Auntie Tia's Matchmaking Service

by Shaslan

Chapter 21

Lustre looked up at the receding blue and pink shape, and shook her head in amazement. What had that been all about? She had barely spoken to Cozy Glow in her life, and all of a sudden she was turning up, asking her out, and then fleeing the scene like a criminal? What a bizarre series of events; her friends would never believe it.

But she didn’t have overlong to dwell on it. A glance at the clock on the mantlepiece was enough to show her that it was nearly eleven; far too late! Little Cheese had dropped off the letter hours ago. The stars above only knew what she must be thinking; perhaps she thought that Lustre had received the letter but still refused to see her. An unbearable possibility — Lustre Dawn shoved back her chair and made for the doors. Unmolested this time by unwanted visitors, she set off at a tearing gallop for the Party Emporium.

She thundered down the road towards Ponyville, and a flock of startled ducks took noisy flight at her approach. Quacking angrily, they beat their way across the sky towards Auntie Fluttershy’s animal sanctuary. Lustre Dawn turned her head to watch them go, almost missed her footing and had to stagger to stay on her feet. She recovered, set her jaw, and increased her pace again. Nothing would stop her this time.

She was panting by the time she reached the outskirts of town, her flanks heaving with exertion. A couple of ponies glanced at her in passing concern, and one called out to her.

“Are you alright, Lustre Dawn?”

Lustre Dawn hardly spared her a glance. She focused all her efforts on trying to regain her breath enough to trot again. “I’m fine, Bon Bon! Thanks for asking!”

“No marauding monsters we should be worried about?”

Startled, Lustre Dawn looked properly at the ageing yellow mare for the first time. “What? No, I don’t think so.”

Bon Bon waved her onwards, and turned back to her green-furred wife. “Carry on, then! It just took me back, seeing you come tearing up the road from the Princess’ castle like that.”

Lustre didn’t bother to reply again and after a few more shallow pants, recovered herself enough to start in the direction Pinkie Pie’s shop. Nopony else questioned her red face and sweaty mess of a mane, for which she was grateful. No one could be anonymous in a small town like Ponyville, especially somepony with parents as famous as hers were, but it was nice to pretend; even if only for a moment.

The gravel of the road was sharp beneath her hooves, and she heard her pulse echoing in her ears. Pinkie Pie’s Party Emporium stretched lurid and pink above her. For a moment it seemed to swim before Lustre Dawn’s vision, a vast fuchsia monolith with no beginning and no end — but Lustre shook her head hard enough to clear it, and the shop was normal once again. She was just very, very tired all of a sudden.

Lustre Dawn sucked in air through her teeth and tried to stand up as straight as she could. She knew she must look a fright after her madcap gallop through town, but there was no fixing that now. And hopefully Little Cheese, of all ponies, would be able to see past it. Nevertheless, Lustre ran a quick hoof through her mane, trying to smooth it, and scrubbed at her forehead with one foreleg to wipe away the sweat. Then she took one more breath, and pushed open the door.

Inside the emporium, the air was quiet and still. Peace reigned for once in the land of party poppers and confetti. Cannons and musical instruments lay silent, and after the glaring light of the midmorning sun, Lustre Dawn struggled at first to see much in the sudden gloom.

Auntie Pinkie was nowhere in sight. Lustre Dawn made her way forward carefully nonetheless. Many was the time she had walked into a room empty of her aunt, only to be scared half out of her wits by the shrill scream of “Surprise!”

A small brass bell winked invitingly on the counter. Lustre Dawn made her way over to it and inhaled deeply once again to steady her nerves. The shop smelled of vanilla cupcakes and strawberry ice cream. Lustre Dawn shut her eyes for half a second and tried, not for the first time, to think of the right words to say. What speech could she compose that would heal the rift between her and Little Cheese? What words were the right words?

Perhaps there were none. Perhaps this was something that she couldn’t plan. Maybe when she looked into Little Cheese’s emerald eyes…she would just know what to say.

Her hoof came down on the bell.

A little ‘ting!’ rang out, echoing in the gloom. A moment of silence followed. The fur on Lustre Dawn’s back stood on end and she peered around with wide white eyes. She could see nothing. The shop was as still and quiet as the grave.

A hoof fell heavily onto her back. “Hi!”

Lustre Dawn flinched and squeaked in fright at the sudden breaking of the hush. She spun around, and came nose to nose with Pinkie Pie. Pinkie’s muzzle split into a grin. “Lustre Dawn! It’s been ages since you came by!”

Lustre Dawn summoned up her best smile, though she was beginning to feel a little shaky. What if it somehow all went wrong, and Little Cheese rejected her?

“You’re here to see Little Cheese again, I bet,” Pinkie Pie said cheerily, producing a small slice of victoria sponge cake from her mane and offering it to Lustre. “After the last time you came when she wasn’t here and you thought she’d abandoned you but really she was galloping super duper fast to the hospital with Pumpkin Cake on her back—”

“—Is she here, Auntie?” Lustre Dawn interrupted, gently but firmly pushing Pinkie’s proffered cake away.

