The hospital seemed to fall away around Marble. Twenty minutes ago, she had been talking with Big Mac and now he was having a foal. The excitement on his face, the joy in his eyes… Marble couldn’t ever imagine finding that for anypony but him. Marble slumped against the hospital wall and fell to the floor. Mac was wherever Cheerilee was and now Marble was alone.

“It sucks, right? Seeing that? It really just… hurts.” a soft voice spoke from a few feet away.

Marble ignored the voice. Maybe it would go away.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to intrude, it just looks like you could use a friend.” the voice turned tender and finally, Marble looked up, meeting eyes with a face she never thought she would see again. Shocked, Marble scooted away from him for a second before he held his hoof up. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to see if you were okay. It only seemed right, seeing as I know you.”

Marble nodded, less angry and shocked, now just confused and emotional.

“After Pinkie and I divorced, I fell downhill and such.”

Marble threw her head up again. Why was he telling her this?

“I didn’t know what to do, Lil’ Cheese was so young and I was so nervous I would mess up again.” Cheese hung his head. “Anyway, I thought Lil’ Cheese and I could go visit sometime, ignoring Pinkie and my promise to never talk to each other again. But when I got there, there was Rainbow Dash, smiling and laughing with my colt, my son.” Cheese wiped his cheek, clearing his throat.

Marble felt compelled to place a hoof on his shoulder. Now it was Cheese’s turn to be shocked. He smiled at the gesture, though, and continued to speak still. “It hurts seeing the one you love with someone else. Especially if you know it will never happen. Ever. They are happy, so why should we ruin that, right?”

Marble nodded, her heart twisting in pain.

The pain subsided though, something replacing it. She looked over at Cheese who had put that thought in the pit of her stomach… belonging.

Marble had found somepony that understood her in a way that nopony ever had. And he talked enough for the both of them, too.

“You like foals?” Cheese suddenly asked. Marble, who loved foals, was taken by surprise, but grinned lightly, nodding. “Sweet.”

Cheese stood, holding his hoof out for Marble. She took it and stood as well, following Cheese into the room directly next to where she had been sitting.

In the hospital bed was a little foal with yellow fur and a pink mane and a broken leg. Cheese leaned down to whisper in Marble’s ear, “She broke it on a trampoline. I threw it away after that.”

Marble found herself giggling slightly.

Cheese couldn’t be happier. He had hoped to get Marble to smile, but she was laughing. Goal!

The two of them walked over to the hospital bed and to Lil’ Cheese, who was scribbling in a coloring book about the princesses. Twilight was now green, but that didn’t much matter.

“Hey, Cheesy Squeezy.” Cheese spoke to his daughter. Those little green eyes looked up at him with so much joy in them, he thought she would burst. “I have a friend here. Her name is Marble.”

Pinkie and Cheese’s kids hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting their relatives yet, but Cheese thought this was a sweet moment to do it.

Marble waved gently at Lil’ Cheese and Big Cheese thought it was the sweetest thing he had ever set eyes upon.

Still, he had left the room originally for a reason.

“Alright, Marble. Do you think it would be okay if I left you in Lil’ Cheese’s hooves for a minute? I promised Sprinkles here I would get her some pudding from the cafeteria.” Marble smiled down at Lil’ Cheese as the foal showed Marble her green Twilight.

Marble looked up at Cheese and smiled, nodding. “Alright, three puddings coming up!”

It only took a few minutes to get the food, but by the time Cheese got back, he heard another voice in the room. At first, he thought somepony else had walked in, but no, it was a soft melodic voice, speaking so softly, Cheese would have thought he had imagined it if he hadn’t peeked around the corner and seen Marble’s mouth moving.

“<del>beautiful. One day you can be an artist if you wanted to. Truly. I like your take on Princess Twilight. She’s got</del>” the voice stopped and Cheese knew he was spotted. Cheese decided not to be awkward and instead spun around the corner and held the bag of pudding cups out, setting them on the table.

“Eat up, princesses!” he laughed, shooting a knowing smile at Marble. Marble, who had been red in the face, probably out of fear that somepony else had heard her speak, returned the smile kindly.

So Cheese meets Marble, knowing who she is and they grow close

Cheese picks up his act after pinkie I promise

tl;dr Marble’s dristraught cause she loved Big Mac and Cheese comforts her