Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

1.1--A Good Ol' Break

Manehattan--the city that never sleeps. Filled with a variety of ponies running in the streets and skyscrapers dominating the landscape, there were sights to see and wonders to behold. Many an outsider gazed up at the sheer height the buildings often reached, and many an outsider zoomed towards the famous places that the city held. Some took a ferry to see the statue in the bay, others opted to see a show on Bridleway, and there were those who took a trip to the park instead. There were many things to do in the city, some well-known, and others obscure.

Of course, there were some ponies who just wanted to get away from it.

It was a warm, late spring day. A taxi carriage stopped in front of the train station, the well-muscled driver announcing the stop to his two passengers. With a word of thanks, a light green mare jumped out first, her mouth latched onto her suitcase and her hoof brushing her strawberry blonde mane out of her eyes. She was followed by a vermilion stallion, who stretched his entire body, from his head to his slick, dark brown tail. He stood erect to his full height, which was a full head taller than the mare, and adjusted his glasses.

The mare waved goodbye to the taxi pony, and she and her friend started walking up the steps. As she glanced back at the pony taking off running to his next destination, she mumbled, "Gee, that was a wild ride."

Her friend answered, "Don't worry, I've had worse, Flora."

Flora jumped to the top, pausing to wait for Tomato to catch up. "I wonder why he was so jumpy, Tomato. It's not like we were going to pounce on him with violent intentions."

Tomato shrugged, reaching the top of the stairs, and continuing forward until he paused to open the door. "You never know. I just think he got yelled at and was expecting us to do the same." He glanced at Flora and quirked an eyebrow. "Or perhaps he found you pretty and was too flustered to think straight."

Flora scowled and lightly punched his front leg as she walked past him. "That's not funny."

"Funny is not my business," Tomato replied, waiting until Flora was inside before shutting the door. "That's the department where Nimbus, Cheese, and Bananas reside."

Flora rolled her eyes. With a smirk, she asked, "Speaking of Cheese... are you excited for your vacation with him?"

Tomato smiled and nodded. "Indeed. It was his idea. I think his Cheesy Sense might have told him that I need to spend more than a weekend away from this city."

Flora sighed. "I know I do. This place is so fast-paced I get a little dizzy just thinking about it. I can't wait to go back home." She beamed and giggled. "I betcha that all my siblings are going to jump on me and squeeze the air out of me."

Tomato chuckled. "I can imagine that. I mean... how do you live with seven siblings? I only have one sibling and well... you know about the stupid feud we had until last fall." He narrowed his eyes. "Tell me your secret."

Flora rolled her eyes. "I grew up with them. Granted, I was an only child until Bananas was born, but I just rolled with each new birth and took it as a learning experience. They know I'm on the top of the sibling pecking order... but Olive just loves to challenge me."

Tomato whickered. "She thinks it'd be fun to be top dog?"

"Yep. She doesn't seem to get the part that being the oldest comes with responsibilities. You're essentially a mini-parent for ponies that are simultaneously your best friend and your worst enemy."

"Huh. Well, I wouldn't know, I'm the youngest in my family."

Flora laughed. "I wonder if ponies saw you and Cheese together and thought you were older."

Tomato snorted. "The last time I was with Cheese was Hearth's Warming. He dragged me to a party, and it was fun. Of course, I got a stomachache from eating too much. But those cookies were dipped in the chocolate pudding and it was the most sweet chocolate I've ever tasted in my life. And then there were the meringue shells that were the perfect combination of crunchy and chewy, and the tortes, and the tarts, and just about everything there. He had to drag me away from the table because he feared that I was going to throw up."

Flora laughed some more. "Oh, goodness! I didn't even ask if you had a sweet tooth."

Tomato flushed redder than his coat. "Oops... caught in a tangent."

Flora just beamed at him and shook her head. "Under that suit and slicked down mane is just a huge dork."

Tomato was still blushing, but he was now glaring at her. "Gee, thanks."

Flora blinked and raised an eyebrow. "An endearing dork that I'm proud to consider my friend. I know for certain my folks would like you. Anyway, watch my luggage, I got to go buy my ticket, I'll be back in a jiffy."

