Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

24.3--Close to Home

Tomato idly rolled a marker back and forth with a hoof, the other hoof supporting his leaning head. The words between others at the table ran together into one long drone. His eyes hopped from one circled city to the next, imagining the very disaster that happened to Canterlot happening in those cities. It was unknown if Princess Cadance could have learned of what was happening in Equestria, but who was to say that Wayer Rune couldn't have struck the Crystal Empire before any messenger that somehow escaped even reached her? Could he have decided to make the residents of Las Pegasus to relive the vampire horror of June--except with the addition of werewolves? Why not an entertainment center like Applewood? Or a historical center like Fillydelphia? Or seaports like Baltimare or Seaddle? Heck, there was even the reluctant option of Ponyville, which Applejack and Rarity had to admit that as an exurb of Canterlot and home of a princess, he could have struck it as well. Once Little Strongheart brought up the possibility of Wayer enchanting rivers, the task of finding their current location was growing larger.

And then there was Manehattan, the city with the highest population in Equestria. Seeing it being the second city circled, just behind the Crystal Empire, gave him the sensation of a stone in his gut, weighing him down and making him feel sick. Any frustrations he had with the city were brushed aside, and all he could think of was how that was his home. Whether or not he liked them, he still felt a chill over ponies that he knew suffering the same fate as Cheese.

He stopped playing with the marker, and shifted his attention to the memory necklace. The stone in his gut stirred within as he imagined how it would be on finally finding that amnesiac werewolf that was his brother. He could feel the pain of being ripped apart by those teeth, the tightness of an attending Wayer's magical grip, and even the sensation of something draining out of his ears, his brainpower sapped as the curse thoroughly removed his equinity, and his very identity.

Rolling the little memory beads back and forth on his hoof, Tomato then wondered what Wayer would do with them once the lanky earth pony had failed his mission and succumbed to the feral curse. If he couldn't smash them--that would just restore the memories to a nearby Cheese--then what could he do?

Next to him, Braeburn's boredom was crushed by concern over his neighbor's anxiety."Y'alright?"

Tomato kept staring at the necklace. "Yeah."

Braeburn just leaned over for a closer look at the necklace. "Awful crazy to think that's Cheese's mind there. He must've had one heck of a headache after getting 'em pulled out. I wonder if he can still think."

Tomato thought of when he and the girls had been trapped in there, accompanied by a living Boneless 2 and a younger version of Cheese. "Well.. I think he sorta can? Or maybe it's like he's asleep and dreaming of everything not falling apart?"

"Sounds confusin'."

"Yeah, it is."

"Okay then." Braeburn pursed his lips, looking among the circled cities on the map. "Tomato, I've been wondering... what'll happen if you get bit? Ain't there anypony else who can grab them memories and give 'em back to Cheese before this gets out of hoof?"

Tomato brushed at one of the beads, his brow furrowing. "I don't know. The only other ponies I know for sure could carry these things are Pinkie Pie and Twilight... and, well, we already lost one, and the other said it takes a lot of magic to hold it without retaliation. Maybe Cheese's mentor could carry them, but I'm not putting an elderly stallion in danger. Maybe if you could carry them, you could be my backup--but, we'd have to know for sure..."

Braeburn blinked, and with an exhale, he slowly reached toward the necklace. The first poke, thankfully, did not bring a shock; he eased himself onto letting his hoof rest on the beads, where a few seconds of nothing made both stallions think that maybe they really had a backup plan after all.

But, it was around ten seconds where Braeburn felt a buzzing and tingling discomfort right down to his bones, and pulled his foreleg back. He rubbed the leg, grimacing in seven different ways and snapping, "Dagnabbit! Feels like them goshdarn pins and needles you get from a hoof fallin' asleep!"

That got the others at the table looking up at them, with Applejack showing a bit of concern. "Braeburn! What have you been doin' over there?"

Braeburn cradled and bounced his foreleg like it was a baby, forcing an unstable grin. "Oh... just discussin' any backup plans in case we lose this pony here." He tilted his head toward Tomato, who sunk below the tabletop. "Cheese's memories just made my foreleg fall asleep and the feelin' drives me crazy!"

Little Strongheart sighed. "One must regard magic with caution, Braeburn."

"Don't need to tell me twice. Surprised it didn't kill me."

Rarity blinked. "Oh, my! I don't think any of us realized that the shocking had... er... intensity levels? Granted, I'd be quite uncomfortable having that pins and needles sensation for however long carrying those memories, but at least you're not toast."

Quasar Rune stroked his goatee. "Interesting, I don't think there's much information on a memory's shock intensity. I think the simple discomfort instead of outright electrocution does suggest that he does like you... though perhaps he's still a little cautious."

