Ever since his arrival into the world almost a decade ago, Lil' Cheese had been an almost limitless bundle of energy. It was probably no surprise considering he was the son of not one but two party ponies, the best at their craft to boot. And true to their ways, his parents spoiled him as sweet as possible (figuratively and literally).
Lil' Cheese soon acquired a rather infamous reputation for being a foal that was difficult to foalsit for. Foalsitters of all sorts came and went over the years but none ever truly lasted more than an encounter or two with him. Some just couldn't keep up with the little earth pony, while others were almost driven to madness by his ability to do things that shouldn't be possible for an earth pony.
Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich weren't too bothered by this at first. The lack of a permanent foalsitter meant they had more time to spend with their only son, teaching him the ways of a party pony with the expectation that he would follow in their hoofsteps eventually.
As time went by, however, situations started to develop where the lack of a permanent foalsitter became a problem. Usually it had to do with Twilight's monthly friendship council meetings, though Pinkie usually just ended up bringing Lil' Cheese to them and trusted him to stay out of trouble. But it was clear to all that the colt didn't exactly enjoy the meetings, so Pinkie started leaving him with her husband whenever possible.
Yet now, a problem was about to occur in which neither parent would be available to watch Lil' Cheese. So they would have to once again seek out a foalsitter.
It had all started out like almost any other situation for the family. Pinkie had by now learned to mark down the dates for the friendship council meetings on her calendar. So when she woke up one morning and saw a big, red circle on the day she knew what it meant. "Another friendship council meeting. That means Lil' Cheese is gonna have to stay home with his dad," She thought to herself. "If only Twilight could move the meetings to Ponyville instead, or Lil' Cheese wasn't so hard to keep entertained. It used to be so easy to bring him along when he was younger."
Sighing, the pink coated mare trotted downstairs to inform her husband that she would again be out of town. And to make sure that her son knew she probably wouldn't be coming home until past his bedtime.
What Pinkie did not expect was to bump straight into her husband, who seemed to be in quite a rush for some reason. "Sorry, honey," Cheese Sandwich profusely apologized even while he continued to run all about Sugarcube Corner. "I gotta catch the first train to Manehattan. My 'Cheesie Sense' just flared up again, and it's a doozy! I'm needed to plan a birthday party for my great aunt's second cousin."
"Oh, darn it all! I'd go with you to help, but Twilight will get mad if I don't attend the friendship council meeting." Pinkie sighed.
At that, Cheese Sandwich stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait, that's today? Oh my gosh, I almost forgot!" He gasped! "You realize of course that we'll have to find a foalsitter for Lil' Cheese, again."
Pinkie nodded ever so slowly. "Yeah, I know. We'd better hurry and find one before you have to go! And we should bring Lil' Cheese with us. Oh, why did Pound and Pumpkin Cake have to be out of town for that bakers conference on today of all days? Lil' Cheese just loves being with them."
Just then, who should come bouncing up to both his parents but Lil' Cheese himself? Boneless Six lay atop his back. "Hey Mom, hey Dad. What's all the fuss? I wanna play!" He cheerfully greeted.
Looking across to her husband, Pinkie sighed anew as she told her son. "Lil' Cheese, your father and I are both going to be out of town today. We have important business to attend to, and we can't take you with us."
"Why not?" Lil' Cheese frowned.
Cheese Sandwich explained. "Well, your mom has another one of her friendship council meetings that you always find boring. And I'm gonna be too busy planning a birthday party in Manehattan to keep an eye on you, and Manehattan is a big place. If I let you wander off, your mother would chew me out for sure!"
"So we're going to look for somepony to foalsit for you," Lil' Cheese's mom told him. "Don't worry, we'll do our best to make sure it's a sitter with a sense of humor this time." She promptly bent down and scooped the colt into her hooves.
"Come on, let's go!" Cheese urgently declared! "I've only got about fifteen minutes before I have to get to the train station! If I miss my train, the next one to Manehattan won't be for hours!"
The first stop for the party pony couple and their son was Twilight's School of Friendship, more specifically the headmare's office.
