Seeing Pink

Chapters

Arriving in Ponyville
At Sugarcube Corner
Pinkie's Secret
I Wonder What's For Dinner
Around Town
What's wrong?

Arriving in Ponyville

Cheese Sandwich had just arrived on top of a hill above Ponyville and was watching the sleeping town from afar. The thatched rooftops could only be seen when the dim moonlight was set upon them.

Cheese didn't know the time, but he was guessing it was near 2 am.

Why had he come back again to the source of his inspiration? He thought he had gotten his closure last time he came here.

Regret filled the lanky stallion, who was dressed in a grey hat and a poncho, patterned with different shades of grey.

"Should we turn back, Boneless Two? ... Nah, it's no use going back now", Cheese said to his rubber chicken on a tiny saddle, or rather to himself, since his companion was just a rubber chicken.

A while ago Cheese was still sleeping under a tree near Las Pegasus after a long day of walking, planning epic parties and partying in said parties.

Suddenly his Cheesy Sense had gone off and woken him up to tell him to go to Ponyville, but this wasn't the usual kind of doozy he gets for parties in the middle of planning. Cheese had never gotten that kind of spasms before in his life. They were more mild and nudging than jittery and jumpy. This caught the stallion's curiosity and he headed immediately towards Ponyville. He was having a really weird dream and wanted to get out of it anyways.

And now he was standing on top of the hill, really tired and contemplating whether to give up or give in.

Cheese somehow managed to get his hooves going after a long time and eventually accelerated to trotting, since the hill was quite steep.

Of course nopony was up at this time, but Cheese could just wait under a tree or something for the break of dawn. Celestia's rising of the Sun is quite beautiful.

All the lights were out of the wooden buildings in Ponyville. A sign at the front of the town said: "Ponyville ~ Where ponies come together" Cheese chuckled at the rather corny slogan.

Cheese liked Ponyville. He liked its quiet nights and busy days. He liked how the ponies were friendly and welcoming. The houses looked cozy and homely. If the stallion would ever settle down, it would probably be in Ponyville. Though he likes to think he never will.

Cheese looked around for a moment. There were lots of trees to sit under. He chose to sit under one with a good view to the horizon. The stallion sat on his haunches and sighed.

"Why am I doing this?" he groaned. "What did the sense even mean?"

Cheese looked back at Boneless Two. It made him think of Pinkie Pie. Actually, he thought about her pretty often nowadays.

There was tingling in his stomach.

He felt something weird, but he couldn't quite put his hoof on what it was.

In the distance Cheese could barely see a clock tower. Somehow he managed to see the time. It was 3 am. Surely some early bird would wake up soon and tell him if there was a big party coming up or anything out of the ordinary.

"Hi!"

Cheese jumped a few feet off the ground startled from the high-pitched voice suddenly near his ear.

He came down using his poncho as a parachute with a goofy expression on his face. His hat had jumped from his head as well, revealing his poofy dark brown mane. His crests settled on the both sides of his neck. Somehow Boneless Two stayed on its little saddle.

Cheese turned around to see Pinkie Pie standing there with a huge happy-go-lucky smile on her face.

"Whoa, Pinkie, I, uh, didn't see you there."

Cheese's cheeks burned up, either from embarrassment or...

"Oops, sorry if I startled you, Cheesy!" The mare obviously couldn't hold in her excitement. "When I saw you I became just so so so excited and I couldn't hold it in!"

There was an awkward silence with Cheese still blushing.

"Soooo... What're you doing here?" Pinkie asked, rolling her eyes.

"M-my Cheesy Sense told me to come. Is there a big party coming up?" Cheese put on a confused look and moved his glance at the ground. He had never stuttered before.

"Hmm..." Pinkie tapped her chin. "Well, not anything super-duper big..."

Now Cheese turned to look at Pinkie for a moment. The scarlet on his face grew larger. He was at a loss for words.

"What's the matter?"

Cheese feared he would blurt out something stupid and turned his head away from Pinkie.

"I don't know."

Pinkie was very confused then. Cheese wasn't shy. Or was he?

Pinkie thought about this for a moment, looking at Cheese with her brows lowered.

"What are you doing up this early anyways?" Cheese managed to say finally.

Pinkie giggled with a snort. "Just when I was going to bed, my Pinkie Sense told me something great is gonna happen tonight! So I ran out of the house immediately and I've been hopping all around Ponyville" – she started hopping – "waiting for the thing to happen!"

Pinkie stopped hopping with her hooves spread. She smiled brightly, her big blue eyes looking at Cheese full of excitement.

Cheese made a big mistake by looking at the mare. He gasped.

Pinkie's perfectly poofy and bouncy mane waved in the slight wind. Her eyes were shiny and bright like dew drops on leaves. And that smile was just so beautiful. She was beautiful.

Pinkie stood normally and tilted her head. "Seriously, what's up?"

Cheese picked up his hat quickly and hid his face behind it.

"Nothing."

Pinkie didn't believe it but she didn't think more asking would make him answer properly.

"Anyways, since you're here and all, why don't you stay for a while? It would be super fun having you here! You could stay at Sucarcube Corner and we could have a pajama party and... Oh, oh! Tomorrow we could throw a really big party and invite all of Ponyville there!" Pinkie flailed her hooves on the last sentence. *squee*

Cheese still had his hat in front of his face. "That sounds great..."

"You don't sound very excited", Pinkie mentioned.

"Believe me, I am", Cheese murmured to himself so quietly that Pinkie couldn't hear what he said.

Pinkie shrugged. "Let's go then!" She started hopping towards Sucarcube Corner.

She stopped for a moment to say: "Also, I think you are the great thing that was gonna happen to me tonight."

Then she continued hopping away.

Cheese started following her walking slowly and put his hat on his head, revealing his fully red face.

At Sugarcube Corner

Cheese had fallen behind Pinkie a lot. His blush was fading away by looking away from her and thinking about something else.

Then his thoughts wandered off again to what was happening right then.

Actually, he thought it would be really fun hanging out with Pinkie. If he could control his feelings, that is. That would be hard, but it was worth a shot. He let out a small grunt while trying to think about her as just a friend.

Did she mention a pajama party? Do most ponies even wear pajamas? His thoughts wandered to something fully different.

"C'mon, speed up! We're almost there!" Pinkie exclaimed, looking at Cheese while hopping.

Cheese speeded up to a trot. Eventually he caught up and was next to Pinkie. He looked away.

Pinkie was really worried then. Doesn't Cheese like being with her? She's got to find a way to make him smile!

"What are you thinking?" Pinkie asked, trying to make small talk.

"Oh, uhm, you know... stuff..."

Pinkie didn't like this version of Cheese. She looked sadly forward, still hopping.

Cheese hated seeing Pinkie sad like this. "I was actually thinking that why do we call it a pajama party if we don't wear pajamas?"

Pinkie smiled again. "I was thinking about that too the other day! I asked Twilight about it, but she just said not to bother her with silly questions. She's such a bore sometimes!"

Cheese smiled too. They had small talk for the rest of the walk, or hop. Cheese thought it was fun talking with somepony like Pinkie. He was becoming more comfortable with her.

Pinkie was really happy to have made her favorite stallion smile. Yes, her favorite.

"We're here~" Pinkie sang as she stopped hopping mid-air and came down like a feather.

She hurried over to the mail box in a streak of pink.

"Aww, no mail yet. Well, I guess it's a bit early." Cheese smiled at Pinkie's antics.

He looked up at the building. It looked like a gingerbread house with a cupcake on top. Cheese had seen Pinkie around the bakery a lot, but he had never thought that Pinkie actually lived there. He wondered what Pinkie's room was like. Probably pink.

