Cheese's walk to the hotel was quite a long one. The orphanage was like across the city and that means Cheese couldn't get to the all-you-can-eat buffet at the hotel he's staying in. Speaking about food and such, the party stallion was getting hungry and no way was he going to walk a long distance with an empty stomach. You could even hear his stomach grumbling from the hunger.
'I should've stayed for dinner there at the orphanage.' Cheese thought to himself, though that's a bit late now since he's already quite a distance away from the orphanage too. Boneless Two was just lying limped on the orange stallion's back while they traversed the city.
"Yeah, I know Boneless Two, I'm hungry too." Cheese started as he glanced over at his rubber chicken friend. You know, I sometimes want to know how Pinkie and Cheese can understand and hear Boneless and Boneless Two.
As Cheese took a quick look at his friend, he saw just by the corner of his eye, a diner just across the street. It looked decent and Cheese was already hungry so he just went for it. He looked both left and right on the street making sure there weren't any carriages or carts about to pass by which could possibly lead to an accident, then he trotted across the road towards the diner. It wasn't a fancy diner, not like diners should be fancy at all, and from the looks of the food and prices, the place wasn't that bad.
Cheese took a seat with Boneless Two by the window and ordered a meal that could satisfy their hunger. The waiteress did give an odd look at Boneless Two when Cheese asked for two servings for himself and the chicken. Nevertheless, both got the meals they wanted and started to eat.
While the two were eating, well Cheese that is, the orange stallion caught another thing out of the corner of his eye. He raised his head, just to see over the chair in front of him and saw a pony who was very familiar.
'Wait, is that Pinkie?' Cheese thought to himself as he looked at the pony who was just at the next table to his.
The pony he was staring at was definitely pink from her mane to her coat, and her mane was almost exactly styled like Pinkie. The only thing that differ was the fact that this pony was wearing a hat.
Cheese stared at the pony for a few minutes, trying to confirm if he actually was seeing his pink pony friend, a little too long to the point the pony he was staring at felt something was watching her making her look around to see Cheese staring at her. The two made eye contact which made the pink mare a bit uneasy since Cheese has been looking at her for quite a while now. The pink mare then decided to speak up to ease the tension.
"Um... Excuse me, but what are you looking at?" The mare asked and just by the sound of her voice, she definitely sounded like Pinkie.
"Pinkie? What a surprise meeting you here!" Cheese smiled at the pony. The pink pony looked at the stallion as if she was trying to remember if she met him before but couldn't.
"Who are you? I haven't seen you before." The pony asked.
"Haha, that gag is not going to fool this stallion Pinkie. You know it's me, Cheese!" The stallion got up from his seat and went near the table the pink mare was sitting in.
"Cheese? I haven't met anyone named Chesse until now." The pink mare looked at Cheese, "How did you know my name?"
"Pinkie, seriously, you can stop with the joke now. I'm Cheese Sandwich remember? I even helped you plan that big birthaversary back at Ponyville. You couldn't have forgotten me already." Cheese took a seat across the mare.
Just by the mention of Ponyville, the pink pony seemed to have tense up a bit, Cheese didn't notice this though. A couple of seconds of silence swept by the two until the pink pony spoke up.
"Oh yeah... Ponyville, haha, that was a good time we had... Planning that birthaversary and stuff." the pink mare lied though it was quite noticable by her tone and that was something Cheese took note of.
"Pinkie, are you alright? You're not acting like yourself today." Cheese looked at her for a while.
Knowing that she can't really lie her way out of this, the Pinkie lookalike decided to just tell who she really is. With a sigh, she spoke up.
"Look, Cheese Burger-"
"It's Sandwich."
"Right, Cheese Sandwich, I'm not the Pinkie that you know of."
"What do you mean? You literally are Pinkie from the looks to the voice!"
"Yes, but I am not the Pinkie that you met at Ponyville. You see, you may not believe this, but I'm actually a copy of the real Pinkie"
Cheese believed it though due to how this Pinkie acted differently than the real one, yet that doesn't explain on how there is a Pinkie copy and a real Pinkie walking around Equestria.
"Okay, care to elaborate more on this?" Cheese eyed the Pinkie copy.
"I can tell the full story but it'll probably take up about half an hour or so." The pink pony scratched the back of her head, "Long story short, it involved a mirror pool that clones ponies, then too many Pinkies, which ended up in a massive wipeout of the Pinkie copies back to the mirror pool. I luckily escaped."
