“Hey! You got a little bit? I want to show you something.” Pinkie had shown up out of seemingly thin air.
“Sure.” Cheese put down his food and followed her. They started walking away from the party. As they got farther away from the event, Cheese started wondering where they were headed.
“Where are we going?” he inquired.
Pinkie giggled. “You’ll see. It’s a surprise!” Cheese followed her through town, putting more and more distance between them and the celebration. She led him through some trees, him getting more curious all the while. Where was she taking him? Finally, they emerged in a little clearing on a cliff overlooking the Everfree Forest. It was just barely big enough to fit about four fully-grown ponies. The view was breathtaking.
When anypony was on level with the forest, it was dark and scary, sometimes even terrifying. But above it was like a whole different universe. It looked beautiful, like a place exactly the opposite of what it actually was. Occasionally some birds would fly out of a tree or two, making Cheese wonder what exactly was going on.
“Wow, this is really pretty.” Cheese was staring out into the woods somewhere. He sat down in the shade of one of the trees surrounding the small area, hoping it would help him take it all in.
“I thought you would like it.” Pinkie walked over and sat down next to him. She really did love the view up there. “This is my favorite place to just sit and think about stuff. Nopony else knows about it.” Cheese looked over at Pinkie.
“So, you brought me to your special spot?” Cheese smiled, thinking that it was so nice of her to do that. Pinkie turned her head to look at him.
“Mmmhmm.” she confirmed. “You’re the only one I’ve ever brought up here.” she looked down nervously and smiled, messing around with her mane with her hooves. The bright sunlight streaming through the leaves lit her up so perfectly, Cheese couldn’t help but think she looked cute. Gently, but still swiftly, he wrapped his hooves around her.
“Thank you,” he closed his eyes and held onto Pinkie. “Thank you so much for everything.” It caught Pinkie by surprise, but she returned the embrace. Cheese was just so warm and nice, she didn’t want to let go. Cheese could smell a faint scent coming from Pinkie’s mane, and it reminded him of all the baked goods that Pinkie sold. He thought it smelled wonderful, and dug his nose into her hair a bit more, inhaling the sweet aroma. Pinkie didn’t seem to mind this.
They were so quiet, that all you could hear was the rustling of the leaves in the slight breeze, the sound of the birds, and the diminished music playing from the party that was still going on. Pinkie pulled away and looked him in the eyes, smiling. Her smile then faded slightly as she spoke.
“Cheese…” Pinkie started softly.
“Hmm?” Cheese hummed in reply
“I’m going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you, too.”
Pinkie grabbed onto Cheese’s hoof and held it. He smiled, and the next thing Pinkie knew was that Cheese’s muzzle was pressed up against hers.
“Mmmff?!” Her eyes widened for a moment in shock. W-was this actually happening? But after her short time of surprise she relaxed, closed her eyes, and returned the kiss. Cheese brought his hooves up to Pinkie’s mane, their lips still interlocked. Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around Cheese, who was now running his hooves through her light, bouncy, pink hair. They pulled apart from each other after a while. Pinkie giggled and tackled Cheese, rubbing her face on his.
Pinkie rolled on to her back next to Cheese and held his hoof. They stared up into the clear blue sky, the daylight streaming through the foliage, thinking. They weren’t contemplating anything in particular, really. Just thinking. They were so caught up in their thoughts that they almost forgot about the party.
Almost.
Pinkie shot up and gasped. “The party!” She dragged Cheese with her back in the direction of the event. Sorry, dragged is the wrong word. It was more like she hauled Cheese along. When they got close enough they separated so that they wouldn’t attract any attention. The thing is... it’s kind of hard not to notice two ponies speeding into the plaza at about fifty miles per hour.
Of course, if some random pony saw the two zooming over, they wouldn’t know what to make of it. They probably would’ve been shaken up a bit, but then they would’ve recovered and went along their way. For anypony to be properly suspicious, it would’ve needed to be someone the both of them knew, and that knew both of them.