They went inside, walking slowly and quietly and tried not to wake anypony. It was completely dark, so Cheese tried his hardest to just follow Pinkie's hoofsteps.

There was a small creak as Cheese stepped on the floor. Pinkie shushed him louder than the creak actually was.

Suddenly the lights turned on. The mare and stallion froze in place looking terrified. They were halfway through the room standing right after another. Pinkie looked towards the stairs.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake stood there looking very tired and bemused. Pinkie gasped and lied down on the floor with her hooves shielding her face like they that would protect her from their angry words.

"Pinkie? What are you doing up this late? You might wake the twins!" Mr. Cake said and yawned right after.

"We were very worried when you ran out of the house at 10 pm and didn't come back!" Mrs. Cake said. Worry was evident in her voice.

Pinkie had expected harsher words. She stood up and looked embarrassed. "Sorry for waking you up!"

"For Celestia's sake, don't yell", Mr. Cake complained while holding a hoof on his head as if he had a headache.

Pinkie squeaked and hung her head in shame.

"Now, who's this with you?" Mrs. Cake finally noticed Cheese standing there dumbfounded.

Pinkie was delighted by the change of subject and lifted her head up to look at Cheese's confused face.

"Oh! Don't you remember? He planned Rainbow Dash's birth-iversary with me!" Pinkie yelled... quietly.

"Oh yeah... I remember seeing him around during the planning... We couldn't attend the party though. We had a big order to make that evening. Besides his." Mr. Cake tapped his chin and inspected Cheese's appearance more closely.

"I remember him ordering lots and lots of cupcakes. I just didn't recognize him in that get-up, I guess", Mrs. Cake said.

"I'm not much of a baker, so I have to rely on the local bakeries whenever I throw a party", Cheese explained.

Mr. Cake was still tapping his chin and looking at the now smiling Cheese with a pondering expression.

"I just can't remember your name..." he mumbled.

"I'm Cheese Sandwich", Cheese introduced himself.

"Oh right... Hey, Pinkie, isn't this the stallion you've been talking so much about?" Mrs. Cake said and looked at Pinkie slyly.

Cheese looked at Pinkie, understandably confused, to see her face even pinker than usual. She jumped next to Mrs. Cake and whispered something in her ear.

"Oh, uh, but of course she's been only talking about how awesome the party you threw with her was!" she said smiling a suspiciously wide smile. Pinkie was next to her with a similar smile, still blushing.

Cheese raised an eyebrow, but let it go... for now...

"So, what's he doing here now?" Mr. Cake changed the subject.

"Oh, he's just visiting..." Pinkie said unusually quiet. It was her turn to be shy.

"You're going upstairs, right? Could you be so kind to not make ruckus there?" Mrs. Cake requested, yawning afterwards.

"O-of course not, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie promised, but didn't Pinkie Promise.

Pinkie and Cheese walked quietly upstairs, even more quietly than when they came inside. Suddenly Pinkie remembered something crucial and stopped in her tracks in the hallway.

"Wait here for a moment", she blurred out before zooming into her room.

Cheese took his hat off and swiped sweat of his forehead, when suddenly he heard a loud thud.

"I'm okay!" could be heard from the room.

Cheese rolled his eyes and smiled. If he wasn't so tired, he would already be jumping on the walls from anticipation. Waiting wasn't exactly his thing.

Soon the door opened and Pinkie with a smile as wide as a mile was in the doorway.

"Welcome to my lair!" Only now when Pinkie turned around, Cheese notices that Gummy was in her mane, desperately trying to eat it.

Cheese stepped into the round room carefully. The wall was light yellow and there were two round windows. The floor was wooden and greenish. Pinkie's bed, which had aqua sheets with pink balloon and candy markings, was on top of a lavender carpet in the middle of the room. Some balloons were tied on the bed's posts. There was also a closet, a desk, a gramophone, a shelf, a sofa and a fireplace around room. A staircase led to the balcony. It was nice and homely in Cheese's opinion. Though he had thought it would be... pinker.

Cheese noticed there were marks of something that was torn off the walls.

"Now let's have a paj- uh... slumber party!" Pinkie rose on her hind legs but then got back on all fours again. "Quietly", she whispered while holding a hoof next to her mouth.

"I dunno if I have the energy to party, Pinkie. I'm really tired after walking here all the way from Las Pegasus. And it's almost 4 am." Cheese said wearily.

Pinkie was disappointed, but smiled anyways. She'd do anything for her friends to make them feel happy.

"Okey dokey lokey! We'll just have a slumber then!"

Pinkie pulled a yellow sleeping bag from hammer space and settled it on the floor, next to her bed.

"There you go! Good night!" she yelled.

Apparently she was too loud, because right then the twins' cries could be heard from the other room.

"Oops", Pinkie peeped out. She rushed immediately to the babies' room, Gummy still in her mane.

Cheese was alone again. He decided to look around the room more. He looked at what Pinkie had on her shelf. There were many vinyl records leaning onto each other. Cheese looked at the labels. Half of them were her own songs and the other half... polka? He didn't know Pinkie liked polka, since she seemed more like a pop kind of mare. He found it weird that the polka records were only labeled with "polka" and a number in the end. Were they her own recordings?

Cheese looked over to her desk. There were pens scattered as if she had just written something, but there was no paper to be seen. Well, not until he looked in a trash bin next to the desk.

The trash bin was filled with all kinds of paper. Cheese knew it wasn't nice to snoop around this much, but it was so tempting to know more about the mare he was inspired by. And, for other reasons too... He quickly took one of the papers. His cheeks were burning again once he looked at it.

She had drawn... him. And around him were tons of red hearts drawn with a crayon... So does Pinkie...?

So many things were going through his mind right then. His face was bright red all over.

Cheese had to squint to see little, rushed writing written at the bottom of the paper.

"Note to self: If Cheese comes back to Ponyville tonight, do what we practiced. Wow, talking to yourself is weird, but writing to yourself? That's just crazy-wazy! Anyway, I'm going out right now" The last two words were more rushed than others.

What she practiced? What could that be? The note was apparently written right before she took off last night.

Cheese went to see if there was more interesting papers about him in the trash. He pulled out a large paper, probably a poster of some kind. He turned it around and gasped.

It was a large photo of him from the birth-iversary party. He had green sunglasses on and was smiling wide with his hooves up. Cheese looked back into the fun night full of partying. Pinkie did take a lot of photos that night...

Cheese took another large paper from the trash. It was another photo of him, this time making a duck face to the camera. He remembered when he posed for that photo. What was he thinking?

Now Cheese just sat on his haunches next to the bin and pulled out all the papers, not thinking about the aftermath. He chuckled at all the silly photos of him. His blush had faded away at last. Though he did found it a little a disturbing to think that all these photos used to be on the walls, but Pinkie ripped them off before he came in.

"I wonder where Boneless is. Wouldn't you like to see your predecessor, Boneless Two?" Cheese said out loud and looked at Boneless Two without thinking of where he was. He was so used to talking to himself.

Suddenly there was a squeak. Cheese jumped a little and looked behind him. It was Gummy. And in its mouth was...

"Boneless!" Cheese exclaimed and took the rubber chicken out of Gummy's toothless mouth. He squeezed it.

"Aww! How cute!"

Cheese looked up from the floor. Pinkie had come back and was smiling on the doorway. Her eyes turned to the trash bin and the pile of papers. Her smile turned into a frown and her face was scarlet.

"Oh... no..." And with that Pinkie ran away.

Pinkie's Secret

Author's Note

I used this map as reference to figure out where everything was located:
Map of Ponyville by Aurek-Skyclimber

Also, this chapter only includes my three favorite ponies in the entire show... So that's fun.

