MLP:FIM belongs to Hasbro and the Hub. And words cannot express the love I have for the Cheesepie ship. Title is a spoof of that old movie "Romancing the Stone".

Romancing the Cheese

Pinkie Pie hopped joyously about Sugarcube Corner, going from one spot to another to hang up the heart-shaped streamers she had made herself. The Cake family had gone out of town for the weekend, so the pink party pony had the place all to herself. Normally she'd be sad that they were away, but this weekend she had some very special plans made.

"Oh Gummy, this is the going to be the most super-duper Hearts and Hooves Day in the history of ever!" she giggled as she bounced around in one spot, happily squeaking as she did so.

The toothless alligator simply stared blankly at her in response, not moving even a millimeter from his position on the pillow he was on.

"I'm so glad you agree with me!" she beamed at him, putting a little red party hat on him.

Pinkie sighed loudly and wiped her brow, taking a good look at all her hard work. Streamers, a decorative banner with "Happy Hearts and Hooves Day!" written on it in different colored letters, pink and white heart balloons, and a big heart piñata hanging in the middle of the large room were only a few things that made up the decor. It looked like the holiday itself had exploded inside the bakery.

"Oooh I hope he likes it!" Pinkie squealed, right as soon as she heart an "Oh my!" coming from somepony that had just happened to walk into the bakery at that time.

Pinkie swiveled around and grinned widely at her friend Rarity who was currently gawking at the decorations, her mouth slightly agape and her hoof held up against her heart as if she had just witnessed something monstrous taking place.

"Hiya, Rarity!" the pink pony greeted her as she skipped her way, not noticing the shocked look on the fashion pony's face. "I was expecting somepony else to show up, but I'm glad you're here because you can see all the wonderful, amazing things I did to the bakery, and it makes me really really happy that you get to see them too!"

Rarity picked up her jaw and put on a forced, yet anxious, smile. "Why...yes...well, it's definitely you, dear."

If that was intended to be an insult, Pinkie didn't catch it. "Aww, thanks! I worked super hard on it allllll day!"

The purple-maned mare took a long, sweeping look at the bakery and suppressed a shudder. "I, uh, do hope that whoever is the recipient of all..., "she motioned outwards with her hoof and made little circles, "this...appreciates your...um, efforts."

"I hope so too!" Pinkie started bouncing in place again, her eyes tight shut as she squeed. "Cheese is a party pony too, y'know, so he should totally think it's the bestest, most awesome-tacular thing he's ever seen!"

Rarity fluttered her eyelashes a few times, then she relaxed her composure a bit and smiled more genuinely. "Oh, of course! I should have realized that you two would hit it off after planning Rainbow Dash's birth-iversary together! Darling, I'm so happy for you, finding your special somepony."

Pinkie suddenly got a very serious look on her face and halted her bouncing. "Wellllll...he doesn't exactly know it yet...it's kind of a surprise!" She smiled and tapped her hooves against the floor rapidly. "And I really hope after he sees all the work I did to plan this amazing party, that he says yes!"

Rarity chuckled politely and threw her curled mane out of her face. "Well, I do hope that everything goes well for you, dear." She threw a quick unsure look towards what she considered to be ridiculously garish decorations. "After all, he is a premier party planner. The one thing he should appreciate is a well-constructed party, especially on such an important holiday."

The pink pony gasped loudly, her blue eyes huge now. "You're right!" She threw one of her front hooves in the air and put on a determined look. "I must make this the best party ever! I must...use more glitter!" She dashed away upstairs to grab her containers of glitter before Rarity could stop her, then she speedily ran back down. "Silly me, glitter always makes everything better!"

Rarity grimaced at the gluey mess that Pinkie was making of a new poster, watching helplessly at her hyper friend putting glue and glitter on her hoofs to make sparkly hoofprints on the paper.

"I...was thinking that perhaps since this is a romantic holiday," the fashionista pressed gently, "that your party should be more...I don't know, romantic also? Exquisite? Classy? With chandeliers and candle-lit dinners and slow dancing?" She possessed a dreamy look in the middle of her speech, imagining her own special night with all things that she had just listed.

Pinkie shook her head back and forth, her curly mane swishing as she did so. "Nah, that doesn't sound like a very exciting party at all! And besides, Cheese's 'cheesy sense' only works when a party is being planned, so he wouldn't know to come here at all if a party wasn't being planned!"

Rarity blinked, then she decided that she didn't really want an explanation for what Pinkie had just said. Instead, she sighed and gave her friend a worried look. "Pinkie, darling, aren't you afraid that this will...oh, I don't know...scare him off?"