Starlight was in the middle of tending to her potted plant Phyllis when she heard a knock at the door. "It's open, come in." She called without turning her head, though making sure she wasn't speaking in baby talk like she sometimes did if no one else was around.
Pinkie and Cheese burst through the door, looking like they had run all the way across Ponyville (and maybe they had) considering they were panting for breath. "Starlight, it's an emergency!" Pinkie blurted out at the top of her lungs! A few nearby students who overheard the shout panicked and started running about, wondering what the emergency could be!
Starlight turned around, taking care to keep Phyllis away from the edge of her desk so it wouldn't fall and shatter again (the numerous bandages indicated that the potted plant's pot had been hastily put back together multiple times already). As soon as she locked eyes with the party pony couple and their son, she immediately deduced what the "emergency" was. "Let me guess, you wanna press me into foalsitting duty again."
Cheese nodded and pleaded. "Please, Starlight! You're really good with foals, and magic. You already foalsit for Lil' Cheese once before."
"And once was more than enough for me," Starlight frowned as she eyed Lil' Cheese. "He's adorable, but he's a little demon. I have no idea how anypony can keep up with him besides you two. And I'm still trying to figure out how he manages to get so sticky all the time."
"I'm not sticky, Auntie Starlight! I always wash my hooves!" Lil' Cheese protested.
"And yet somehow I was picking cotton candy and sap out of my mane for days on end the last time I agreed to foalsit you," Starlight responded with a sigh, and then told the parents. "Look, even if I wanted to foalsit him I couldn't. Ever since Twilight had Luster Dawn sent here to learn more about friendship, I've had to juggle keeping tabs on her on top of making sure the school runs smoothly," When she saw Pinkie open her mouth she was quick to correct. "Before you ask, no, Sunburst and Trixie are not available either. This is kind of a bad time because we're right at the end of a semester, so that means finals, grades and all that stuff."
Cheese Sandwich unhappily sighed. "Well, it was worth a try. Sunburst especially was a big help when Lil' Cheese was a foal."
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yeah, but Lil' Cheese isn't really a foal anymore. He's almost seven years old now. About as old as the Cutie Mark Crusaders when they became friends."
"I'm afraid they won't be available either," Starlight pointed out. "They're among the top professors we have on tap here at the school, to say nothing of Sweetie Belle's singing career and Scootaloo's supervision of the Ponyville roller derby team. And I doubt you'd want Lil' Cheese to get anywhere near Apple Bloom's potions."
"Seems like all the obvious candidates here are taken," Pinkie commented, before a thought struck her and she got an idea! "Wait a minute, what about Luster Dawn? She's never sat for Lil' Cheese before, but she knows what he's like."
"Auntie Luster is so silly!" Lil' Cheese giggled. He largely knew her from the friendship council meeting where she had been sent to Ponyville by her mentor: Princess Twilight (who was perhaps Lil' Cheese's favorite auntie considering how beautiful she looked, and how she seemed to tower over him).
"Which means she'll be the perfect foalsitter for you, son!" Cheese Sandwich declared as a massive smile broke out across his face! "Come on, let's go find her!"
As it turned out, Luster Dawn had taken up residence in the mostly abandoned crystal castle that had once belonged to Twilight (Twilight had tried to sell it, but no buyers came forward, and so she had mostly kept it preserved to serve as an occasional royal retreat and a home away from home). And the unicorn with a beautiful light pinkish-purple coat was indeed at the castle she had occupied since her move to Ponyville.
"Hey, Luster," Pinkie cheerfully greeted. "You remember Lil' Cheese, right?"
It took a moment for Luster to reply. "Oh yeah, isn't he your son?"
Pinkie nodded as she presented the colt to Luster. "Yep. He needs a foalsitter to watch over him for the day, and it looks like you're it!"
However, Luster Dawn shook her head. "No thank you. Just trying to keep up with that kid is enough to drive me crazy. He reminds me of Professor Silverstream, except less restrained and way more slippery. Not to mention sticky."
"Why does everypony keep saying I'm sticky?" Lil' Cheese questioned. "I'm not sticky, am I?" He looked at his parents, hoping for an answer.
