Poppy entered the cafe with some of the employees so that they can start baking the pastries they prepped last night. They changed to their uniforms and started baking them. Branch came in and changed to his uniform but he noticed Poppy is reading her mother's scrapbook of recipes. She flipped through the pages and it ended up into the meatloaf page.
"Poppy, isn't that your mom's meatloaf recipe?" Branch asked her.
"Yeah, and I'll be making it here in the cafe for the customers to enjoy." Poppy said.
"Can't wait to taste it!" Rose said as she lined up with the other customers, via social distancing to order her food.
"The meatloaf festival is tomorrow and I kinda remember your mom was one of the past winners back before you were born." An orc dad said.
"I didn't know she won a meatloaf contest." Poppy said.
"Yeah, her meatloaf is legendary." A satyr mom added.
"Why don't you enter the meatloaf contest." Bloom suggested.
"Me?" She asked.
"Yeah, you cook the best food ever." A young, wingless sprite responded.
"We know you'll win." Her mother added.
Meanwhile, in Foodstice, Chef was grumbling while looking at her few customers and looking after the kitchen with her fellow chefs.
"Great, that little sprite and her Snack Pack are going to enter that meatloaf festival and I'm joining it." She grumbled.
"You've joined all the meatloaf festivals every year." One of her chefs said.
"Yeah and I never won but I'll be winning instantly." Chef grinned. "I'm going to cheat!"
That night, Poppy was trying to cook a meatloaf but she was thinking if it's right. Peppy noticed it and went right up to her.
"Hi, honey." Peppy called in.
"Hi dad, I was trying to make mom's meatloaf." Poppy said. "Everybody told me that I should join the meatloaf contest."
"Oh, the meatloaf festival's meatloaf cooking contest." He laughed.
"I didn't know mom won the meatloaf festival." She said.
"Yeah, your mãe won the meatloaf festival before you were born." He informed her. "Her meatloaf is award-winning."
"I want to make her meatloaf perfect for tomorrow but I don't know if it's perfect!" She nodded.
"You could ask your friends for help, Branch is good too." He suggested.
"Yeah, I'll try." She sighed.
"Poppy, all meatloaves are delicious but the secret ingredient your mother did to her meatloaf is love." He advised her.
"Really?" Poppy asked.
"Yes, she does all her recipes with love, despite all the trials and errors she had but she never gave up."he said. "Like you did with Branch."
"You mean, I have to do my best in making the meatloaf?" She asked.
"Yes, and you can make your meatloaf with your friends." He advised.
"Oh, thank dad." She cried. "We'll do our best."
The next day came the meatloaf festival. Poppy, Branch, Smidge, and Violet, who all signed up for the meatloaf cooking competition, set up a booth. Everybody also set up their booths and get right to work. The judges are also getting ready but Chef and her team are ready too...for cheating.
"Wow, this festival is bigger than before." Violet's jaw dropped.
"Yeah, and it's Rose's first time here." Poppy added when she saw Rose with Jonquil.
"There's no time for it, we can enjoy the festival later when we complete our meatloaf." Branch groaned.
"Branch is right, let's get cooking!" Poppy said.
The team started making their meatloaf while Chef is willing to cheat in the festival by putting a secret ingredient. Poppy and Branch are preparing the seasoning, the Worschester sauce and the ketchup with Smidge, who is preparing the ground beef while Violet is sautéing the onions. After the onions are sautéed, they're poured into the bowl with the meat and added breadcrumbs and an egg. While the teams are busy preparing their meatloaf, Chef took out a bottle with a purple liquid and poured it into the meatloaf that they prepared. Rose, DJ Suki, Satin and Chenille, Guy Diamond, and Biggie bought ice cream and rode the rides but Rose sensed something strange in the air.
"I smell something dark in this festival." Rose sniffed the air.
"Huh, you smell something?" Biggie asked her.
"Yes, it's something familiar." She answered.
When the cooking is finished, everybody got a chance to taste all the meatloaf recipes of all the competitors. Rose and the others tasted the other competitors' meatloaf but when they got to Poppy's booth, Rose was shocked to see them.
"Poppy, you guys participate too?" She was surprised.
"Yeah, I signed up for it." Poppy answered.
"You wanna try it?" Violet asked as she handed out Poppy's meatloaf, now cooked perfectly and sliced. Their friends took a piece each and ate it. The taste is perfect and
"Wow, the meatloaf is perfectly moist and savory." Rose giggled.
"Yeah, it's just like how Dahlia made it." A faun mother complimented.