Pinkie's Secret

Pinkie Pie galloped as fast as her hooves could manage through Ponyville's streets. Tears began forming in her eyes and they sparkled in the dim morning light as she felt completely aimless. Where could she possibly go to hide from him?

First she thought about going to Fluttershy's. It would be peaceful and quiet, but it was so far away and if Cheese really was chasing her, she would probably get noticed. That also took Applejack out of the list, since the Sweet Apple Acres were also really far away.

She thought about Rainbow Dash... for a millisecond. Of course she couldn't hide on a cloud!

Next she thought about Twilight Sparkle. The library wasn't far away and could be a good hiding place, since Cheese has never been there. But would Twilight understand her problem? Maybe, but then she would lecture her about stuff in a really boring way... What else is available?

Rarity, perhaps? She would definitely understand this kind of stuff and probably give great advice. And Cheese didn't know about the Carousel Boutique, so it was perfect for her to hide. Though she would have to make a loop around the town to not get noticed by Cheese, but it would be worth it. Then it was settled and Pinkie finally got a specific direction to head to.

Pinkie managed to get to Carousel Boutique without being seen by Cheese and knocked frantically on the violet door.

"Oooh, please be awake! Or wake up!" she said through her teeth.

After a few minutes of rapid knocking the door opened slowly. First, a blue eye looked carefully through the small opening. Then, the door was opened fully by white unicorn.

Rarity always wakes up early during weekdays to get a head start on her work of the day. Though, in the weekend she would get lots and lots of beauty sleep. Pinkie didn't know about Rarity's sleeping routines so she was surprised to see her wide awake at this hour.

"Pinkie Pie? Isn't it a bit early to be planning a party?" Rarity said with her usual dramatic tone.

"I'm not inviting you to a party, I need a hiding place, fast!" Pinkie panicked and tried to get in, but Rarity blocked her.

"A hiding place? Who or what exactly are you hiding from?"

"I'll tell you if you just let me inside, please! I wanna talk to you about something that I think only you can help me with!" Pinkie was becoming hysterical.

Rarity stepped aside and let Pinkie swoop inside. The former couldn't think of anything that her friend would be afraid of. And she needed her help with it? What could it possibly be?

She guided Pinkie upstairs to her room with her and took out two silky pillows out of the wardrobe to put on the floor neatly. It was discussion time.

Pinkie gladly sat on one of the pillows after running around the room nervously, intending to tell everything to Rarity, the love expert.

"Now, Pinkie dear, just tell me what's bothering you, so we can talk it over", Rarity said with a quite motherly voice as she sat on the opposing pillow.

"Well, um... It's kinda complicated."

"Whatever it is, I promise I'll try to do my best to help you", Rarity said, feeling like a therapist.

"Well, you see, I like this stallion" – Rarity's eyes widened – "and I've been obsessing over him ever since I last saw him and I even put photos of him all around my room and make notes about him and fall asleep thinking about him and stuff, but then last night he came to Ponyville and I invited him to my house to stay and I took all the photos and notes and put them in the trash and everything was fine and dandy, but then I yelled too loud and the twins woke up and I had to go make them fall asleep again and then when I came back to my room I saw that he had found all the photos and notes in the trash, so I ran away and thought you could help me with this kind of stuff and I came here and now we're talking." She said it all in one breath and spoke extremely fast, but Rarity could follow it somewhat.

"Mmhm... and who is the lucky stallion in question here?"

Pinkie blushed hard. She stammered with her words for a bit.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me right away if you don't want to, dear. So, you think he's searching for you right now?"

Pinkie nodded, eyes locked onto the floor.

"Well, what I think you should do, is go out to him and confess your deep, everlasting love to him!" Rarity exclaimed dramatically.

"What? I can't do that! I mean... it would be so embarrassing!"

"Embarrassing? Maybe, but you can't hide from true love. What if he feels the same way? You would never know if you didn't confess."

Pinkie thought about what Rarity had said for a moment. She never thought about it like that.

Rarity looked nervous all of a sudden. "But... he already kind of found out about it, didn't he?"

Pinkie's eyes widened in realization. Oh right.

"I'm not ready to face him yet, though", she said and flattened her ears.

"You know, it would be much easier for me to instruct you if you told me who, er, what this stallion is like", Rarity said, slightly wagging her brows. She levitated a notepad and a pen from her desk, ready to write everything down and make conclusions.

Pinkie sighed and looked away with her ears still flattened. "Alright... First of all, he's really funny and has a great sense of humor. He's almost never serious about anything, but I think that's a good thing. He's always trying to cheer everypony up in the most craziest and funnest ways possible." Pinkie cracked a smile for the first time inside the boutique. Her ears stood up again as she started to smile her usual bright smile once again. "He's also really talented at what he does and shares it for everypony to enjoy. He's really charismatic and social and is just so so so fun to be around! He's just... absolutely amazing!" She yelled the last part so loud that Rarity had to cover her ears.

"He sounds... great. Perfect for you, actually", Rarity said while writing down notes. Suddenly her face broke into a sly grin.

"Does his name start with a 'C'?" She had figured it out already.

"... Yes."

"Is his name something edible?" Rarity still wanted to tease Pinkie a little.

"What's with the guessing game?" Pinkie raised an eyebrow, but still smiled.

"Just checking if my guess is right."

"Well, yes, his name is edible."

"I knew it. You're hopelessly in love with... oh, how I wish there was a drumroll here... Cheese Sandwich!" Rarity announced, still holding that sly grin.

A silence fell upon the boutique. Rarity grinned unsure if it was appropriate at the moment. Pinkie's brows lowered into a serious expression,

"Was that necessary?" she said with an unusually serious tone in her voice.

Rarity cleared her throat. "Um, now that I know who your love interest is, I can easily say that you shouldn't worry about a thing. I'm sure Cheese will understand."

"Really? Are you super-duper sure?"

"Yes, darling. He seems like the perfect match for you, actually", Rarity assured and put down her notepad and pencil. "Though I have to ask, what is he doing in Ponyville, anyways?"

Pinkie pondered for a few seconds. "I actually don't exactly know... He just said he got a Cheesy Sense that told him to come here."

Rarity had a feeling she knew what was going on, but held back her words.

"He's probably looking for you all over right now. You should go and tell him", Rarity said and put a hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"Alright... I'm gonna do it!" Pinkie announced, lifting up from the pillow. As she walked downstairs, she seemed to become increasingly nervous by each step. Once she reached the door she was sweating droplets and shaking all over.

She opened the door with a shaky hoof and started trotting away slowly. "Thank you so much, Rarity!" she yelled, looking over her shoulder and waving. Her voice was shaky.

"Good luck, dear" Rarity said, albeit Pinkie couldn't hear her anymore.

Cheese Sandwich looked at the clock tower on top of a hill nervously. It was about a half 5 am and he had been searching for Pinkie for over an hour now. He was sitting next to the fountain near Town Hall and sighed. He was ready to give up when suddenly he saw a pink spot in the distance.

"Pinkie!" he yelled as loud as he could, which was extremely loud. He earned many angry yells from sleepy villagers because of it, but he didn't care.

Cheese galloped towards the pink spot which soon shaped into a trotting, bouncy maned mare. It was indeed Pinkie Pie.

Cheese finally came face to face with her. He couldn't believe this could be so hard. "Pinkie! I've been looking all over for you! Where were you? What did you do there? Why did you run away? I've been so worried, I thought you jumped off a bridge or someth-"

"You found out my secret", Pinkie said and looked away.

"Oh right, that..." Cheese blushed a little.