"Not more than usual for a boy your age." Cheese told his son.
Luster then sighed. "My point still stands. I'm sorry, but there is no way I'm going to just add foalsitting to the list of things I need to do while I'm here. Just learning about friendship is enough of a challenge," And she confessed. "Besides, I'm not really good with foals. I was an only child, and I've never really taken care of somepony else for more than a minute or two."
"Oh, okay," Pinkie unhappily sighed. "Well, thanks anyway. If you ever change your mind, just let my husband or I know. Come on, Lil' Cheese."
Pinkie, Cheese and Lil' Cheese all returned to Sugarcube Corner after a ton of searching all around Ponyville. Everypony they asked was either unavailable or wasn't interested in the job, with quite a few even bringing up how "sticky" Lil' Cheese was (and he always insisted he wasn't).
"Well, I guess we'll have to see if Maud and Mudbriar are available today," Pinkie said to her husband. "At this point, I can't think of many other qualified candidates. It was never a problem when we had Pound and Pumpkin Cake to fall back on."
Cheese reluctantly nodded. "I suppose you'll have to take Lil' Cheese with you to Canterlot, again. Maybe if you tell Twilight about this later, she'll find a way to make it more interesting for him."
"I guess so," Pinkie commented as she sighed in defeat. "It has been a long time since he's seen his Aunties Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack, not to mention his Uncle Spike."
But there would be no need for that, because at that moment the door to Sugarcube Corner swung open to the sound of a jingling bell. And in trotted a very familiar earth pony mare with a lovely coat of magenta. Her cornflower blue eyes sparkled not unlike diamonds as her light grayish violet mane and tail with white streaks curled lovingly around her body. To say nothing of the telltale diamond tiara cutie mark while a similar headgear was perched atop her head.
The young mare (at least in comparison to Pinkie Pie who was considerably older) cleared her throat, introducing herself. "Hey, I heard you were looking for a foalsitter for your son. Mind if I take the job, please?"
"Diamond Tiara? You wanna be Lil' Cheese's foalsitter?" Pinkie blinked in surprise. "I haven't seen you in ages. I kind of figured you took over your father's store and were busy with that."
Diamond Tiara shook her head. "Father's not nearly that old just yet. I mostly just help out at Barnyard Bargains when necessary," Then she adjusted her mane and tail a bit. "I was planning to hang out with Silver Spoon today, but she got called out of town. Said something about the family business, not really sure what it could be since I didn't get a chance to ask for details. So since my original plan for the day is shot, and I'm not really needed at the store, I figured I could make myself useful doing something else."
"Have you ever foalsat before?" Cheese Sandwich skeptically asked the mare.
Diamond nodded her head and boasted. "I'm practically a foalsitting pro. I used to foalsit the Cake Twins when they were younger than Lil' Cheese is now. At first it was just so I could earn my allowance, but after a while I started getting attached to those two. Hard to believe they're all grown up now."
"Wow! You foalsat Mr. Pound and Miss Pumpkin?!" Lil' Cheese blinked his head in amazement.
Diamond nodded again. "Yup. Plus, I've had to help take care of little cousins who've come by for visits. Don't have any foals of my own... yet, but that's a subject for another time and another place." She was careful to avoid specifics considering Lil' Cheese wasn't at the age where he needed to know about the facts of life just yet.
"Well, if you want the job, it's all yours," Pinkie told Diamond Tiara. "Just make sure Lil' Cheese gets fed and in bed on time. And he is a bit sticky, though not more than is normal for a kid his age."
The headgear wearing mare just smiled. "I haven't met a foal yet that I couldn't handle. Lil' Cheese won't be any different," Though under her breath she muttered. "Hopefully."
"Great!" Cheese Sandwich smiled! "You can just name your price when this is all over! I promise, you'll be greatly compensated for this!" Then he looked to his son. "Now son, you be a good little colt for Miss Diamond Tiara. Try not to give her a hard time now."
Lil' Cheese just groaned. "Dad, I'm not four!"
