New Moon (My Little Pony)

29 Let's Talk (2/4)

"You and Bud should think about purchasing a dinner table," Grace recommended.

"And where do you think we'll put it?" Lazuli countered. "In the living room?"

Grace, Lazuli, and Artemis were seated around the living table on their haunches. After clearing the table of a vase that Bud's mother had bought, Grace laid bowls of vegetable gumbos before each of them.

"You made gumbo," Lazuli sighed.

"Why do you sound disappointed?" Grace couldn't help but feel offended. "I would figure an athletic pony such as yourself would understand the nutrients that come into gumbos."

"There's not even a single fruit in this..." Lazuli complained. Artemis shared Lazuli's letdown, which pricked the nerves of the licensed mare.

"Quit acting like babies and eat your food," Grace leered at the two.

"You do realize Artemis is a baby, right?"

Grace did not bother responding to that question. Instead, she whisked a spoon with her magic and picked a spoonful of the gumbo to enter her mouth.

Lazuli picked a spoon and dawned her eyes upon the bowl of gumbo for a brief moment before scooping a spoonful of Artemis's bowl. The colt sat beside her and she prodded the spoon to the colt. Artemis sniffed the spoon and wrinkled his snout.

"C'mon Arty," Lazuli said. "Don't knock it till you try it."

"Then perhaps you should show by example then," Grace voiced and then took another spoonful of her gumbo.

Lazuli gave the advising mare an annoyed glare before pausing upon the spoon. Artemis simply stared at Lazuli, waiting for what she will do next.

"...fine," Lazuli sighed. "You did win the contest." Lazuli ingested the gumbo in the spoon into her mouth. Lazuli slithered her tongue about inside and then gave the smile. "See, it's good. It just smells bad."

Lazuli picked another spoonful of Artemis's gumbo and prodded it towards the unsure colt. This time, the colt resigned to opening his mouth and allowing Lazuli to guide the spoon inside to deliver the food. Artemis clamped his mouth shut and sucked out all of the contents from the spoon as Lazuli pulled it out.

"See," Lazuli said. "Not too bad, right?"

The colt opened his mouth wide in response. Lazuli chuckled at the colt's innocent response and obliged to feed him more of his gumbo.

"You know," Grace started. "I am capable of feeding him and eating at the same time. Your gumbo will get cold at this rate."

Lazuli didn't respond to Grace. Instead, she unfurled one of her wings and used it to pick another spoon from the table to dip into her bowl and ingest the contents.

"A simple decline would have sufficed," Grace complained.