Braeburn huffed. "But I guess bein' his friend ain't enough, huh? Wonder what makes a pony worthy."

Tomato noticed the glance Braeburn gave him, and shot back up. "Well, I'm sorry! I didn't ask to be worthy in any sense of the word!"

Braeburn hit him with his hat. "You don't need to yell 'bout it. Sure, I'm disappointed..." He placed his hat back atop his head and adjusted it. "...but I gotta be a big colt about it. Maybe if he visited more often, our good friendship maybe could have had me bein' worthy, and I'm happy that he trusts his brother to that point." He pursed his lips. "Still worries me 'bout how you're the only one."

Applejack sighed, and looked at the boys with tender eyes. "Well, ain't much we can do about that other than guardin' him."

"Maybe the one who tolerates the discomfort the most is the backup," Little Strongheart said.

It was at that moment that they heard a click from the tunnel, followed by the sounds of a door opening and closing. Everypony looked to the tunnel, where Glimmerdust was the first to emerge, surprisingly without a scratch, though clearly winded; behind her, Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Silk Shimmer appeared. Glimmerdust went down the stairs, almost to escape them, though the other four descended after her.

Silk waved to her father. "Hey! We took care of the weather problem!" She side-eyed Glimmerdust. "And we stopped to pick up that tired mare; I'm surprised she isn't more banged up..."

Glimmerdust shot a glare to Silk behind her. "At least I took care of the water system! And the river! And I would have thrown every werewolf and vampire in any water if I had the energy... ugh, I need a nap."

Quasar smiled at them. "Aren't I glad to hear both good news? Though, Glimmerdust, perhaps you should have had Mr. Will with you." He pointed to the meditating Iron Will in the corner.

"I did fine on my own, thank you." Glimmerdust went off to a bed against the cave wall, burying herself in the blankets and grumbling that nopony even take the blankets off of her.

Iron Will cracked open an eye, stood up, and stretched. "Iron Will does not appreciate getting left out. But he has renewed his energies, and is ready to make those monsters take a swim!" He saluted to the ponies and then started running up the stairs that the Cloudsdale group had just gotten off.

Rainbow darted to the table. "And I got to fly with a Wonderbolt legend! You know Raincloud, guys? A master of weather acrobatics? Turns out she escaped getting turned into a monster! She was a lot of help in grabbing all those cursed rainclouds, and we both dodged and punched and kicked any vampire or... flying werewolf..." She made motions matching her listed actions, swooping and striking the air, before stopping at the thought of the winged werewolves. She stifled a laugh before continuing, "And we grabbed just about every stray cloud we found, and even zapped the monsters with some lightning... but yeah, flying with Raincloud is every bit as awesome as I imagined it!"

Tomato perked up at the sound of that. "Raincloud? Hey, wait, that's Cirrus' and Nimbus' mother!"

Rainbow turned to him. "Uh... are you sure you're not confusing her with a different Raincloud?"

"Oh, no, I've met her. And seen her and her husband in action at the opening of the Shining Vocals. Trust me, she's the twins' mom."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Right..."

Twilight came and sat at the table. "If that's the case, you should know that she mentioned that her kids left for Manehattan before the curse happened."

Tomato breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness, they escaped!"

Fluttershy made it to the table, sitting by Applejack. "And my Dad managed to escape the curse, too. Four pegasi definitely made squishing the clouds into a cumulonimbus easier than with just two."

"And now we have our own enchanted rain over Cloudsdale!" Twilight said. Her smile fell into a frown. "But our baddie's still not in sight."

Tomato snorted and leaned in his hoof. "Guess I was right. So, where next, your Highness? We've got a lot of options."

Rarity slid the map to Twilight. "We thought very long and hard about where he'd want to strike after Cloudsdale, but it's terribly hard to narrow down where and why and if he could be still there... for all we know, he could have already teleported to Vanhoover!"

Another pony piped up, "Well, it's obviously either the Crystal Empire or Manehattan that was hit next; either Princess Candance needs to be out of the picture, or he hits the highest population in one sitting."

"Well, thanks for the inf--wait, Crystal Empire?" Twilight's pupils shrunk into pinpricks and she stood up and paced. "Oh, no no no no no! Not my brother and sister-in-law! I've already lost more than enough family to this curse! I-I-I... we gotta go to the Crystal Empire! We gotta make sure they're all right!"

Applejack had a hoof up. "Now, calm down, Twi... maybe Wayer didn't get the memo that--"

"He's from before the Crystal Empire disappeared! He has no reason to not target it!"