Cheese simply ignored the comment and gave his son a peck on the cheek. "I should be back from Manehattan first thin in the morning, Lil' Cheese. And I'll be sure to bring you back a gift." Then, dawning his cowpony hat and poncho, and placing Boneless Two atop his back, he set off for the train station.
Pinkie left a short time later, also giving Lil' Cheese a peck on the cheek. "Remember, be good. And don't try to take advantage of Diamond Tiara's lack of experience with you. I've told her everything she needs to know about you, including all of your little 'tricks'."
Diamond Tiara was soon all alone in Sugarcube Corner with her young charge. She had seen Lil' Cheese from afar many times before, but this would be her first time interacting with him face to face. "I hear you're quite a hoofful, kid," She said to Lil' Cheese. Her exact expression was hard to read. It didn't look like a frown but it didn't exactly look like a smile either. "Is it true that you've gone through more foalsitters than anypony else in all of Ponyville?"
Lil' Cheese nodded and boasted. "Yeah. I lost count around twenty or so, and that was when I was just learning how to count. It's probably closer to fifty or something," Then he seemed to fondly recall. "There was this one foalsitter who actually hung around, though she was more of a nanny. I don't remember her name though."
"Oh?" Diamond pondered.
Lil' Cheese nodded again and explained. "Yeah. I think it's because she helped take care of me when I was like three or four. She just showed up one day, stuck around for a while, and then suddenly she just disappeared. She was really cool though. She could do things even my mom and dad can't do. She could make stuff come to life! All I remember though is that she was really plump, and she had a really funny way of talking."
"I feel like I've heard of that mysterious, magical nanny before," Diamond spoke up. "Probably just in old mare's tales though or something. If such a nanny did exist, I sure would've loved to have had her around when I was growing up."
"Whadya mean? I've seen your dad, he's really nice!" Lil' Cheese spoke up. "He even gives me piggyback rides around the store if I ask nicely."
Tiara nodded. "True, my dad is pretty sweet. But aside from when I could drag him in for Family Appreciation Day at school, I could never really pull him away from work long enough to spend time with him. And my mother... well, my mother's reputation probably speaks for itself," She briefly shuddered before she changed the subject. "Still, I got to grow up in a mansion and had access to just about anything money could buy. So I guess it wasn't all bad. The hired help were kind of like family to me. Especially Randolph, he was like an uncle to me. I think I'm the only reason he hung around for as long as he did. He's definitely earned his retirement today."
Lil' Cheese was amazed as his eyes widened! "Whoa! You even had a butler who was like an uncle to you?! That is so cool! I'll bet you had a lot of friends too!"
But Diamond frowned. "Not really, unfortunately. The only real friend I had for the longest time was Silver Spoon. Having her around was great, but if I'm being completely honest we were kind of pressured into becoming friends because our families knew each other. I didn't really make new friends until the Cutie Mark Crusaders helped me turn over a new leaf," A smile crept across her face as she added. "It's because of them that I was able to befriend and eventually settle down with my special somepony: Pipsqueak. He's a real prince charming, even if Mother doesn't really approve."
"Isn't he that pony who was originally from someplace else?" Lil' Cheese wondered and pondered. "Trot... trot... trot... something that begins with a trot."'
"Trottingham," Tiara answered. "And yeah, he was. That's kind of what drew me to him originally, he just had a way of speaking with that accent. Of course, back when I befriended him he really was Pipsqueak. Nowadays he mostly just goes by 'Pip'," Then she cleared her throat. "But enough about me, what about you? Don't you have any friends?"
Lil' Cheese nodded. "I'm friends with just about everypony at school, and even some of my mom and dad's friends. But my absolute bestest of best friends is Big Sugar! He's the son of Big Macintosh and Sugar Belle, and he lives on a farm. We've known each other since we were born. We do everything together!"
Tiara smiled. "You're lucky to have a friend like him. Friendship is one of the few things money can't buy. And I learned that lesson the hard way," She then looked to her young charge and asked him. "So, now that we've gotten to know each other, how about a fun game? What do you like to do for fun?"
