Stories of True Love
The Sweetest Love
Part One
As the sun continued to shine its noonday light above Ponyville, a young earth pony filly was walking around the marketplace with a hot pink saddle bag over her back.
The filly had a soft rose pink coat, her poofy mane having a darker shade of pink along with a small stripe of brown and it was tied into a poofy ponytail over her shoulder. Her eyes were a forest green, and her cutie mark was a jelly jar with a pink poppy flower on the label. This is Peanut Jelly, or Poppy as she preferred; the younger daughter of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich.
Since her parents were in the Crystal Empire currently, she and her older siblings were being watched over by the Cake family. She was sent to the market to get some cooking ingredients for double chocolate chip cookies and other desserts they were planning to make.
Then, she saw something. Or rather, someone. It was an older earth pony mare with a dull appearance. She had a stony gray coat, a short dull lilac mane and turquoise eyes. Accompanying her was a stallions that looked as dull as she did, but he took on a more earth tone color scheme, with a mud brown mane and an ash gray coat.
"Aunt Maud?" She called out, an excited smile coming on her face. "Uncle Mudbriar?"
The dull pony couple slowly turned around and saw their youngest niece come over to them with a cheerful smile on her face. But they quickly ignored her and went on their way.
Poppy stopped right in her tracks. She was a little confused. Normally, when she would see them, they would stop and let her come to them, but not this time. It was just confusing to her. Eventually, she went back on her way to get ingredients.
Soon, she came back to Sugarcube Corner, where she and her family live and work, alongside the Cake family. When she came into the kitchen, she saw her older brother and sister already starting to work on desserts.
Her brother, Butter Ball, took more after their father, with the same brown mane and mustard yellow coat, but his mane is in their mother's hairstyle, and he also had her crystal blue eyes. His cutie mark was three butter ball cookies in a triangular pattern.
Her sister, Cotton Candy, was the spitting image of their mother, except she had lighter shades of pink coloring for her coat and mane, but she also had the same blue eyes like her mother. Out of the three of them, Poppy was the only one who inherited their father's green eyes. Cotton's cutie mark is a cone of pink cotton candy with fireworks around it.
"Hey, Butter Ball." Poppy said glumly. "Hey, Cotton."
Butter Ball noticed his youngest sister's sadness. "What's with the frown, Poppy?" He asked.
Poppy took off her saddle bag and placed it next to a cabinet. "Nothing." She said.
Cotton stopped mixing the batter for chocolate chip cookies and went over to her little sister. "You sure about that, little sis?" She asked. "You seem a little down in the dumps. Are you still upset that Mom and Dad went to the Crystal Empire without us?"
Poppy shook her head, though earlier, she was upset that her mom said that their trip to the Empire was strictly for friendship business, and that her dad and the other husbands of the Mane 6 went along because they were needed as well.
Butter Ball stepped away from the cup where he was sneaking small bites of chocolate chips and joined his sisters. "You sure?" He asked.
Poppy knew that they were just going to keep prying if she doesn't tell. "Well, I saw Aunt Maud and Uncle Mudbriar in the market today." She said.
"Really?" Cotton asked excitedly. "Did they say why they were here?"
Poppy shook her head again. "No, they didn't, because they never said anything to me."
Butter Ball raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute." He said. "They ignored you?"
"Not exactly." Poppy explained. "When they saw me, they ran off."
"Well, that doesn't sound like them." Cotton said. Then, she gasped. "What if they were taken over by aliens and they were being mind-controlled?"
Poppy and Butter Ball gave her dry looks. "As much I think that may be a reason, I don't think that's what happened." Butter Ball said.
"I agree." Poppy added.
"We think we might know." A voice male chimed in. The three Pie siblings turned to the kitchen doorway and saw the now teenage Cake twins, having some other ingredients in separate saddle bags.
Pound Cake was a pegasus, with a cream white coat and wings, a slick brown mane brushed to the back and chocolate brown eyes. His cutie mark was a chocolate bundt cake.
His twin sister, Pumpkin Cake, however was a unicorn, with a pale yellow coat and horn, a bushy pumpkin orange mane pulled up into a high ponytail and sky blue eyes. Her cutie mark was a decorated pumpkin cheesecake with cinnamon dusting the top.
