Lifting the jester hat off his eyes, Cheese Sandwich noticed the center of attention quite quickly. And instantly, sparks bloomed.
The little poofy pink filly juggled several rubber chickens while balancing perfectly on a blue rubber ball that matched her eyes. Several mares surrounded her, smiling and having a good time. The first thought that came to Cheese’s head was that the filly was really pretty. He had never seen such a vibrant pink color on any ponies he lived around. The second thought was more of a feeling that bordered on jealousy. Cheese felt compelled to speak to her, but at the same time was to scared to. He wondered how she could be so enthusiastically talking and laughing and playing in the spotlight and wished that he could be her.
At that moment, their eyes met and her smile diminished a bit. Cheese quickly scrambled his mind as to why she wasn’t happy to see his face (was he glaring at her accidentally?!) before settling on the fact that he was just weird. Once a shy weirdo, always a shy weirdo, it seemed. However, the pink filly changed her demeanor a split second later. She smiled brightly and hopped off the ball she was standing on and let all the rubber chickens fall to the ground around her. The mares around her didn’t seem to mind and wandered elsewhere or mingled with those around them at the time.
Cheese, however, freaked out and glanced around to find a way out of the situation. No matter how pretty and fun she was, he did not want to see if she had a bad side like the beautiful mares in his mother’s soap operas.
“Hi there!” her voice squeaked out as she stepped in the way of Cheese’s escape path between two other fillies. Cheese sagged his shoulders and slowly turned his head towards the source. There she was, smiling so wide that it looked like it hurt. “What’s your name? Are you new here? I haven’t seen you once! And I have been here for a week, so that is a bit weird!”
Cheese just stared at her as she rambled on, nodding slowly here and there if a question permitted it. It went on for awhile before a horrified look crossed her face. Cheese flinched, once again wondering if he did something bad. He thought she surely had come to the conclusion that he was to shy to talk to, let alone become friends.
“How rude of me! I forgot to introduce myself!” She looked absolutely appalled. Cheese just blinked. Continuing quickly in a sing-song voice, she said, “My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie.”
There was a moment of silence with Pinkie just holding her hoof to her chest and Cheese looking aghast. He shook out his head and gave an awkward smile.
“Um, I’m Cheese Sandwich,” He talked slowly and quietly. “Nice to meet you.” His voice began to rise in intonation. He shakily lifted his hoof for a hoofshake. His mother told him that’s what ponies do when they meet new friends. Pinkie brightened up even more, if that was even possible, and moved her hoof and gave him a hoof-bump. While he was looking completely lost in the situation, she turned around.
“Well, Cheese!” She gestured to their surroundings. “Wanna go try out the buffet? I worked extra hard to make the pastries this time. The punch isn’t quite right… But this is only my fifth party! Maybe I’ll be able to perfect it before the next one!” She bounced off to a table on her right, expecting Cheese to follow. With slight hesitation, he did. There was a hint of a smile appearing on his face.
She didn’t seem like she even could be hiding a mean streak inside of herself. Cheese’s smile widened. Maybe this could be his first friend. Someone who actually knows his name and is totally okay with how his first impression to others is.
“So, Cheese,” she interrupted his thoughts, talking with her mouth full of a grilled cheese sandwich. “Why’re you in Ponyville on this fine fun day? Heard I was throwing a party?!”
Mulling his thoughts around in his head a bit, Cheese shook his head. Giving a quirky smile, he replyed:
“Uh, no. That was just a bonus!” Pinkie’s smile gleamed at him a she tried her best to brush the crumbs off of her mouth. “I actually am on a journey of self discovery… Or something along those lines.” She nodded thoughtfully on this, and Cheese paused to see if she wanted to respond. She didn’t, just stared at him with her big blue eyes, not blinking a wink. Cheese looked down and pawed his hoof across the ground awkwardly. Communication with ponies was hard. “I want to learn how to be not so shy,” he paused once more, before looking up a bit more determined. “Like you, Pinkie!”
“I mean, you can throw this kind of amazing party with all these ponies smiling and watching you and having a good time! It’s amazing,” Cheese began to ramble excitedly, without any room for Pinkie to pipe in if she wanted to. “And all this food!? You did that yourself? That is so cool. I’m…” Cheese looked exasperated, glancing side to side as if he could visually find the words he was looking for. “I’m jealous of you, Pinkie Pie. Absolutely jealous. Just how do you do it? How do you make so many friends… I mean!” He went to correct himself. Cheese didn’t want her to know that he didn’t have any friends. Maybe that would make her not like him anymore. And as he continued thinking on those thoughts, he wondered if his outburst would do it anyways. He wanted to hide in a hole. Pinkie just giggled.
