[Canterlot] A Cause for Celebration

[Parodius]

Scale nodded along during the conversation until the expounding on the ranch. "Oh. I see. Um.. sorry. Just seemed like many of the fillies that I'd been around, that was usually their concern. Guess I guessed wrong. Sorry. Again."

With a bit of thought, he added some of the ranch to a corner of his food, taking a bite. "... I guess I'm weird. Tastes okay to me. Not great, but okay."

He raises a brow. "...well, at least you realize your habits aren't the best. If you ever wanted to change something, it'd make things e-" He pauses, blinking. "...bigger? Weird. ...I guess he liked more cushion for the pushin'?" He then pauses. "... Um. Sorry. That was a bit crass of me." He looks around. "...or was it? City life is different, I understand. No idea what's what, comparitavely."

His hooves tap the table a few times as he wondered if he should just extricate himself from this generous pony's mane for the moment or not. He nibbled on his meal a bit more.

[Inkwell]

Thank Celestia Rose Madder's mouth was empty when Scale made his little joke. She actually felt herself blushing a bit before she let loose a riotous guffaw that got the rest of the patio's attention. Other conversations ground to a halt as the ponies outside waited for her to quiet down. As soon as she felt the glares of her fellow patrons, she shifted to a nervous chuckle that quickly died away.

"Heh. Sorry about that. You're really cracking me up today, you know that? Anyway, while I do run in social circles where that sort of banter is commonplace, yeah, that is gonna be something you don't mention in public. If only to spare my poor lungs."

She went back to eating the remains of her sandwich. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in dessert?"

[Parodius]

Nodding, Scale finished off his meal, looking at the glaring ponies and shrinking in his seat a bit. "So, I guess ponies are ponies, wherever one goes." He smirks. "At least I got a laugh out of it."

He thinks for a few moments. "Dessert sounds great. ... But hopefully not too sweet. Not that big on eating pure sugar, personally." He sticks out his tongue. "A few ponies back home seemed to practically live off of sugar. No idea how."

[Inkwell]

Rose rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I never could indulge in myself too much. I mean, when I was a foal, I always got tummyaches whenever I ate too much sugar. Now I prefer my desserts to have a bit of a different taste to them. Like dark chocolate. I love dark chocolate." She didn't seem too conscious of the ponies who still looked at her curiously after she laughed too loudly, but there weren't that many of them. Most of them were satisfied that she returned to a normal tone of voice.

She peeked at the dessert section of the menu for a few minutes and rubbed her hoof to her chin. "Hmmmmm. Can't decide. What do you think, Scale?"

[Parodius]

"About dark chocolate? it's pretty good. Not for everypony, but still good. ... Oh. You meant about dessert. Ummmmmm... let's see." He set to looking at the menu, rubbing his chin. "It all looks tasty and sounds tasty... but... how's the level of sweet around here? This one here is sounding kinda good." He points a hoof at an entry. Chocolate layer cake, cherry middle filling, hot fudge, and walnuts. "If it's not too sweet, it would be pretty good, I think. Most cherry filling is a bit sweet, but if the chocolate cake's not to sweet, it'd balance it out. And the fudge and walnuts would kinda help the two keep from arguing. Any others look good to you?"

[Inkwell]

Rose looked at the menu at the entry Scale pointed at. Sure enough, there was a picture of the chocolate layer cake. It looked pretty good, though she didn't know why he thought the chocolate wouldn't be that sweet.

She looked around the dessert menu to refresh her memory with entries. Each of them had a small picture next to them, and some of them did indeed make her drool. One in particular had a bit of an arresting affect on her.

"Actually," she told Scale, "I think I'm gonna order the strawberry cheesecake. I haven't had the cheesecake here in ages. I think I can get dark chocolate shavings on it, too."

[Parodius]

Rubbing his hoof on his chin, he started looking at the menu again. "I take it that's a no on the chocolate cake not being too sweet. ... Back home, ma made an awesome chocolate cake. More... savory than sweet, I'd say. Sure, there's a bit, but not that sort that's nothing but sweet. ... Secret recipe she'd always say before chasing dad and I outta the house for the afternoon. And she had a few of those." He nods, then hmmms. "Maybe just an appetizer or something instead of an actual dessert." He starts looking over the appetizer section.

[Inkwell]

Rose shrugged and nodded. "Suit yourself," she said, "but my mind's kind of made up on the cheesecake now. I think I'll order that, if you don't mind."

Once again, Hollandaise walked over to the table and waited for the two of them to decide. "I'll have the strawberry cheesecake with dark chocolate shavings on it," Rose told him, "and my friend's still deciding on appetizers, so if you wouldn't mind waiting on him a bit..." Hollandaise looked a bit annoyed, but nodded and waited for Scale's response.

[Parodius]

Scale gave an apologetic smile, scanning over the menu again. "Err... I suppose I'll have some of these grilled peppers. Sounds good enough. Wait. Maybe th-- no. No changing minds, just go with that for now." He nods. "Sorry for the wait." He closes his menu.

"Never had much cheesecake, myself," he comments. "Just wasn't around the house as I grew up, I suppose."

[Inkwell]

Rose admittedly looked a little bored waiting for Scale to decide on his dish, and almost grimaced when he suddenly considered changing his mind. "I guarantee you that every item here is a satisfying dish, unless of course your personal taste disagrees with it. Just pick something and if you don't like it, I'll spring for it myself!"

Hollandaise heard Scale finalize his order and took his menu by the mouth, trotting away to the kitchen in order to finalize it. "Never had cheesecake, huh?" she asked. "I can see that happening. It's a marvelous dessert, though it's ironically more like a pie than a cake. I could describe how it tastes, but perhaps I could just offer you a bite of my slice and let you decide for yourself if you like it. What do you say?"

