> Somepony to Laugh With
>  by LightOfTriumph
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Somepony to Laugh With
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie looked over herself in the mirror and ran through the speech she had been giving herself for the last hour for the hundredth time.

This was no different than any other time she had hung out with Cheese Sandwich. They had done it a thousand times before and they enjoyed each other's company. They always had fun together and always ended the night laughing. The only difference now was one of semantics. They used to call it a night out between friends. Now they were simply calling it a date between two ponies who were dating. There was no difference. No real difference. It was the same thing under a different name. No difference. Hardly any difference at all.

... Huge difference. Massive difference. How could you not notice the difference if you occupied the same continent as the thing that was different? It was a difference with neon lights on it. It was a difference that made loud noises. It was a difference that alerted everyone in a five mile radius to it's existence and it made everyone involved feel weird because it just sat there making everything feel so different.

Pinkie started hyperventilating and the cycle began anew.

For a moment, Pinkie wondered if this was something that she really wanted out of their relationship. That didn't take her long to figure out. Yes. She very much did. In fact, if Cheese hadn't made the first move, Pinkie Pie would have pinned the stallion to the ground and kissed him until his lips were numb. She liked Cheese Sandwich in a way she had never experienced before. She may have felt much, much more for him than simply liking him. So naturally, when Cheese Sandwich had expressed interest three weeks ago, Pinkie pie was overjoyed. There was confetti, and balloons, and squeaking and all of the other assorted flotsam and jetsam that came when Pinkie Pie was happy about something. Then she and Cheese decided that they should have their first date. Cheese had invited her to a Carnival. That sounded fun, so Pinkie immediately said yes. She went home very excited for the trip, but then an evil little thought appeared in her brain, and utterly refused to leave.

"You know Pinkie," said her insecurities, seemingly through a megaphone. "This is your very first colt friend ever, and you've never been on a real date before."

The moment that evil little thought wormed its way malevolently into Pinkie's mind it sent her emotional state rocketing up and down more times than the wildest roller coaster  at that carnival. She usually kept her calm on these occasions, but there was something about this date that was just getting to her. Making her doubt herself. And it wasn't as if she hadn't been nervous before, but this time was different. This time she wasn't afraid of something happening to cause chaos, or that there would be circumstances beyond her control.This time she was genuinely afraid that she wouldn't be good enough. This wasn't a feeling she was used to, and it was one of the few things she had ever come across in her life that she genuinely hated.

She numbed that feeling by hanging around with her friends quite a bit for the last few days. Eventually, she had to confide in them all of the weird emotions she was feeling going into this date. Her friends, amazing as they were, all did their part to make her feel more like herself. Twilight reminded her about how she felt about friendship before she met Pinkie. Applejack said that if Cheese Sandwich really thought Pinkie wasn't good enough for him, he had to have the brains of one of the trees in her orchard. Rainbow Dash joked that she shouldn't worry because Cheese Sandwich had seen what Pinkie looked like after one of Dash's pranks. Fluttershy had told her that while she may not say it often enough, Pinkie was one of the ponies she looked to for lessons on self confidence. Lastly, Rarity took it upon herself to make sure that Pinkie had the perfect casual outfit for the occasion. All of the support from her friends calmed her down immensely, and she was able to get a good night's sleep the night before.

Here she was now, however. Thirty minutes out from the date at the carnival and all of those terrible emotions had roared back into her life like a freight train. Luckily, she had prepared for this. Not only was she at Rarity's to get herself ready she had invited her sister Maud to hold her hand through the process. Maud arrived and now all three of them were waiting in Carousel Boutique for the doorbell to ring.

"I look good, right?" Pinkie asked nervously, looking at her new manestyle and pink jacket Rarity had picked out for her. "And not just normal, everyday, 'Hey, you don't look like you have a terminal disease,' good. Like... Pretty, charming, 'Yes I'm interested and I would really like to take this relationship to the next level' good, right?"