He hesitated for a moment before saying: "Well, you see Pinkie, the reason I've been looking for you for so long is that I... I wanted to tell you that..." – he gulped – "ever since I saw you in that party long ago, I've sorta kinda secretly had crush on y-"

He was cut off by Pinkie's lips suddenly connecting with his own. Cheese's pupils shrank in surprise. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it felt like their whole lives had been leading up to this very moment. Pinkie took a few steps back and looked away, smiling shyly.

Cheese was at a loss for words. What just happened? Did all his dreams come true at once?

"Well... Uh... That was... Um... I mean... I didn't... What?" He looked like he had just seen a ghost and his face was entirely flushed.

"Did you like it?" Pinkie asked in a more confident voice than before.

There was a silence, in which Cheese moved his lips but nothing came out.

"Yes", he managed to say quietly.

Pinkie was slowly but surely getting her confidence back again. She clapped her hooves together.

"Ooh! That's great! So, does this mean I'm your marefriend now?"

Cheese was stunned. This was all happening so fast to him.

"I-I guess", he said.

So apparently he now had a marefriend. He cracked a smile as he watched Pinkie do cartwheels around him.

I Wonder What's For Dinner

Pinkie Pie opened her eyes slowly, but then shut them again more tightly and put a hoof in front of her face once she realized the Sun was shining brightly right onto her face. She looked at a watch that suddenly appeared on her wrist. It was 15 minutes over 12 pm. Pinkie groaned. Her mane was a mess and strands of hair were sticking out of it. How long had she been up last night? Memories of last night came back to the surface of her mind in a hurry. She smiled and looked around the room. It was a bit of a mess after last night's quiet partying. The floor was covered in confetti, streamers and balloons. There was a ruffled and upside-down yellow sleeping bag on the wooden floor... empty. Pinkie's smile faded quickly. Where was he?

Suddenly Pinkie heard a loud bang under her bed, which made her jump a bit. She felt something hitting the bottom of it.

"Youch!"

Pinkie giggled. Oh, there he was. He must have rolled over there in his sleep. She looked under the bed from the side of it, but there was nothing but dust and a bit of confetti to be seen.

"Wait what?" Pinkie tilted her upside-down head in confusion.

She lifted her head up and all she saw was a pair of happy green eyes.

"Whoa!" Pinkie yelled astronomically loud and fell face first onto the floor.

"Surprise!" Cheese Sandwich looked like he had been awake for hours already with no signs of tiredness on his face. He took a pair of rather large earplugs out of his ears, after which his face sported a really wide grin. His poncho and hat were nowhere to be seen, so his bright yellow polo shirt was the clothing of the day.

There was a loud pounding on the door.

"Keep it down in there! The twins are starting to get upset!" a mare's gentle voice called out from behind the door.

Cheese looked at the door behind him for only a second, but that was enough time for Pinkie to stand up and tackle Cheese, pinning him to the floor.

"Nopony surprises Pinkie Pie without consequences!" she exclaimed with a sinister grin.

"Oh? And what are these 'consequences' exactly?" Cheese said with a grin that mirrored that of Pinkie's.

"Look out for the... tickle monster!" With that she started tickling Cheese's armpits, which made him giggle and squirm uncontrollably.

"No... Stop it..." he managed to say between giggles.

Pinkie stopped meddling with his armpits, but then immediately lifted up his shirt and gave his stomach a raspberry.

The giggling intensified greatly for a few seconds, until Pinkie finally stopped and lifted her head up to look slyly at Cheese, who was still in a trance from all the giggling.

"Ahaha... ha... Okay, now I know to never surprise you again", he said and looked up at the ceiling, eyelids lowered.

"Well, surprise parties are okay, but making me yell like crazy and hit the floor face first is not okay!" Pinkie said and pressed Cheese's muzzle with her hoof.

"Boop!" Cheese said playfully. It made Pinkie giggle. Oh, how Cheese loved her giggle. It was full of sunshine, rainbows and butterflies... if that made sense.

Now that Pinkie was officially his marefriend, Cheese felt like he had been freed from the restraining chains of friendship. He felt like he could now think about Pinkie in that sort of way without feeling conflicted.

Cheese got out from under Pinkie in swoop. Pinkie blinked for a second before realizing he now stood in front of her.

"So, what do ya wanna do today?" he said while admiring Pinkie's bright eyes.

"Oh, I already have the whole day planned! First I'll show you around Ponyville and tell everypony that you're my coltfriend" – There was a shudder in Cheese's back at that word – "and then we'll get some party supplies and throw the biggest party this town has ever seen! And, uh... That's it I guess", Pinkie said excitedly and hopped up and down.

Pinkie stopped in her tracks and was lost in thought for a moment. Her face turned into to a heartbreaking frown.

"What are you gonna do after that?"

"Huh?"

"Are you gonna leave or stay?" It hurt for Pinkie to say something like that and her ears drooped.

Cheese flinched. He didn't want to think about that right now. Would the question go away if he pushed it aside?

"I dunno", he said, also frowning.

"Well, even if you do leave, I want you to know that I'll always love you", Pinkie said and smiled a little. Cheese blushed. Why did she still make him blush?

A stallion's yell could be heard from downstairs: "Dinner is ready!"

"Race downstairs 1 2 3 go!" Pinkie announced fast and took off, only leaving a puff of pink smoke to where she had just stood.

Cheese stood dumbfounded for half a second and then zoomed out of the room in a similar speed to Pinkie's.

Pinkie was the first to sit beside the table and Cheese came just a little behind. Pinkie stuck out her tongue and winked in a silly manner at the loser. Cheese did an annoyed face, but smiled at the same time.

"Oh, you're just like little kids", Mrs. Cake said and giggled as she came from the kitchen with a plate on her back.

"Pound and Pumpkin already had their dinner, so here's yours!" She placed the plate onto the table.

Cheese hadn't realized how hungry he was until food was put in front of his face.

"Surprise! We made grilled cheese sandwiches!" Mr. Cake said and chuckled at their slight joke as he also came from the kitchen and pointed at the plate full of warm, cheesy sandwiches.

Cheese immediately took one of them in his hooves and started eating happily.

"Why didn't you wake me up to help you like I usually do?" Pinkie pouted.

"We thought we wouldn't want to bother you since you have a... visitor", Mr. Cake said and grinned knowingly. "We heard that you were having a kind of small party up there last night, and thought you would be tired after that."

Pinkie was really hungry and didn't bother to carry the conversation any longer. She also took one of the sandwiches in her hoof, meaning to eat it right away.

Then she stopped and said something that made Cheese choke on his food, though he didn't know why.

"Oh and by the way, me and Cheese are dating!"

Pinkie patted Cheese on his back as he coughed. She didn't seem fazed by his reaction.

The Cakes looked at each other like they were contemplating something telepathically. "Really?" they said in unison.

"Y-yeah", Cheese managed to say through his diminishing coughing.

Mr. Cake looked at his wife and wagged his eyebrows. She gave him a warm smile.

"Alright, you win", Mrs. Cake only moved her lips, so her husband alone would understand what she meant.

"Or can it even be called dating if we haven't been on any dates?" Pinkie pondered as she chomped on her sandwich.

"Really? How long have you been together, then?" Mrs. Cake asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Uh... Seven hours...?" Cheese said and cringed slightly.

The Cakes' eyes went wide as they looked at each other and then back to the couple.

"Are you sure you're really up for it? I mean, ponies tend make rushed decisions when they're tired", Mr. Cake said. He seemed genuinely worried.

Pinkie gave the stallion a weirdly serious look and sighed. She closed her eyes and tried to hold in her frustration. "Mr. Cake, I do believe I'm a grown mare that can take care of herself and do her own decisions without being confronted by her employers slash landlords about it."

