• Published 21st Nov 2019
  • 838 Views, 18 Comments

What We Make of It - Muse Rush



Li'l Cheese finally got her cutie mark! And that obviously calls for celebration!

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From Custard to Trouble

The day was almost perfect; a gentle breeze through the valley, a few clouds occasionally offering shade, and perhaps most noticeable out of all the things, the whooping and hollering that came from a certain bakery deep within Ponyville.

"Mama! Daddy! Quick! You gotta come look! I got my cutie mark! I got my cutie mark! Hurry up you gotta come see!" A particularly hyper filly began jumping up and down, bouncing through the halls of the bakery. Her exceptionally frizzy cotton candy colored mane bobbed up and down as she raced the halls searching for her parents. By the time she stopped hollering, she had already circled the entire bakery, yet only found the children of the previous owners, Pumpkin and Pound Cake. As they tended to the front counter, Pound turned around just in time to see an eight year old filly jump up at him.

"Woah! Custard Cream Cheese, you gotta watch where you're goin' kid! You're seriously going to break something valuable one of these days!" Pound Cake picked up the giggling child into the air and flew her across the room to his sister as she struggled to break free from his arms.

"Aww come on Pound Cake, stop being such a downer! Li'l Cheese ain't gonna break anything here other than you." Pumpkin retorted playfully while taking Li'l Cheese from Pound's grasp with her magic. As the pastel yellow and pink filly glided to her, Pumpkin noticed the wide grin that came on the child when she rotated Li'l Cheese around. That's when she saw the newly added cutie mark and gasped.

"Li'l Cheese! You got your cutie mark! Is that why you were hollering? What is it?! Did ya tell Pinkie and Cheese yet?!" Pumpkin almost couldn't contain her excitement while spinning around in circles with the child that was still enclosed in her sparkling blue magic.

Li'l Cheese giggled as she was set back down on the ground again. She loved it when her mommy's friends would play with her and get excited when she did something new. Well, Pumpkin was usually the one that would express her excitement, Pound Cake was a little shy and more reserved than his younger twin. She turned around to show her flank and pointed at it.

"Yeah I did! And I think it's some sort of cheese custard? Or maybe a pie! But I got it when I tried to bake as many things as I could as fast as I could trying to help with some pony's order! Aren't ya proud of me! Are ya?! Are ya?! Oh and I wasn't able to tell mommy and daddy yet cause I can't find them, did you see them anywhere?" Li'l Cheese's voice squealed with excitement as if her voice couldn't go any higher.

"Oh, you can't find em? Hmmm-" Pumpkin looked toward her brother and raised an eyebrow as if to ask him if he had seen the couple. Pound Cake looked up into the air for a couple seconds before looking back at Li'l Cheese.

"Did you try the party basement? I don't think they'd be anywhere else." He suggested; to which Li'l Cheese responded with a rather expressive face palm followed by an even more so exaggerated groan as she threw her head back.

"I'll take that as a no." Pound Cake chuckled slightly. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten about the secret party basement. She was let in on the basement secret for her eighth birthday as long as she pinkie promised that she wouldn't tell a soul about it because it was where her parents hid most of their impossibly complex party planning equipment. It also served as her father's concept studio in order to send ideas back to the factory. Li'l Cheese quickly waved the twins a goodbye and began bouncing towards the trapdoor slide. She swung open the wooden door with a loud clunk and jumped inside.

Pinkie rushed back and forth between a billboard and a pair of filing cabinets while Cheese stood on a ladder with a checklist and quill, seemingly counting boxes of balloons stored away on some dusty blue shelves. With the amount of empty boxes and pieces of checked off paper that lay strewn across the floor, it wasn't hard to tell that they had been at this for hours.

Cheese turned around and looked down across the room at Pinkie, he opened his mouth to say something to her before he was quickly shot down by his wife's twitching tail. Even though they both had physically aged; Pinkie now wearing her mane in a messy bun and himself having a few grey hairs, he smiled knowing that they would truly never change. He was brought back to the subject at hand by Pinkie looking around and then rushing across the room towards the slide that connected to the upstairs. She curved her back just in time for Li'l Cheese to come flying down the slide. Doing a couple somersaults, she tripped in the process and tumbled the rest of the way down, slamming right into her mother. Pinkie had to arch her back to support the sudden weight change and stop herself from collapsing on the ground.

"Oof!" Li'l Cheese attempted to catch her breath again as she was left winded from the impact. She eventually flopped over Pinkie's back and landed harshly on the ground producing a small squeak. Getting her bearings, the filly sensed she was about to get a lecture from at least one of her parents and quickly turned her green puppy eyes to the max while giving an innocent smile. Pinkie sighed and rolled her eyes as she turned her head upon hearing Cheese slide down the ladder and walk over to the duo.

