“Tadaaa!”

Sunny couldn’t help but smile at the unicorn’s antics as Izzy, with great flair and enthusiasm, revealed the dish she had been working on. She was somewhat less pleased as the lid was lifted to reveal… not very much at all.

“Thanks,” she said, giving her new bestie a polite smile, which was dwarfed by the huge grin on Izzy’s face.

The plate held two tiny lumps, and a lone asparagus stalk. Well, Izzy had made it for her after all, it would be rude to decline, and she really was hungry after working on her destroyed home all day.

“Thanks,” Sunny said again, smiling a bit wider this time. Uhm, what is it?” she asked as Izzy put the plate down in front of her. “And as much as I appreciate you cooking for me, didn’t you promise to take care of Sprout?”

For some reason that statement made Izzy burst out laughing.

“Oh I took care of him alright!”

Sunny gave her friend a concerned frown, which the unicorn was quick to wave away.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be helping to rebuild your lighthouse tomorrow. I made sure he’ll be very… helpful and never act up again. Pinkie promise.”

Something About the way Izzy said that made Sunny a bit uneasy. She could really do with some help rebuilding the lighthouse though, and Sprout more than anypony deserved to do the lion’s share of the work, the lazy jerk.

“That’s good,” the earth pony decided to drop the subject and focus on the food in front of her. She could feel herself salivating at the sight, even though she didn’t know what it was she was looking at. Some weird unicorn dish she guessed, and hopefully just an appetizer.

“What is it?” she asked, spearing one of the small orbs on her fork.

“Prairie oysters,” Izzy replied with a grin.

Well that did it, Sunny loved seafood, she lived in a coastal town after all. She brought the morsel to her mouth and took a bite. She immediately frowned.

The thing tasted good, very good, but nothing like seafood. If anything it would have benefited from some salt. Instead it tasted sort of gamey, savory, could it be some kind of hard mushroom?

“This doesn’t taste like any oysters I’ve had,” Sunny commented, chewing thoughtfully.

Izzy leaned in closer, peering at Sunny with her big red eyes, a mischievous smile on her perpetually happy face.

“It’s a unicorn specialty,” She informed Sunny, “They’re not real oysters you know.”

“Okay,” Sunny was beginning to feel a bit offput by her friend’s smile. She chewed thoughtfully before replying. “So they aren’t seafood?” she asked after swallowing.

“Yeah, sorta.”

Izzy did a little dance as Sunny glared at her, which prompted the unicorn to elaborate.

“Not at all really, they are more like land… fruit.”

“Fruit?” Sunny raised an eyebrow. The small orb certainly hadn’t tasted like any fruit she ever had. The closest thing she had tried was fish, and even then it was tougher and more savory.

“Yeah,” Izzy replied, mumbling something that sounded like stallion fruit.

“Okay,” Sunny was fine with eating fruit. She speared the second orb and gobbled it up with some satisfaction. The taste really was satisfying, and Izzy’s proud smile was encouraging, if slightly creepy.

“Thanks,” she finally said after swallowing the weird fruit and sucking down the measly vegetable. “Is there any more?”

“Nope!” Izzy said, with some satisfaction.

Sunny was sort of disappointed at that. As tasty as the prairie oysters had been they had done little more than to tickle her appetite.

“But I also made lasagna!” Izzy reached over and pulled another dish up on the table, this one smelled just as delicious as the last one, and there was a lot more of it, which pleased Sunny.

“Awesome!” the earth pony said, helping herself to a large plate of steaming tomato and pasta. “But what about the appetizer?” she asked, “Didn’t you want any?”

“Nah,” Izzy said, scooping up lasagna on her own plate, “They were just for you."

As the unicorn swallowed her first mouthful of lasagna, she got a thoughtful expression on her face. "Besides, if I really wanted some too, I could always ask Hitch. Though nah, he's way too nice for me to do that.”

That confused Sunny, what did Hitch have to do with prairie oysters, and why wouldn't he help pick them? Hitch was one of the most helpful ponies Sunny knew. What her unicorn friend said next confused her even more.

“I felt like you deserved both,” the unicorn beamed, “A gift from Sprout to you.”

“Sprout?”

Sunny was confused, how had that bastard contributed to the meal? She asked as much, which only made Izzy smile one of those knowing smiles that hinted that there was something Sunny didn’t understand yet.

“Oh well, maybe more of a gift from me to you, but Sprout definitely made his…. contribution.”

“Really?” Sunny’s ears perked up. “He willingly helped with something?”

“Weeeeeelll,” Izzy looked rather guilty, “Perhaps not exactly willingly… but I hope he tasted good.”

Author's Note

The prompt was Prarie Oysters. I had to look up what it meant as I too mistook it for some kind of seafood at first, but damn if it did't make for a dark story.