A group of human mean girls passed by haughtily and tasted Chef's meatloaf but everybody stood aside when the king arrived. A tall, robust human male with tan skin and golden hair, wearing regal clothing with a crown on his head arrived with his queen, some royal guards, and his aides and he and the judges enter the festival. They went right up to each booth to judge the meatloaf. When he went to Poppy's booth, Rose was having a chilling feeling when she saw him for the first time.
"A real king, I am so nervous." She shivered.
"We all do." Satin said.
The king and queen tasted Poppy's meatloaf and they complimented it.
"It's just like it was made when I was a child." The queen smiled. "This meatloaf had love in just one bite."
"This meatloaf is exemplary." The king added. "We appreciate it so much."
Suddenly, the mean girls, now glowing dark violet with red eyes, mock the statement.
"How dare you flatter yourself, equality, the future!" They mocked in monotonous tones. "Easy prospects this country of half-breeds, and mudbloods!"
The royal guards try to stop them but they throw them off with their superhuman force. Suddenly, some of those who tried Chef's meatloaf were infected too and started attacking everybody from the festival. Those who are unaffected, including the king and queen with their aides and royal guards flew the scene. Rose, Satin and Chenille, DJ Suki, Guy Diamond and Biggie were alarmed by the people fleeing the festival.
"What happened here?!" Rose asked a sprite flying by.
"Some insane girls gone berserk!" The sprite answered and flew away with her baby.
Just then, the Magic Task Force arrived with more royal guards into the festival to curb the disaster. Rose sniffed the air again and flew right into the fallen plates of bitten meatloaf. She took one of the it and smelled it. In a minute, she realized what is causing the catastrophe in the festival.
"It's a magic poison." She said. "The opposite of a potion."
"How did you know?" DJ Suki asked her.
"My father once told me about this." She said as she threw the meatloaf away. "It's a forbidden poison."
"I read about this, if the additive potion is improperly made or its made in a dirty cauldron, it reacts to the dark desires of the consumer instead." Guy added.
"It makes us into monsters." Rose nodded.
Poppy and the others used a shield spell to deflect the place away from the inflicted while keeping themselves away from it. Rose and the others arrived into the tent with a plan. She noticed the people inflicted by Chef's meatloaf, including Chef herself are causing trouble with the Royal guards and the Magic Task Force.
"Guys I got an idea." Rose said.
"What's your idea?" Branch asked.
"The poison Chef used affected certain people because they are never truly at peace with themselves." Rose said. "The addictive poison has caused all of this mess but we have a spell to stop it."
"You fairies always have a plan." The same leading witch from the Magic Task Force smirked. "The spell that can cure poison effects requires a spell circle. Since the targets are too many, we need to draw a really big circle."
"On it!" Poppy agreed.
"But we need to distract them." Rose added.
Biggie used a spell to lure the inflicted crowd in a wild goose chase while the rest draw a giant spell circle on the ground.
"Hey monsters, come and get me!" He called.
"The distraction is all set, lets go!" Rose cried.
While Biggie distracted them, Rose, Poppy, Violet, Branch, Smidge, Satin and Chenille, DJ Suki, and Guy Diamond with the Magic Task Force use their fingertips or their wands to create a giant circle. When it is ready, Biggie lured them into the spell circle, he and the others cast the spell altogether and all the inflicted were trapped in a giant bubble that engulfs them in a rainbow light until it dissipated and they fainted on the ground after their eyes went back to normal and they are no longer glowing dark violet. The other festival-goers who escaped the fiasco cheered for the Snack Pack and the Magic Task Force while the king expressed his gratitude for their heroism in saving the festival. The medics took the inflicted away in stretchers.
"Huh, that poison must've made certain people act like beasts." The king said. "But thanks to you, the meatloaf festival is saved."
"It was nothing, we just use our magic for good." Poppy said.
"But we got a lot to clean up." Rose responded as she eyed the mess around the festival.
Everybody started cleaning up the mess around the festival like how they cleaned up the whole city after the storm. When it's finished, the awarding ceremony is held. The judges and the king went up the stage to announce the winners. Two of the competitors got second place and third place while Poppy and her friends got first place.
"Woohoo!" Rose cheered.
"Yay, Poppy!" Satin and Chenille shouted.
As Poppy, Branch, Violet and Smidge went up the stage to claim their price, the crowd cheered louder than ever. The festival turned out not only imperfect, with a disaster, it is the best day ever for Poppy and the Snack Pack. Everybody who came to the festival has a good time, all except for Chef and her team, who were disqualified for using a magic poison while those inflicted by the poison were sent to the hospital.