Centauri's Log

[Centauri]

Cellar Cask

Earth Pony

Age: Young Stallion

Gender: Male

Profession: High-class chef; hobbyist brewer

Threads: [Manehattan] The First Appearance of Nighthoof

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Character Summary

Cellar Cask always complained that his parents were drunk when they named him. He and Woodcutter (his identical twin) were born to a part-time teacher and one of the best brewers in Equestria. Cask was the older son, and his father insisted that he should follow the family tradition by becoming a brewer. Whenever Cask tried his hoof at brewing, however, he never really enjoyed it. Not to say that he was bad at it, but he simply just didn’t find it as much fun as cooking.

However, Cask faced some serious difficulties most times he tried cooking: he was diagnosed as an insomniac narcoleptic from birth, and often fell asleep at the stove. It didn’t stop him, though, and he got into the habit of only cooking after he had an episode. Occasionally, however, he was able to continue cooking while asleep. As his life continued, this became a regular occurrence for recipes he knew. Cask is constantly fearful when he experiments with new recipes in the kitchen, for if he is unfamiliar with the actions required for the recipe when he has a sleep attack, his body shuts down and falls over; it was because of this that he sustained many minor burns to his face and hooves. Fortunately, the scars have been healed by whichever unicorn doctor was close by and available to help at the time.

Cask got his cutie mark on his colthood birthday when he brought in some cupcakes to class. As he and his brother watched their classmates enjoy the cupcakes, Cask smiled: he knew that his work was being fully appreciated. When his teacher sampled one of them, he was almost pressganged into the school’s canteen. Cask accepted the position graciously and, as he did, he felt his cutie mark appear on his flank. Until he finished school, Cask worked with the rest of the fillies and colts studying hospitality at the school canteen, allowing the whole school to admire his skill.

His father was less than proud of his achievements that day. He berated Cask for not following in his footsteps and becoming a brewer. Woodcutter stepped in at this, telling their father that he was out of line, and that Cask had every right to do what he enjoyed. Their father evicted both of them from the house, and Woodcutter, using the skills for which he was named, managed to build both of them a house which they could live in for the rest of their school life. Their mother visited them every day, so (she said) that social services wouldn’t come and cart them off to an orphanage. Both the colts guessed that it was actually because their mother couldn’t bear to see them go.

When school finished for the two colts – now stallions – they each went their separate ways: Woodcutter built an inn on the outskirts of Whitetail Forest and Cellar Cask became a travelling cook. His last line of work was in an upper-class Manehattan restaurant, where he worked as sous-chef. The only reason he wasn’t Head Chef was because of his chronic narcolepsy, causing him to decline the job. Cask still brews his own drinks occasionally, and is well known to find the best wine for any meal, or the highest quality scotch to serve on its own. Often, at the end of a long night of cooking, Cask leaves the kitchen and asks his customers how their meal was, and readily accepts criticism. All reviews of the restaurants he worked in rated 'high' for customer service when he worked in them.

When Woodcutter and Cellar Cask meet up in the present, they never talk about their father, and only occasionally about their mother. Cellar Cask has become a role model for many Earth Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi alike due to his major success in his career path despite his condition and generally isolated origin of Fet Loch. It has been asked of him that he divulge how he learned to cook so well from such an out-of-way town.

Many interviewers have written articles over the three years of his successful career and each interviewer unfailingly asked him how he felt about his narcolepsy and how it affected his work. Cask always replied with the same answer: "Yes: my condition is dangerous in my line of work, and yes, it has been difficult to gain success in it for those very reasons. However, I take certain steps every day - whether I go to work or not - which keep me safe; if they do not succeed (as occasionally happens, I admit), my employer refuses to let me work for fear of me and their kitchen. How do I feel about my condition? Quite frankly, I've experienced nothing else, and it hasn't changed the pony I am inside. If there is something I would ask of everypony, it would be to laugh with me about my condition: don't fret, don't fuss over me and, above all, don't apologise."