Quasar Rune stood up. "Your Highness... I sympathize with your situation, and I want my wife returned to normal just as much. But, we all know that the fastest way to save them all... your family, Tomato's brother, my wife and Silk's mother... everypony's families, is to locate Wayer..." He turned to look at Tomato and the memories he held. "...and pull the linchpin to bring his plot down."

Twilight pursed her lips, frantic eyes now on the map. "Maybe he's still in the Crystal Empire... not much of a time waster to save Cadance and Shining Armor while also stopping our bad guy, right?"

Rainbow groaned. "At this rate, he probably already left it and went on to the next city." She pointed to Manehattan, restarting the chill in Tomato's blood. "Or the next..." Her hoof jumped to Fillydelphia. "Or the next..." Her hoof jumped to Las Pegasus. "Or the next." She ended it with a hoof on Applewood. She pulled back to hover over everypony, and looked at the little circle near Canterlot. "Or maybe even Ponyville! If only our big magic map back at the castle could help us!"

Then, from her wall across the cave, Glimmerdust piped up. "What's stopping it?"

The members of the table turned to the mare underneath the blankets, pondering on how much she must have heard. Twilight answered, "The problem is, it only sends us on missions to solve friendship problems! I'm not sure if the Map counts this as a friendship problem."

"So... you never bothered seeing if it could do more? Wow, you're not very proactive, are you?"

"Hey! It's not that!" Twilight snapped. "It's just... what if messing with the map breaks it or something?"

"Oh, surely you can ask it to help you locate Wayer and his attack dogs--it probably has the... best interests... of Equestria at heart."

All fell silent at that statement, with each pondering the possibility of them using the Map to locate Wayer Rune--or more accurately, Cheese Sandwich--more quickly. Twilight looked among her friends, who stared at the little paper map on the table, with multiple cities circled and question marks all around.

Then, Tomato asked, "Could this map of yours help?"

Twilight turned to him. "I... never really tried anything with it."

"It's worth a shot, Sugarcube," Applejack said. "The Tree of Harmony is on our side, ain't it?"

Twilight sighed. "Well... I guess we'll try it. Come on, Ponyville's not too far, so we won't need a circle."

She trotted over to an empty space on the floor, with her party standing up and coming to join her. They positioned themselves accordingly, close enough to be in range of Twilight's magic, but giving each other space. Rarity scanned the floor, as if to imagine the circle she'd need to draw for the next long distance teleport.

But, before Twilight could cast the spell, Silk Shimmer jumped forth to them. "Wait! Don't you need all the help you can get?"

Twilight blinked, and grimaced. "Silk Shimmer, you were a big help in keeping the monsters away when the rest of us were busy with the weather... but, I don't know if I want to bring more ponies into this hunt."

Quasar was right beside his daughter in a flash. "Especially since this time, you might come face to face with Wayer Rune! Our ancestor's too dangerous, Silk! The moment he finds out you're his descendant, he might get interested in dragging you down to his level!"

Silk turned to him. "Dad, whatever city they'll end up in, they'll be outnumbered! I've got experience dealing with that, I can help them!"

"You can also help Iron Will toss some of those hybrids into the water, I'm not letting you face off against that warlock! It'd be like sending Party Favor to fight Starlight Glimmer!"

The lump in the corner that was Glimmerdust perked up, her eyes strangely confused and interested at the mention of Starlight. After a second, realizing their relation to the other mentioned pony, she went back to resting, still buried within her little cave of a blanket.

"I'm not planning to face him directly, I'm just going to be fighting the monsters," Silk said. "Everyone in this cave can go and trick those things in Canterlot to jump into some water; I don't think you need magic to manage that. I don't recall much magic from Iron Will, after all."

Quasar growled. "Silk Shimmer... it's not a matter of if we can avoid being bitten, or can restore the monsters to their rightful forms... it's about the pony behind this disaster. He just might plan to corrupt you and have you assist him!"

Silk pursed her lips. "Kazam hypnotized me, and I still helped stop the Las Pegasus incident."

Among the group watching the argument, Tomato looked at the memories he held and muttered, "I dunno, I'm a bigger target..."

Quasar held his hard glare for several more seconds, before relaxing into a worried look. "I already had a son corrupted by dark magic use, and the other get seduced by a cult... to say nothing of what happened to your mother. I don't know if I'll be able to handle my only daughter getting dragged into a terrorist's scheme. We can send Glimmerdust to help them."

Glimmerdust stood up from her bed and snapped, "Oh, no, I'll just be splashing a bunch of monsters here in Canterlot, I'm not going on some crazy stallionhunt with Little Miss Goody-Two Shoes and her friends. I'm rested enough, bye!"

