//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Flurry Heart's Story: Cheesy as Pie // by AleximusPrime //------------------------------// Pinkie and Spike walked through the streets of Ponyville to get to the rock fair on the other side of town. She joyfully bounced up and down next to her dragon friend as he was reading a flier about the fair to figure out what he and Maud should do to keep her distracted long enough. “Oh Spike, I’m so excited for this rock fair! Maud’s gonna be in her element here!” Pinkie said. “Well Pinkie, as soon as we find Maud, I think we should head to the geode exhibit first.” Spike replied as he looked carefully at the map in the flier. “Hehehe, you would wanna go there for the snacks, silly!” she teased. “What? Oh no, I wouldn’t dare eat any of the set pieces! Although those rock candies on a stick do look pretty tasty.” “Hey guys.” called a monotonous voice from several yards away. They both looked over to see a grey pony with purple straight hair, wearing a dark aqua frock. She had her hair in a bun and was wearing some small glasses and a wedding necklace of a golden twig and stone. It was Pinkie’s sister, Maud Pie. Her face had a somewhat blank look on it because she did not use facial expressions to convey emotion, which caused her to not fit in too well with others. Despite this, Pinkie was always somehow able to tell what Maud was thinking, and right now, Maud had a slight smile on her face, indicating that she was very happy to see her sister. “MAUD!!!” Pinkie screamed as she ran over to hug her. “Ah, Maud, there you are! That didn’t take long!” Spike said. “I thought I’d never find you guys.” Maud replied as she took out a small round stone from her frock. “Boulder was starting to get a little impatient.” “Aw, don’tcha worry, Boulder! We’re here!” Pinkie said, petting Boulder. “Well hey, I’m so happy that they finally listened to you and made a rock-themed fair in Ponyville! Now everypony will love rocks!” “I’m glad to see quite a few ponies showed up. There are a lot of kids saying they want to become geologists now. Equestria could use more geologists.” “It could also use more of those delicious, mouth-watering mountain gems!” Spike said as he rubbed his belly and drooled. “Now now, Spike.” Maud replied. “The rocks here are for show only, but I’ll see if I can find some cheap ones for you to snack on.” “Also we need to save some to make necklaces and then we’ll bring them to Sugarcube Corner so Flurry and the Cakes can make some with us! Oh you should have seen the look on Flurry’s face when Cheese and I surprised her back there! I haven’t seen her smile that big since the day I gave her that bow for Hearth’s Warming Day!” Pinkie babbled on as they began to walk along. Just ahead was the rock fair. There were tents and stands set up near a paved path for villagers to walk along. At each stand were some ponies and even a few other non-pony citizens selling rare rocks and sculptures. The bigger tents had shows and exhibits inside. Spike studied the map until he had a plan set for the day. “Alright ladies, I think we should just take this time to browse around for any gifts and snacks first cuz the geode exhibit doesn’t open for another hour.” Spike told them. “And after the exhibit we can go to the fashion tent where you get to judge some of the rock-themed dresses Rarity helped make for the show, Maud.” “They better be good.” Maud said flatly. “She’s locked and loaded for some super serious critiquing! Hehehe!” Pinkie snickered. “Oh man this fair’s gonna be great! I just wish Flurry could see all this…” Spike had a nervous look on his face after Pinkie mentioned Flurry. He was worried Pinkie might try to go back to Sugarcube Corner to get Flurry to come over and interrupt Cheese’s planning. He and Maud exchanged glances and Maud tried to take Flurry off of Pinkie’s mind. “Well hey, Flurry’s gonna love those rock necklace rocks when you bring them back.” she said. “We’ll just stick to the schedule and make sure I’m not late for the fashion show. After that, there are plenty of other exciting things we can do here.” “Oh abso-tutely-lutely, Maud!” Pinkie replied, saluting. “Alright, well who’s up for some rock candy!? Last one to that stand over there is a moldy cupcake!” Pinkie zoomed off at high speeds, leaving behind pink and aqua streak marks and a cloud of dust from the ground. She went in front of a stand to wait in line while bouncing up and down on her hooves. Spike and Maud looked at each other while she was distracted. “Well that was close.” Spike said. “You think she’ll last for three hours?” “She should.” Maud said. “It’s pretty easy to distract my sister. Just so long as Cheese gets his supplies he ordered to Sugarcube Corner.” “Oh, those haven’t come yet?” “Not yet. He said they’re supposed to arrive today.” “Darnit. Well, Flurry can message me with a scroll in case things get hairy.” “HEY, YOU SLOWPOKES WANNA MUNCH ON SOME ROCKS OR WHAT?!” Pinkie teased. “Whoops…COMING!” Spike called back as he and Maud hurried over to the concession stand to wait in line. Back at Sugarcube Corner, Cheese began setting up tons of decorations on the stage that he and Pinkie used earlier. He had several of Pinkie’s mechanized mini canons scattered throughout the room to shoot confetti the moment he would propose to Pinkie and a huge sign that read, “Pinkie, will you marry me?” that would hang down