Maud and Cheese

by rhony

Chapter 7

Cheese was incredibly nervous as he stood outside of Maud’s dormitory. This is it, he thought to himself. He was finally going on a real date with Maud.

As he stood there, the past three months of memories flooded him. Seeing Maud for the first time on the train. His efforts to impress her with the New Student Orientation Ball. Maud, furious, pink goop dripping off of her dress.

Him thinking that she would never speak to him again.

After Maud had left the ball, activity has resumed, and overall the evening had been a success as far as the University of Mareland administration was concerned. But as far as he was concerned, it had been a disaster. Pinkie had apologized nonstop to him until he took her aside and reminded her that they still had a party to run. And run it they did – if both had been a bit more subdued than usual, no one remaining at the party knew them well enough to notice. They didn’t have to face each other again until it was time to clean up.

When the hall was finally sparkling, Pinkie collapsed in a chair and groaned. “How can I go back and face my sister? She must be so embarrassed!” Then Pinkie gasped. “What if the other students tease her because of this? It will be all my FAULT!” Big, fat tears began to drip down her face.

Cheese, who had flopped on his back on the floor, looked at Pinkie. “This isn’t the playground, Pinkie, it’s college. I really don’t think she’s doomed to a life of ostracism because of a cheese bombing. It’s not like it was her fault – it was ours.”

This caused Pinky to cry harder, which had not been Cheese’s goal. He sighed and stared back up at the ceiling.

“Easy f-for you to say,” Pinkie wailed. “She’s my FAVORITE sister. You don’t even know her! If she never talks to you again, it won’t matter!”

Cheese winced visibly. Pinkie stopped crying and stared at him for several moments. “It does matter to you, doesn’t it?” she asked, a slow smile crossing her face.

Cheese froze, then turned over and stood up. “Ummm, how could it? Like you said, I don’t even know her! Well, everything’s cleaned up, so it’s time to go!”

But Pinkie was not that easy to put off of an idea, once it had taken root in her head.

“Why were you standing right next to her when I came out of the kitchen, then?”

“Coincidence? Heh…” Cheese couldn’t help it, a slow crimson was spreading across his cheeks.

“You LIKE her, don’t you?” Pinkie was looking gleeful.

“Pinkie… you aren’t going to say anything to her, are you? Not that it matters,” Cheese pointed out dejectedly. “After tonight, she won’t talk to me anyway.”

Pinkie’s face fell a bit as she remembered why she had been upset in the first place. Then she got a look of determination. “Don’t worry, Cheese, we’re going to fix this. I’m not sure how yet, but…”

Cheese sighed, and said, “I’m headed to Fillydelphia next. My Cheesy Sense has been pointing that way for a while now. I appreciate the thought, Pinky, but for now I’m not sure how I can make this up to your sister. Maybe some time will help.”

Cheese and Pinkie had said their goodbyes then, and Cheese left that very evening. He had written a letter to Pinkie once he settled down in Fillydelphia, and they had been writing back and forth for weeks when the letter came that prompted him to return to Baltimare. The letter in which Pinkie had written about Maud’s trouble with her Classification of Rocks class.

Cheese had instantly known why Pinkie had sent that letter. Here was his chance to get back in Maud’s good graces. Almost as quickly, he knew that the best way for him to help was through his songwriting ability – specifically, his talent for taking existing songs and making up new, funny lyrics to go with them. So he went that day to the University of Fillydelphia library and found as many books on rocks as he could stand. It took him several days, but he wrote songs about all of the major types of rocks. Pinkie had told him when Maud’s exam was, and time was running short. The day before the exam, he started back toward Baltimare. It took all day to get there. Maud hadn’t been in her dormitory, so he had headed to the library.

She had been just as beautiful as he remembered, her brow furrowed in concentration as she stared at her books. In spite of his nervousness, he had gotten up the courage to talk with her, apologize to her, and convince her to learn the songs he had written.

She had even agreed to go on a date with him. And she had aced her exam, he found out a week later, when he stopped by to see how she was doing. They had set their dinner date for the next day, both blushing furiously.

Which brought him back to that moment, outside of the dormitory, working up the courage to go in and ask for Maud.

It’s just a date, Cheese. Why are you so scared? Cheese started to walk back and forth outside of the dormitory, ignoring the curious stares of the other ponies passing by. But Cheese already knew the reason he was scared; it was because he had never felt like this about any other pony. Maud wasn’t just beautiful, and scary-smart, and funny in her own way. Maud just felt right to him. And she had agreed to just one date, so this was it. Either he was going to convince her to be his special somepony, or they would be saying goodbye.

Finally, he stopped pacing. He wasn’t going to get what he wanted by avoiding her. Cheese took a deep breath, and walked through the dormitory door.

Comments

[Ack Sed]

It's been niggling me for a while, but you missed the perfect opportunity to name this fic "Chalk and Cheese".

[Wondrous Mind]

still good :)