"Hey Mustang! How are the veggies coming along?" Turbo Dash asks his newly appointed sous-chef as he starts sautéing the onions and garlic in a frying pan.
"All chopped and ready to be cooked, Turbo!" Ford salutes to his head chef after laying down the chef's knife aside.
It's late in the afternoon, and Ford Mustang just finished his task of cutting the remaining vegetables after stacking the cutting board with a colorful, chopped variety of eggplants, bell peppers, squashes, and tomatoes. Together with Turbo Dash, they are making ratatouille as the main dish for Rainbow Dash's birthday dinner.
"Not bad, Ford!" Turbo praises him. "You're certainly quite a chef, aren't you?"
"Speak for yourself, Turbo!" Ford comments right back. "You can probably give some high-class chefs a run for their money!"
"Well, when you raise an aspiring filly like my Dashie, cooking meals such as this tends to become a must-have for any single father such as myself!"
"Speaking of which, where is Rainbow?" Ford asks as he looks around the room. "I haven't seen her in awhile."
"Oh, she's... visiting somepony important today." Turbo hesitates on his answer.
"Who?"
"...Her mother."
Ford instinctively clamps his lips shut after the mention of Rainbow's mother. In the midst of the disturbingly dead silence, the younger Pegasus keeps his uncomfortable gaze away from Turbo's as the older Pegasus continues to stir up the soon-to-be-delectable dish.
"Ford?" Turbo breaks the silence gently.
"Uhh... y-y-yes?" he stammers in response.
"Could you pass me the eggplant and thyme?"
"Oh! S-sure!" Ford says startlingly as he separates the sliced eggplant from the large cutting board before passing the purple vegetable along with the thyme to Turbo. For the next step, the head chef adds the two ingredients to the frying pan before continuing his stirring.
"I don't think Rainbow ever told you about her, did she?" Turbo inquires while he is still focused on his cooking.
"It... wasn't my place to ask something like that from her." Ford responds softly.
"It's okay, Ford, and I appreciate that." Turbo gently smiles at him.
"Is it... alright if I ask you then?"
"Go ahead, Ford."
After a brief moment of hesitation, Ford finally asks, "What happened to Firefly?"
Turbo didn't answer right away. He took a moment to compose himself before answering Ford's question impassively, "She died during childbirth."
"I'm... truly sorry, sir." Ford says as best as he could to humbly offer his sympathies to Turbo. "I honestly can't imagine how hard it was for both of you."
In response, Turbo Dash just smiles and nods at Ford before going back to his cooking.
In a minute of unsettling quietness, Ford speaks once again, "May I ask just one more question?"
YOU ARE READING
The Epic Quest of Ford Mustang
FanfictionIt's been over a year since the Arrival of Ford Mustang, a former human being from Earth, now a full-fledged Pegasus in Ponyville, and things have been going really well with him and Rainbow Dash ever since they became a couple nearly a year ago. W...