“Oh silly, Cheesy-peesy! Making friends is actually very easy!” She leaned over towards the table, making a grab for something. He couldn’t see over the poofiness of her pink hair. When she turned back to him, it was so sudden, he almost flinched again. In her hooves was another grilled cheese. She waited for him to take it from her before continuing. “I mean, we’re already friends and we JUST met. All you have to do is be yourself and be nice to others! Friends are waiting for you everywhere!” She waved her arm across the crowded party area, causing Cheese to survey the large amount of ponies having fun together. “Especially when you’re throwing parties. Because that always makes ponies happy.”
“Parties,” Cheese just repeated quietly. With a serious expression on his face, he continued watching the others in the vicinity. He looked down at the grilled cheese sandwich in his hand and smiled. He ripped the sandwich in half and ate each, stuffing them into his mouth with fervor. Pinkie giggled again. Cheese had a little trouble swallowing them, but several slaps to his chest helped. And then there was a gasp.
“Cheesy! Your cutie mark!”
He stared at her surprised face, shocked. Slowly, so slowly, he turned his crumb covered face to look at his flank. There, to his surprise and happiness, was the mark that showed that he really did find out his special talent, what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. And… It was reminiscent to the grilled cheese he just scarfed down.
He wasn’t really sure was that was supposed to mean at the moment, but he knew what he wanted to do. He turned back to Pinkie, who as always looked super excited with her wide blue eyes and smile, and smiled back. He made a grab for her hoof, not caring if it was weird. She already proved she wouldn’t judge him.
“Pinkie, can I plan parties with you?”
She was surprised for a second, her smiling falling to form an o-shape. Blinking a couple of times, she grinned and gave an excited hop.
“Of course! That would be so much fun!” Pinkie continued hopping a few times. Cheese grinned back and also gave a little awkward hop, not used to the movement. The giggled together, Cheese being unable to contain his excitement. A friend, his first, a cutie mark, and a goal. Leaving home to find himself was the best plan he ever came up with.
“I am already brainstorming a lot of plans…” Cheese trailed off, and shook his head a bit. “Thank you very much, Pinky. I needed that!”
“No problemo, Cheesy! Now what kinds of plans are you thinking about?” She turned again while talking, sticking out her tongue and leaning farther onto the table that held many foods.
“I was thinking maybe we could form a traveling party-”
“Traveling!? Wow, what a good idea! I was just planning on staying here in Ponyville for awhile, but just think! We could meet so many ponies and make so many friends!” She looked over at him from her position, and reached out to him, handing him a glass of the punch she was speaking about earlier. Pushing off from the buffet, she drank from her own glass before continuing to talk. Cheese copied her movements. “I actually have a couple of offers from friends I made here that are-”
She was interrupted by Cheese spitting out her punch. She was a bit hurt before Cheese’s horrified look from noticing her face popped into existence.
“Ah! I’m sorry, I just…” Cheese awkwardly covered his face with one of his hooves. Pinkie grabbed it and moved it back down, waiting for him to explain himself. She was pretty and fun and poofy AND kind, what a filly. “I just was tasting your punch and I know just what it’s missing!”
Using the combined efforts of the bits they owned, Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich bought a small wagon to carry their belongings in. It was mostly a knick knack here and a bag of balloons there, but it filled up most of the carriage. Organizing it and making it more homey could come later. Using the paint they borrowed from a kindly old mare, they painted a name on the side of it:
EQUESTRIA’S
PREMIER PARTY PLANNING
WAGON
Hosting Pinkie and Cheese
Who Want to Host for You
Smiling at one another, they took a break to let the paint dry. Cheese wandered over to the shade of the nearest apple tree in the orchard and sat on the blanket that they laid out earlier. They were going to have a picnic for lunch, but snacking all morning while working on their wagon reduced the food to near nothing. What they did have left was copious amounts of fruit punch from the many attempts at perfecting it from the days before.
Cheese smiled awkwardly at the amount of it. Maybe the best course of action would be to offer it to the nice mare that let them rest in her orchards and borrow her paints. It would be a nice compensation. He didn’t lie when he thought it was a pretty dang good tasting refreshment.