Poppy looked at her babysitters with wide eyes. When she and her siblings were little, and when none of their aunts and uncles would watch over them, the Cakes would be the next option. "You do?" She asked.
"How?" Butter Ball asked.
"It's actually quite a story." Pound said. "One you should probably sit down for."
Cotton immediately grabbed a nearby cushion and sat down on it, pulling her brother and sister near her. "Oooh! I just love story time!" She squealed.
Pound and Pumpkin each took a seat on the stools. "Well, we don't know much, but from what we understood and remembered, your parents were not supposed to get together in the first place." Pumpkin said.
The Pies nearly fell off the cushion. "WHAT?!" They exclaimed.
"Well, according to what your mom's family wanted." Pumpkin continued to explain. "But in the beginning, they knew that they were meant to be together."
Pinkie Pie was down in her secret party planning cave, looking through all of her inventory that she kept about everypony and what things they like at parties. Reorganizing it was pretty exhausting, even for her. Sometimes, she wished that she had a partner to help with all of the party planning she had to do.
Her raspberry pink curly mane was almost drooping from exhaustion, her crystal blue eyes had bags under them, and her cotton candy coat was pale. She might have been working herself too hard. But, there was nothing that a little chocolate milk couldn't cure, if she had any.
Suddenly, there was a banging coming from the communication pipe that was in her room. She zipped on over to it.
"Hello?" She said into it.
"Pinkie?" It was Mrs. Cake. "Somepony is here to see you." She called from up in her room. "A Cheese Sandwich, I think?"
Pinkie felt like everything had come screeching to a halt. Cheese Sandwich? He was here? It was like an immediate answer to her prayers!
"I'll be right up!" She called up, and zipped up the slide that led up to her room. She slammed the trap door closed and slid down the stair railing down towards the bakery that was on the second floor of Sugarcube Corner.
When she landed on the floor with a flourish, she grinned at the sight that was in front of her. There was Cheese Sandwich, looking at her with a bright smile. He tore off his dark gray poncho and matching hat.
"Hey there, Pinkie!" He said cheerfully.
"CHEESE!" Pinkie exclaimed, feeling she had drunk a whole gallon of chocolate milk, now wide awake as she zipped over to the mustard yellow stallion and gave him a huge hug. "I haven't seen you since the Friendship Festival!"
"It definitely has been a while." Cheese said. Then, he noticed that Pinkie looked a little worn-out. "Are you okay?" He asked. "You look like you haven't slept in days."
Pinkie broke the hug and rubbed her foreleg in embarrassment. "I actually haven't slept in almost two days." Seeing Cheese's worried look, she began to explain more. "Well, all this month, there are going to be a lot of parties, and I haven't got a chance to get some resting with all of my planning."
Cheese then took her hoof, which sent a strange tingling sensation right up Pinkie's foreleg, making her quiver slightly. "Well, that's probably why my Cheesy Sense brought me here." He said. "I'm here to help you plan all of these parties so that you won't overwork yourself."
Pinkie felt an unfamiliar heat creep up on her cheeks. He was really being thoughtful, and that made her insides turn gooey. But before she felt like losing her balance, she smiled at him, this time grateful and soft.
"Thanks, Cheese." She said. "I really mean it."
Cheese felt his heart leap. She was looking at him with such a softness that he felt like he could melt at any moment from her gaze.
"You're welcome." He whispered, as if he were under a spell. He felt like he was already under one, though as he gazed deeper into Pinkie's crystal blue eyes. They may be tired, but they were still as beautiful as they had always been.
Pinkie felt like there was a power within Cheese's deep green eyes, as if they were hypnotizing her. They felt like they are, since she felt like she could stare into them for the rest of time and she wouldn't care a bit.
But, knowing that one of the Cakes might peek in and see what was going on, Pinkie broke the gaze. "Come on, then." She said, guiding Cheese towards the stairs. "I'll show you my secret party planning cave."
Cheese had his eyes widened in surprise. "You have a secret party planning cave?" He asked in amazement.
Pinkie nodded. "Yep." She answered. Cheese had a look of admiration on his face. Could this mare get any more amazing?