The colt immediately leaped up and shouted! "Hide and go seek!" He proceeded to boop his foalsitter squarely on the snout! "I'll hide, you count to ten or whatever you feel like counting to."
"But I... wha... huh?" Diamond blinked in confusion and utter astonishment.
Lil' Cheese just grinned as he playfully wagged his tail. "Don't worry, I won't hide anywhere really hard. I wanna give you a chance. Now start counting!" And he zoomed away!
Reluctantly, Diamond Tiara put her hooves over her eyes and started slowly counting. She had no idea of what to expect from a game of hide and go seek from Lil' Cheese, but it would be rude not to play along.
Once she had counted to ten, Diamond lifted her hooves and called out. "Ready or not, here I come!" She then set to work on trying to find her charge.
Several minutes passed as Diamond Tiara tirelessly searched all of Sugarcube Corner from top to bottom, examining every possible nook and cranny in every room. But no matter where she searched or how long she searched, it she couldn't seem to find Lil' Cheese anywhere. It was if as he had vanished into thin air. But that wasn't possible, right? Ponies couldn't just disappear without a trace, could they? Apart from Trixie, naturally.
"He better not have run off using this game as an excuse!" The mare with a magenta coat thought to herself. "I used to try and do that with Mother, and she would always see through it in an instant. There's no way he's smarter than me. Now where is he?!"
The answer came in the most unexpected of ways, with a telltale giggle. Tiara followed the giggle all the way to its source, discovering Lil' Cheese perched atop the ceiling in the first floor kitchen. "You found me! Well done!" He happily declared while looking down on his foalsitter.
Tiara's mouth all but dropped to the floor as she discovered her charge's hiding spot. "No fair, you cheated! How was I suppose to know you could get up there?! How did you even get up there in the first place?!" She questioned with a snort.
"I bounced, duh," Lil' Cheese rolled his eyes in apparent unconcern as he dropped from the ceiling, using his tail as an artificial spring. "See?"
"You learned that from Pound Cake, didn't you?" Tiara tried not to sound too annoyed. "When he was just a foal he used to fly up onto the ceiling all the time. And I swear, he did just because he loved to mess with me."
Lil' Cheese shook his head. "Nu-uh, I learned how to do that all by myself. The first time it was actually just an accident because I bounced too high. But now I can do it all the time. It's not cheating because you could totally spot me if you just looked up. If I wanted to cheat, I'd make myself invisible or hide inside the toilet."
"Right, I suppose that would make it even harder," Diamond replied with a groan. "But you do realize that by standing on the ceiling, you leave hoofprints that have to be cleaned up, right?"
"What are you talking about? I never leave hoofprints. They always go away like magic," The colt smiled as he saw his hoofprints fade away. "See?"
The magenta coated earth pony slowly nodded. "Ah yes, how very convenient for both our sakes," Then she coughed into a hoof. "Now, how about we play something a little bit... safer? And easier, for me?" Then she led Lil' Cheese out of the kitchen.
"What are we gonna play next?" Lil' Cheese asked as he saw his sitter rummage about in a closet for a bit.
The mare eventually produced a small box that made a noise when shaken or moved, and carried it over to a nearby table where she placed it down with a thud. "Actually, it's something we can work on together. It's called a puzzle."
Lil' Cheese grumbled. "That's no fun. You just sit around and put pieces together."
"It's more fun than you think. Besides, don't you ever understand the meaning of slowing down?" Tiara questioned. "I'm your foalsitter, so what I say goes. So there!"
It took a fair deal of chasing and convincing before Diamond Tiara could get Lil' Cheese to agree to work on the puzzle with her. They worked on it together for little over an hour or so, maybe an hour and fifteen minutes when the last couple of pieces proved to be especially hard to put into their proper places.
The puzzle was eventually completed though, much to the great relief of both earth ponies. Lil' Cheese in particular wiped the sweat from his brows. "I don't remember puzzles being this hard." He spoke in a tone just barely above a glorified whine.
"That was my bad. I didn't realize that puzzles had so many pieces," Diamond apologized. "Still, it was nice to do something more subdued for a while, wasn't it?"
