Parfait Storm was minding her own business on one hot summer day. The water was pleasant, the sun was sparking, and a large coffee can smacked her in the head.

"What the f..." The bright blue mer rubbed her head, glaring at the large can that had come to a rest on the sandy bottom of the deeper shoreline. She grabbed the can up and breached the surface of the water, shaking her mane and fixing her scarlet eyes on a couple of kids who were ankle deep in the surf. They seemed as surprised to see her as she was annoyed to see them.

"HEY!" she shouted, "Don't throw trash in the ocean you stu.."

"Our ice cream!" the girl child cried happily. The boy child came forward into the water, taking the can out of Stormy's hooves.

"We're sorry." he said as he took the can. "We were making ice cream and accidentally kicked the can into the water."

"Ice...cream?" Stormy said dubiously as the boy started to walk away, the can weighing heavily in his arms.

"Yeah ice cream! It cool and tastes yummy!" the girl said as the boy set the can on the sand. "We're making chocolate!"

"How?" the mer phony asked while bobbing in the surf.

"Like this." The boy and girl began using their feet to roll the can between them, volleying it back and forth a bit like a soccer ball. Whenever the can moved, a grinding noise could be heard from inside. Stormy watched as the can passed back and forth, back and forth, until like last time, the can got away from the children and rolled it into the sea. Stormy used her tail to stop it in the surf and with a TWACK, rolled back to the children on shore with her tail.

"That was a good one!" the boy said.

This went on for some time. The girl and boy passing the can back and forth between each other, Stormy running interference whenever the can rolled back into the water.

Finally the children, red in the face and panting, sat down and sat the can between them. The beckoned the filly over, informing her since she'd helped make the ice cream, she would get some too. Stormy waded onto the beach and flopped between the kids, looking intensely at the can.

The boy popped open the lid of the large container and Stormy peered into it. Inside was a smaller can surrounded by..

"Ice?" she asked.

"Yeah..ice and salt. The ice keeps the middle can cold and the salt helps.."

"Yes, yes, I know how that works." she cut in. She'd been to school, she knew things. The boy then reached into the can and pulled out the smaller can. Like the larger one, he popped open the lid.

"Woowww!!" the girl exclaimed. "Look how much we made!" The boy reached into his fanny pack and produced 3 plastic spoons. Stormy held hers in her hoof as the kids started to dig in, proclaiming the perfection of the substance inside. The mer leaned forward and sniffed cautiously at the product. It was cold, and smelled faintly sweet.

"This is...ice cream?" she said cautiously. The pair nodded and invited to dig in. Stormy dug her spoon into the light brown substance and scooped out a portion. With a deep breath, she stuck the spoon in her mouth quickly and closed it.

Ahhhh! So cold!!! She shivered as the ice cream felt like has turn her mouth into a ice filled cave. The sweetness of the chocolate and other ingredients made her flinch.

"S'too sweet." she said, swallowing. Despite her declaration of distaste, she was dipping her spoon in for another bite. "Could be a bit more salty."

"Salty..?" the girl said. The children exchanged a look.

"Well..you can make it however you like it yourself if you want." the boy offered. "Not everyone likes chocolate."

While maybe it wasn't the eureka moment that other phony had, a flash zipped across Stormy's core. She COULD make it like she wanted! She wagered she could make a lot of flavors other sea phony would love! Maybe some for the land dwellers too. Not all of them seemed so bad. Her mind was full of ideas and her insides seem to thrum with excitement!

While she didn't enjoy the ice cream, she did sit and eat with the children. They told her about all the other flavors they liked and other kinds they had seen. Stormy took lots of mental notes.

One day, kids like these were going to talk this excitedly about the flavors she'd created.