slowly but surely redoing my refs for my nextgen families ahee. next up on my list was the sugarmac family...so here we go!!

(some of this is new, some of this is just copy and pasted from the old ref, depending on whether or not i still like what ive written)

Cheerilee's talent is in childcare, and while she had been a devoted, kind teacher for many years, she'd never had a foal of her own. She devoted much of her life to her job, to making foals happy, that she'd never gotten the chance to find a partner and start her own family.
When the CMC end up forcing her and Big Mac together, she is of course, absolutely outraged that they would ever even think of something like that - but, well... they kept in contact, and after a few years, Cheerilee made the leap - she wasn't getting any younger, and she wanted to start a family of her own. Even if they had little in common, or very little chemistry at all, they rushed into dating, then marriage, and then not long after the wedding, Cheerilee was pregnant.

Cherry Apple Ade - He/Him - va - Griffin Puatu (x)

was born a vry floofy foal. Cheerilee was over the moon - that finally she had the foal she had always wanted after years of failed romances. But unfortunately, it was turning out that her marriage to Big Macintosh was turning out to be yet another. When Cherry was barely even a year old, Big Mac and Cheerilee made the decision to split. They simply just didnt have enough, if anything at all, in common, and their interest in each other had been completely artificial from the start. The divorce was painless with few hiccups, with Cheerilee getting main custody of Cherry, though Big Mac would remain heavily involved in his life and remain a good friend of Cheerilee.

Cherry as a foal, is a little bit of a schoolyard bully. He despises his country origins. He refuses farm life point blank, resenting his visits to his dad at Sweet Apple Acres, hiding any twinge of an accent, and even trying to cover up his freckles at ne point. He's incredibly insecure, and acts out because of this.

Cheerilee (essentially an expert on foal development) believed that a degree of seperation from school life and home life was important, and with a bit of a foal savings account backed up over the years of longing for children, she enrolled him in a school in Canterlot... Therefore, she had no idea of her son's behaviour. Particularly since his grades were good, and his bullying went under the radar of most of the teachers. At most, he just seemed grumpy, and a little bit stuck up. She didn't know how cruel he could actually be. To her,
he's her pride and joy.

Not long after Big Mac and Cheerilee split, Big Mac found himself chasing after Sugar Belle. He frequently visited her village to make deliveries, and eventually she moved into Sweet Apple Acres with him, learning and adding traditional apple family recipe pies to sell at the market. The two never married, with Sugar Belle being much more relaxed and not into grand gestures, and Big Mac deciding to be more cautious - but the two are happily settled together, and after a few years have a foal on the way.

Cinnamon Apple Crumb - He/Him - va - Bob Joles (x)

Cinnamon is born a big n sturdy boi, and a big countray bumpkeen - he'll buck all the leaves off a tree, plough 20 fields, and wrestle a hog to the ground - but despite his massive strength, he wouldnt hurt a fly. would apologise for slightly bumping into you even if itsnt his fault, give the old granny in line an extra apple in her order, and gives every chicken in the coop a kiss goodnight.

Because of his very country nature, Cinnamon gets quite a bit of flack from his half brother. When Cherry comes to visit, he's always tripping Cinnamon up and giving a hard time for his accent and mannerisms. Cinnamon is too sweet to fight back, and usually just sits there in a puddle of tears taking the blows... but fortunately it doesn't take too much to cheer him back up.

Extras I don't really know where to fit:

Big Mac is genderfluid. As much as I despise the episode with Orchid Blossom in it, I do like the idea that a big, burly boy like him has a more feminine side, especially since most genderfluid characters tend to be skinny androgynous characters (which I'm also at fault for, as my only gender fluid character until this point was Summer) - Though he's more masculine leaning, his gender identity is fluid and will have more feminine days.
Cherry is also trans. I've talked about this before so I won't go into major details, but it's part of his insecurities and why he lashes out
He's also in a very happy, loving relationship with Cookie Crumble Pie -She's the only one that seems to see through his tough exterior, and she's the only one he'll take any teasing from. They have a foal together but I haven't decided on a design for them yet lmao.
Cherry is also the only of their cousins that actually tolerates Mint Chiffon, and like, spends time with them. He's not really sure why he does it, because Mint is by all accounts a cringelord asshole, but uh. They're probably the least "country" of all his sibling/cousins, (not counting Stitcher, who wouldn't touch him with a 10 ft pole) - so he much prefers their company than any of the others.
Cherry is my token straight character
Cinnamon is best buddies with his cousin, Apple Chip. They share a single brain cell between them, and like to get on Butterscotch (Chips older sister)'s nerves. Chip also gives Cinnamon some (often absolutely terrible) dating advice.
Sugarbelle has some form of ptsd from her time in Starlight's village - and even before Starlight uh. tries to murder a child and runs away from Ponyville. She refused to speak to her whatsoever.
Also I gave her blue eyes instead of her canon magenta eyes because uuuuh fuck u