The entire snack table was entirely covered in several varieties of party foods. Candy, fruit punch, tiny sandwiches and, unsurprisingly, Pinkie Pie’s signature dish, cupcakes. Maud didn’t exactly care for sugar as much as her sister did, but seeing as how Pinkie was her sister, she always tolerated her special brand of silliness.
Maud’s throat was beginning to get a little dry from the dusty air of the rock farm, so she figured she’d quench her thirst with some of the punch at the table. She poured herself a glass of the sweet, pink substance. The liquid did indeed seem like something Pinkie’s mind would conjure up. It was incredibly bubbly and looked like it had about a metric ton of sugar put into it. Maud found herself incredibly tolerant and immune to the effects of sugar. She didn’t always eat or drink it, but when she did, no matter how much it was, she never even twitched.
Maud silently took a sip of the punch…
Only to find a certain, green-eyed stallion staring back at her with a huge grin on his face.
“Hiya Maud! Me again!” Cheese said happily, hoping to help brighten Maud’s seemingly bored mood.
Maud had been conditioned to handle surprises fairly well, having being the exposed to the antics of the most energetic pony to ever live for so long, so this wasn’t anything particularly new to her. Keeping true to her nature, Maud didn’t even flinch when Cheese came into view.
“Sooooo, I can’t help but feel that we maaaay have gotten off on a bit of a...”Cheese paused for a moment and observed the surrounding field of rocks and boulders.
“…Rocky start.” Cheese put his hoof to his mouth to try and keep himself from laughing too hard at his own joke.
If Maud had been known to show emotion, she might’ve laughed at that one, considering the rock pun. However, Maud didn’t seem to pay it any mind and just went back to idly sipping her punch.
Cheese was slightly taken back. Ponies would always laugh at his jokes. He had been known all throughout Equestria for his ability to make ponies laugh. Only about once or twice did he come across a particularly difficult case with a stubborn little colt or filly that had a dry sense of humor.
But this mare didn’t look like she was even breathing. He almost felt the urge to get a stethoscope and listen to her heartbeat to check if Maud was even considered medically alive.
But if he was going to succeed in his mission, he couldn’t look discouraged. Not even for a second.
“Hehehehe! So anyway, how’re ya likin’ the party? Fun right? Oh who am I kidding? Of course it is! Pinkie’s throwing it, so how could it NOT be fun?” Cheese exclaimed, still wearing that same happy grin.
“Mmm. It’s nice.” Maud mumbled, slightly looking at the ground, observing a few rocks at her hooves.
Cheese suddenly raised an eyebrow and slightly frowning. She didn’t quite look like she was enjoying herself all that much. Was he missing something?
“Really? I’d think you’d be acting a little more…jovial.” Cheese said.
Maud shrugged.
“I get that a lot. I’m just not all that into balloons…or candy…or party hats.” Maud continued to go through the seemingly endless things she couldn’t care much about.
Maud then reached into her dress’s pocket, and pulled a small rock out of it. She then proceeded to drop it into the punch glass. Cheese looked back at her questioningly.
“Boulder was thirsty.” Maud said.
Cheese was starting to actually find it increasingly difficult to try and come across as funny around this mare without it just being awkward. Cheese could almost swear that this conversation was so boring that it was beginning to suck the enthusiasm out of him like a vacuum.
He may need to call in back up for this one.
“Hey Pinkie! Mind comin’ over here for a second?” Cheese called to his friend from across the farm, who was in the middle of a hoof-biting game of Twister between Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and her sisters…
Unfortunately, Pinkie had apparently been the pony right smack in the middle of the bundle, so when she bounced out of the picture, everypony else lost their balance and fell flat on their faces with a loud THUMP!
“Ooooooogh, that was painful…Twi, who won?” Rainbow asked Twilight, who was holding the color wheel in her magic.
“You all fell at the same time. So from a scientific standpoint…there is no clear winner.” Twilight said.
Applejack and Rainbow both groaned in annoyance and facehoofed.
“Dagnabit.” Applejack groaned.