And then she poofed away.

Everyone in that cave just stared at where Glimmerdust once laid, her teleport apparently having scorched that bed. Twilight especially appeared perplexed, with everyone turning to her as she asked, "What did I ever do to her?"

Quasar slumped and nickered in annoyance. "So much for that."

Silk shook her head. "I don't understand her attitude." She took her father's hoof. "I know it's risky, but I want to do all I can to help them accomplish their goal. After all, all they need to do is return Cheese Sandwich's memories; I just have to keep the monsters off them, and I've got quite a bit of experience on that."

Quasar glanced away from her, thinking for a few moments, and sighed. He put a hoof on her shoulder. "Very well. All I ask is that you stay away from Wayer Rune. I could give you a long list of what spells he knows and the ways he can use them. Remember your shield spells, sweetheart."

Silk nodded. "No problem."

After giving him a kiss on the cheek, she turned and joined the group, who were now resigned to their new party member. She grinned at Tomato, and he smiled back before they shared a hoofbump. They looked forward at Quasar, who still stood there to see them off.

"Good luck, ponies. We'll be cleaning things up here in the meantime."

Twilight gave him a curt nod. "Thanks." She glanced around at everypony. "You guys ready?"

After receiving the word of affirmation, she teleported the party away.

---

They teleported straight into the throne room, which was basked in a colorful glow thanks to the crystals of the tree root chandelier. A room that seemed normally cold was instead looking like a warm sanctuary in a dark storm, and the Map table glittered under the dancing lights. The visitors to the castle looked around in awe, with Braeburn, Little Strongheart, and Silk Shimmer exploring the room a little, with especial attention drawn to the Map. Meanwhile, Tomato just looked up at the windows, which looked black among the crystal light, and he was unsure exactly what would stare back if one dared to stare into the darkness.

Twilight looked and trotted around. "Spike? Are you here?"

Rainbow Dash decided to be the one to check outside. Pressing her face against the glass, her eyes swept the landscape, catching nearly twice as many winged ponies as normal, with all having leathery bat wings instead of feathered pegasus wings. She could see packs of wolves feasting on kills from beyond town. It was too dark to recognize most, but one overeager howler with a lot of muscle made his own identity clear to Rainbow.

She looked down sadly at the rest of the group. "I think he got Ponyville."

Sharp gasps came from the rest of the residents in the room, while the visitors stopped their little tours. Apologetic looks were shot from those at the table, while Tomato looked down at the floor, cursing under his breath over Wayer having decided to pay the town a visit.

Immediately after, Fluttershy zoomed up, and looked out as well. On seeing the packs of werewolves having their meals, she slowly hovered back, her hooves to her mouth.

"Muh... my..." She bit her lip and choked until she coughed out, "My animal friends! Oh, no, they could have been eaten by our neighbors!" She teared up, and went down to Applejack for comfort. "And I wasn't here to protect them!"

As she held Fluttershy, Applejack came to a realization about her own family. Though she still stayed strong for her friend, she could feel her own heart pounding and her own body going numb. She looked away as she chanted, "Oh, they better have escaped... they better have escaped..."

Rarity gasped. "Oh no! Sweetie Belle! I... I don't want to think about her being..." She choked on the last word, neither option being pleasant, and then fainted with little fanfare. Silk Shimmer zipped to her side, picked her up with her forelegs, and then used her magic to fan her hat over Rarity's face.

Twilight peeked out of the throne room door. "Spike? Spike, please tell me you're alright!"

Rainbow snorted, and readied herself to break the window. "I oughta go out and find Scootaloo!"

Twilight whipped around, and grabbed Rainbow with magic before she even made a move. "Rainbow, wait! You can't just break the window and let them know we're here!" She set her on the ground. "We have to stay in here and figure out where Wayer went."

Rainbow was in Twilight's face in a millisecond. "Maybe there's a chance that somepony did escape! The Crusaders, Big Mac, the Mayor... anypony! I gotta go and find and rescue somepony, anypony, who didn't drink cursed water, or got bitten, or something! Heck, where's Spike? What could the spell do to him?!"

Twilight bit her lip. "I don't know! I-I'm not sure just what a werewolf and vampire spell will do to a dra--"

The door creaked open, and everyone spun around to see a small purple dragon, shaking like it was a cold winter day. He stared at the room, eyes wide as dinner plates and taking in the sight of actual, non-monster ponies, with no fangs of any kind. Other faces of other creatures peeked over as well, seeing if it was safe.