Her mouth curled into a slight smile. "You've got to understand that we've both been in love with each other for months and probably years" – she looked at Cheese and lowered her eyelids rather seductively – "so I believe we're ready for this kind of thing." The smile turned to its usual size again. "Maybe." Nopony heard the last word she added.

Cheese nodded awkwardly. He had never before seen Pinkie so serious about something... except when she challenged him to a goof off, of course. She was quite an interesting mare.

The Cakes nodded slowly and all of them continued eating.

The room was completely quiet for ten minutes, which is if you don't count the sounds of munching and the occasional sound of swallowing. Sometimes a faraway, gleeful cheer could be heard from the babies' room's crib. Eventually there was just one sandwich left on the plate, which was full of bread crumbs and spots of warm cheese.

A pink hoof and an orange hoof met on top of the last sandwich. The orange hoof backed away quickly.

"You can have it", Cheese said and looked at Pinkie, eyes full of glee. Pinkie's eyes lit up too and she nuzzled him gently. She leaned onto the table to eat the sandwich whole.

"Thfankfs! I'mf" – she swallowed – "really hungry today!"

The Cakes watched them closely and looked like they were really interested in how they acted as a couple.

Cheese blushed a bit. It was odd having ponies watch you show affection. He should get used to that since they were going to be going around Ponyville telling everypony about their newly found relationship. How would that turn out?

Author's Note

I'm so sorry this chapter took longer than usual and was just fluff with some hints of story in it! I was suffering from slight writer's block, but I do have many ideas for the next one! I'm planning on making it longer and more significant. Also, does anyone else get the joke in the title?

Around Town

Cheese Sandwich watched as Pinkie Pie was looking through her closet busily. Many miscellaneous objects flew from her hooves on the floor next to him. A large inflatable boat, a blue and yellow present costume, a yellow and pink pegasus costume, many silly accessories like a one with large eyebrows and some kind of nose, lots and lots of streamers and even more confetti all lay on the floor. Even Gummy somehow flew from the closet looking dumbfounded.

Eventually Pinkie found what she was looking for: two baskets full of heart-shaped confetti.

She gave one of them to Cheese and couldn't hold in her giggle. She was so happy to be with Cheese again, the stallion she had been fantasizing about for so long after his last visit to Ponyville. And this time he was her coltfriend. He was all hers at last.

"So, we're gonna go out and spread this confetti while you show me around?" Cheese asked.

"Yeah! We'll spread our love around town!" Pinkie said while nodding her head vigorously.

"Sounds fun! Where do we start?" His enthusiasm seemed a bit fake.

Pinkie pulled out a detailed map of Ponyville. She looked at it quizzically and started pointing her hoof at places as she thought about it.

"First we could start here, and then we could go here and do U-turn to head over there and jump over that river to go there... You know what; let's just go where the wind takes us!" She rolled the map up and put it away.

"Let's go then!"

First they headed to Rarity's since Pinkie wanted thank her most of all. Pinkie bounced happily through the street and Cheese tried to bounce like her, but his version of it was a bit lackluster compared to hers. They threw the confetti around from a seemingly endless supply of them in the baskets. The Carousel Boutique gleamed in the distance.

"So, that's where... Uh..."

"Rarity."

"Rarity lives, right?" Cheese said and felt a bit guilty for not knowing her friend's name.

"Yeah! That was also where I was hiding this morning!"

Cheese smirked and raised his brow at Pinkie. "Why there, exactly? Did she give you tips?" He tried to make Pinkie blush.

"Yup!" He failed.

They arrived at the boutique and Pinkie knocked on the door with both of her hooves downright slamming it. A faint sound of magic could be heard as the door opened much faster than earlier in the morning.

Pinkie immediately threw confetti at Rarity's face and yelled: "Hello yello! Happy ordinary day!"

Rarity spat out some of the confetti that had made its way to her mouth. "Good day to you too, Pinkie. What brings you here this time?"

She noticed Cheese and her eyes widened for a second. She looked at the confetti closer. "Oh... I see", she said as she lowered her eyelids and put on a smug smile. "So things did go as planned", she said quietly to herself under her breath.

"Um... Hi?" Cheese smiled and waved his hoof awkwardly. Rarity's expression was making him feel uncomfortable.

"Well hello there, Cheese Sandwich. Nice to see you again in Ponyville. You do know that I assisted Pinkie this morning with her –" Rarity coughed "–dilemma, right?"

Cheese nodded. He knew what she was getting at.

"Great! So are you together now?" Rarity's eyes were filled with stars. She, of course, knew the answer already.

"Yup yup yup! Thanks a bunch for your help, Rare!" Pinkie pounced to her and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Happy to help, dear", Rarity coughed out. Pinkie backed away.

"Now we're going around Ponyville telling everypony about it! You're the first one we've visited! We gotta hurry so we have time to party afterwards!" she exclaimed and was ready to leave.

"Oh, OK... If you have time though, could you perhaps come for a cup of tea later?" Rarity asked with a sheepish smile. She was really interested in hearing everything about her friend's new relationship.

"Sure thing, Rarity! Bye!" The couple waved as they departed towards Fluttershy's cottage. They hopped over the river, because who needs bridges?

Rarity shook her head and smiled. "They're perfect for each other."

Fluttershy's reaction to Pinkie and Cheese was neither surprised nor uninterested. It was just a simple, quiet "OK" and that's it. Though she did get startled by all the confetti throwing. Once the party ponies had left, she looked at her yard and sighed. It was full of confetti.

Next they felt like going to Rainbow Dash's house. She was the only one of Pinkie's friends that Cheese remembered by name, he had hosted her birth-iversary with Pinkie after all. The rainbow-maned mare sure loved to shout her name around a lot.

Cheese couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Rainbow's home. It was like a gorgeous, white palace made of clouds with rainbows dripping down it. A huge softer colored rainbow came from the top and settled on the fluffy clouds. Even a picture of her rainbow cutie mark hung above the door. She seemed to really like rainbows. Some ponies had such beautiful houses, which made Cheese feel really jealous for some reason. How were they going to get Rainbow's attention though?

Pinkie took out a megaphone. Oh, that's how. He put his hooves on his ears by reflex.

"Rainbow Dash! Come out for a minute!"

After a few seconds a frantic blue pegasus flew out the door, yelling: "I'm awake! I'm awake!" Rainbow Dash looked down and her face turned to an annoyed expression when she saw Pinkie. She came down slowly. "Oh, it's just you, Pinkie and... Cheese Sandwich?" She raised her brow at him. "You planning a party or something?"

"Well, not right now, but we have good news!" Pinkie put a hoof around Cheese. "Guess who just became more than friends!"

Rainbow wasn't expecting this at all and her jaw dropped. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Yeah!" Cheese chimed in and also put his hoof around Pinkie. He was getting a little used to this kind of thing.

"Well, that's... cool..." Rainbow said, uncertain with what to say at this point. "What are you here for then?"

"Just telling everypony about this. Sorry that we woke you up", Cheese said and chuckled.

"You woke me up for just that?" she said, starting to get angry. "Uh... I mean... I wasn't asleep! Where'd you get that idea?"

Pinkie and Cheese looked at each other and shrugged. "Bye now, Dashie! We still have places to go!" Pinkie said and threw an unsuspecting Cheese on her back. She started galloping away with Cheese and left Rainbow behind still a bit confused about the whole thing.

Next up was Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie was a bit nervous about this since Twilight was one of those ponies, who would talk to you about being all responsible about things. Pinkie cringed just thinking about the lecturing.

Cheese had gotten off Pinkie's back once he realized that Pinkie wasn't going to stop and put him down herself, which was when they were near the Town Hall. They threw confetti around it and ponies stared at them curiously. It wasn't near Hearts and Hooves day even by stretch, so all the love themed confetti confused them. Before they could ask the couple about it, they had already hopped onward to the library.