"For the ninetieth time, yes," Rarity said with a note of exasperation. "Honestly Pinkie Pie, you are not behaving like yourself. Honestly, you're acting more like Twilight would in this situation."

"No, Twilight would have some book that told me the ins and outs on how to do this," Pinkie grumbled. "I don't suppose there is time to go and ask her?"

"Trust me Pinkie," Rarity said, making a few more adjustments to Pinkie's mane. "The book on how Stallion's think has yet to be written. Or, at least, yet to be written accurately... Hmm... A white rose would do nicely."

"Well somepony needs to write it quick," Pinkie shouted, her legs now shaking. "Because I am freaking out over here!"

"Pinkie, you need to calm down," Maud said in her customary dry monotone. "Watching you be this nervous is putting me on edge. It will be fine. He already likes you, I'm guessing that has to be the reason why he asked you out."

"Maud is quite right, darling," Rarity said, affixing a white rose in Pinkie Kid's mane. "Cheese Sandwich was the one who said he wanted to pursue the relationship, so it's his job to impress you, not the other way around."

"He already impresses me," Pinkie. admitted. "He's one of.the nicest, sweetest ponies I know."

"Well, that is a lovely sentiment," Rarity sighed, still fussing with the rose. "But for the love of all things hooved and holy, don't let him know that before the end of the date. Keep him being his best for you until.the end of the night."

"That may be a little too much for her, Rarity," Maud said, giving a stony look. "The mares in my family have a tendency to wear our emotions in our sleeves. It's a habit I'm trying to kick."

"Yes, of course," Rarity said, nodding slowly and giving an awkward smile. "Tell me Maud, how is that going for you?"

"It's very difficult," Maud said genuinely. "Even though I'm much better now I tend to fly off the handle on occasion."

Rarity gave a short succinct nod and then turned back to Pinkie Pie. "Anyway, how could he not be impressed!" Rarity smiled, looking over Pinkie's mane and vest. "After what I've done for you, oh, how can anyone not be. I amaze myself sometimes! I've managed to take your natural beauty, and fun loving personality and accentuate every aspect of it. You look stunning, Pinkie. You're going to bowl him over."

"Considering how fast I may end up running, you may be right," Pinkie said miserably , looking down at the ground, her name deflating a little.

"Oh for goodness sake," Rarity said, rolling her eyes. "Like I keep saying, you're going to be fine. Just be yourself, and I'm sure that everything will go swimmingly. I'm not used to you having a crisis of confidence, Pinkie Pie, this isn't like you."

"It must be like part of her," Maud pointed out. "She isn't somepony else."

"Right now I almost wish I was," Pinkie said. She took a deep breath and turned toward her sister. "Be honest with me Maud, how do I look? Do you really think I have a chance to pull this off?"

Maud looked her over, up and down before looking into Pinkie's eyes and blinking. "If this stallion isn't madly in love with you within the first hour of this date," she said calmly "Then he's as dense as granite and half as sharp."

Pinkie smiled at the thought, and Rarity nodded in agreement. At that moment there was at last a knock at the door. "Ah! That's him!" Pinkie yelped, looking frantically around the room. "Should I get it?! Would that make me sound to eager?! But if somepony else opens it it might seem really rude... The only solution is that no one opens the door! But then how do I get out of the house?! Quick! Some Pony hurl me out the window!!"

Eventually, Maud short circuited the whole process by walking calmly over to the door swinging it wide open and revealing Cheese Sandwich, dressed in a very smart now tie, and looking as if he had received a test that he hadn't studied for. "Hello, name Sandwich my cheese is!" he blurted out loudly. "Up I'm pick here Pie Pinkie out tonight date for!"

All three of the mares stared at Cheese Sandwich. "I think maybe you'll want to try that one again." Rarity said calmly.

"Hello, my name is Cheese Sandwich," he said, without missing a beat. "I'm here to pick up Pinkie Pie for our date tonight!"

"Much better," Rarity nodded. 