"So you ran away to not be sent back into a magical water source?"
"If you put it that way, then yes." Pinkie slumped down on her chair. Then a waitress came to the table and placed down a cup of hot chocolate next to the pink mare.
"Here ya go Pinks, the usual drink." The waitress said as she walked away. Cheese watched the waitress go away as the Pinkie copy took a sip from her cup of hot choco.
"So, how long have you've been here?" Cheese returned his gaze back to the pink mare.
"A few years to say the least." The mare placed down the cup, "It was rough trying to find a place to stay at first when I left Ponyville, I travelled from place to place until I came to this city and decided to stay here. I got a job as a news delivery pony for the local paper here and got a place to stay. This diner here is my favorite spot to go and grab a bite or drink.
"Wow, you sure did a lot after what happened there at Ponyville huh." Cheese took a look at Boneless Two who was still at their table and somehow has eaten his food already. The Pinkie clone just nodded as she took another sip from the cup.
"Wait, if you are a clone of Pinkie, then why don't you act like her?" Cheese looked back at the pink mare who simply shrugged.
"Well I used to act like her. When I first came to this world, I had quite a hyper personality especially when it comes to the fun stuff, that's what made too many Pinkies a bit of a nuisance to the town. After I watched how the other Pinkies were sent back to the mirror pool, my hyper personality wasn't that hyper anymore and I started becoming a bit serious once I moved here."
"Mhmm..." Cheese thought about this, "So, I'm guessing the real Pinkie doesn't know that you are in Equestria and you don't want me to tell her?"
"Obviously. If you do tell her, she might tell her friends, especially that Twilight Twinkle-"
"Sparkle."
"Twilight Sparkle, and then they might send me back to the mirror pool! I don't want that to happen."
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Cheese winked at the mare which made her feel less tense and smile a bit.
"Say, you said that you work as a delivery pony for the local paper right?" Cheese remembered what the Pinkie clone said a few lines above. This got the pink mare's curiousity.
"Do you happen to know a pony named Penny?" Cheese asked, yeah he already knows that somepony is helping him find Charlie's daughter but seeing as how the Pinkie clone works at the same place, might as well ask if she knew her.
"Oh Penny? She's like one of the editors of the paper... Or was it writers? I forgot her title." Pinkie pondered on this but then shook the thought aside, "Anyways, both of us hang out at times, especially with that best friend of hers which I can't remember the name..."
"Randy Random?"
"Eh, I don't really know much about her best friend." The clone shrugged, "So, why are you asking?"
"Oh, well you see, I met Penny's father here in the city and he's celebrating his candy shop's anniversary which I would be in charge of. Though he told me that he doesn't really have people he knew other than his daughter, Penny, living nearby. That's when I decided to go get Penny and have her along for the party!" Cheese explained which basically is the summary of his beginning journey.
"Uh huh, so I'm guessing you are asking me to help you find her?" Pinkie looked at Cheese.
"Nah, I've already met her best friend Randy and he's taking me to her tomorrow morning." Cheese smiled warmly at the pink mare.
"Okie dokie then." The pink pony shrugged, "Say, can I tag along? Penny and I haven't really hanged out since three weeks ago and I would also want to spend some time and learn more about her friend Randy.",
"Well, if you want to, you can come and meet up with Randy and me at the news office tomorrow morning at eight."
"Great! Thanks for letting me tag along!" The Pinkie clone, who I'm going to call Pinks now just to not keep calling her a clone, smiled as she held out a hoof to shake.
"Why wouldn't I?" Cheese smiled back as he shook their hooves. After the little hoof-shake, Cheese's tummy grumbled a bit.
"Hehe, I should probably get back to my meal." The orange stallion made a sheepish grin, "Say, what do you prefer to be called as? You know, since I can't really call you Pinkie if you're not the real Pinkie."
"Just call me Pinks. It's an odd name, I know, but it's something."
"Okay Pinks. I'm gonna go continue eating now, see you tomorrow." With that, Cheese stood up and went back to his original seat. Pinks smiled at the stallion and watched him get back to the meal.
'He's one nice pony.' She thought then noticed the rubber chicken who was with Cheese. 'A nice pony with a rubber chicken buddy.' Pinks chuckled.
Pinkie, the real one now, was enjoying herself to the all you can eat buffet at the hotel because, well, it's all you can eat. I mean, who doesn't want to enjoy themselves to all the free food given to you. The food at the hotel was good and not that fancy as well which made Pinkie enjoy every bit of it. She had a full plate of almost every type of food found at the buffet table and brought it towards the table she and Rarity were sitting in.