Pinkie knocked on the door of the Golden Oak Library in the same loud and door breaking way she knocked on Rarity's door. This time a small purple-green dragon opened the door.

"You don't have to break the door, you know. Just come in", Spike said irritably and stepped away from the doorway.

"Woah, look who's a grumpy pants today", Pinkie said before hopping into the library. Cheese came behind her and observed the habitat of an alicorn princess.

"Does your friend live in a library or is she just really obsessed with books?" Cheese asked while looking around.

"Both! And she's read all of these books... I think."

"Dude..." Cheese couldn't think of any reason he would read this many books... or even one for that matter.

"Twilight is upstairs... reading..." Spike said and started mopping the floor reluctantly. He yawned and almost fell asleep on the mop before it collapsed under his weight. He groaned and Pinkie giggled silently with a hoof on her mouth.

Pinkie hopped upstairs like this was her own house and Cheese walked once again behind her.

Indeed, the lavender alicorn was reading a book on her blue-sheeted bed invested in her book of quantum physics (she had a lot of those). On his travels Cheese had heard in passing about her being the newest princess in Equestria. He hadn't believed it until he saw her the last time he was in Ponyville. Though he didn't care much about all that fancy royalty stuff. She was just another pony to him.

"Twilight!" Pinkie yelled enthusiastically from behind Twilight's back which made her jump a bit. Cheese stood beside Pinkie and smiled, teeth showing.

"Pinkie?" Twilight closed her book and looked behind her. "And Cheese Sandwich?"

"Hi!" Cheese said.

"What are you doing in Ponyville this time?" Twilight asked while looking at Cheese.

"I dunno really... It's complicated?" He shrugged with one hoof.

"We have good news!" Pinkie yelled.

"In what way?" Twilight ignored Pinkie and only looked at Cheese.

"Don't ignore me!" Pinkie yelled disgruntledly.

"Wait just a moment, Pinkie." Twilight looked at her calmly and lifted her hoof which implied her to keep quiet. Pinkie sat on the floor and crossed her hooves angrily. Cheese looked at her with a look that said "I'm not happy either".

"Well, I got this Cheesy Sense last night that told me to come here, but there wasn't a party being planned here so I'll be staying here for a while I guess?" Cheese knew he told the story really vaguely, but hoped that Twilight would let it go.

But of course she didn't.

"You got a sense and there wasn't a party here? Is that possible?"

"It has never happened before... So, I dunno."

"Hmm... I've been intrigued by the Pinkie Sense for a long time now and your Cheesy Sense has made me even more curious about these weird senses you seem to have naturally. I've been putting up many notes about them and how they operate, but I still need more detail about them. Lots of detail. Please tell me more." Twilight opened her drawer and levitated out a quill, an ink pot and a notebook filled with information about the senses. "Sit down, please. This might take a while."

Cheese sat on the floor next to Pinkie. He wished this would be over with quicker than he expected.

"Do you want me to tell all I know about my sense, or...?"

"All of it." Cheese cringed.

"Alright." He took a deep breath. "It all started when I decided to become a party pony. First thing I did after visiting Ponyville and getting my cutie mark was wander around, looking for a party to plan somewhere in Equestria. I didn't have to look far for my first party, which was in Appleloosa. I wasn't guided there by any senses, it was chance. Shortly after the party I got my first Cheesy Sense and somehow I knew where to go. I remember it like it was yesterday... Small shivers all around my body, my cutie mark playing a quiet tune... Then the name of the next town just came to me. I was so confused and didn't understand it at first, but after I went to the place, it hit me." Twilight wrote everything down hastily.

Twilight asked many more questions and always demanded a clear answer. Cheese could answer most of them fine, but there was one question that Twilight always asked quietly to herself every time she had put down a few notes after some answers from Cheese: "How does it work?" Nopony, in the room at least, didn't seem to know an answer to it.

Twenty minutes of detailed questions and answers had passed when Pinkie yawned from boredom.

"Almost done!" Twilight raised her hoof excitedly while writing down notes and conclusions. "There!" She raised her look out of the notebook and saw Pinkie, who looked like she could start snoozing any moment, and a bored to death Cheese.

"This isn't your kind of thing, huh?" she said with a pitying smile.

"Nope..." Pinkie and Cheese said in unison.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Well, I wouldn't like to lecture you any further but I've just got to tell you that Applejack has mentioned to me on a whim about some tiny but noticeable senses she has also experienced thorough her life. So I think it's safe to say that this might be an earth pony thing only. Investigations shall go further!"

"Yeah, very interesting Twi..." Pinkie was on the brink of sleeping when she suddenly remembered something and her eyes shot open.

"Oh right! We came here to tell you something!"

"Huh? Has something peculiar happened?"

"Yes indeedy! Cheese and I are together!" Pinkie pulled Cheese in for a hug, which made him snap out of his half sleeping state.

"Together? As in a... couple?"

"Yup!" Pinkie's smile went from ear to ear.

"Really?" Twilight looked at Cheese.

"Yes", he said in a rather monotone voice.

"Well, that's great, but didn't Cheese arrive here just yesterday?"

"Technically today, but so what?" Pinkie said rather angrily to Twilight and let go of Cheese.

"You mean you just met up this morning and got together just like that?"

"It's a little more complicated than that but yeah", Cheese said.

"But that's-"

"We better get going now, we still have to visit Applejack", Pinkie interrupted Twilight just in time before the discussion went into a territory she didn't like.

Twilight was a bit mad for being interrupted, but remembered how she had held Pinkie from talking before. Then she saw a great opportunity to help herself.

"Oh, you're going to Applejack's? Could you ask her some questions about her... Appley Sense? Here I'll write them down." She once again took out her notebook and wrote something down quickly. Then she ripped the page off and gave it to Pinkie.

"Well, alright... We'll ask her", Pinkie said unhappily and put the paper in her confetti basket.

"Thank you!" Twilight smiled brightly. Pinkie threw confetti at her and she laughed at her friend's suddenly bewildered expression.

"Good bye," Twilight said in a serious tone and pointed them out to the stairs.

Then Pinkie and Cheese started heading towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Author's Note

Once again this map was great help to me: Map of Ponyville by Aurek-Skyclimber

What's wrong?

Author's Note

So, I finally got around to finish this and I'm so so sorry for the wait! I just couldn't seem to get Cheese's feelings into words easily. And laziness. Always laziness. I've already started the next one a little bit, so let's hope I get it done sooner.

I'm being really judgmental about myself right now, so I have no sense of what's good and what's not... Oh what the heck, let's just publish it already!

Enjoy the brand new chapter!

What's wrong?

The scent of farm air reached Cheese Sandwich's nose. It was a mixture of dirt and tree sap with a hint of manure. Cheese scrunched his muzzle at the rather unpleasant smell. There was whiff of fresh-baked pastry in it too. Pinkie Pie caught that particular whiff too as they reached a point on the hilly road where the Apple family house could be seen.

"I hope Applejack has made her delicious apple pie again!" Pinkie squealed and sped up to a gallop which Cheese soon followed.

They walked up to the door and were ready to knock it when a southern voice greeted them from behind: "Howdy, folks! Y'all here fer apple pie?"

Pinkie and Cheese turned around to face the orange earth pony. She looked like she'd been working for a long time. Her mane was wet with sweat and she had a few bruises on her legs from bucking apples all morning.

"Hi, Applejack! We're here for several things and one of them is certainly pie!" Pinkie said.

"Well c'mon in then!" Applejack chuckled and opened the door for them and let them go in the kitchen before her. She looked at Cheese curiously as she walked inside.