"I'm so glad that you're both handling this situation so well," Maud said dryly. 

"I can never tell when you're joking, Maud," Rarity said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's the entire secret to my comedy," Maud replied. "Pinkie! Your date is here."

Cheese Sandwich was led into the room, and he nervously looked around. Eventually he caught sight of Pinkie Pie and stopped dead. "Wow," he said, a smile spreading across his face. "You just... Pinkie, you look beautiful."

That stopped Pinkie's shaking and she blushed hard at that. "Thanks," she said awkwardly. "You do to... Seriously you look terrific."

"Well," Cheese Sandwich said, putting one of his hooves behind the back of his head. "Are you ready to go? If you aren't I completely understand, I just wanted to make sure that you were. I don't want you to feel like I'm rushing you..."

"No, I'm ready to go," Pinkie said quickly. "But, you know, if you need more time, I don't need to hurry or anything. So if you need some more time to get ready, that's totally cool. I can wait..."

"No, I'm ready if you are," Cheese said brightly. "That is to say... If you are--"

"If the two of you aren't out of my boutique within the next minute and a half, I will beat you both savagely with one of my mannequins," Rarity said, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah. you're right, we should probably go," Cheese Sandwich laughed. 

Pinkie gave a little giggle too, and began to walk out the door. She then realized how rude she was being. "Oh my gosh, you haven't met!" Pinkie Pie remembered. "Well, I mean, you've met Rarity when you came to Ponyville for the first time, but you haven't met my sister Maud! Maud, this is Cheese Sandwich, the Stallion I have a date with tonight. Cheese, this is Maud."

"Pleasure to meet you, Maud!" Cheese Sandwich said brightly. "Pinkie has told me that you're a geologist?"

"I know every rock in Equestria." Maud said flatly, looking straight through into Cheese Sandwich's soul. "Intimately."

"That's really cool," Cheese smiled. "Does that help you a lot in daily life, or is it more something that's limited to a professional environment?"

"It can be very useful," Maud said, not breaking her gaze or monotone for a second. "Rocks are good for tracking animals. So if you were to, say, cause any physical or emotional harm to my sister and then try to hide under any one of them, there is no place in Equestria or the rest of the world where I couldn't find you."

There was a long awkward silence, but Pinkie wasn't entirely sure why.

"Just something to keep in mind," Maud finished.

"Well," Rarity said nervously after a while. "You two have a fabulous time!"

Quickly, Cheese and Pinkie made their way out the door. Rarity and Maud waving from the doorway. Rarity putting on quite a large, toothy grin.

"That may have been a bit excessive," Pinkie heard Rarity scold.

"Sorry," Maud replied. "I flew off the handle again."





Pinkie and Cheese made their way to the carnival making almost no noise except for the occasional awkward giggle. It was a beautiful night. The kind of night that reminds ponies of just how many stars there are in the sky. Pinkie looked up at them every so often, and smiled. Princess Luna really was amazing at her job. Then she turned to Cheese, blushed, and looked away. After this process repeated itself a few times, Cheese finally broke the silence.

"Pinkie, can I ask you a question?" he said. "Is it just me, or are we putting way too much pressure on ourselves here?"

Pinkie felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders all at once. "Yes, absolutely I do," Pinkie said quickly. "I've been sitting here this whole time worrying about how to impress you. Which is pretty dumb, because you were the one who asked me out in the first place."

"Absolutely! And I've been sitting here worrying whether or not you actually like me," Cheese admitted. "But you have to like me at least a little, otherwise you never would have agreed to go out with me in the first place!"

"Exactly!" Pinkie squeaked.

"You know what I think we're both doing wrong here," Cheese Sandwich reasoned. "I think we're thinking way too much about the future. We'll think about the future, well... In the future! For tonight, we're just two ponies who really like each other going to a carnival. I don't know about you, but to me that sounds like a party and a half!"

