly happy because of that.

“Is she… always like that with nobles?” Camilla asked me quietly.

“Not all nobles, just the ones that act like those other ones from earlier and it wasn't this bad before the news of me being Celestia’s son broke out.” I said to Camilla while Irena looked at the restaurant's interior. When I looked at it all I could say about it is it’s… minimal. The walls were a pasty white colour and each table had this purple tablecloth over it. The other thing about this place was a large purple triangle on the wall.

“This place seems… dull.” I said out loud, quickly gaining a few nods of agreement. We walked around a bit, seeing more and more of the dull interior design but along the short walk, we were finally met with an employee of the place and quickly had others set up a table for us but it was only after they saw me. We all sat around a rather large white table that, upon seeing it, must be an absolute bitch to keep clean. Irena was even staring at how bright of a white color it was.

We all took a little corner at the one end of the large table, didn't see why we should spread out to use this table. Before long a woman walked over in a waiter uniform and, from the looks of it, she was nervous being here.

“H-Hello… do you all w-want your menus?” She asked with a stutter. I arched a brow at the waitress’s behaviour before we agreed on wanting the menus and were quickly handed one each. All it took was one skim through the menu and I was put off by its selections, in fact they all sounded so… bland. I could see that it even garnered Blake's attention. Blake frowned at this, turning menu over to see the list of drinks.

“Not a lot to work off of.” Blake muttered to herself, though loud enough for all of us to hear.

“Well, it is one of the few high end restaurants in Canterlot. Some of the Noble Elite eat here.” Camilla explained. I frowned as I read through the menu and just by doing so, the waitress was got a lot more nervous than before.

“Umm… i-is there something wrong sir?” She asked me. I shook my head at this and said.

“There's nothing wrong per say, it's just… everything on the menu is bland and quite frankly unoriginal.” I said to the waitress. There was a slight wince from her as I said that, making me feel like she knew this but couldn’t say anything.

“I… I’m sorry…” She said with a sad look on her. “Ummm, should I get some water for all of you?” We all nodded and she was quick to dash away in a hurry, leaving us to chat amongst one another and while Blake and Camilla were chatting, I was helping Irena with picking her food because as soon as the waitress left, Irena placed the menu down with a frustrated humph, so it was up to me and Ange to pick out something Irena.

Though I didn’t blame her for getting frustrated with picking, other than how bland everything was, a lot of it was a bit confusing to pick, there was no pictures to show what they had. The only thing I kinda know is some kind of a smoke pork dish. While I had a selection in mind to pick, it did little to hide my skepticism of this place. Worst case scenario would be that the food would be… well indelible is the first word that comes to mind. We all ordered, Ange got a salad as Blake had the same dish as Irena and Camilla gotten the soup.

“Okay… e-everything will b-be ready soon.” The waitress stuttered nervous before running off to the back. The rest of us started to talk to one another as we wait. Irena was the most upset out of all of us, though it was mostly for the lack of interesting items in the menu. Ange was trying to cheer up Irena which got a small smile at her but it wasn’t much.

Soon our waiting has ended as the waitress came back with our food. I looked down at everyone's food and, well, it looked nice, bit on the small size but not as small as the noble from the cook off. These were at least twice as big as that one, big enough to satiate one's hunger to an extent at least. Irena's pout returned when she was handed her plate.

“Give it a try first before you judge it.” I said simply to the dark celestial while my plate was placed in front of me. The waitress gave me a bow before she continued on giving the others their plate. When I looked down at my plate, I was nearly shocked at how one could make something that, on paper, would sound like the greatest food one could have here and yet they make it so… dull.

I looked at the others and kinda the same reaction that I had as they stared at their food. Even Ange’s salad didn’t look appetizing. I looked at it and all I got from it is that it’s green. We all took the first bite of our dishes and like clockwork, we all grimaced at the taste. It was lacking in many things to bring out the flavor and even the texture felt wrong. All it took was one bite for us to nearly chug all our drinks down in one go. Irena frowned at her dish and pushed it away.

“This is smoked pork?… This isn’t smoked pork, it’s just thinly sliced pork and salted…” Blake said crossing her arms. Camilla stared at her soup for a few moments before speaking.

“I used to love this soup… now it’s meh.” Camilla said in a surprised tone. Blake glanced at her oddly as she said that.

“I'm going to have to agree with Blake here.” I said, having ordered the same thing as her as it was the only thing that sounded good. Irena gagged when she tried hers and was quick to drink all of her water afterwards. It seems that our waitress overheard us and went off to tell the chef that before Blake stood up.

“I’m going to go talk to the chef about this.” She said as she looked at me, seeing if I wanted to come with. I nodded and stood up before we both followed where the waitress went and it wasn't long until we overheard them talking.