"C'mon over t' sit at the table, pie's almost done." Pinkie and Cheese obliged and sat next to each other on the floor. They watched as Applejack washed herself from dirt and sweat with a towel. Then she carefully took two pies out of the oven with a mitt in her mouth and put them on the table to cool down. Then she came over to sit next to Pinkie, who eyed the pies hungrily.

"Nice t' see ya in Ponyville again, Cheese Sandwich. What brings ya here?" she asked politely, setting her hooves on the table to get a better look at the stallion, who seemed surprisingly secured.

"Gosh, everypony asks that! I don't even know exactly myself", Cheese said in an annoyed tone.

"Now what's that s'posed to mean?" she said, giving an inquiring look at him.

"His Cheesy Sense told him to come here for whatever reason and long story short we're now a couple", Pinkie explained casually. Cheese cringed against his own will.

"Beg a pardon? A couple?" Applejack said, her expression becoming more and more confused by the second.

"Everypony has problems with hearing me today. Yes, a couple!" Pinkie facehoofed.

"Sorry, sugarcube. It's just surprising that yer the one gettin' a coltfriend and not somepony like Rarity. Well, congrats", Applejack said with a faint smile, which Pinkie returned.

Pinkie pulled the note Twilight had given them from her basket and inspected it. The writing was curvy and fancy and, unfortunately, really hasty and sloppy. Pinkie couldn't make anything out of it. She tried tilting and zooming in on it, but it looked like nothing to her. She narrowed her eyes. "I think that's a 'W'..."

"Lemme see that", Cheese said and took the paper to himself. He did the same actions Pinkie had done with it. He finally recognized some letters and started reading them out loud.

"Wny de tno senror o... ocour?" he read slowly and set his brows low afterwards.

"What's that there paper fer?" Applejack asked.

"Twilight wants us to ask some questions from you and gave us this paper with them written on it", Pinkie explained as Cheese was still trying to make something out of the writing.

"Wheh dud the... Well, that's somewhat of a word... sonser sss... art ocourihg?" he continued reading.

"That can’t be what it really says. Give it t' me." Cheese gave the paper to Applejack, still blinking in confusion from what he had just tried to read.

"Aha! It clearly says: 'Why do the senses occur?' in mah eyes", Applejack exclaimed.

Pinkie and Cheese looked at each other in disbelief.

"Well, answer it then", Pinkie insisted.

"Twilight trusts ya'll to just remember what ah say?" Applejack asked in doubt.

"Maybe we should write something down..." Cheese's voice trailed off as he looked around the room for a pen.

Applejack went and took one from a nearby desk with her hoof. She gave it to Cheese, who took it in his mouth promptly and turned over the paper with the questions on it for writing space.

"Alrighty then... Mah sense is as subtle as can be but still noticeable once it has happened fer most of yer life. The senses are usually related t' work on the farm and ah haven't gotten t' know them all yet. One example is that whenever a tree is ready fer a buckin', ah feel a small twitch in mah tailbone. Just one and no more. They're just really small hints, ya see." She looked at Cheese. He was scribbling something on the lined paper. "Ya got that?"

"Huh?" Cheese raised his head from his scribbling to look at the ponies next to him, the pencil still in his mouth. Pinkie looked at the page. There was a cartoony looking sketch of Applejack.

"Wowza! That is a cool drawing", Pinkie complimented.

"Oops, I guess I got a bit sidetracked", Cheese said apologetically after spitting out the pencil. "But I think I remember what you said. I can multitask."

Now Applejack looked at the picture of her. "Now that is a fine picture ya got there... Yer really good at drawin'."

Cheese waved a hoof at them, flattered. "Gee, thanks."

Pinkie looked like she was going to jump on the table at any moment. "Do me! Do me!"

Cheese grinned at her and took the pencil in his mouth again. He started sketching lightly at first, stopping to look at the whole drawing once in a while. Soon the lines became bolder as he stroked the paper more confidently. The mares watched in awe as he worked and put every bit of Pinkie's personality into a single sketch.

The finished product looked astonishing. Cheese looked back at his work a little unsure. He made one last stroke and a smile grew on his face. "Perfect!"

"Oh. My. Gosh! That is the best drawing I've ever seen!" Cheese blushed at Pinkie's compliment. Nopony had really complimented his drawings before, and he didn't really like to brag with anything other than his partying planning.

"Ah especially like the curviness of the mane." "And my eyes look so glimmery and full of happiness!" "It bursts with so much personality." The mares kept on giving compliments on every detail in the sketch. Cheese felt so flattered he could burst.

"Where have ya learned all this drawin' stuff?" Applejack asked.

"Well, it takes a lot of practice and I always take time after partying to work on my drawing skills when I..." Suddenly he felt really insecure about something and his voice faded away.

"Cheesie, I didn't know you were so talented!" Pinkie hugged Cheese with much compassion. He smiled, but felt his nervousness somehow increase because of Pinkie.

"Applejack, could you answer the other questions now?" he said with a shaky voice.

"Shure. So..." Applejack flipped the paper over and took it in her hooves. " 'When did the senses start occurring?' Hmm... Ah think ah got the first one a few days after ah got mah cutie mark. Back then ah didn't think about it at all as a sense of some kind. Brushed it off as a small occurrence."

Cheese listened and tried to keep the information in his mind for Twilight's sake. Pinkie still looked in amazement at the drawings on the other side of the page Applejack was holding in a way she could see them. The mare was easily distracted.

"Next and last one... Ugh, really bad writing." Applejack squeezed her eyes to be barely open. " 'What are the senses like?' Well, ah already kinda answered that, but let me elaborate. From what ah've gathered, it's either an uncontrollable ear twitch, an out of nowhere eye blink, an itch in my back or as ah already told ya, a slight twitch in mah tailbone. Those are the most common ones at least."

" 'Kay, I'll try to keep all that in mind..." Cheese nodded bluntly.

"Now, time fer pie!" Applejack slid the pies in front of them from the other side of the table. Pinkie gasped and dug her head into one of the apple flavored pastries. She had eaten half of it in only a couple of seconds, when Applejack pulled it out of her reach.

"Hold it, Pinkie! These pies are s'pposed to be fer the whole family! That reminds me..." She got up and walked to the next room, where the stairs going up to the bedroom area were located.

"Apple Bloom! Pies are done!"

Soon a little yellow filly with a pink bow in her mane galloped downstairs and entered the kitchen with her big sister.

Apple Bloom noticed the company they had. "Heya Pinkie and Cheese!" She trotted to sit behind the other side of the table.

Cheese felt a little unnerved by the sudden increase in population and hoped it would stop there. He didn't feel like socializing right now, when he needed to go settle his feelings somewhere else. How many more relatives could Applejack possibly have living with her?

Pinkie greeted Apple Bloom and Applejack proceeded to cut the apple pies, one of them half eaten, into pieces with a knife. "Ah think Big Mac's right 'bout done with 'is chores, so he'll be here in a minute."

Cheese started panicking a little inside at this point. He wanted to go the library, tell Twilight about Applejack's boring senses and get some time to think about his situation. But should he do it with or without Pinkie? She was his marefriend after all...

Right when he was about to nudge Pinkie, the door was opened by a bulky red stallion.

"There ya are, big bro! Come take some apple pie", Applejack offered.

"Eeyup", came the exhausted answer from Big Macintosh.

"Sorry ah left ya t' finish the chores on yer own, but ah had t' take the pies outta the oven in time."

"Eeyup."

Big Mac sat next to Apple Bloom and nodded politely at Cheese and Pinkie. He was the first one to take a slice of pie, which was a signal to the others to start eating too.

Sweat rolled down Cheese's face as he sat in a paralyzed state. Why was he acting this way? Usually he loved company and the Apples seemed like really nice folk. This panic attack seemed so unlike him. With a shaking hoof he nudged Pinkie softly. She didn't seem to notice it though, and kept eating her piece of pie.