"Sorry mommy and daddy..." Li'l Cheese stuck out her tongue and bit it slightly as if that were her way of emphasizing her apology. Cheese attempted to keep a stern face, but upon seeing Li'l Cheese grin as wide as she could, he quickly broke his act and released a barely noticeable laugh. No one could stay mad at that ball of hyperactivity, even if they had a good reason to be.

"Aw it's ok sugar, just try not to break your mom's back anymore." Cheese responded with a goofy grin while looking back at Pinkie through his peripheral vision. She was in the midst of stretching out her back and cracking it. Li'l Cheese quizzically looked up from the floor.

"But daddy, I'm cheesy! Not sugar!" Li'l Cheese couldn't help but let a few giggles slip through into her speech. Pinkie tried to hide her giggles and snorts from behind Cheese, which was safe to say wasn't working very well. Not letting enough time for her parents to respond to her confusion, she quickly jumped up in the air.

"Oh! That reminds me of what I came down here for!" She began jumping even higher, " I GOT MY CUTIE MARK! YOU GOTTA LOOK AT IT!" Li'l Cheese turned into a yellow and pink blur as she sped through the room, performing as many jumps and flips as possible. She even added Boneless 6 to some of her tricks.

Pinkie flung out her forearms to the side in order to catch Li'l Cheese before she ran into something. The momentum swung both of them in a circle before Pinkie recovered and raised Li'l Cheese even higher, blowing raspberries into her stomach. She squealed while trying to push her mother away before being set down again.

"So, you gonna show us or just run around after an announcement like that!" Pinkie pestered while Li'l Cheese attempted to rub away the rest of the tingles left on her stomach. Her lips curled into a smile as she began wiggling her flank. Before anyone could question her further in the matter, she took a deep breath and began dumping her exposition at a pace that was barely understandable.

"When I woke up this morning I saw that there was a unicorn asking for a pretty large order of party supplies and baked goods and since I couldn't find you guys or Pumpkin and Pound at the time, don't worry, I found them later. I decided I could try and fill it out. So I started baking and baking and it took forever but I worked as fast as I could, getting all the supplies in the boxes and then when I finished and gave everything to him I realized I was doing a pretty good job at it without any help and then THIS APPEARED!" Li'l Cheese pointed to the slice of cheese custard pie while looking up at both of her parents who were smiling excitedly. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Pinkie and Cheese being as excited for her cutie mark as she was.

"Well young filly," Cheese began in his 'serious party planner cowboy' tone, "this definitely deserves some sort of celebration! You just choose what, when, and where and we'll do the rest!" He ruffled her thick mane until it became somehow even more frizzy. Li'l Cheese looked around and thought long and hard about what she wanted to do. She had already been to so many different celebrations from traveling with her parents while they worked, that she never really got to experience anything else.

"Hey," She began, "Mrs. Fluttershy and Mr. Discord always talk about how they have picnics and tea parties by the forest and for as chaotic as he is, he seems to really like it. Could we maybe possibly if it's ok with you, do a picnic with lots of food? We can also play in the fields! It would be a good way for me to get some of my energy out." Li'l Cheese tried to come up with reasons to go as if they would say no. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for a hopeful yes.

"That sounds like a great idea hun! We can go for a late lunch cause daddy and I still have to finish the last little bit of inventory and pack for the picnic. Plus it'll be great to just relax for a little bit, don'tcha think?" Pinkie responded with a chirp in her voice. Cheese nodded in agreement from the other side of Li'l Cheese, who was looking happier than a seagull in a food court.

"Yes yes yes yes yes! I can do the picnic packing and I'll get started right away! Thank you thank you so much, you guys are the best! Love ya!" Li'l Cheese quickly embraced her parents before running off back upstairs, leaving the room strangely quiet.

"Are you sure the Everfree forest won't be a problem?" Cheesed questioned. "I mean, even though I haven't lived here for quite as long, I've heard of countless incidents where it's gone absolutely bonkers." Pinkie turned around to face him and smiled warmly.

"Well it hasn't really done any damage since Sombra came back, and even then, Starswirl said that the Tree-house of Harmony would keep the plant life at bay. We haven't had a timberwolf sighting in quite some time, and it's not the cockcatrice migration season so I think we'll be fine." She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before starting towards the exit. "I'mma go check to make sure Li'l Cheese isn't destroying anything real quick. She may have gotten her cutie mark for baking and party supplying but I still don't trust her with anything more than a spoon." Cheese gave a condescending smile and nodded before returning back to the checklists as Pinkie left the room entirely.

Shortly after she left, Cheese heard a loud crash followed by indistinct shouts coming from Pumpkin and Pound Cake in the kitchen above him. He couldn't keep himself from laughing a little knowing that his little rascal of a daughter was undoubtedly the one who caused all the chaos. Well at least she's trying. He thought to himself before unpacking the last couple of things.

Author's Note:

Normally I'm on fanfiction.net but I thought it was time to expand a little bit.
Hope you enjoy!