“Well of course they don’t like it! That food is shit!” a loud female voice yelled. “If it wasn’t for that damned critic I would be cooking food I like! Not this, horty torty noble food!”

“Y-yes chef…” the waitress said nervously, earning a sigh from the female chef. Both Blake and I looked at one another for a moment.

“Seems the chef agrees with us…” Blake whispered to me. I nodded at this before we made ourselves known with a simply knock on the open door. This drew the attention of both chef and waitress also a few others cooks that were working there. The chef was a few years older than me and a Beastkin as I saw a cat’s tail behind her.

“The hell you want?” The Chef asked me before the waitress cleared her throat.

“Um… this i-is Princess C-Celestia’s s-son.” the waitress explained.

“Right… What the hell do you want, your highness.” She repeated with enough sarcasm that she could cook with it.

“Ooo, I like her.” Blake said with a smile. I could only chuckle at this as well before Blake spoke up. “So… we came to complain about the food-”

“Let me guess, it’s bland and lifeless.” The chef said, cutting Blake off. “Trust me, I know. My workers know. Everyone in this place damn well knows.” We watched her walk over and pick up a vine of tomatoes and held it up. “You see these? I can think about twenty dishes that I could make that revolves around these. So much I can do but can’t!” We all hear some voice call out in agreement in the back of the kitchen.

“Why not?” I asked, genuinely curious to know as well Blake.

“Because of that damned Critic!” The Chef yelled in frustration. “You know this place wasn’t like this before hand right? This was the one great place to get smoked food, the best smoked food in Canterlot before this critic came and gave us a bad score on how it looked and food. Saying we need to get into modern times. Sure we are still getting money and business but there’s no love, no soul, no fucking anything to what we make.” The Chef was fuming a bit before marching off to some other room.

“Umm… sorry about this… she needs time to uh… calm down… sorry.” The Waitress explained. Blake and I were shocked to hear that a food critic was the cause of all this and were nearly left speechless with the head chef’s words.

“Okay… Wow.” Was all I could say before I shook my head to regain my composure. “Okay, right… food critic ruined the life of the restaurant so why not, just hear me out.” I said, as if I was going to go on a whole elaborate plan before simply saying. “Fuck what the critic says.” I said.

“Umm… that’s not how it works here…” The Waitress explained before continuing on by saying. “She’s one of the most influential critics in Canterlot… if you go outside you’ll see the sign with the three stars on it, making it saying that she approves of this place… it also brings customers in as well…”

“Right… Worth a shot anyway.” I said, muttering the last bit to myself before thinking of an idea that could work. “If she will have it, can the head chef come back so I can talk to her.” I said in a polite manner, which got some odd looks from the other workers as they were surprised by my crude words earlier. They must've not expected me to say something like that, maybe they've grown attached to a royal being someone kind and polite. While I can be both, I prefer to sprinkle in a little bit of bluntness into the mix. The waitress nodded and ran off to fetch the Head chef.

A few minutes later we saw the head chef return with now a bloody fist. She didn’t seem to mind it as she crossed her arms. I could also hear some of the workers saying that they need to fix the wall in the back again, meaning the head chef done this before.

“You okay?” Blake asked the chef.

“Yes.” She said bluntly before looking at the bleeding hand. “Just a flesh wound.” I blinked at this before shaking my head and speaking up.

“Okay then, what I wanted to ask is that if you can make something for me and my friends that, in lack of a better term, you'd give a fuck on?” I asked her, clasping my hands together when I cussed. I awaited her answer patiently while Blake looked at me as if I was crazy. The Head chef stared at me for the next few moments before a smile appeared on her face as she turned to her workers.

“Fire up the stoves everyone! Time to make something good!” She yelled, earning some cheers from everyone. The waitress and us went back to our table and cleared the plates and said that they will fix the food. Of course this garnered some confusion from both Angelina and Camilla, this did however get a cheer from Irena.

It took some time, but soon a few waiters came out without food and, for the first time I enter in here, the food looked good, mouth watering even. The latter couldn't be even more true for Irena as she was salivating just seeing it. The scent was enticing, hunger inducing in a way that I simply couldn't wait any longer. The waitress set our respective plates and for once, I was happy to dig in. The first bite, I had no words that could describe how good it was. Heavenly was the first that came to mind but I digress, it's eating time!

We all ate happily, soon there was a conversation between us, other than Irena who was happily wolfing down her food. We laughed a bit as we simply had a good time. It wasn't until we all finished our meals that I spoke.

“That… Was… awesome.” I said before suppressing a burp that I might regret later on. “I don't care what that critic says, that was the best meal I've ever had.” I said with confidence in my tone.