Unfortunately for them, that was exactly what had happened.
Rainbow was flying around, wondering what booth she should hit up next, when she saw a blur out of the corner of her eye. She looked over. Since she goes so fast normally, she had the ability to see things that move quickly by simply adjusting her eyes. She was then able to see them clearly, as if they were just walking.
“Pinkie? Cheese? What are they…” she noticed the fact that they were holding each other’s hooves. Rainbow smirked and flew over as Pinkie let go of Cheese and they both went in separate directions. Rainbow flew overhead, following Pinkie. When Pinkie finally stopped to catch her breath, Rainbow landed silently behind her.
“Hey Pinkie!” the sudden sound of Rainbow’s loud voice startled Pinkie. “Why are you panting? Did you just run over here or something?” Pinkie turned around.
“Heh, nah!” She lied with a voice shaky from sprinting all the way there. “Just so excited about the party, that’s all!” She tried to cover up her breathlessness with a smile, to no avail. Rainbow knew that that wasn’t true, but she went along with it. She was planning something.
“Alright, then…” Rainbow flew away. Pinkie exhaled in relief and went along her way. Meanwhile, Rainbow flew off to tell her friends what she saw. She plopped herself in front of the table where Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity were all sitting at. Twilight was reading a novel and Rarity was looking at a glass of apple cider, swirling it around. “Hey guys, have any of you seen Pinkie or Cheese?”
“No, why?” Twilight questioned, looking up from her book.
“I just saw them running from somewhere in that direction.” Rainbow pointed a hoof over towards where the cliff was.
“So? Ah don’t see the big deal.” Applejack drank from the cup of water she was holding.
“They were coming from outside the party. Holding hooves.” Rainbow grinned mischievously.
Rarity giggled “Well, I’m not surprised. They do seem to be rather fond of each other.” she sipped her apple cider.
“Is that it? No big reaction?” Rainbow complained.
“Well, it doesn’t seem very shocking. It’s not like they’re the best ponies at hiding their feelings…” Twilight stated, periodically glancing in between the Pegasus and her hardcover.
“Well, aren’t we going to go, I don’t know, play a prank or something?” Rainbow was annoyed with the lack of excitement. Was it really just her who was enjoying thoughts of disturbing them mid-hug?
“One, that’s your thing. And two…” Twilight whispered into Rainbow’s ear. A couple of seconds later, a slightly evil-looking smile spread across Rainbow’s face.
“Alright, I’ll cut you some slack. But just this once…” Rainbow pointed a hoof at all of them before flying off, formulating a plan for a possible prank anyway.
Applejack rolled her eyes. “What is it with that mare an’ her practical jokes? Celestia knows how many times Ah’ve had ta deal with a bucket of water dumped all over mah head while Ah was buckin’ apples…” The memories made her grin slightly from under her hat, which she had put over half of her face mid-story.
“I hope that those two can find a way to communicate despite how far away they’ll be.” Rarity sighed, thoughtfully looking into her cider as if it would give her a vision of something, like a crystal ball would. She sighed again.
On the opposite side of the party, Cheese was walking around, looking for Pinkie. He hadn’t seen her since they got back and he had been shot in a random direction. He hadn’t exactly stopped, so much as he had rammed into an earth pony after he had slowed down a bit. The impact sent them both spiraling opposite ways, the drink that the pony had flying out of her grasp.
Cheese apologized instantly, only to get a miffed expression in return. She went off mumbling something about how she was “going to drink that, you know”. Cheese would’ve said something else, but he was too dizzy and curious as to where Pinkie went off to.
Pinkie, on the other hoof, was not dazed by the running that had occurred, and was instead making sure the coast was clear before she went off searching for Cheese. Pinkie had been seeking out Cheese for about ten minutes.
Out of nowhere, a mysterious hoof pulled Pinkie aside into darkness.