"Maybe, but I'd much rather be running all about and doing things like my parents do!" Lil' Cheese declared! "They're so amazing! They're not afraid of anything and they can make anything fun! They're the best parents anypony could ever ask for!"
Diamond just grinned. "Everypony always thinks their parents are the best or the worst. And I'm sure that someday, you'll grow up to be a fine stallion that's just like your parents. But I'm sure even they know that there is such a thing as overdoing it. One pony can do a lot, but no single pony or any other creature can do everything."
"I know, I know, but that doesn't mean I can't try," Lil' Cheese protested, just before his stomach gave off an audible rumble. "Hungry!"
Tiara nodded and helped Lil' Cheese down from his chair. "I suppose it is time for lunch. What do you feel like having, kid?"
"Cupcakes!" Lil' Cheese proudly declared as he bounced a bit.
"Cupcakes are for dessert only, young stallion." Diamond sternly corrected.
"How about cake? I have cake all the time!" Lil' Cheese replied as he bounced more.
The mare with a magenta coat just shook her head. "Do you ever eat anything that's not sweets?"
Lil' Cheese nodded his head in reply. "Yeah, Mom and Dad make me eat my vegetables. And I hate 'em! They taste yucky!"
"Well, they're good for you," Diamond declared. "Besides, there are ways to make them taste just as good as any sugary sweet. And it's a lot safer than working with a hot stove, though you'll still need adult supervision since you'll be working with knives."
The little earth pony immediately became curious. "Really?! What is it?! Tell me!"
Looking at her charge, the mare told him. "It's called a 'salad'. And I'm gonna teach you how to make it. You can help me, so long as you listen carefully to my instructions. Knives can be very dangerous if you're not paying attention."
After gathering a variety of different fruits and vegetables from a nearby fridge, Diamond set up a small cutting board and put on an apron and a chef's hat that hung nearby. She then motioned for Lil' Cheese to come over to her, and she walked him through making a salad for the both of them to share step by step. She took especially great care when demonstrating how to chop up the veggies, including the importance of holding the knife away from you when you cut.
The salad was soon completed, and after washing their hooves the two earth ponies sat down to enjoy the salad made from the literal fruits (and veggies) of their labor. Lil' Cheese was hesitant at first to try the strange dish, but once he did he absolutely loved it!
Diamond tried her best not to be bothered as she saw her charge soon plant his face into his bowl of salad, ignoring his silverware entirely. "It's a good thing Mother isn't here to see this. She would faint from the appalling lack of table manners and insist the colt took etiquette lessons. Too bad none of those lessons were on how to act like a proper pony instead of a rich snob." She thought to herself in between bites of her own serving of the salad.
Lil' Cheese leaned back in his chair when he had finished eating his salad, and gave a hearty burp. With a giggle he quickly said. "Excuse me."
"You're excused," Tiara replied to him. "So, how did you like your salad? It was great, wasn't it?"
Lil' Cheese eagerly nodded! "I love it! Not as much as I love cupcakes or candy, but it's still delicious! Thank you, Miss Diamond Tiara!" He then bounced out of his seat, over to her and gave her a hug!
Tiara was happy to return the hug, and did so without hesitation. But by the time it ended she felt... sticky, for lack of a better term.
Lil' Cheese blushed. "Oh no, I did it again didn't I? I don't get why this always happens. Sometimes, when I go to give ponies a hug, they get all sticky: Like they're covered in tree sap or candy or something. Everypony says it's because of me, but I swear it's not! I'm not sticky!"
"Well, you needed a bath anyways," Diamond reluctantly sighed. "And I was planning to at least take a shower tonight anyhow. Probably wouldn't fool anypony, but at this point who really cares?"
The colt just replied. "Okay, let's take a bath. And just a normal bath. Mom says tonight isn't bubble bath night. I'm only allowed to have that once every month if I'm good."
"Hey, at least you're a little pony who actually doesn't hate baths," Tiara commented as she followed her sticky charge to the bathroom. "I mean, I wasn't really one of them and even if I was Mother would just force me to take a bath every night regardless. She'd always say it was to wash away all the filth of common ponies, but even when I believed almost everything else she said I knew common ponies didn't have filth on them all the time."