Pinkie cheerfully returned it to the voluminous folds of her mane. “Yeppers! I know for sure this time! She’s around here somewhere…” She folded her forelegs and tapped a hind hoof. “I just gotta remember where I put her. Oh! I know!” She skipped back to her feet and bounced over to a stack of beach balls. “Is she under here?”

Pinkie cheerfully bucked the pyramid of beach balls, which collapsed spectacularly.

“Nope!”

Lustre Dawn raised a hoof to defend herself from the onslaught of tumbling rubber.

“How about in my Easy Bake Confetti Cake Mini-cannon?” Pinkie was suddenly nose to nose with Lustre, a tiny pink cannon to balanced on one hoof, raised exactly to Lustre’s eye level.

“Auntie, I don’t think—” Lustre knew even as she spoke that it was too late.

Blam!

“Nope! Not here either!”

Lustre Dawn wiped cake batter out of her eyes and slopped it from her hoof onto the ground. So much for looking presentable. “Auntie Pinkie, please—”

“I’ve got it!” Pinkie Pie carolled, and Lustre Dawn looked up in trepidation to see the pink form of her aunt balanced precariously atop a huge blue party cannon. “I left her in the Megablast Party Cannon 3000!”

“Don’t set it off!” Lustre Dawn cried, and dove for the dubious shelter of the counter. When she peeked back out, she registered with relief that Pinkie Pie had not ignited the fuse. Instead, she was halfway inside it, rooting around, small grunts of effort emanating from its barrel.

“Got her!” Pinkie Pie’s voice echoed shrilly. Her hind legs kicked wildly, and then she surged backwards out of the cannon. Borne triumphantly above her head in both hooves was a very bewildered Little Cheese.

Lustre Dawn gasped and scrambled out from behind the counter, shaking the last remnants of cake from her forelock.

Pinkie Pie set her daughter down with exaggerated care. “There you go, my best little baby!”

Little Cheese sighed and brushed a few confetti sprinkles off her flank. “We talked about this, Mum. When you want me to come out of my room, just knock.”

Lustre Dawn peered past Little Cheese into the dark recess of the cannon. It was not at all large enough to have held a full grown pony. This was not at all surprising; Lustre Dawn had read all six of Princess Twilight’s papers on Pinkie Pie’s strange abilities, and this was entirely in line with her findings. Nonetheless, the Princess would be interested, and Lustre Dawn made a mental note to pass on the intelligence next time she saw her mentor.

Thinking about such mundanities as her studies with the Princess soothed her jangled nerves just enough that when Little Cheese finally noticed her, she didn’t immediately break and run.

“Hi,” she said limply, trying to strike a casual note.

“Lustre Dawn!” Little Cheese’s tone was anything but casual. Ignoring her mother now, she hurried through the wasteland of cake mixture and beach balls to Lustre’s side. She half-raised her hoof, but let it fall back to her side. “I— it’s good to see you.” Then she was silent, watching Lustre Dawn with those huge green eyes, clearly waiting for her to speak.

Lustre Dawn swallowed. “I got your letter.”

Hope bloomed in Little Cheese’s eyes. “Then you—?”

Lustre Dawn nodded, her own eyes suddenly filling with tears. “I understand now. I’m really sorry, Little Cheese.”

Little Cheese sniffed hard. “No, I’m sorry! I really—”

Lustre Dawn leaned forward and opened her forelegs wide and Little Cheese copied her movements. Sobbing, they both fell forward into one another’s arms and held one another close. Lustre buried her head in Little Cheese’s silky mane and wept. She breathed in as hard as she could, determined to commit that buttery, chocolatey scent to memory forever. She would never forget this moment.

A slight scuffling noise behind Little Cheese drew Lustre’s attention, and she looked up just in time to see Auntie Pinkie striking a match near the fuse of the huge party cannon.

She opened her mouth to shout a warning, but it was already far too late.

Comments

[Boltstrike58]

Lustre Dawn peered past Little Cheese into the dark recess of the cannon. It was not at all large enough to have held a full grown pony. This was not at all surprising; Lustre Dawn had read all six of Princess Twilight’s papers on Pinkie Pie’s strange abilities, and this was entirely in line with her findings. Nonetheless, the Princess would be interested, and Lustre Dawn made a mental note to pass on the intelligence next time she saw her mentor.

Wait, there's only six? I would've thought there'd be a least twenty.

[Lord Legion]

Of course Pinkie would take that opportunity to use the party cannon

[Rawislon03]

Ain’t no party like a Pinkie Pie party.

[MoonlightRift]

10542085
probably gave up on trying to record pinkies abilities after a while

[Periwinkle fay 22]

Such great characters, and an expanded world. You have made it your own, while doing credit to the source material. And you are weaving quite the compelling story.