Rarity, on the other hand, had taken just enough food for her to intake not like what Pinkie was doing. She also watched her manners as she ate while Pinkie chowed down to the food she got. The white unicorn was surprisingly not annoyed by what Pinkie is doing too, oddly enough.
By the time Rarity finished her meal, Pinkie had already gone through half the food she brought. I don't know how that mare does it, but man does she have an appetite. Rarity decided to wait for her pink friend to finish before heading back to their rooms. Doing this though could get quite boring, so Rarity decided to stir up a conversation between Pinkie and her to keep things interesting.
"So Pinkie, how's the food so far?" Rarity asked as she fondled with a toothpick.
"It's great!" Pinkie replied with a full mouth as she chewed the contents inside, "You were right when you said the food here isn't like the food in Canterlot."
"Well this is a city afterall, there are tons of ponies with different tastes that come by everyday so most of the food here is to cater for those ponies, both fancy and non-fancy." Rarity placed the toothpick on the side of her plate.
"So, what are your plans for tomorrow?" The unicorn chimed. The pink mare thought about this as she ate.
"I'm not really sure, I'd probably go visit some more places I haven't been in the city and probably find something to do at the park."
"And?"
"And what?"
"Well, we still have like three more days here. What else do you plan on doing?"
"As I said, I'm not really sure."
Rarity stayed silent as she wandered into her thoughts while Pinkie continued eating.
"Say, didn't you say that you'd be looking for Cheese while we're here in Manehatten? That IS the main reason you accompanied me here in the first place, right?" The white unicorn spoke up.
This got the pink mare's attention making her swallow all the contents in her mouth.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, aren't you going to continue looking for him tomorrow?" Rarity asked as she held a hoof up.
Pinkie stopped eating and pondered about this. They still have a couple of days left in the city and yet she doesn't have that much to do at all. Looking for Cheese is the only thing that could keep her busy for the entirety of they're stay, yet some part of her felt like not doing it. Rarity has been quite touchy on the whole Pinkie and Cheese subject too that Pinkie wanted to make sure that Rarity doesn't get the idea of the pink mare actually like-liking the stallion. Yeah, she's been talking about Cheese on the way to the city and finding him was her purpose for being there but the other reason why she tagged along was that she didn't have anything that fun to do back at Ponyville and wanted to do something other than that. A trip to Manehatten would surely be fun especially with a friend and knowing Cheese, an even more fun friend, is there, she decided to tag along to know what the orange party pony is up to. She and Cheese are just friends who happen to almost have the same personality. No more, no less... Right?
Pinkie stayed silent for a few good minutes while she thought about this. Too silent to the point Rarity had to clear her throat to break the silence.
"My, I'm feeling quite tired right now." Rarity let out a yawn.
"Yeah, me too." Pinkie added as she slowly pushed the plate full of food away. Rarity looked at her with an odd look.
The pink mare then got out of her seat and started to head back to their room. Rarity followed her a bit after.
As the two headed back to their rooms, Pinkie was still thinking about the idea of looking for her party pony friend.
'C'mon Pinkie, it's not like you actually do like-like him.' She thought to herself as she trotted along the hall, 'After all, he's just a great and fun friend to hang around with, and knowing how your stay here is going to take a while, might as well try to meet the stallion to see what he's up to.'
"I just don't know brain." Pinkie said to herself, luckily Rarity got ahead of her by a few meters thanks to her pondering to even hear what the pink mare said, "I'd like to go and look for him, yet I feel like not doing it at the same time."
'Pinkie, there's nothing wrong with meeting a friend.'
"That's the problem." Pinkie let out a sigh as she slowed down in her tracks.
'Oh my, looks like you ARE developing feelings for the stallion.'
"What?" Pinkie asked herself surprisingly with a confused look, "Where'd you get that idea from?"
'Pinkie, I'm your own thoughts. I literally know what you think and feel."
"Oh yeah." The mare said beneath her breath.
"Pinkie? Everything okay?"
The said mare looked over to see Rarity walking towards her. Pinkie decided to shove away her thoughts and put on a convincing smile.
"Never been better! Ha ha." Pinkie replied, though by the sound of her tone, it sounds like the complete opposite of what she said. Due to Rarity being tired and all though, she didn't notice the tone Pinkie had.