"I don't know," Pinkie said, scratching her chin. "With the incredibly cheap rates that confetti and balloons are going for nowadays, plus taking into account how much We like each other... I say the fun factor works out to two whole parties. Possibly three if we're using plain air balloons instead of helium balloons."

Cheese scratched his chin and nodded. "Are you taking in the stomach cramps we may end up having after we eat Carnival Food?" he asked sincerely. "That could lead to a deduction in total fun profit for the night in general."

"Ah, but if we don't eat the delicious but cardiac arrest inducing carnival food we'll be super hungry looking at it all night," Pinkie said, having already taken this into account. "So that wouldn't be very fun on its own, but there's also the possibility that we would put out on our own personal food when we got home, and end up with belly aches anyway. So eating the Carnival Food actually comes out to a net profit by the end, if you do the math."

Cheese Sandwich looked up, quietly working out the math in his head. "It all seems to check out!" he said brightly. "So for tonight, we head off to the Carnival, have a completely amazing time together, we log out on as much artery destroying funnel cake we can get out hands on, and we'll worry about the next date whenever the next date should happen to come around! That okay with you?"

"It sounds perfect!" Pinkie Pie said, letting the relief wash over her in huge waves and finally getting excited for the right reasons. "Let's head off! I can't wait to get there! I love the games you can play, although I don't seem to be very good at them."

"Me neither," Cheese said , shrugging. "Anyway, the thing I love most is Funnel Cake and fried dough! One time I managed to choke down fifty funnel cakes and one hundred pieces of fried dough in a single night! That was also the night I learned that a rubber chicken can in fact be used as a defibrillator if you've got the patience and moxie."

The two laughed together and made their way to the carnival. Finally feeling comfortable around each other again.





The moment that Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich got to the carnival, any nervousness they had about the how the date was going to go was washed away in the bright lights and chincy music. They were having too much fun together to worry about what the other thought of them. They started with a roller coaster ride that seemed a bit rickety and unsafe, but that was part of it's charm! There was the spider ride, which was much better put together, but made Pinkie and Cheese blunder about the carnival grounds like they are blind drunk for a few minutes. Then came the food, and to Cheese's delight they were serving Funnel Cake. Cheese for overexcited and wanted to break his record, but Pinkie talked him down from the idea.

Then came Pinkie's favorite part of any carnival. The games. The dunk tank. Skiball. Ring toss. Test your strength. Then finally, she caught glimpse of her archnemesis. Knocking over the milk bottles.

Pinkie Pie had been going to carnivals since she was twelve years old. Her sister took her to the first one. She thought she could easily knock the milk bottles over as she had a good eye and a decent pitching arm. She paid the bits, stepped up behind the counter, wound up, and shot the ball as hard as she could at the milk bottles. They didn't fall over. As a matter of fact, it didn't budge. Pinkie Pie tried on every game of Knock the Bottles in every carnival that she went to, every attempt ending with the same results.

This time, however, it would be different. It had to be different. She wasn't going to.let it not be different. She was with Cheese Sandwich now. That made her feel like she had the strength of fifty ponies. She was going to do this. For her date, for herself, for Equestria, she had to get this done.

She marched up to the counter for the game like a mare possessed. Cheese followed close behind, trying to wear the look of a stallion who was ready for anything, but didn't have a clue as to what the hoof was going on. Pinkie looked the pony running the game square in the eye and laid five bits on the counter. "Three tosses," she said, beaming. "It's time I conquered this. Look out milk bottles, here comes Pinkie Pie!"

"And look out, floor!" Cheese smiled, happy to help even thought he obviously didn't understand. "Here comes milk bottles!"

"Well now," the Carny Pony smiled. "Welcome to my little game, little filly. Good to see you're so fired up about this. It seems like you've played before, so I'll give you the rules. You got three pitches to hurl that there baseball into those there milk bottles. Once you do, if you knock them over, depending on how much you knock over, you earn yourself a prize. Knock them all down, you get anything from the top shelf. So what do you say, little filly? Are you really up for the challenge?"

