//------------------------------//
// Love 
// Story: Drabble Daze 
// by Sketcha-Holic 
//------------------------------//

Cheese loved visiting Ponyville in his downtime.

He was taking a stroll through the park with Pinkie, taking in a whiff of the spring air. He looked around as bees buzzed and hopped from flower to flower to gather sweet nectar. The sun was warm on his back, and the voice of the mare beside him rang in its lovely, high melody. Never had he ever seen a more beautiful spring day, and he was lucky to spend it with the most adorable mare. 

He glanced at Pinkie, who trotted with a spring in her step, her curls bouncing as she did so. She seemed to glow under the sunlight, and his nose caught the scent of strawberry and cotton candy coming from her. She turned to him, her eyes blue as the sky, and her smile giving him warmth. 

Yep, he was lucky to not only spend the day with her, but to actually know her. 

He loved her bubbly enthusiasm about life. He loved her desire to make others smile. He loved her sweet singing voice. He loved to hear about her adventures with her friends, or about playing with her sisters as a filly. Heck, he loved just about everything about her. 

That was when he noticed several other ponies passing by, giving them looks that said, ‘aww’, and beaming at them. Almost instantly, he realized why they were doing that. 

“…and then Fluttershy swooped in to save Rainbow Dash after she nicked her wing, and we were all staring in shock because wow, Fluttershy actually sped to Rainbow Dash’s rescue!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Dashie was really annoyed about her wing, though…”

Pinkie had her eyes closed, and Cheese was making gestures to the passersby, silently telling them that no, they were not in a relationship, don’t even assume that. The mares just giggled and the stallions just shook their heads, knowing denial when they saw it. 

Pinkie still chattered. “And then the big meanie was like, ‘mwahaha, the magic of friendship cannot defeat me!’ And we were like, ‘just watch us, buddy!’”

Cheese grinned at her and nodded, though he missed the lead up to that. Some more ponies passed by, and he waved them off. He could feel his face growing warm, and he kept on walking forward as he shooed ponies away as silently as he could. 

“Aaaand we got another window!” Pinkie chirped. She had stopped in her tracks, and watched as Cheese still ambled forward. Her face was a big frown as she noticed what was in front of him. “Cheesy, wait! There’s a bridge over—“

SPLASH!

Pinkie winced as Cheese fell in the river. “…there.”

She galloped to the riverbank, and there were just bubbles on the surface. She watched as Cheese rose from the stream, spitting out water. He turned to her and rubbed the back of his head, holding a sheepish grin. 

Pinkie blinked, and then she giggled. “Silly! You should have told me you wanted to go swimming!”

Cheese rolled his eyes. “I just wasn’t looking where I was going.” He stretched a hoof out toward her. “Mind giving me a hoof?”

As Pinkie took his hoof, Cheese smirked at her, and then pulled her into the river. Pinkie yelped as she fell in with a splash, and Cheese laughed as she rose from the water, a sour look crossing her face. It seemed a little bizarre coming from her, but he was a little too proud of his mischief. 

“Cheesy!” she scolded. 

Cheese looked away, a smug smile on his face. “I changed my mind at the last second.”

Pinkie smirked at him. “Naughty, naughty Cheese! I’m going to have to punish you now…”

Cheese blinked. What kind of punishment did she have in mind?

She jumped forward, and then started to tickle him, chanting, “Tickle time! Tickle time! Tickle time!” in a singsong voice. Cheese had no time to escape, and he was wrapped up in the tickle embrace, and had no choice but to laugh and squirm, splashing water all around. Tickles just felt so weird, and he could not control his own laughter.

But his own front legs shot forward, and he tickled her in return. She squealed, and began her own splashing as she fought back with her tickling. 

The two of them tickled each other and splashed and squirmed and laughed for the next few hours, much to the amusement of passersby who no doubt could see the blossoming love between them.