On seeing Twilight, he threw the door wide open, and darted for her, followed by several animals running to the rest of the girls. Applejack was licked by a border collie, and she moved away as a rabbit dried Fluttershy's tears. Rainbow happily embraced a tortoise wearing a propeller on its shell, and a cat patted Rarity in a fairly weak attempt to wake her up. A little alligator just waddled into the room, and looked around, seeing all but the one it wanted to see. All this as the dragon ran and cried, "Twiliiiiiiight!"

Twilight's face brightened as the dragon jumped her and clung on for comfort. "Spike! Oh, Spike, you're all right!" She noticed an owl perching on her horn. "And it's good to see you too, Owlowiscious."

He squeezed her leg and buried his face into it. "It was awful! I-I was watching the pets like you guys asked, and we were watching the Cutie Mark Crusaders swimming when an eclipse happened... next thing I know the Crusaders are growing fangs and stuff and becoming monsters! Everypony turned into monsters! It was like the Flutterbat thing all over again, except with all of Ponyville, and even werewolves were a thing! I had to grab the pets and hide here... scare the monsters off with fire... barricade the door... and hope that none of them break in! I don't know how long it's even been!" His teary eyes looked up at Twilight's. "What's going on?!"

Twilight gently squeezed him. "Oh, I'm sorry you had to go through that! I wish we could have stopped him before he got this far."

Between labored breaths, Spike asked, "Him? Who?"

"Wayer Rune... that one wizard from after Starswirl's time, and before Luna's banishment. He broke out of Tartarus and must have spent some time learning about modern Equestria... and planning on how to destroy it. Did you see anypony or anything unusual when things started happening? Besides the eclipse, that is."

Spike backed away and twiddled his claws. "Well... I know that in the few minutes we watched it, the water started sparkling, and that's when the Crusaders turned all monster and attacked us. I think some random guy zapped a well, but that's it. I just wanted to get out of there."

"Well, if it's anything like Canterlot, he clearly enchanted the water supply."

Spike blinked. "He got Canterlot, too?"

"And Cloudsdale, but we managed to take that back."

"And he did it by enchanting the water?" He paused, staring at the floor in thought. "I guess I was right to be paranoid about turning on the tap and using the emergency water bottles instead. Gee, I wonder what would have happened if the Crusaders weren't swimming."

"So, all three of 'em were in the water?" Applejack snorted hotly. "So is Apple Bloom a vampire, or a werewolf?"

Braeburn galloped around the table and slid beside his cousin. "Applejack, I don't think gettin' angry is--"

"Don't you tell me not to be angry! He dragged my home into this!" she snapped, cowing him. Her dog shrunk at her yelling as well. "He dragged my family into this! You think I want to think of Granny Smith drinkin' blood, or Big Mac chowing down on our pigs? Or even little Apple Bloom actin' like some rabid wild animal? My baby sister was supposed to be safe here in Ponyville, away from all the crazy magic nonsense involving that no-good, memory-stealin', monster-obsessed varmint giving us all a lickin' for a war that happened long before Granny Smith was even born!"

Rainbow flew to where Applejack was, holding her tortoise tightly. "Same for Scootaloo! I'd love for her to fly, but not as a vampire! And how many times will Rarity faint if we get her to think about what happened to Sweetie Belle? I'm lucky that Tank didn't become tortoise stew! At this point, I think it's safe to say that now all of us have somepony we love turned into either monster!" She glanced her dagger eyes at Tomato watching the exchange. "Too bad a certain somepony's brother has priority over everyone else."

Tomato stepped back, furrowing his brow. "Why are you looking at me? It's not my fault Cheese is the linchpin of his stupid plan!"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Girls! I know you're upset, but yelling isn't going to solve anything!" She noticed the lonely little alligator, flew over to it, and picked it up. "Poor Gummy here doesn't have his owner to comfort him in this scary time, and I don't know what to tell him." She looked over at Twilight. "I hope we stop this madness quickly, and get Pinkie back for him."

Twilight sighed. "So do I. Perhaps I could quickly cast the cure in the water."

Spike tapped her shoulder. "Uh, how is Cheese Sandwich the linchpin of this crazy pony's plan?" He looked around to confirm the absence of their party pony, even among visitors that he recognized and the one he didn't. "And what happened to Pinkie?"

Twilight glanced at Tomato briefly before she looked back to Spike. "He manipulated Cheese Sandwich, tore out his memories, and put him under his werewolf curse; he also altered the spell so that every werewolf would lose memories like he did, and that vampires were subject to the same. Pinkie was bitten, and we saw her lose her memories in front of our eyes."

Spike covered his mouth. "You mean... Pinkie's a werewolf? And Cheese?"