"Well, I do hope so. I'm really tired right now and it's probably best that we should go get some sleep as well."
Rarity yawned a second time as she gestured for both of them to move along. She then proceeded to their room along with Pinkie following closely behind her.
Once they got to their room, Pinkie thought of head back down and take a little stroll around the park just to clear her mind a bit.
"Rarity," Pinkie stopped at the doirway to their room, "I think I'm going to go take a little walk down at the park for a while."
"At this time of night?" Rarity questioned her pink friend.
"Yeah, besides, I'm not yet that tired and I want to enjoy the cool night tonight."
Rarity looked at the pink mare but agreed nonetheless. Her tiredness didn't let her notice that something was off when Pinkie asked for that request.
"Thanks Rarity." Pinkie said as she headed back out and closed the door shut. Rarity just headed straight into bed and fell asleep.
After Cheese finished eating his dinner along with Boneless Two, the duo continued on heading back to the hotel to get some rest, after all, tomorrow is a big day. As for Pinks, she was still back at the diner minding her own business.
The city sure still is bright even at this time of night, and I made a rhyme right there. Continuing on with the story; the only difference in the city at night was that there were less ponies and noise in the streets. Yeah, there were still a bunch of ponies here and there but unlike during the day where the streets had crowds, the streets at night seems more roomy. Not that Cheese is complaining about it, the minimal noise made it a peaceful-ish walk back to the hotel.
The air was colder at night and the soft breeze gently blew on to the stallion's coat. Boneless Two was just laying on Cheese's back, all limped and such, throughout the walk. The two passed by the small park that the hotel was built nearby just to admire the view. Not many ponies were at the small park during that time; to be honest, there were little to no ponies at all. Some were trotting along the path around the pond and some were sitting around the area. He even noticed one pony sitting by the pond on the other side of the park as if he or she were contemplating on their thoughts though he thought that the pony looked quite familiar. The stallion pushed that thought aside though and continued walking towards the hotel. The breeze sure made a walk in the park a nice thing to do but right now Cheese was tired from today's events and focused on getting back to the hotel and get some rest.
As the wind blew by and the trees rustled out some leaves, Cheese began wondering on what other things to do for the anniversary the next day. Maybe he could invite Pinks for the party? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Maybe he could invite Randy too, though he'll probably be invited by Penny knowing he's her best friend.
'At least the party has guests now.' Cheese thought to himself.
He reached the hotel he was staying in and got in the lobby. As usual, the lobby only had a few ponies due to the time of night it was. It also looks like that all-you-can-eat buffet just finished recently since Cheese saw some hotel staff member picking up the sign stating about the buffet near the dining area. It's kind of a shame that he didn't get to try the buffet in the hotel but atleast he got dinner at the diner.
The orange stallion then proceeded up to the floor where his room is located, and walked along the hall whilst looking at the room numbers.
"310, 311, 312..." Cheese muttered to himself as he read the numbers on each door. "Ah, 314."
Cheese then got the key to the room out, unlocked the door, and headed inside. Once inside, he closed the door and stretched his legs due to how much he's walked today. He then laid Boneless Two on one of the beds, laid himself on the other and soon fell fast asleep.
At the park, Pinkie was sitting by the pond, trying to figure out on whether to go continue looking for her party friend or not. She feels as if looking for the stallion would keep her busy for a while yet the other half of her doesn't want to even think about him for now.
Maybe her thoughts were right. Maybe she IS starting to grow attached to the orange stallion yet isn't allowing herself to.
'There's nothing to worry about Pinkie.' She thought to herself, 'Just accept it. Afterall, what's wrong with liking somepony?'
"I just don't know." Pinkie sighed as she looked at the pond to see her reflection.
'What's there to know? You like him and he probably likes you too.' Her thoughts said though her reflection looked like it was talking instead.
"I really don't know how to feel about this."
'Look, there's nothing wrong with liking a stallion nor is there nothing wrong with having certain feelings on him. Also, don't let your friends make you think you don't like him because they think you actually do. They're right and you know it too.'
Pinkie just let out a sigh and just accepted the thought.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Pinkie stood up. "In other words, it looks like I've got something to keep me busy with for the entirety of my stay here in Manehatten."
'That a girl. Now come on, let's get some sleep.' With that, Pinkie yawned and headed back to the hotel to get some rest. Who knew she can talk herself into and out of stuff? That's something everyone needs every often now.