“You got that right.” Blake said happily as she leaned back in her seat. The waitress smiled at this as she and a few others picked up the empty plates. The waitress didn’t give us a bill, saying that this was on the house and went off to help clean up. Maybe I should convince mom to give this place a try? Thoughts for another time I suppose. We all stood up and were ready to leave… with the exception of Irena who groaned after having eaten so much. I suppressed a laugh and picked her up, simply carrying her as we walked out. She rested her head on my shoulder as we walked out of the building with a happy look on our faces. Upon exiting, Blake pulled her phone and took a picture of the restaurant's name.

“What's that for?” I asked her, regarding the picture she just took.

“When we get home I’m going to go search up this critic and get some info about her.” Blake explained with a frown. “The fact she forced someone to change into being miserable is not cool.” I frowned as well before nodding. Soon we headed over to where the baking competition is supposed to be held and judged. It wasn't hard to find when the smell of sweets was in the air and grew stronger and stronger the closer we got. Upon arrival, we spotted Dianne and the other pastry chefs standing next to a large cake with donuts eclairs and even a chocolate moose adorning the cakes many layers. It was even larger than the cake was before we got here. We watched the judges came over to see the large cake and smiled about it before walking away. A few minutes later they came back and gave the cake a blue ribbon, which meant they took first place.

“That's… that's a really big cake.” I said, still surprised over the large size of it. The others nodded as I saw my mom walking up to the cake, licking her lips at the sight. I chuckled a little when I saw her before we all walked over to Dianne to congratulate her and the other chefs.

The group was happy with this, seemingly surprised that they could pull off a quick cover up with what they had at hand to make something good, surprised that they won. Now the fun part was going to happen; eating the deserts. I stood back while the others ate, even Irena though I did have to remind her that she ate a lot earlier so she couldn't eat a lot of cake. She was a little bummed out by this but her mood quickly changed when she was given a slice.

“Hey mom.” I greeted my mother as I walked up to her. She had her own slice of cake as well, albeit a little bigger than the others.

“Oh, hello dear.” She greeted back with a smile as she cut a little piece of cake with her fork. “How are you today?”

“Exhausted for the most part.” I said before turning to look at the cake and saying. “You wouldn't believe the trouble that cake caused in just getting it here.” I said to her, hinting at the odd murder-esque mystery. She arched a brow at this before shrugging before putting the bit of cake into her mouth, humming gleefully at the taste. I began to retell the events that transpired from getting the cake into the train and train ride itself, she was laughing when I told her about the how the whole thing was solved and she did suppress a chuckle when I told her that I was tied down to the chair I sat on on suspicion that I had eaten half the cake. “And after we arrived at the station, me, Ange, Irena, Blake and Camilla headed to the nearest restaurant for some eats.” I said.

“Well, I can see that you had fun.” Mom said happily, eating the last of her slice of cake.

“Yeah… oh and you should totally give that restaurant a try and if you do, don't ask for anything on the menu. Ask for what the chef recommends.” I said with a smile. She arched a brow at this and hummed, intrigued at what I said.

“I’ll give it a look, maybe bring my sister along… if I can get her out of her room.” She said with a frown. I arched a brow upon hearing this.

“Is she… Alright?” I asked, concern evident in my tone.

“Oh she’s fine… just got into a new hobby… of video games.” Mom said with a sigh. “I don’t know why she does it, she just locks herself up and plays some big game with lots of people that also play it.” I held back a laugh, hearing that my own aunt had discovered the mystical realms of an MMO. Mom shook her head as she was given another slice and happily ate it as well.

After eating some cake, we started to see it was getting dark which my mom was happy to offer all of us a room to sleep in for the night so we were well rested and didn’t have to sleep on the train. I was happy to accept this as I was able to sleep in a better bed than the bed on the train. Blake and Camilla happily went to their room, hand in hand and smiling as Ange, Irena, and I went to ours. After what happened on the train today, I was happy to sleep soundly in a comfy bed.

End of XXI

Author's Note

The usual shtick:

List
Twilight Sparkle: Lydia Aurora
Spike: Drake
Pinkie Pie: Dianne Pye
Rarity: Sophia Belmont
Fluttershy: Angelina Calliope
Rainbow Dash: Rachael Dawn Wind (Wind is a real surname, it's Finnish)
Applejack: Jacqueline Smith
Applebloom: Samantha Smith
Big Macintosh: James Smith II (junior)
Granny Smith: Sarah Smith
Scootaloo: Skyler Hawk
Sunset Shimmer: Lady Camilla Nicolette Whitlock
Carrot Cake: Carlos Cake
Cup Cake: Betty Cake