Pinkie looked up at the Top Shelf and new exactly what she wanted. There was a big pink and blue stuffed panda bear, which would go perfectly with the rest of her pink everything else. She looked at the carny and smiles hugely. "Get prepared to lose a panda!" she said, absolutely oblivious to the fact that it was one of the weirder things ponies had said at that carnival.

The Carny took it all in stride, and allowed Pinkie the space she needed to pitch. "Take your shot, little filly," he said smugly. "But I'm warning you, this is gonna be much harder than it looks..."

Pinkie ignored the remark and placed all her focus on getting the Bottles knocked over. She closed her eyes and envisioned the throw in her mind. Over and over again, just trying to get a feel for it. When she was finally ready, she choked up, pulled back, and let fly at the milk bottles. Her ball ripping the air as it soared past. Any pony who was in the firing line of the speeding projectile would have had one of several bones broken by the impact. It's aim was deadly, speeding directly toward the milk bottles with laser accuracy.

It then bounced right off the milk bottles with a pathetic little plink.

Police's jaw hit the floor. That didn't just happen. She knew she must have thrown it as hard as she could have possibly thrown it. She heard the air whistle as the ball does by. So there was absolutely no way that the Bottles weren't knocked over... No... No she must have missed. That was it. She must have not have actually hit the bottles. It must have curved at the last second. She had two more throws. She would have to try again, that was all. She would have to take a deep breath and try again.

She took a deep breath, composed herself, and pulled back for the shot. She made absolutely sure this time that her throw was going to be dead center, right in the middle bottle. She let loose and a loud zoom could be heard as the ball went past.

The moment it made contact... plink.

That  was it. The bottles were simply mocking her now. They wanted to make her feel insecure on her date. They wanted her to lose her self esteem. They wanted nothing more than to destroy Pinkie Pie. These milk bottles were pure evil. They were probably sent by one of their old enemies revived. These milk bottles weren't just annoying anymore. They were a diabolical scheme from a powerful and ancient enemy that if left unchecked could destroy Equestria! Not if Pinkie Pie was around they wouldn't!

With more purpose than she ever had doing anything else in her life, she choked up the throw again. She wound up, pulled back, growled, and finally let the ball fly. She threw the thing as if it was meant to go straight through King Sombra's heart. It travelled past the indifferent Carny's face so quick that if he were standing two feet to the left his head would have been taken clean off.

It home in on the barrels, making the sound of a stampede as it went. When it finally hit the Bottles all of that momentum came to a halt with one pathetic little plink.

Police's heart sank as low as her jaw. How was it even possible that this has happened again. She had taken on monsters, evil gods, tyrants, even reporters and she had prevailed every single time. Why was her ultimate downfall coming at the non existent hands of six milk bottles? She could almost feel a year coming to her eye.

"Oh, bad luck little filly," the Carny said with a note of snake oil sympathy. "But listen, I ain't an unfeeling Pony, so I'll tell you what. I'll let you try again right now. Just one more but for three throws. What do you say, little filly? Care to give it another swing?"

Pinkie's despair quickly turned to pure, unfettered rage. The milk bottles had dared to embarrass her on her date and now they were in for a world of pain. She reached into her name and pulled out her wallet. She looked inside of it and found fourteen bits. That was enough for 42 throws. The law of averages dictated that she had to make them fall down with one of those throws. 

She reached in and pulled out the bits, ready to leave them in the table. Staring at the Milk Bottles with more hate than she had ever felt for anything. Just when she was about to lay all the bits down on the table, she felt Cheese Sandwich put his hoof on her shoulder. "Thanks for the offer," he said calmly to the Carny  "But we need some time to regroup and find out bearings. Thanks all the same."

Cheese quickly led Pinkie Pie away from the booth. "What are you doing?" She said, flailing her forelegs as Cheese led her away. "We have to go back! The Milk Bottles have to die! The fate of Equestria depends on it!!!"

