That morning, Big Mac went to a nearby pond to wash his face.
"Uh, hey." Cheeso said awkwardly, coming over with Big Mac's poncho in his mouth; he then dropped it into his paw and handed it over without looking. "Thanks."
"Oh, uh, no problem." Big Mac accepted it, now starting to feel a little awkward himself.
"Feels like wool." Cheeso remarked.
"Yeah." Big Mac nodded.
"Newfoundland?" Cheeso guessed.
"Oh yeah, it is."
"Oh, I thought so." Cheeso paused for a second. "It's nice."
"My wife made it." Big Mac shrugged.
"Oh she knits?"
"Crochets."
"Crochets, nice."
"Thanks."
There was a long awkward pause here.
"So...so I was thinking that...when I get back to the city we'd, uh... I mean there's lots of hilltops and maybe I might...you know...I-I might..." Cheeso hesitated.
"Are you...saying...you've changing your mind?" Big Mac couldn't believe it.
"Oh, well, I uh..."
"Because you know that means you're doing something nice for someone else." Big Mac chuckled slightly.
"No I know that, I know."
"And you're all right with that?" Big Mac again couldn't believe it.
"Yes." Cheeso said as if it should be obvious.
Big Mac frowned suspiciously and leaned in to get a good look into Cheeso's eyes.
"What?" Cheeso drew back uncomfortably.
Big Mac raised a hoof. Cheeso almost accepted it but then Big Mac took it away.
"Don't shake unless you mean it." Big Mac said almost sternly.
Cheeso hesitated for a second, and then placed his paw into Big Mac's hoof. They shook, and Big Mac smiled. Cheeso actually did too.
"All right, let's get you back to the palace." Big Mac stood up and put his poncho and hat back on. "Oh, by the way, thanks."
"No, thank you." Cheeso said with a mischievous smile that Big Mac didn't see.
They walked out of the woods and down a path until they came to a bridge.
"Okay, once we cross this path it's only an hour to the palace." Big Mac smiled.
"Good, because believe it or not I think I need a bath." Cheeso winced.
"I believe it." Big Mac muttered to himself.
"What was that?" Cheeso frowned.
"Oh, nothing."
Big Mac suddenly fell through the bridge only to be tangled up in some vines!
"Cheeso!" He called up. "Cheeso!"
After thinking for a second, Cheeso looked down with a smile.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Quick, help me up!" Big Mac panicked slightly.
Instead, Cheeso hopped over the hole in the bridge.
"No I don't think I will." He replied.
"You're gonna leave me here?" Big Mac was shocked.
"Well I was gonna have you imprisoned for life, but I kinda like this better." Cheeso looked down again with a smile.
"I thought you were a changed man." Big Mac nearly growled.
"Oh come on I had to say something to get you to take me back to the city."
"So all of it was a lie?"
"Well yeah. No wait..." Cheeso thought for a few second. "Oh yeah, yeah, it all was a lie. Toodles!" He then left the bridge.
"WE SHOOK HOOVES ON IT!" Big Mac yelled.
Cheeso smirked and went back.
"The funny thing about shaking hooves is...you need hooves!" Cheeso pointed out with amusement, showing off his paws. "Heh, okay, buh-bye."
He then fell through the bridge and got tangled up in vines.
"Are you okay, you all right?" Big Mac asked with concern.
"Yeah...yeah I think I'm all right." Cheeso said, recovering from the fall.
"Good!" Big Mac snapped before punching him. "That's for going back on your promise!"
Cheeso kicked him.
"Yeah, well that's for kidnapping me and taking me to your village. Which I'm still gonna destroy by the way-" Cheeso's smile faded upon seeing how ticked-off Big Mac looked. "No touchy." He said weakly before Big Mac head-butted him into the rock wall behind him.
"Why did I risk my life for a selfish brat like you?" Big Mac glared as he stood on the rocks of the rock wall behind him. "I was always taught that there is some good in everyone, but you proved me wrong!"
"Oh boo-hoo, now I feel really bad, bad dog." Cheeso mocked.
"I could have just let you die out there in that jungle, and then all my problems would be over!"
"Well that makes you ugly and stupid."
"Let's end this."
"Ladies first."
They swung at each other with battle cries, and started fighting...until they heard snapping sounds. The rest of the bridge suddenly fell apart! They fell screaming and bounced off the rocky walls as the walls grew closer together, until Cheeso and Big Mac ended up stuck between the two walls with their backs together. They looked down and saw a pond full of crocodiles that went under them waiting for them to finish falling.