She turned and trotted to the ticket booth, and Tomato just sat on a nearby bench and started to strum the large forelock curl gracing his mane, his tail holding Flora's suitcase. He looked up at the clock, noting that it was half past twelve. He glanced around the station, seeing some ponies board the train, some ponies get off the train, and some ponies either entering or exiting the station's front entrance. He scanned the crowd for either a brown serape or a loud yellow shirt. Or perhaps a rubber chicken.

All the while, he couldn't help but wonder what was in store for him. He knew that he was going to go to a LOT of parties. After all, with his brother being a party pony, it was inevitable. If there were ponies out there that recognized Cheese Sandwich, how would they react to his brother Tomato Sandwich? Hopefully those meetings would be much less disastrous than the day Tomato met Pinkie Pie.

He remembered that day both with fondness and disdain. On the one hoof, it was the day that he and Cheese had decided to end their feud and try being "best brother buddies" like when they were colts. On the other hoof, a lot of things were broken, a lot of ponies were unhappy, and relations between the brothers could have been damaged beyond repair. Tomato's foreleg ached upon remembering the stage collapsing, resulting in the limb fracturing from the fall and the combined weight of his body and Cheese's accordion. That was not fun.

And somehow, everything worked out. That disaster did knock some sense into them.

True to the party pony style, Cheese Sandwich in cowpony gear popped into Tomato's vision upside-down and with a grin, exclaiming, "Hey, baby bro!"

Tomato looked up and saw he was hanging from a rope attached to the ceiling. It was best not to question things like that. He looked back at Cheese's face and replied, "Hello, Cheese."

Cheese flipped off the rope and stuck a perfect landing on two hooves. He bowed dramatically before going back to four hooves and grinning. "So, are you ready for a road trip? I've got extra thingamahoozies and stuff packed for for the three of us."

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Three?"

Cheese nodded. "You, me, and Boneless 2."

"Oh."

Cheese slid over and grabbed him, gesturing dramatically toward the ceiling. "Yes, brother, we are about to embark the adventure of a lifetime! We will get dusty and dirty, we will get hungry, and cold, and tired, and we might run into some poisonous plants, venomous animals, and plenty of crazy ponies. But it will be glorious, and we will party hard!"

Tomato rolled his eyes. He could just feel some ponies staring at them. "My overdue teenage rebellion; Mom's going to hate it. So... where are we going first?"

Cheese dropped him. "I have no idea!"

Sitting up and rubbing his head, Tomato looked up at him with a glare. "What do you mean you don't know? Didn't you plan anything out?"

Cheese turned and tapped his cutie mark. "I just go wherever Cheesy Sense says I need to go. But no worries, baby bro, I'll get you back home before Fall Semester begins."

Flora returned with her ticket. She looked at Cheese with surprise, and smiled warmly. "Hello, Cheese!"

Cheese tipped his hat. "Pleasure to see you again, Flora. How's life treating you? Is Tommy behaving?"

"Life's been pretty good, though I've had my sour days. And yes, Tomato's been good. He's not one for getting into trouble."

Cheese chuckled. "You should have seen him as a colt. He nearly killed himself all the time. Running into the street, ferry, bridge, pack of dogs... you name it."

Flora tilted her head. "Um... pack of dogs?"

Tomato butted in with, "You don't want to know."

Flora pursed her lips and glanced upward. "You're not the only one who had to deal with a mischievous younger sibling, Cheese. About half of my siblings got into trouble on a regular basis."

Tomato then added, "But she's top dog."

Flora rolled her eyes. "Ruff ruff."

Cheese laughed, and then asked Tomato. "Have you met her siblings yet?"

Tomato shook his head, and Cheese scratched his chin. Upon seeing Flora shrug, Cheese said, "You know, if we're lucky, my Cheesy Sense will lead us to wherever you live and a nice party will be thrown and then we can meet your family. After all, I was lucky enough to meet my friend Pinkie's family in Nickerlite."

Flora gave him a funny look. "Um... where is that?"