Applejack spoke before he could try again. "Hey Cheese and Pinkie, ah fergot one little thing 'bout mah sense."

She looked at Big Mac for a second. "Sometimes, though very rarely when ah get mine, Big Mac gets a similar one at the same time. And from what ah've gathered, it only happens when he's far away from me, across the farm no less."

It took a moment for Big Mac to realize what she was talking about. "Eeyup."

"O-okay. I-I think we should go now. Twilight is p-probably waiting for us", Cheese said, almost stuttering at every word. He took a hold of Pinkie's hoof. The mare noticed his hoof was sweaty and shaky, which made a look of concern fall upon her face. She let Cheese pull her with him outside as the Apple family siblings looked at them with confused looks. "Well, bye then."

As they arrived outside the door and closed it, Cheese exhaled deeply in distress.

"What's wrong, Cheesie?" Pinkie tilted her head.

"I-I... I don't know... I just... Let's just go to Twilight's and get this over with."

Pinkie didn't budge. "I've noticed that you're not your usual self today. Normally you would be jumping all over the place and be all cheerful, but today you seem so reserved and now you seem to have some sort of crazy panic attack. So, what's up?"

Cheese was genuinely surprised of how much she had noticed. And here he thought Pinkie was oblivious to everything around her.

"I just feel really nervous today for some reason..." Cheese allowed himself to say.

"Is it because of me?" Pinkie asked with a shaking voice. Her saddened eyes looked down and her ears drooped. Cheese couldn't stand to see her sad.

"No, no! Of course not!" he assured, hoping to cheer her up.

"Okay..." She sniffed and started walking along the path. Cheese soon ran next to her. His assuring didn't seem to have any effect on Pinkie's mood and she remained gloomy.

"You believe me, right?"

"Yeah..." Her mane deflated a bit.

What Pinkie didn't say, obviously showed through her body language. Why didn't she believe him? What was the reason to his behavior anyways? He thought about what to say for a while before speaking up.

"Pinkie... I don't know the reason to my behavior today, but... I'm absolutely sure it's not about you."

Pinkie looked at him. "Pinkie Promise?"

"Pinkie Promise." Pinkie's mane returned to its poofy state and her bright smile came back, but then it immediately curled down a bit. He didn't know what the reason was? She decided not to question this topic further, for now, and to focus on telling Twilight the information she needed... whatever that was.

They arrived at Golden Oak Library once again and found Twilight upstairs. She was still on her bed, though this time reading a different book from before. She thanked them many times after they, mostly Cheese, told her the answers they got from Applejack and she wrote everything down in her notebook.

"That last bit about the senses going off at the same time is something I would definitely like to expand on... " Twilight talked to her notebook.

"Ah! It's all coming together now!" She started scribbling with manic speed. The quill went along the page in waves and wrote small text all around. When Twilight was done, she showed the pair of ponies present, what she had put together.

On the top read: "Earth ponies' magical ability" There was a quickly sketched map of Equestria with horizontal and vertical curves over it. Next to them were many calculations of velocity, magical energy and other things of that kind. There was a small note on the bottom: "two earth ponies on the same line + other one has a sense -> spontaneous senses"

"Do you get it?" Twilight asked hopefully, smiling with pride.

"I got lost on the title." Pinkie shrugged.

"What are these lines?" Cheese asked.

"They're the magical surges that are naturally present all over Equestria. They affect how this land works in many ways. For example, unicorns use magic by taking control of a magical surge and honing it to his or her use. There's a lot of different and complicated patterns related to them which need to be mastered in order to do magic... But don't worry I won't lecture you about them. I never thought that the earth ponies' sense could be related to them until now. The spontaneous senses finally opened my eyes."

"So, what does this mean over all?" Pinkie seemed to finally get on top of things.

"That earth ponies have magic too?" Cheese suggested unsurely.

"That's it! Oh, how have I been so blind to this? I have to write to Princess Celestia about this immediately! SPIKE!" Twilight didn't wait for the dragon to come and already started writing the letter. Cheese hoped for Celestia's sake, that she wrote it more clearly than the questions for Applejack.

"Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes, Pinkie?"

"Does this thing on this page mean that the reason to Cheese's sense going off last night was because we were on the same line?" She pointed her hoof at the text on the bottom of Twilight's notebook.

"What makes you think that exactly?" Twilight stopped writing her letter to look at Pinkie.

"On that same night I got a Pinkie Sense that told me something great was gonna happen that night and I think it had something to do with his sense... My sense was at about 11PM. What time was your doozy, Cheese?" Pinkie now looked at Cheese. Twilight became intrigued and turned her gaze to the stallion too.

Cheese felt himself get nervous looking at the two sets of big, curious eyes, but he tried to control the feeling with the best of his ability. "I'd say it was at about 11PM too."

"See?" Pinkie exclaimed proudly.

"But there has to be some reason for it to happen! I mean, isn't it weird that you got your sense only because he got an out of nowhere sense to come here? It doesn't make sense! There has to be some kind of connection like with Applejack and Big Macintosh both being up for the job..."

There was a moment of silence, which made room for thinking.

"This might sound crazy, but... What if you were thinking about each other at the same time? Strong feelings affect magic", Twilight suggested.

Cheese blushed and blushed even more after realizing that he was. What's wrong with me?

Pinkie hummed in thought and rubbed her chin. "Yeah... I think I was thinking about him at that time..."

"Oh, so it might be it! Cheese?" Twilight turned to Cheese and could hardly hold in her giggle. The poor stallion's face was bright red.

"What?" Cheese demanded angrily even though he knew what she was laughing about.

"Cheesie has a blush attack!" Pinkie cheered, but then her face turned serious. "Are you okay?"

Cheese was surprised by the drastic change of tone in her voice. "I'm fine."

"Well then... Can you tell us if you were thinking about Pinkie last night?" Twilight said, still smiling.

"I dunno. I was asleep. So, maybe I was dreaming about her or something", he said in an indifferent voice, hooves crossed.

"So, I think we can now safely say that my theory is correct. Another thing to add to my notebook." She continued her letter like nothing happened. Then Spike came in groaning.

"What's wrong, Spike? You've been unusually tired today", Twilight said amidst her writing.

"Yeah, like you don't know. You made me organize the entire west wing at 11:45!"

"Now, Spike, you know I have more important work to do than organize the library nowadays and at a strict schedule no less."

"But why did you have to make me do it at almost midnight? Don't you have any time to do that boring work in the day?"

"You were so caught up in helping Rarity until then and I didn't want to bother you with some 'boring' work while you helped her with her 'not boring' work. And seriously I didn't have time for it when I had to..."

At this point in the argument, Cheese and Pinkie sneaked out of the room and through the front door. Twilight and Spike didn't notice their disappearance at all until Pinkie yelled her farewell from the doorway.

Pinkie closed the door and turned to the smiling Cheese. His smile faded once he saw her worried face.

"Seriously, what's up with you? Why did you get blushy when Twilight asked if you had essentially missed me? What's so embarrassing about that? Don't you want to be with me...?" She was at the verge of tears.

"I want to be with you, I really do! But... Something just feels so awkward about it..."

"But... you Pinkie Promised that it wasn't about me..."

"I was confused about the whole thing and still am."

Pinkie tried her best not to burst into tears on the spot. He just doesn't know how much weight the Pinkie Promise has to me, I shouldn't freak out. Let's just get to the bottom of things... "So, how should we get to the bottom of things?"

Cheese didn't have an answer to that. What options do they even have? He definitely couldn't think of any.

"Cheese?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember when Rarity asked us to come over?"