“I swear on my wings that I will beat you at this game someday Applejack.” Rainbow vowed.
“Cheer up girls, it was still pretty fun!” Inkie said with a slight grin.
“Wow, are these two always this competitive?” Blinkie asked Twilight with a tilted head.
“You haven’t the slightest idea.” Twilight said with a deadpanned look.
Pinkie happily bounced her way to her sister and Cheese at the snack table, still retaining her usual grin despite having forfeited a game of Twister.
“Hiya Cheese! What’s up? You and Maud getting’ along?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.
“Weeeell…your sister sure is quite a party animal.” Cheese said with a somewhat forced smile as he looked between Maud, who was still staring at Boulder sitting in the punch glass, and Pinkie.
“Errrrm…You know what? Has Maud’s pet rock met Boneless yet? I bet they’d get along really well.” Cheese suggested.
Pinkie all of a sudden started to look a little uncomfortable, and she looked slightly toward the ground.
“Uhhhhh…yeah, about Boneless…”
“Urrrrgh! C’mon Boneless! Give us that key!” Pinkie demanded as she strangled the rubber chicken.
“I don’t think that’s going to work.” Twilight said with a slight frown.
Pinkie, in her frustration, threw Boneless at Twilight, which caused the rubber chicken to collide with the Tree of Harmony’s box, and envelope it in a purple light. The mares and Spike all gasped as they watched Boneless transform into a golden key, resembling Pinkie’s Cutie-Mark, and levitate itself into the lock.
Pinkie was in a sense of awe, and a slight sense of mourning at the same time.
‘Oh boy…Cheese is gonna kill me…well, at least we know where the keys are now!’ Pinkie thought to herself, trying to stay cheerful.
“Umm…let’s just say that he found his calling.” Pinkie said nervously.
Cheese raised an eyebrow.
“Set out on his own huh? Well, nice to hear he’s doing well.” Cheese said with a smile.
“Yeaaaah…”
If Maud was capable of showing interest, she probably would have. She still addressed the matter.
“Who’s Boneless?” Maud asked.
Cheese turned back to Maud.
“Oh, that’s right! You two never met. Well, Boneless was a good friend of mine that used to travel with me, planning parties all throughout Equestria! I gave him to Pinkie when I left Ponyville a couple months back.” Cheese answered.
“What’d Boneless look like?” Maud asked.
Cheese reached a hoof into his mane, and a few cluttering sounds came from inside of it, as if there was quite a lot stashed up there. Eventually, Cheese pulled Boneless Two out of his mane.
“This is Boneless’ brother, Boneless Two. They look a lot alike.” Cheese said, holding Boneless Two in front of Maud’s stoic face.
“…You know that rubber chicken isn’t actually sentient right?” Maud asked.
Cheese lowered Boneless Two and had a confused frown on his face.
“...Well…couldn’t you say the same thing about Boulder?” Cheese asked.
Even though she didn’t show it, Maud was relentlessly fighting the nearly unbeatable urge to strangle Cheese on the spot after making that comment.
Cheese didn’t pick up on it, seeing as he found it much too difficult to read Maud’s face, but Pinkie could definitely sense what Maud was thinking, and popped up between the two, booping both of their muzzles.
“Woah, guys! Let’s try to keep the tension on the down low m’kay? Say Cheese, why don’t you and Maud talk about your interests, hmmmm?” Pinkie asked, hoping she could change the subject and keep the peace.
“Hmmm…alrighty! I like cake, balloons, disco-balls, fruit punch, board games, the accordion, smiling, cake-“
“You already said cake.” Maud pointed out.
“Hehehehe. I know! I just reaaally like cake! So Maud, what about you?” Cheese asked.
Maud could tell that Pinkie was genuinely trying to help her and Cheese get along, so she pushed her sudden anger at Cheese to the back of her mind, and tried to humor both party ponies.
“…I like rocks.” Maud said.
Cheese put on another slightly forced smile.
“Hehe…riveting.” He said nervously.
‘Oh boy…this one could pose a problem.’ He thought to himself.