[Parodius]

Scale sighed and rested his head on the table at the chiding assurance of the menu's quality. "Nope. Never had it." He opens an eye. "Oh, I couldn't do that. You already helped out quite a bit already." He sits up. "Thanks again for helpin' a silly pony like myself."

... He pauses for a few moments, thinking. "... I suppose 'cheesecake' does kinda sound better than 'cheesepie', though."

[Inkwell]

Rose chuckled. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" she replied. "And it might actually not be much like pie after all. There's no dough covering on top, or filling. I was actually thinking of pumpkin pie, which is also great if it's served right. Not exactly in season right now, though. You know what, I'll just let you see cheesecake for yourself."

So she waited a few minutes for Hollandaise to come back with their order, a smile crossing her face when she smelled the food seconds before he stepped into view. The dutiful waiter set a plate of grilled peppers in front of Scale and a slice of cheesecake drizzled with raspberry sauce and white chocolate shavings in front of Rose. She immediately used her magic to cut away a chunk of it and lift it into her mouth. Her eyes closed as she savored the taste, a blend of sugary delight that sent her spine a-tingle.

After swallowing it, she looked at Scale again, as if she just remembered he was there with her, and cut off a smaller piece of her dessert. "Want some?"

[Parodius]

Scale Model nodded. "I've seen it before. Just haven't... y'know. Had it. Pumpkin pie's good, yeah. Pumpkin bread, too. Had pumpkin soup, once. Pretty good, but kinda different. Still tasted pumpkin-like."

He smiled and nodded his thanks as the peppers and cheesecake arrived. Floating a piece of a pepper up, he popped it in his mouth. He stifled a cough as he chewed, wincing slightly. "...a mite spicy, that one..." he murmured.

He glances over at the offer. "Well, I suppose I could trade a pepper for a bite. Though... you seemed to be enjoying that quite a bit." He grins. "Are you sure you can bear to part with one you hold so dear?" he lightly teases.

[Inkwell]

Rose chuckled and deposited the small bite of cheesecake on Scale's plate. "Heh. You already know me so well. I do love my desserts, but as long as I get something in exchange, I think I can bare to part with this much."

She used her magic to break off a piece of one of Scale's peppers and popped it in her mouth. After a moment of thorough chewing, she swallowed it and took a sip of water. "Not bad, but not really dessert material. And I've had spicier. Things that melt your mouth instead of the other way around." She chuckled and ate another nibble of cheesecake to cover the taste up.

[Parodius]

Nodding, Scale floated up the piece of cheesecake and gave an experimental sniff, then popped it in his mouth. "Hmm... not bad. Guess it's just not my cup of tea." He gets a piece of pepper and nods. "Yeah... these are not really dessert material, but they're nice. Just enough spice to make you notice, but not enough to make you wonder who set your mouth on fire." Nom. "Too much spice and it'll distract. ... Unless the spiciness is the whole point of the food. I don't often go for the 'burn your mouth off' thing, but it can be fun at times. My usual go-to at a place back home was fried pickles. A bit different, but still pretty tasty."

[Inkwell]

Rose had scooped a forkful of cheesecake into her mouth when Scale mentioned his favorite dessert from his home. She chuckled with her mouth full at the odd choice in food. "Fried pickles?" she asked after swallowing. "Now there's something I'd like to try at least once! I've gotten hooked on weirder foods, like..." After an awkward silence, she realized she couldn't think of any weird foods she like that weren't also fried or pickled. Brain farts like that were always annoying. "I'll remember it later."

Despite her best efforts to nurse her cheesecake, she still couldn't spread it out over enough bites for her liking, and soon her plate was clean. She leaned back in her seat and sighed, looking down the tip of her nose at Scale. "That was great, wasn't it?" she asks, smiling. "Like I said, I'll cover it. No need to thank me." She moved her eyes to look for the waiter with the check, the rest of her body still slumped back and relaxed.

[Parodius]

Scale nods. "All kinds of foods out there. ...some tastier than others." He thinks. "Only time I really get hesitant is when I've had one of the ingredients before and didn't like it."

He nods, smiling. "Yeah. It's good food here." He finishes off the peppers. "Thanks again. I'll try and find something to pay you back." He smirks, then jokingly sticks his tounge out. "No need to thank, maybe, but it's still the polite thing." He stretches. "As for the book again, congratulations. Got plans for your next project, or are you planning on relaxing for a while to enjoy the success?" He adjusts his glasses, frowns, then floats them off his face to clean them with a napkin.

[Inkwell]

Rose followed Scale's lead, dabbing at her mouth with the napkin to catch any errant crumbs on her face. "Well, whatever you want to do. I live at Trellis Vale Apartments. You can visit or leave the money there if you want."

She felt her ears burn when Scale complimented her on her book again. It was published! Ponies would buy it! How long had she waited for this day? Her knees started shaking as she got to her hooves and sighed. "I'm not really sure what's next," she says. "I'll keep writing and kick ideas around, but yeah, this is a pretty comfortable advance I got. There's no real rush."

As she left, she looked back at Scale and waved. "Till next time!" Then she walked back onto the street, losing herself in the crowd. What a wonderful day.

[Parodius]

"Trellis Vale Apartments. Got it." He nodded and gave a smile. "I'll think of something. Not sure what, but I'll see what I can do."

Another nod. "True enough. It's a lucky thing, too. When somepony rushes their work, it can kinda turn out sloppy. Like a table with all the legs different lengths."

Scale waved back. "Until next time!" he called back. Stretching for a moment, he then walked out into the street as well, thinking on what he could do to repay the nice mare as he wandered back toward the university. What does one get somepony who had cash already? What do writer ponies need? How might he make things more convenient? So many questions drifted through his head. Maybe he could ask somepony on campus for advice later.