Twilight nodded, and glanced at Fluttershy and her rabbit stroking Gummy, who despite displaying a wide-eyed, emotionless stare had a sad aura around him. She pursed her lips and then straightened resolutely. "However, there is a loophole in the curse. The same alteration that made everyone suffer Cheese's amnesia also makes it so that when Cheese regains his memories..." She gestured to Tomato, who lifted the necklace up and gave the dragon an awkward smirk. Twilight turned back and finished, "...everypony else would get their memories too. Same deal with curing him; he's cured, the rest are cured."

Spike blinked to process the information, and then nodded. "Oh, I get it! Guess his whole plan's too easy to break apart, huh?"

Twilight sighed, and then trotted to the Map. "Well... we have to find him first. Someone suggested that we use the Map to try to find Cheese, but... I've never really done anything with it before. We just let it call whoever to fix a friendship problem and that's it, and I don't know if this whole thing even counts as a friendship problem."

"Well, surely the Tree of Harmony will understand," Spike said.

"Maybe, but... I don't want to risk breaking it."

Silk Shimmer looked up. "I remember an ancestor of mine--not the one we're dealing with, but a different one--saying that there would be no progress if nopony took risks. I don't know much about it, but maybe you should do a little more to figure out how it works and what it's capable of? I mean, you do want harmony back in Equestria, and this is a thing of harmony..."

The moment she noticed Rarity stir and sit up, she let go and gave her space. Rarity took a moment to process her surroundings, petting her cat and looking around, up until she noticed Spike. Her eyes widened. "Oh! Spikey-Wikey, you escaped this dreadful disaster! Oh, what joy it brings me to see you as your normal self instead of some... hideous half-bat or half-wolf monster!"

Spike brightened at the sight of her, and sprinted to her. "Oh, Rarity! Are you all right? I'm sorry, I got so caught up in getting up to speed, I forgot to check..." He put a finger to his mouth and scrunch up his face in thought. "Wait... can the spell even affect dragons?"

"Oh, I'd rather not find out." Rarity shuddered. "It's bad enough realizing that... Sweetie Belle..." She choked, and then grabbed Spike. "Please tell me she's all right, and she's not some vampire or werewolf or... some horrible mix of the two!"

"Uh..." Spike looked at the others, who gave him grim looks, with Rainbow and Applejack especially giving him hurt looks, and Gummy's stare boring into his soul. He opened his mouth to answer, still undecided between truth and lie, and choked hard enough for smoke to puff out.

Rarity noticed all the looks and frowned. "I see. So my sister's suffering like everyone else?"

Spike teared up. "I'd have saved them if I knew it was coming!"

Tomato sighed and sat down on the floor. "I feel you, little guy."

Twilight pursed her lips, and backed away. She looked at Silk Shimmer. "Well... I'm going to be thinking about how best to approach asking the Map... in the meantime, I'll get that water supply taken care of so that some ponies could turn back to normal. I'll be right back."

And so, she teleported away, leaving the others to wait.

---

What was a group of ponies, pets, a buffalo, and a dragon to do when hiding in a throne room and waiting for their leader to return from a little side mission?

Playing Go Fish was a way to keep some minds off the current state of affairs, as was telling a nice, fluffy story to the animals. Spike played tour guide to Braeburn, Little Strongheart, and Silk Shimmer, answering questions about the Map and some adventures the girls had, and maybe even a few about himself as a dragon. Tomato did what he always does when bored; he pulled a book from his jacket and read. It was somberly quiet, even with the banter of the card players and the animals' reactions to Fluttershy's story.

Tomato was just getting to the good part when they heard the crash of a window breaking elsewhere in the castle.

His blood ran cold. He could hear the others asking just what that was and which of the many rooms of the castle it was in; but, when closing his eyes and focusing on the sounds of the intruder--or rather, intruders, as there were multiple little growls and hisses--he could sense that it was several rooms away, where plates were being shattered, pot and pans were being banged upon, and cupboard doors were opening and closing.

He piped up, "Hey, guys? I think they broke into the kitchen."

Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack, still holding their cards, turned to him. Rainbow asked, "Uh, they?"

"Well, when you still retain the bat hearing, you hear a few more details than everyone else. I think there's three?"

"Well, guess we just need a small party to take care of 'em." Applejack set her cards down and stood up, looking at her fellow card players. "Come on, y'all--let's grab somethin' and scare them monsters off."

Fluttershy looked at the pets and stood up. "Excuse me, fellas, but I think they need my Stare to help them."

Rainbow was already at the door, cracking her neck and punching one hoof into the other, while Rarity and Fluttershy just simply trotted. Applejack paused at the saddlebags against the wall to grab a rope before continuing on. As those girls walked off to confront the monsters, Rarity murmured, "Oh, I hope it isn't somepony we know."