at the same time. Meanwhile, Flurry, Pound and Pumpkin were in the kitchen, making some special crafts and artwork of Pinkie and Cheese to use during the proposal. “What do you guys think so far?” Pumpkin said, holding up a crayon drawing of Pinkie and Cheese with a heart over their heads. “I thought I’d go with something kinda minimalistic!” “That looks great, Pumpkin!” Flurry complimented. “I think I’ll just go with the picture I made earlier and try to help Cheese with some of the music. How about you, Pound?” “I thought I’d do something different and go into the next dimension. How do you guys like these?” Pound said, holding up two paper-crafts that looked like Pinkie and Cheese. “Oooooh! Nice idea, bro! Make em kiss, make em kiss!” Pumpkin said, eagerly. Pound moved the paper-crafts towards each other and made them kiss and began to speak out of the side of his mouth to make them talk. “Mwah, mwah! Pinkie, I love you so much! Will you marry me? OMIGOSH, YES!! I TOTALLY WILL CHEESE!! Mwah, mwah!” “Hehehe! So cute! And then when the wedding comes around, we can dress them up and use them as the cake toppers!” “Not a bad idea! What do you think Flurry? Flurry?” Over to the side, Flurry was going through some sheet music and was deep in thought and didn’t realize she was being talked to at first. “Oh, sorry guys.” she responded. “I was just going through some possibilities for a soundtrack to play while this all happens. I thought it would be cool to have the tune of the “Party Planner” song playing as she steps in. She and Cheese sang a reprise of that back when she found out that she was what inspired Cheese with his special talent. It’s such a happy little tune and I think it goes great with all of this. Oh, and Cheese could propose to her in the tune of his “Confession” song when he told her his backstory. Maybe I should run this by him first though in case he’s got something else planned.” “I think it sounds good!” Pound told her. “Me too! Go tell him!” Pumpkin added. Flurry got up and flew into the living room where the stage was. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were setting up some party supplies everywhere and some little standees of bushes and trees with a little pathway could be seen. Everything was decorated so splendidly and would definitely catch Pinkie’s eye. There were arrows on the pathway that would tell Pinkie where she’d need to go. As Flurry walked along the pathway, several little stones she stepped on triggered photos of Pinkie and Cheese to come out of the bushes as well as small confetti shooters. Flurry eventually made it to the stage where Cheese was looking at a clipboard and checking things off with the pen in his mouth. “Hey Cheese, how’s everything going?” she asked him. “Pretty good so far.” Cheese said while carefully reading his clipboard. “I’ve got pretty much everything I need here. All that’s left is to get a few more decorations around and then set up the sound system and the big-screen monitor in the front. I’ve got a short movie to play for Pinkie while she sits up here with me at this table. The monitor’s on its way in the mail. I would’ve brought the one I have stored back in Manehattan, but my cousin’s borrowing it right now. Besides, I was starting to get a little worried that Pinkie would figure out what I was up to if I took too many things with us. She thought we were just going to put on that little welcoming show for you, but I was able to hide some of these things in the crates they were transported in.” “Is that why you used these standees for the decorations?” Flurry asked. “Yup. Thin, easy to package and they can slide right in out of sight next to everything else. She doesn’t suspect anything.” “What music are you gonna be playing for her while it happens?” “I was gonna use some emotional music right around the time I’m ready to show her the ring box. I’m not too sure it’s going to work though. You’re welcome to give ideas.” “Well I noticed you and Pinkie keep sheet music of some of the songs you’ve sung throughout the years, and I think these two would be great to play. You can do an instrumental of Party Planner while she’s walking in and then after you show her the movie, you can do the Confession Song instrumental.” Flurry flew up on the stage and handed him the sheet music. He glanced at them real quick and then started to smile. “Ooooh, these old songs! We sang them on the day we met back during Rainbow Dash’s birthday party. Yeah, they would go great as background music and I’m sure it’ll give her a little nostalgia hearing it. Great idea, Flurry!” “Yo Cheese…” called Pound as he flew in with his paper crafts. “I made these. You want me to hang them from the ceiling or something?” “Wow, those are adorable, Pound! Yeah, go ahead and put them wherever you want. And you guys can put any artwork and photographs on the pop-ups behind the bushes. Pinkie really loves pop-ups.” “This is going to be so exciting!” Pumpkin squealed with delight. “Mom, Dad, you guys done with your stuff over there?” “Well we’re almost done, Pumpkin…” Mr. Cake replied, “…except your mother and I are having a little trouble with these cords.” “Yeah, the instructions are easy to follow, but I can’t help but feel we’re missing something.” Mrs. Cake added. Everypony suddenly had concerned looks on their faces. Cheese hopped down from the stage to go see what was wrong. “You’re missing one of