Chapter 1 - What a Weirdo
Cheese stared intently up at the clock, his hoof tapping aggressively on his notebook only loud enough for him to hear.
"Come on... Come on! Just a little bit more. Why can't it be over, I need it to end..."
Today was one of the last days Cheese Sandwich had to be in school, and he was about to lose it. Summer break was the only real time he could stop being so ashamed of not being able to talk to anypony, and it was only five days away.
A loud ring interrupted Cheese's thoughts.
The first day was over.
The cheesy colt almost shouted "YES!" and bounced out of the classroom, but then he instantly remembered that there was other ponies still in the room, so he stayed seated until almost everypony was gone. He let out a depressed sigh and adjusted his glasses.
"Time to go home..."
He packed his stuff away into his bag and started to slowly walk out of the bright classroom.
A soft voice called out to Cheese.
"Have a nice day, Cheese Sandwich!"
It was his teacher, Golden Quill. She was an older mare with a stunning white coat and a bright orange mane. She was very fond of Cheese, and enjoyed everything the quiet colt wrote for his class assignments, but Cheese never requited her kind feelings. Its not that he disliked her, he just didn't know how to respond to her, and he felt horrible over it.
Cheese also wasn't very good at talking to girls.
"You too, Ms. Quill..." He whispered back.
The teacher giggled a little and called back to him from inside the room.
"Cheer up Cheese! Its almost summer vacation!"
Cheese wished he could be happy. He really could, but how could he ever really become happy when in a few moons, it would be the same thing all over again. The exclusion, the bullying, and his own pathetic shyness keeping him from being the pony he could be. Was it really something he could be happy about?
Cheese did appreciate the fact that Ms. Quill bothered to remembered his name, despite the fact that she was a teacher and that was kind of her job. It was reassuring to know somepony else other than your own dad knows your name.
Dad!
"I have to go to the post office for dad today!"
Cheese trotted faster down the dusty Manehattan sidewalks. The post office was a huge stone building run by pegasi for ponies who couldn't exactly afford to have mail personally delivered to their doorstep. Cheese stood outside of the towering structure and held his breath.
"All right, Cheese. You can do this. You can get that mail. You are the stallion, it is you."
He fixed his glasses and trotted proudly up the stairs and into the old building.
Mailboxes lined the walls all around the walls of the building all the way up to the shimmering golden roof. The floors where polished stone tiles that made Cheese's hooves click and echo throughout the dome structure, much to his silent amusement.
Cheese walked up to one of the front desks to find nopony there.
He stepped back to see if there was a pony he couldn't see before, but there was still nothing.
A note hung above the desk window.
"Ring bell for service..."
A small silver bell sat on the right side corner of the desk. Cheese reached up as far as he could to ring it at least once.
Ding!
Nopony came.
Ding Ding!
Still nothing.
Cheese was starting to lose all of the confidence he gathered up before he walked in. He reached up one last time...
"Yea, yea, i heard you the first time."
"Then why didn't you come the first time."
Cheese frowned a little and stared off into space not realizing the receptionist was staring down at him.
"Can I, like, help you" The expressionless navy blue pegasus waved a hoof in front of his face, snapping him back to reality.
"I uh... need a key..."
"..."
"....."
"Name."
"Cheese"
"Is that your full name"
"Cheese... Sandwich"
Cheese was starting to struggle with his words.
The receptionist began looking through a file drawer.
"What do i say when she gives it to me? Should I say 'Have a nice day!' or 'Thanks!'???"
The dull accented voice interrupted his internal quarrel.
"There's no 'Cheese Sandwich' in the records."
Cheese's ears started to burn with embarrassment.
"How could i forget it was supposed to be dads name!"
This was starting to become much more complicated than the colt wanted it to be.
"T-Try..."
The receptionist raised an eyebrow.
"... Mac n' Cheese"
She let out a long sigh and began her search through the documents again. Cheese just wanted to get out of here at this point. His face grew hotter with every passing second.
"Verification."
"Huh?"
"Do you have permission from this pony to get his mail."
"I-Im his son so..."
She looked through the folder another time.
"Oh. I see it now. Here."
The irritated pegasus pushed the keys to the edge of the counter, just enough for the colt to grab them in his mouth.
"Your number is 314 on the second level. Return those when your done."
Cheese didn't even bother to say anything when he turned around and broke into a canter to quickly avoid having to say anything more to her. He started to slow down as he got closer to the mailbox.
"310, 311, 312, 313... 314!"
He adjusted the key in his mouth and carefully slid it into the keyhole, and shifted it sideways, and stepped back to open it. He began to neatly pile up the letters into his schoolbag. He figured he didn't have to look at them, since they where always addressed to his dad anyway.