---

At the kitchen door, three pairs of hooves grabbed Rarity by the mouth before she could gasp or perhaps even scream.

They had only caught a glimpse of their intruders, but the colors were enough to confirm the identities of the creatures. A vampire white as snow crawled along the counters and stoves, knocking over any pots and utensils that had been left out. A second vampire, this one orange, hopped among the shelves, cupboards, and the pan hanger directly over the island counter, knocking off anything in its path. The lone werewolf, yellow and wearing a tattered hair ribbon, raided the fridge and pantry, searching for something to eat.

The party of four could only look at each other in shock and horror. Spike had told them, sure, but seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders for themselves made their very hearts crumble. Applejack heaved, her chest visibly rising and falling and her grip on Rarity growing tighter.

Fluttershy rubbed her back and whispered "Take slow breaths, Applejack... take it slow..."

When she managed to peel the hooves off her mouth, Rarity willed herself not to wail, though she still teared up. "Why must woe be upon my darling little sister? What did she do to deserve such a cruel fate?"

Rainbow clenched her teeth, shaking from just the sheer pressure she was holding back. "He did this to spite us."

Fluttershy sighed. "I'm... honestly not doubting that. Let's just catch them before they cause too much trouble."

She peeked in the kitchen to scout for anything to catch them--and to spare her friends the sights of their monsterfied sisters. Apple Bloom got a hold of lemons, only for a slow, squishy bite on one that dripped juice on the floor to convince her to toss them aside. The vampires snatched a couple lemons, and sucked from them; they recoiled with tightened faces, and tossed them out the door.

Unluckily for Fluttershy, she got a face full of lemon.

"Oh, ouch!" she squeaked. "There's juice in my eyes!"

The Crusaders turned to where the yellow pegasus was, squeezing her leaking eyes shut, and all three licked their lips. A growl and two hisses alerted the little monsters' sisters, and they pulled Fluttershy out of the way of their pounce. Backing to an adjacent wall, the ponies watched as the monster trio turned, with barks and hisses toward them.

Rainbow groaned. "Great, now the Stare can't help us!"

Fluttershy wiped tears from her eyes. "Just give me a minute, I'll cry it out..."

"I don't think we have a minute!" Applejack exclaimed.

The Crusaders pounced, and Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity yanked Fluttershy out of the way. They rounded around the momentarily confused monster fillies and back into the kitchen, where they immediately looked around for a solution to their friend's eye problem.

Rarity stared at the sink. "Do you suppose Twilight fixed the water by now?"

"Not risking it!" Rainbow shouted, rummaging through the fridge. She pulled out a milk jug. "Would milk work?"

Applejack stared at the milk. "I dunno! Maybe we should try one of them cucumber sli--look out!"

She grabbed Rainbow by the tail and yanked her out of the way of another pounce from the Crusaders. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo turned to them, backing them across the kitchen. The mares couldn't look the little monsters in the eyes, making them think that they had them cornered.

But, Applejack had her rope, and she had her eyes on a bag of flour. In one quick move, she twirled her lasso, and while the startled monster fillies sidestepped to dodge, she nabbed the flour, and yanked it back, causing Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to stumble in their last second attempt to avoid it. Rainbow caught the flour, and together, the mares grabbed some flour to throw in the monster fillies faces each time they tried to pounce. Between licking and shaking or dusting the flour off, the monster fillies' cleanup made the mares slip away, which resulted in a chase that involved more flour thrown at their faces.

"This is not how I imagined this fight!" Rainbow groused.

"Would you rather kick Scootaloo?!" Applejack retorted.

Rainbow glanced back at the little orange vampire, who could only hover for a few seconds at a time just like her normal self. She took a quick look at Sweetie Belle, who was flying just fine despite having those wings a few days at most. She grimaced at the sight before having to toss flour at Scootaloo again. "Nope."

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle had her sights set on Rarity and Fluttershy, the former of whom had levitated a broom and was trying to shoo her away without having to hurt her. The most she did was bop her away with the bristles, and pat her down when she tried to fly. She parried with the broom, making sure to keep the little vampire away from Fluttershy.

At some point, Sweetie Belle had enough and kicked the broom away, which spun right above Rarity and Fluttershy's heads, and landed on the sink in such a way that turned the handle and made water run from the faucet. Rarity didn't bother to turn off the water; she simply grabbed the broom, and parried yet again, and even started to sweep her away.