the cords?” he asked the Cakes. “Yeah, the speakers over here aren’t going to work without that cord.” said Mr. Cake, pointing to the instructions. “That cord? Oh cheddar on ciabatta, I forgot that one!” Cheese said putting his hooves on both sides of his face. “Darnit all, I knew there was something telling me to go back and triple-check the crates!” “It’s okay, Cheese. The hardware store might have something like that down the street. Want me to go check?” Pound asked. “That would help out a ton. Here, take these instructions and show them this one right here.” “Got it. Mom, Dad, can I borrow some bits?” “Sure, dear. Go ahead and take a few out of the piggy bank up in our bedroom.” Mrs. Cake told her son. “On it!” Pound replied, saluting. He then sped off up the stairs to get the money needed for the cord. “Don’t worry, Cheese.” Flurry said, patting him on the back. “Pound will find the cord, and if we can’t get one, I’m sure we can use that entertainment system over there.” “That might work. Carrot, does it play CDs?” Cheese asked Mr. Cake. “Eh, unfortunately no. Cup and I are a bit old-fashioned. We’re still using vinyl.” Mr. Cake said, nervously. “I have a CD-player up in my room!” Pumpkin chimed in. “It’s all pink and has flowers on it, but Pinkie will appreciate that design.” “I guess we can use that as a last resort option.” Cheese said with relief. “I just hope that monitor I ordered arrives before Spike and Maud bring her back. It’s supposed to come today so we shouldn’t have anything to worry about…I hope.” “It’ll be ok, Cheese.” Flurry said. “Once the monitor gets here and Pound brings the cord, we should be good.” “Alright guys. I got the bits. I’ll go see if they have that cord down at Hoofers Hardware Store.” said Pound as he hovered around, carrying a small bag of bits and the instructions in his hooves. He flew into the dining room in Sugarcube Corner and out the front door to make his errand just as the wall-eyed mail-mare, Derpy Hooves walked in front of the door to knock on it. After a few seconds, Mr. and Mrs. Cake opened up. “Oh, hey there, Derpy.” Mr. Cake said to her. “Hello, Mr. Cake.” she replied, using one of her eyes to make contact with him and using the other one to look at the letters she was handing him. “I’ve got your mail here, but I have some bad news. You were supposed to get a large package today, but it’s been delayed.” “WHAT?! The package won’t make it today?!” Cheese said as he pushed through to get to Derpy. “It should be here tomorrow though. Is that going to be a problem?” “A problem?! It’s going to be a HUGE problem! That monitor was supposed to get here today! Oh brie on brioche, I knew I should’ve ordered that thing days in advance!” “Sorry. We’re not sure what the hold up is, but it hasn’t reached the post office yet.” said Derpy as she looked very empathetic for Cheese. “Well hey, I’m sure whatever you needed it for can wait another day or two, right?” Cheese could not react to Derpy’s comment; he just sat on the doorstep and pulled his lower eyelids down with his hooves while groaning. “Sorry again, it’s just part and parcel of the packaging industry. Oh, hehe, pun not intended.” “We’ll be okay, Ms. Hooves.” Mrs. Cake said, patting Cheese on the back. “We were just really needing that thing today for something important that Cheese wanted done, but we’ll manage.” “Take care!” The pegasus mail-mare took off, flying to the next house to deliver some letters. Cheese continued to sit on the doorstep, looking rather worried. Flurry and Pumpkin just came out, having overheard the conversation. They did their best to comfort him. “Well that’s a real bummer.” said Pumpkin. “Without that monitor, that’s going to ruin the biggest part of what I had planned!” Cheese said. “I had that really awesome video planned for her and it’s not going to work on your guys’ TV. Well, I guess we can just show the vidoe for the wedding anyway, but still, I was really anxious to show it to her right before I propose!” Just then, Pound flew in, holding a bag and the instructions. He landed in front of Cheese and pulled an item out of the bag. “I got the cord, everypony!” he said, panting. “They were running low so I was just in time! Did the monitor come yet? And what’s the matter, Cheese?” “Thanks, Pound, but the monitor won’t be making it today. The package got delayed and won’t be here till probably tomorrow.” Cheese told the young pegasus colt. “What?! Aw shoot! What are we gonna do now?!” “It’s okay, Pound.” Cheese stopped pouting and stood tall and confident. He took the package with the cord and opened it up carefully; examining it to make sure it was the right kind. “Now that I have this cord, I actually just realized something I still can do. It’s time for Plan B.” “What’s Plan B?” “What Cheese Sandwich does best: musical performance! Flurry?” “Yeah, Cheese?” Flurry said, walking right next to him. “Can you send Spike a letter from here?” “Yeah, what do you need me to tell him?” “Tell him to keep Pinkie distracted for three more hours if possible. I’ll be needing as much time as I can get to prepare the most amazing musical number to sing to Pinkie.” “Okay, three hours. You think that’ll be enough?” “It should be.” Cheese said in a very grim voice. “Pinkie and I have written and composed many songs in record speed; sometimes even right on the spot. Three hours is all I’ll need to write this song for my love!”