I really love this picture! So ominous. Well, back to lurking...

so real

Chocolate Apple stared in amazment and nodded slowly. "I love if you could... and maybe I could help you too. I know I could show you a few ways to make something sweet, cookies, muffins you name it...!" Chocolate apple smiled wider and chuckled happily knowing that she was very good at baking as she walked quietly beside pete. "I can also show you the real reason I got my cutie mark. Chocolate dipped Apples are delicious."

"I'd like that, I think..." Pete frowned slightly, "But I'm not much of a cook, so I'm not sure you'll be able to teach me anything that won't turn out horrible." He set the lanturn down to the side of the step, then pushed the olied cloth door aside with his head, "Welcome to my humble home... Please, make yourself comfortable." Humble was a bit of an understatement. Though the fire in the hearth sprang up with a little prodding, there wasn't much to look at. A single worn armchair, a thick throw rug of unidentifiable materials, a tiny corner of a kitchen, and an open larder packed with grain sacks and jars of preserves. There was another door to the left of the entrance, hung with similar cloth, that presumably led to the bedroom. Nowhere were there any personal items; no pictures or tokens, no shelves of nicknacks. Just the bare essentials.

Choco walked in looked around at the plain looking home but continued to smile. "your home is very nice... its very simple" she said as she trotted over to the kitchen and grabbed a pan looked back at pete "so what would you like to eat pete? I cook almost everything but a cherry pie... for some reason it always turns out blue..." she said whild mumbled to herself about the oddity of the color change in the cherry pie.

The lighting in this painting is incredible! Very well done!

Pete smiled to himself, "I spent most of my childhood surounded by pretty things with no practical use; paintings by strangers that meant nothing, statues of landmarks I'll never visit. Expensive, worthless clutter..." He removed several sacks from the larder and set them against the tiny counter. "Do you know how to make merange pie? I had it with peaches once, in the village, and I've been trying to replicate it ever since..." He added several magically cooled clay pots to the items on the counter: Butter, cream, milk, unsure of what she might need. "But like I said, I'm no good at cooking... I mostly live off oatmeal and flatbread." A large mason jar of peach preserves was set on the counter with the rest, and Pete sat back, "Now, tell me how I can help."

Chocolate Apple smiled and even swished her tail like she was a puppy but she went over and preheated the clay oven and began to make the top for the pie form the milk, eggs, and flour that she would've seasoned with brown sugar "you can take the flat bread and press it into the round pan! make sure to put the butter and brown sugar on it so it'll taste sweet!"

"Right..!" After a quick scrub of his hooves and the thought "There must be some filly magic that keeps their hooves so clean... How do they DO that?" he set to work following her orders. "I never would have thought to use brown sugar... I eat it with my oats, but that's about it." It was surprisingly simple, being told what to do. Usually he shut others down with a glance, let them know he wasn't to be trifled with, let alone made an inferior. In fact, a lot of things were simple with Chocolate Apple... No one was trustworthy enough to share his past with, no one deserving of favors. How often did he really TALK to anyone, anyway? Yet here he was, telling her he put brown sugar in his oats and promising to teach her something most growers would have kept like a guilty secret. He glanced over at Choco and sighed quietly. He would think it over in the morning. For now, he focused on the pie.

Great rp wish could join and omg AMAZING and creepy picture!

Chocolate Apple would look at pete and smiled inwardly at the colt, she had many friends tell her he was a pony that even a monster wouldn't cross but she only saw a pony having trouble making pie. she giggled more she notices him liking brown sugar from his hoof and looked at strangly. When she had finished the crust she walked over to pete ans smiled "it looks perfect! and you said you couldn't cook! haha!"

Pete frowned down at his work, almost glaring at it, "You're right... It'll probably turn into a live Cokatrice half way through baking, just to spite me." He huffed out a quiet laugh, grinning, "Let's hope my unexpected skill lasts long enough to finish this thing. I don't think there's enough eggs to try again..!" And really, buying eggs was as good an excuse as any to accompany Choco all the way to the village... It was nice talking to someone who didn't treat him like some odious but necessary evil. "Okay, now what?"

"we put the peaches in the crust like...this" she said as she took the jar of already sliced peaches and put them into the crust, then she put rhe pie top on and smile. "now, i'll give you the honor of putting in the oven!" she smiled and walked over to the rug and sat down with a wide smile. "I'm really thank full that you let me stay and i'm happier i got to see you smile... even if it was a small one"

Pete fought down a startled blush, "I-uh, I don't usually have any reason to smile..!" He gave himself a slight shake, then carefully picked up the pie. He gave the oven a menacing glare; this is where so much of his cooking usually went wrong. He put the pie inside, then moved out of burning range. High heat made him uneasy. He then flopped down in his chair, going completely boneless while still managing to raise an amused eyebrow at Choco. "Anyway, you smile more than enough for the both of us. That's somewhat surprising, considering you're nearly at the center of a notoriously deadly bog."

"...I smile because... I find the smallest happy thing and focus on it!" chocolate apple rolled onto her side and chuckled softly "and normally people ask questions if I don't smile so i'm used to it" she lightly grinned and sat up with her head between her hooves. "but... why don't ever come to the town more often...? many fillies would love a tall strong colt like you..."

The emotions that crossed Pete's face were easy to read: Insult, hurt, curiosity, shock, joy, and ending with a sort of bemused wonder. He blinked, and the look was gone. "You're serious..." He sat up in his chair, the old wood creaking, "I used to go to town more often, when I was still settling in here. But over the years, the villager's looks of pity turned to suspi,cion, then mistrust, anger, and now most of them openly fear me." He gave Choco a thoughtful look, then shrugged, "I had to go all the way to the capitol and speak with the head of the merchant's guild just so I could open my stall for one day a month. And I have to go back every year to renew that contract..." he grinned slightly, "If I showed up in town too often, they might chase me out with torches and pitchforks..!"

Choco's eyes would widen before shivering and standing up and walking over to the oven and looked at the pke but then closed it back, knowing that it wasn't done. "well i think ponies that would chase other ponies away are just selfish... but alot of ponies are like that. Too many unicorns showing off their magic and pegasus flying free while the earth ponies... we just work and have the work we do not thanked for heh makes you wonder why we share with the others if they're so great..." choco's expression would be contorted and show a slight flash of hatered but she soon smiled and looked at pete "pie will be done soon!"

Pete gave an amused snort, "I'd hardly call them better than us. Pegasai are often dangerously competative, and many end up land bound and suicidal from overexerting their flight muscles. Unicorns can become paranoid about physically touching things, and become prisoners in their own homes for fear of a single leaf touching them." He'd seen it himself, so often. Flyers sinking, unresisting, into the muck because of their sha,ttered wings. Magicians scre,aming through the underbrush as their magic sputtered and died, unable to sustain full-body shields for long. He grinned, sharp and knowing, "Nobody, Chocolate, is perfect. Sometimes you just have to remind them of that."