Lil' Cheese couldn't help but comment. "Your mom sounds like she's a really nasty pony. I hope I never meet her."
"I hope so too, for your sake. You'd probably drive her crazy," Diamond commented and couldn't help but giggle at the thought of that. "Although, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. If anypony asks though, you didn't get the idea from me. You can keep a secret, can't you?"
Lil' Cheese eagerly nodded. "Uh-huh. Mom and Dad say secrets are important to respect and to keep. They even make me Pinkie Promise not to tell secrets if they don't want me to."
"Good, that's one less problem for me to worry about." Tiara breathed a sigh of relief as she and Lil' Cheese entered the bathroom.
It didn't take long for Diamond to get a bath going for her and her young charge. The tub was definitely a bit small for a fully grown pony, but she was able to climb into it with enough left for Lil' Cheese to splash all about with no problem.
"I'm really sorry about the stickiness," Lil' Cheese again apologized as he and his foalsitter were thoroughly scrubbed. "Really, I don't know why it seems to happen. It just does. I wash my hooves when I'm supposed to, I don't put my mane in my mouth anymore even though it tastes really good, I don't even eat that many sugary treats."
"Could've fooled me with how much energy you have. I daresay, you could give Rainbow Dash a run for her bits in the speed department," Tiara commented. "Don't tell her I said that."
Lil' Cheese nodded. "Auntie Rainbow Dash always comes over to Sweet Apple Acres to be with Auntie Applejack, whenever she's not managing the Wonderbolts. They're so amazing! Not as amazing as my mom and dad though."
"Yeah, I've been to a couple of their shows," Diamond acknowledged with a nod. "They're a bit too fast for my tastes, but Scootaloo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders enjoy them. It helps that since Scootaloo's so close to Rainbow Dash, she gets front row seats at discounted prices. I suppose my mother was right about one thing, it pays to have the right connections in the right places."
The little colt just commented. "I know so many ponies that I'm probably gonna grow up having them all owe me favors! And someday, when I'm older and I know what I wanna do with my life, I'm gonna figure out how to pay 'em all back. Maybe if I'm really lucky, Auntie Twilight will let me serve as one of her royal advisors, like Uncle Spike," Then he looked at Diamond Tiara. "Or maybe I'll grow up to be like you. A pony who knows everypony and treats them like family."
"Well, it's a part of how I was raised. My father and his father before him believed in the same," Tiara explained to the little colt. "It's part of why Barnyard Bargains remains a home grown business. I'm thinking we may expand someday, but the Ponyville store is always going to be 'The jewel in the crown' as it were."
The young earth pony was silent for a moment, before he looked at his foalsitter and told her. "You know, I think out of all the foalsitters I've ever had you might just be the best. Well, maybe second best since no one can surpass that magical nanny who helped take care of me for a while."
"You really mean it? You're not pulling my leg or anything?" Tiara questioned the colt.
With a nod, Lil' Cheese answered. "Of course I mean it! I mean, even though you grew up rich you're really sweet. You smell nice, you take the time to play with me without getting annoyed, and you're not even that bothered by the whole sticky thing. I thought you'd be a bore like all my other one off foalsitters, but boy was I wrong," Then he asked. "Do you think maybe you could be my foalsitter more often? I might even like to come over to your place sometime and see what it's like. Plus I wanna meet your husband, he sounds super nice."
"Well, that's up to your parents to decide. Plus, I'd have to talk it over with Pip first," Diamond explained. When she noticed her charge start to frown, however, she was quick to add. "But, if your parents are okay with it and Pip doesn't say no, I could see about arranging for you to come over and visit me. You could even start calling me 'Auntie' if you like. I'll admit 'Auntie Diamond' has a nice ring to it."
"You're the greatest!" Lil' Cheese proudly declared! "I can't believe I never knew about you until now."
"Well, even if you can make it hard to love you sometimes, I've grown quite fond of you, kid," Tiara admitted with a smile. "You kind of remind me of myself when I was your age. Young, limitless energy and full of hope."