––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– It was a rather casual night at the Tasty Treat, ponies eating their meals, friends chatting, and the little family cooking and taking orders. The chef mare Saffron was happily making customers their meals as Coriander hosted, the lovely mare showing some of her beloved dishes. When she trotted to a few friends who were there to greet them, she turned around to a surprise. Just like that, a little package was sitting at the counter, with her name on it. Saffron levitated the gift with her magic, removing the wrapping to reveal a plate of freshly baked cookies, still warm, and a little note. She looked around to see if any of the customers inside snuck it in for her, but they all seemed preoccupied talking and eating. She asked her father if he saw whoever placed the gift, only to be told him not seeing anyone run in and out.
Still pondering, the unicorn read the note, the message complimenting her and being rather shy with words. It was rather simple, but pretty sweet and the pony appreciated it. She blushed when she saw it was from a secret admirer, her eyes shining as someone had feelings for her. With a heartfelt smile, she folded up the note and kept it safe, taking a bite of one of the fresh cookies. The chef pony liked it, enjoying the sweetness of the dough and the colors of the little candies, especially since they matched hers. She took another, eating it as she trotted to the kitchen. She looked back one more time, to see if anypony was being conspicuous. Saffron then went to the kitchen, cooking up new orders.
Just outside the restaurant, a stallion was covering his face with his hooves, feeling flustered over managing to sneak in the cookies without her or her father spotting him. Some ponies gave him weird looks as they got to the entrance, wondering if he was a hobo or something similar. The stallion gave a cheeky smile and waved to them as they passed by, chuckling nervously. Feeling he did what he needed to for tonight, the stallion got up and decided to head home, though his mind was still buzzing thinking about the crush he was having on the chef mare inside. Hoping to see her again, the stallion trotted off. If you ask me, though, he should’ve sneaked away til he reached the corner, but ah well.
This doodle takes place after Sketchy first sees Saffron and falls for her, sneaking in gifts for her constantly and feeling bashful whenever she sees them. It would mostly be cookies, with little notes to show his affection. Whether he is a master of sneaking, I’ll let you decide.
The blurring for the background was honestly a tricky part.
I wanted to go with this thing where the restaurant background was blurry, and the layer with Sketchy and the outside color was even blurrier, but there were times where the edges where the transparency met were a little sharper than how everything else was. It bothered me a bit til I eventually got around.
I also went with cookies because I like cookies, so the fuzzy one in the back would bake cookies. Cook the keys.