"Pinkie," Cheese said, now moving into his gravely, serious voice. "I want you to take a good look at the middle bottle. Tell me what you see."

Pinkie, although irritated with her date, obliged. She squinted hard at the middle bottle and when she finally saw it her anger turned to confusion. "It's... Cracked?" she asked,  not quite believing what she was seeing. "Was it cracked before I started throwing?"

"It wasn't," Cheese confirmed.

"So... I cracked the bottle?" Pinkie asked, now completely bewildered. "But that doesn't make any sense. I mean, it would have fallen over before I cracked it right?" 

"It completely disobeys all the laws of physics," Cheese said, stroking his chin. "Something fishy is going on here, and I don't think I like it right now at all... Did you bring a camera, Pinkie?"

"Of course I did!" Pinkie pulled out her camera from her mane, and handed it over to Cheese Sandwich. He zipped away, there was a bright flash from behind the Bottle Booth, and he Zipped back just a few seconds later. He handed Pinkie back her camera, along with a picture he took.

Pinkie couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was a picture of the back of the Milk Bottles, each one of them attached t to the two others below it by means of wooden slats and nails. Finally, the while pyramid was attached to the table it was situated on. The whole thing was rigged so that nopony, no matter how strong or accurate could ever, in a million years, knock down all the bottles. The  Carny was cheating, and what was worse was that Pinkie had been blaming the poor, innocent Milk Bottles this whole time.

"I'm going to go find someone in charge and complain," Cheese said , obviously trying to do right by his date.

"Don't bother," she said, staring a whole through the picture. "I have a feeling that this might be carnival policy." She remembered all the other carnivals she went to growing up where she had the same trouble with the Milk bottles.

"Well, in that case, what do we do?" Cheese asked. " We can't just let him get away with cheating, can we? "

Pinkie thought for a moment, then she decided to take to heart a lesson she had been teaching consistently since her class started a few years ago. One of the  most important things you can do when you're feeling sad is to try to turn the negatives in your life into positives. That's when she got an idea. An idea so devious and evil it could almost belong to Lord Tirek himself. "Cheese," she said sweetly, an evil grin splitting across her face. "Did you bring your hat and poncho?"

"Of course I bought the hat and poncho," he said, as if that should have been obvious. "Did you think I was going to come to this date unprepared?"

"Good, then you should probably get them on," Pinkie said. "Keep him talking for a few minutes, and when I give you the signal, take your shot." 

Pinkie face another side and devious grin. Topping this date off with a little justice would be a wonderful way to end the night.





A few moments later, clad in his grey hat and poncho, Cheese Sandwich strode up to the counter and stood across from the Carny, his hat pulled down low over his eyes. He took a deep breath and looked as intimidating as he possibly could. "How much for one throw, Carny?" he asked in a low gravely voice. 

"You don't pay for one throw, only cowboy," the Carny said brightly. "It's one bit for three throws. The prizes are--"

"I only need the one throw," Cheese said, not even bothering to look up at the carny. "Why should I be paying you for two throws  I'm not gonna use? Seems like a waste of money."

"Waste of money?" The Carny said, seemingly taking offense to the allegation that his game could be a money pit. "Son, you ain't gonna knock those bottles down in one throw. Take your three, and be happy about it, okay?"

Cheese saw the table behind the Carny gently wobble. It seemed like Pinkie Pie was fulfilling her half of the plan. "I don't know, it sounds almost like a ripoff to me," Cheese said slowly, trying his best to seem intimidating. "That wouldn't be wise for you. You know what happened to the last Carny who tried to rip me off?"

"What?" the Carny said, obviously not buying it.

"I dontdon't know," he said calmly. "I'll tell you when they find him."

The Carny stared right at Cheese Sandwich. "Okay," he said, giving a smug little smile. "Just to prove that I'm in the level, we'll add a little something extra to this game. If you can knock those bottles down in one throw, nit only to you get your prize, but you get to keep your bit. Don't thank me that's just the kind of stallion I am.