"What're we gonna do?" Cheeso nearly sobbed. "What're we gonna do, we're gonna die! We're gonna die, that's it for me!"
Big Mac however looked up and saw a rope.
"No we're not, calm down I have an idea." He said. "Give me your arm, now the other one."
Cheeso did as he said, wanting to survive too much to question someone else's orders. Big Mac then pressed them upward a bit so that his hooves and Cheeso's paws were flat on the rock walls instead of simply resting sideways on them.
"Okay, now when I say go press against my back, and we'll walk up the hill. Ready?" Big Mac said.
Cheeso shook his head, but Big Mac couldn't see this and assumed Cheeso was ready.
"Go!" Big Mac pressed against Cheeso's back only to squish him against the wall.
"Ow! You did that on purpose." Cheeso protested before doing the same thing to Big Mac.
"No I didn't!" Big Mac said through gritted teeth. "Now we're gonna have to work together to get out of this so follow my lead! Ready? Right foot."
"Who's right, your right or-or mine?"
"I don't care...mine."
"Well why yours?"
"Okay your right! Ready?"
"Okay got it."
"Right...left...right..." Big Mac grunted as they started walking up the hill.
"Heh-heh, look we're moving." Cheeso smiled with relief until he looked down and saw the crocodiles.
"Don't look down!" Big Mac said. "Now stay with me, stay with me. Right, left, right, left, right, left, right..."
They were now at a point where they couldn't go any further.
"Now what genius?" Cheeso frowned sarcastically.
"Working on it." Big Mac retorted before seeing that they were almost within reach of the rope. "Okay, here's the deal, stretch out your neck, and I'll grab the rope-"
"Well how will I know you won't let me fall after you grab the rope?"
"You're just gonna have to trust me!"
Cheeso gave in and did as Big Mac said.
"You know, it's a good thing you're not a big fat guy or this would be really difficult." Cheeso grunted sarcastically.
"Almost...got it!" Big Mac grabbed the rope, only to find that it was wrapped around a small tree sticking out of the rock wall.
He started tugging on it, unknowingly causing scorpions to fall off the tree and land on Cheeso.
"Scorpions!" Cheeso panicked, nearly causing himself to fall.
"Cheeso!" Big Mac grabbed him in time.
However this caused Cheeso to swing towards the wall and get his muzzle stuck in a hole, and also caused scorpions to fall down Big Mac's poncho. Big Mac cringed from the feel, and started pounding his back against the wall to get rid of them. This woke up the bats that were living in the hole, making them fly out only to get caught in Cheeso's mouth. This however resulted in Cheeso's mouth getting forcibly unstuck, allowing the bats to fly out, and all this allowed them to run up the other rock wall and over the bats back to the top of the cliff. They paused for a few seconds, and then laughed with relief.
Just then there was a rumble, and the piece of ground Big Mac was standing on started to fall! Fortunately, Cheeso automatically grabbed Big Mac by the poncho and flung him out of harm's way in time.
"Woo yeah! Oh look at me and my bad self!" Cheeso gloated. "I snatched you right out of the air! 'Oh I'm a crumbling canyon wall and I'm taking you with me' well not today pal! Uh-huh, uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh!"
"You...just...saved my life." Big Mac stared at Cheeso with shock.
Cheeso stopped upon realizing that Big Mac was right. He processed this for a moment and quickly tried to save his reputation.
"So?" He deadpanned.
"I knew it." Big Mac smirked.
"Knew what?"
"That there is some good in you after all."
"No."
"Admit it."
"Wrong."
"Yes there is."
"Nuh-uh."
"I think there is."
"Nuh-uh!"
"Hey you coulda let me fall." Big Mac shrugged.
"Hey come on, what's the big deal, nobody's that heartless!" Cheeso retorted irritatedly, only to clench his mouth shut upon realizing what he just said. "Don't read too much into it, it was a one-time thing." He backtracked.
"Right, sure." Big Mac nodded, not believing Cheeso but deciding to drop the subject. "Well, better get going. With that bridge out, it's a four-day walk to the palace."
"What? You mean you're still taking me back?" Cheeso couldn't believe it.
"I shook hooves on it didn't I?" Big Mac shrugged.
"Well yeah...b-but I hope you realize that doesn't change a thing. I'm still building Cheesotopia when I get back."
"Well four days is a long time, who knows. Maybe you'll change your mind."
"Uh-huh...four days...what are the chances of you carrying me?"
"Not good."