Pinkie stopped making glittery hoofprints long enough to spin around and give Rarity a confused look, tilting her head and furrowing her brows together. "What do ya mean? Why would a party scare a party pony off? That doesn't even make any sense!" She started laughing at the very idea, falling on her back and kicking her legs in the air.

"That's not exactly what I meant," Rarity explained gently,a little peeved that she was getting laughed at, even though she knew Pinkie laughed at almost everything. "What I meant was sometimes when a filly tries too hard to get herself a coltfriend, that can sometimes scare him away. I should know, I've done it myself a few times." She muttered the last part under her breath.

Pinkie stopped laughing and flipped upright, sitting on her haunches and looking bug-eyed at Rarity. The dressmaker was much more experienced with dating than she was, so perhaps she should listen to her...

"Ohmygosh, what if you're right!" Her poofy mane and tail deflated slightly, a frown forming on her face. "The last thing I want to do is scare him, or anypony, away!"

Rarity realized she had hurt Pinkie's feelings, and she stammered around for words to remedy the situation. "Oh, n-no, don't get upset, dear, I certainly didn't mean to make light of your affectionate gesture!" She put a comforting hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "I was just trying to warn you not to try too hard. I'd hate for you to get hurt, if your plans backfired, that's all I was meaning."

The party pony didn't want Rarity to think that she had upset her too much; after all, the Element of Laughter shouldn't be making anypony sad, so she forced a big grin and popped herself back up on all fours. "Oh, it's okay, Rarity, you're my friend, and I know you're just trying to help me! Hey, what did you come in here for anyway?"

She mostly said it to get the subject of conversation of off her, and it seemed to work. Rarity's eyes lit up, and she said, "Good gracious, I almost completely forgot why I came here!" She requested a dozen gourmet oatmeal cookies, and she used her magic to float the cookies into her saddle purse while getting her bits out to pay for them. "Now, Pinkie, you're sure you're all right? I really didn't mean any harm."

Pinkie spread her grin out wider. "Yep, I'm perfectly fine, finer than fine actually!" She bounced a few times to get the point across.

Rarity didn't look overly convinced, but she smiled anyway and turned, trotting out towards the door. "All right then, tata, dear!"

"Bye, I hope you have a splenderiffic day!" Pinkie called to her cheerfully. When the door shut, she dropped the act and plopped down on her haunches again. She looked around at all the hard work she had done and sighed. "Rarity's right, Gummy, maybe I really am trying too hard. I don't want Cheese to be afraid of me."

She sadly picked herself up off the floor and went upstairs to her bedroom, digging out her photo album from under her bed. She flipped past her photos she had of her trip with Applejack and her family and landed on a page that had her and Cheese having fun at Rainbow Dash's birth-iversary. She smiled very faintly, and she closed the book, shoving it off to the side before rolling over towards her pillows. Boneless, Cheese's rubber chicken friend, was propped up on one, and she grabbed him with her front hooves and held him up over her while she lay on her back.

Pinkie sighed and hugged the chicken to her, whispering, "Happy Hearts and Hooves Day to me."

If his Cheesy Sense was to be trusted, and it usually was, there was a big party being planned in Ponyville. The poncho-wearing stallion found this strange, as it had not been that long ago that he had been through there. How long had it been exactly? Two months? Three?

Ah, well, that didn't matter. Wherever a party was being planned, that's where Cheese Sandwich would go. Then again, he wondered if he should bother, since Pinkie Pie was Ponyville's resident party pony. He didn't want to accidentally upstage her again, like he had done last time. No need stepping on anypony's hooves, especially hers.

The golden-hued pony smiled under his sombrero at the thought of Pinkie. It had been a real pleasure to finally speak to his inspiration, as he had been much too shy to have done so way back when they were young. When he showed up into town for Rainbow Dash's birth-iversary, he had been rather eager to impress her with his party planning skills. That all backfired when she misunderstood his intentions and accused him of trying to steal her place in Ponyville and also her friends.

Maybe he should have told the truth when he first introduced himself. It would have said a lot of trouble and heartache on her part, for sure.

The more Cheese thought about it, the more he decided that he would visit Ponyville. So what if Pinkie might be planning whatever kind of party might be going on? He could always use a vacation, and she could do her own thing while he was there. He had hoped for another chance to see her again anyway, so this would be the perfect opportunity.

"Saddle up, Boneless Two," Cheese addressed his other rubber chicken friend, who was already sitting on his small saddle that was attached to his poncho. "We ride to Ponyville."