Cheese saw a pink hoof wave at him from behind the bottles. Police's work was done. "You sound confident," Cheese said, picking up the baseball. "Too confident. Ten will get you twenty this game is rigged."

The Carny suddenly looked very guilty and nervous. "I don't know what you could possibly be talking about..."

"Oh, you don't, huh?" Cheese Sanadwich said as he prepared his throw. "Well let's give that a test, shall we?" He pulled back and took careful aim. Once he was sure of where the ball would hit, he let fly at the milk bottles. The ball sailed the distance to it's target. A gentle glide when compared to Pinkie Pie's two previous throws. Once the ball made contact, the milk bottles immediately collapsed to the floor, making a loud clattering as they fell.

The Carny looked at the now empty table. Now reeling from the cruel trick that fate seemed to be playing on him.

"Wow, I guess it wasn't rigged!" Cheese Sandwich said brightly. "Sorry to accuse you like that! Anyway, I get a prize, right? Anything off the top shelf?"

The Carny tried to form words, but none would come to him. Any protest he would have made would have completely given the game away, and he couldn't seem to bear admitting that someone had apparently outfoxed him. He seemed to look at all of the bottles on the floor. Trying to calculate what in Equestria could have possibly gone wrong with his plan.

"Anyway, I'll take this panda," Cheese said happily, pulling the panda off the top shelf . "And hey, I even get to keep my bit! Thanks a lot for the wager, but I told you I could do it! This was a lot of fun. And I hope that you had fun too!"

The Carny turned, slackjawed back to Cheese Sandwich. Obviously wanting to protest, coax him into another game, do something, anything to get him not to leave with the panda and his bit.

"No need to thank me," Cheese said, waving a hoof. "The look on your face says it all. Anyway, have a good one."

It was then that the Carny collapsed in his desk, almost sobbing. Cheese would find out later that he looked up precisely at the moment when Pinkie Pie rode past him on a unicycle, juggling the wooden slats she had removed from the back of the Milk bottles.





Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie pie found a place on the hill.where they could see the lights of the whole carnival, and the stars above them. Both of t hem laughing heartily at the small moment of justice that they had manufactured at the Milk Bottles game. It turned into them laughing about the fun they had in general and they both laid down in the cool grass.

They laughed for a little while, then just quietly smiled. After a moment, Cheese sat up straight and looked off at the stars. He took a deep breath and finally started talking. "Thank you," he said. "For everything."

Pinkie sat up as well and looked at Cheese. "I'm the one who should be thanking you," she said happily. "I've had a wonderful time."

"That's not what I meant, " he said, seeming to try to find the words. "The Cheese Sandwich you know now, that's all because of you. You inspired me to be someone I like. I'll be honest, I didn't like myself before I met you. I was meek, I was introverted, I was shy.... And that wasn't me. That wasn't who I wanted to be. And then I saw you and the real me came out. I found purpose. It wasn't until I caught up to you again that I realized something."

"What's that?" she asked, not wanting to take her eyes off of Cheese.

"You bring out the best in me," Cheese smiled. "Nobody makes me laugh the way you do, and when I'm laughing I'm at my best... I made a promise to myself when I was a teenager... About the kind of mare I would look for once I decided to look. My first priority was going to be finding somepony I can laugh with."

Pinkie put one hoof on Cheese's back. "How am I doing so far?"

Cheese looked at her, seemingly nervous about what he had to say next. "At this point I am having trouble imagining it being anypony else."

Pinkie smiled softly. He had no reason to be nervous.

After that, Pinkie's head fuzzed out so she wasn't entirely sure how they ended up kissing, but they did for a while. When they finally separated it took Pinkie a moment to finally get her bearings. When she did, she came to a realization, answering a question she had all night.

"So that's the difference between dating and just friendship," Pinkie said.

"I didn't mind," Cheese said. "Did you?"

"Not at all." Pinkie immediately went in for another kiss.

After they did that, they took the time to set up the next of what would be many more dates between them.