Cheese left in a rush, not wanting to confront the receptionist again for a while.
"I hope dad can get his own mail next time..."
Cheese speed-walked home, not wanting to run into anyone who knows him. More specifically, Greyhoof and Stormwing. They only served to remind him of the fact that he had no real friends or social life. Lately they haven't been able to torment him in school, since Golden Quill was starting to take notice of the fact that they bullied him almost daily. Celestia knows what she did to punish them, but they sure did stop bothering him inside of school.
Outside, however...
"Hey, Cheese-face! get your flank over here!"
"Why today of all days?" Cheese pleaded internally. He put his head down and broke into a speed-trot.
"Where do you think your going, hm?" Stormwing flew forwards in a dark blue blur, blocking the colts path.
He was smaller than Cheese, but faster than anypony the he knew of yet. Cheese remembered Ms. Quill talking about her high hopes for Stormwing, hoping he would one day grow out of his childish personality and maybe peruse a career in the Wonderbolts. It seemed hard for Cheese to believe he would ever do that.
Stormwing snarled mockingly at Cheese, stalking around him and flicking his tail.
"You cant get away so easily, no-life."
He swatted his tail in the direction of Cheese's face, knocking his glasses off of him in one swift hit. Cheese had the right mind to yell back at him, but he couldn't muster up the confidence.
Greyhoof slowly walked up to the half-blind pony with a malicious smirk on his face. Cheese could tell it was him from his incredibly bland coloration.
"Drop something, four-eyes?" The grey pony jeered.
A silver aura surrounded the glasses as Greyhoof levitated them in the air.
"Ms. Quill cant save you now!" Stormwing whinnied with a crazed expression on his face.
"No!"
Cheese was surrounded and his vision was blurred. He had the right mind to run away, but he couldn't leave without his glasses. He desperately jumped into the air to attempt to catch them before Greyhoof yanked them away again.
In one final attempt, he squinted and jumped off the ground with all of his power. He had caught the glasses, but it wasn't over yet. The aura around them became stronger, pulling them away from him. If cheese had held onto them, they would have snapped in two. He had no choice but to let go.
Cheese sat on the ground, defeated and ashamed.
Greyhoof levitated the glasses over to Cheese's face.
"You want 'em?"
Cheese nodded.
"Well go get 'em."
Greyhoof launched the glasses over to the next block and cheese hurriedly chased after them.
"Nice throw, Grey!"
"It was nothing Storm." He boasted. "That's as easy as it gets."
"hehe, see ya'round, loser sandwich!"
Lucky for Cheese, his glasses landed in a small garden outside of an apartment building. Nothing was scratched, just a little dirty.
"Loser sandwich? really?" Cheese sighed as he cleaned his glasses and adjusted them to be perfect.
"I was lucky they weren't as bad as they normally are. That could have ended much worse...i cant take any chances though. I must get home right away!"
The sun was beginning to set over the tops of the buildings, causing the sky to become a blazing red and purple color. Sadness glazed Cheese's eyes as he galloped home.
"Just five more days Cheese... Just five..."
A small florescent green and yellow light began to appear in the distance reading "Mac's Cheese: Quite a cheesy name, isnt it?"
This was indeed where Cheese Sandwich spent his days at home. watching his dad serve ponies all sorts of cheesy dishes. Literally everything had cheese in it, one way or another. Cheese smiled at the thought of being able to assist in the catering for at least a little while.
As he opened the door, a small bell signaled his arrival. A tall, cream colored stallion was behind the counter. His curly dark yellow mane bounced as he rushed around every corner of the shop, making sure to not miss any events in his work. But when he heard the bell ring, he stopped dead still in the middle of his work and slowly turned his head around to face Cheese.
"Cheesy!" He bounced over to greet his son "How was your day at school? Was it awesome? Did you get the mail? Oh no i think im burning something-"
And in the blink of an eye, he was back to work. Cheese laughed at his dads shenanigans and slowly made his way to the door behind the counter, not minding the confused looks of all the other ponies in the room. He felt comfortable with his dad around him and loved his hyperactive personality. Cheese knew no other ponies like him, and that's why he liked him so much.
The surrounding ponies where too swept up in the commotion Mac was making to notice the colt leaving through the red door behind the counter. This door was in fact, the real entrance to Cheese's home. He lived in the spacious apartment above his dads catering shop.
The apartment was much nicer then most apartments you could find in Manehattan. When you walk in, your immediately brought into a kitchen with a round table and a window over the sink with a perfect view of the sunset. Cheese placed his school bag on the table and began sorting out his things; a pile of letters and a pile of books. Nothing much else to do there. Dad would take care of the rest when he closes the store.