Cheese lifted his serape and started to rummage through one of its inside pockets. "Now, I'm sure I have a map somewhere in here..."

The train whistled, and Flora gasped. "Sorry, no time for that, I've got to board the train home!" She shook Cheese's hoof, gave Tomato a hug, and picked up her suitcase. As she cantered off, she waved and said, "Bye, guys! I'll see you later!"

The two stallions watched her take off, and looked at each other. Cheese nudged Tomato and clicked his tongue playfully, accompanied with the waggling of the eyebrows. Tomato shot him a funny look and said, "Cheese, you know that's getting old. Our relationship is platonic."

"Yeah... sure... so where does she live?" Cheese took out the map he was looking for and looked at it.

"Neighton."

Cheese frowned. "Which Neighton? There's several on here. There's one several miles away from Manehattan, one north of Las Pegasus, one near Cloudsdale, one under Canterlot, one in the Salt Lick Valley, one by the San Palomino Desert, one near Detrot, one several miles east of Seaddle--"

"She never specified..." Tomato's face flushed. "I, uh, keep forgetting to mention that there's more than one..."

Cheese looked up at him with a annoyed pout. "Huh." Cheese folded the map and stuffed it back in his pocket. He smiled at Tomato and said, "So, ready to go?

Tomato looked down at his body. "I guess?"

Cheese smirked. "There is one last thing..." He pulled out an extra serape and hat, and he put both on Tomato faster than one could wink. Once he was finished, Cheese stepped back and admired his work. "Yep, you're definitely ready, my fellow cowpony."

Tomato looked at the outfit that Cheese had just dressed him in. His serape was striped with different shades of brown and yellow, and looking up, he could tell his hat was a tan color. He looked at Cheese with a dead serious expression, pulled his green tie from the neckhole, and tied it into a bow.

"I am a cowspy."

Author's Note:

More people were expecting a sequel to "The Rock Farmer's Daughters"; but I don't have any good ideas for that.

But "Brother Bothers"... yeah, I could think up several more sequels if I wanted to.

So, now I start a fic about a buddy road trip about these two! Let's see how this "Brotherly Bonding Time" turns out. Let's go and see what kind of adventures these two doofuses have!

Comments

[Drifting Heart]

Yes finally! some more heartwarming moments with these two. I been following the ask blog and i have to say its good to see more of these two written in story format. But probably with some more angst now that i dont mind we need more angsty cheese on this site. I love the cover art btw.

[scoots2]

I am VERY pleased to see this!

Tommy's too polite to yank Cheese's chain about Pinkie, evidently. BTW, I like the way you're walking a line about Flora and Tommy, too. I'd be more than pleased if they wound up together, but I also enjoy seeing them as very good friends and not having that steal focus from a brother buddy road trip.

*yay for cowspies*

[SageBrony07]

YEAH!!!!!!!! THANKS FOR THIS. I can't wait to read this sequel. I think it is going to be so much fun.

[Jordan179]

Very glad to see you writing more about Tommy!

[FanOfMostEverything]

The return of the cowspy!

This looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. I look forward to it. Also, it amuses me that Flora basically lives in Springfield.

[Waterwitch222]

I LOVES IT!!!

[TheMutatedDeity]

A sequel to one of my favorite family fics? What in Fazbear's name is this madness?!

Nah, I'm just kidding. I can't believe that a sequel was made, however! I literally jumped up from my office chair, clapped my hands, and said "HALLELUGHAH!" I'll be keeping an eye on this one with the excited Lyra symbol that is on my Tracking tab. Keep up the good work! I'll be waiting for the next chapter excitedly.

[howard035]

5428163 Came here to make shipping jokes about Tomato and Flora, saw your thoughtful comment and reconsidered. Romance or friendship, both work well for those two, it's just nice to see their relationship explored. It makes me wonder if the author has siblings, and if they are older or younger.

[HeyAreYouListening]

ALRIGHTY!

TIme to reread this fic!

For the twentieth time!

And probably reread any CheesePie moments (*cough cough* Ponyville arc) a million times!

YEAH!

[Godslittleprincess]

Oooh! This looks fun.