"It should be soon. It closes at sundown." Cheese said aloud. With nopony around to hear him, he could finally say everything on his jumbled mind.
Before Cheese could say anymore the door swung openand in walked his father, not as bouncy, but still as happy as ever.
"Hey there, filly cheese. Sorry i bailed on you earlier, i almost burned the toast!" Mac scrunched up his face and ruffled Cheese's hair.
"Its ok dad." He smiled at him cheerfully. "As long as nothing went horribly wrong, its ok."
"Thats my boy! Now, wheres that mail? I'm was expecting something important."
Cheese let his dad be so he could open his letters in peace and made his way to his own room.
"Hey Cheesy, there's something here for you!"
"Me?'" Impossible.
"Are you sure dad?"
"Yes indeed i am!"
Cheese walked back into the kitchen to find his dad holding a letter in his mouth with a mischievous spark in his eyes. Cheese doubtfully took the letter and read it off for his dad to hear.
"Your invited to..."
Cheese's eyes grew wide as he opened the card-
"Bowtie's Birthday Party! There will be Games, Cake and much much more! I hope you can attend this special event!
It will be hosted approximately 5 days from now, so be sure to respond a quickly as possible!
-Bowtie
"Oh i know who Bowtie is, shes a real cutie..." His dad went on, but Cheese didn't hear him. He stared blankly at the invitation, reading it over and over again to make sure it was real.
"I... I can't go to this party!" Cheese dropped the card, still shocked by its request.
"Aw come on Cheesy, wheres your inner party pony? You can do it!" Mac cheered his name and threw confetti at the dazed colt.
"Its- Its some sort of joke! Yea, that's it! This is just a pity invitation. Shes inviting everypony to her birthday party just because she can, not because she cares. My name isn't even on this card! And worst of all dad, Greyhoof and Stormwing could be there..."
His dad grabbed the envelope off the table "It does too have your name on it! see?"
He pointed a hoof at the address where it says Mr. Cheese.
"Dad... that's you, not me."
"How do you know that Cheese?"
"Because everypony knows who you are dad... and im just a nopony that no pony cares about..."
Mac's expression changed rapidly.
"Cheese you aren't a nopony. And you are the farthest thing from being not important."
He sat down to be at Cheese's level and pulled him into an embrace.
"Your the last pony I have in this world and no one could ever replace you or be better than you are... to me"
He smiled down at Cheese and Cheese could barely respond.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to."
"...Thanks dad."
"Anytime, Cheesy."
He let him go and patted his head gently.
"You still have to go to school, pshh, i mean you only have a few days left!"
"yea I understand" Cheese looked down at the floor and smiled a little.
"Goodnight, Cheese"
"Yea, good night dad" and with that, Cheese went off to his room.
"The last thing i want to do is go to school tomorrow." thought Cheese as he closed his room door. "I can't go to school, and i cant go to that party!" Cheese stared blankly out his small room window to the lands beyond Manehattan.
"I wonder... if the whole world is just as cruel as the ponies in this city are. Could there really be places where there is happiness and joy all around? No, maybe those things are just an illusion..."
Cheese stared up at the moon and its strange imprint of a pony's head. He never understood why it was there, but he thought about it every night.
"Moon, do you think there are kind ponies out there?"
It gave no answer.
"Maybe its just here though! There has to be some place that is!"
Still no answer.
"Maybe i will just have to find out on my own."
He turned around and started packing things away into a small pouch.
"I have to find it. It has to be there"
"And the only way i can do that is by leaving and finding out on my own."
Cheese stared back up at the moon for a second and back at is hooves.
"Dad..."
Cheese hurried to his desk and began to write.
By the time you start reading this, I will already be far away. I have decided that is i stayed here any longer, I would never be able to find ponies that could be as kind as you and Ms. Quill. And also,I want to discover who I truly am. I will return one day, dad. But probably not anytime soon. I know you will be ok without me. Your the best pony around and I love you.
- Cheese
"I'll leave this note on the table for him to find when he wakes up."
"Ill leave just before the sun begins to rise."
His eyes sparkled with ambition.
"But i have to sleep now" He yawned as he climbed into bed.
The never ending sounds of the city would be over soon enough for Cheese Sandwich.
Author's Note
i am ready to be showered with the "its not "where" its "were"" and "its "you're"" but do know they will be fixed soon
anyway,,
please trust me when i say that things are going to be super duper happy once he gets to ponyville.
please trust me oh god
and please understand that i had a small amount of time to develop Mac's character and i needed you to be 100% aware that hes a cool dad
it was also not my intention for making Cheese's dad quite literally the ship name for big macintosh x cheese sandwich
ps; i dont ship that im not about that life
cheesepie life forever
i also like discoshy
moving on-