It was such a strange bit of chaos in one small room. There were two mares running around an island counter, throwing flour at their pursuers, with Applejack wondering if she should just hogtie them, even if the thought of doing that to her sister and her friends made her sick. There was also Rarity, switching between fencing at and sweeping her vampiric sister in her little fight, trying to keep her away from Fluttershy and herself so that neither were a feast. And then Fluttershy, a sitting duck with burning eyes, silently lamenting that crying the lemon juice out was not going fast enough.

Eventually, Rainbow and Applejack ended up running into the broom, making Rarity stumble and fall. The flour was tossed from the bag into the air, and then landed atop the pile of mares. And they found themselves surrounded by and pounced on by the Crusaders, where they had to wrestle them off before any fang even came in contact with any skin.

And Fluttershy, in her pain, forgot about the risk of flushing her eyes out with the running water.

When the yellow pegasus started washing, Rarity noticed almost immediately. "Fluttershy! Not the water!"

Fluttershy had given herself several splashes on her face, stopping when she remembered why she shouldn't have done that. She turned, and opened her eyes. It was blurry for a few moments, before she blinked into clarity and saw the wrestling scene on the floor. The other three, wrestling their respective sister or sister figure on the floor, covered in flour, were looking at her in horror--at least before turning their focus back on the monster fillies trying to bite them. Fluttershy herself stood still, her whole body tingling with the dread of her transformation, especially since this time she'd be out for blood instead of fruit.

It was a good long minute of nothing happening before Fluttershy looked at herself, and realized what that meant.

Grabbing the nearest pitcher, she turned the water up for a quick fill, and then tossed it at the ponies on the floor. The water slapped and splashed all over the six on the floor, stunning the little monster fillies from their attacks. Their sisters grabbed them, sat up, and held them tightly as Fluttershy brought another round of water, preventing any bites from the fillies from having any affect on the mares. Refill after refill, she tossed the water again and again, until the other ponies were soaked, with the Crusaders having stopped struggling.

The fillies dropped into their respective sister's forelegs, and the mares cradled them. They watched as fangs retracted into flat incisors, paws hardened into hooves, wings either returned to feathery form or disappeared completely, and a black nose returned to a normal horse snout. The fillies moaned, and fluttered their eyes open to see familiar faces.

"...Applejack?" Apple Bloom asked.

Applejack responded with a big smile and a hug, choking out, "Oh, my baby sister's back to normal!"

Sweetie Belle rubbed her head. "Ugh, I don't feel so good..." She took a look at her hoof to see the wet flour. "And what are we covered in?"

Rarity could hardly care about the mess at the moment, she just snuggled her sister. "Oh, Sweetie Belle! I was so scared to see you as some awful monster! I'm just..." she sniffled. "...so happy that you're Sweetie Belle and not Sweetie Bat!"

Scootaloo looked around tiredly. "Huh? Monsters? What happened? Weren't we swimming?"

Rainbow chuckled. "It's a long story..."

---

One cleanup of pony bodies with towels later, they met in the throne room where Twilight had returned and announced her successful cure enchantment of the water supply. She was pleased to see the Crusaders were all right, especially since they were proof that the cure did work. They had to do a little explaining about the werewolf and vampire thing, since they couldn't come up with any other excuse for suddenly being in the castle when they last remembered swimming.

"...and now we have to find the bad guy to stop him," Spike finished.

The Crusaders were still huddled in their towels, processing what had been told them. Scootaloo scoffed. "For real? That's got to be the craziest thing I've ever heard!"

"Well, we have had eternal night almost happen, a brief stint of chaos, a Changeling invasion, a bunch of magic vines, and a magic-stealing centaur..." Sweetie Belle said. "Doesn't seem like a stretch that eventually vampires and werewolves would come in."

"And by enchantin' the water supply too!" Apple Bloom exclaimed in concern. She looked up at Applejack. "Sis... are Granny and Big Mac okay?"

Applejack bit her lip, looked at the floor, and shook her head. "I don't think so. Hopefully they'll get thirsty, and drink the cured water, but I'm not sure we have enough time to make sure of that. Our baddie's still out there, and we need to nab him now." She looked at Twilight. "Twi, have you thought about how you're gonna do this?"

Twilight stared at the map nervously. She glanced at every corner of the map, and then at everyone in the room. Her final gaze rested on Tomato, and then to the memory necklace he wore. She took a deep breath, and thought of the spell she was going to cast. "Yes, I have."

She zapped the map with the tracking spell, hoping that it didn't break. A few moments of casting had the map flashing, which made the group worry that it was a warning signal to back off. Most backed away in case it retaliated. However, the moment passed, and the map emitted a warm, steady glow. Floating cutie marks pop up above Ponyville, bearing the marks of Twilight's friends, and a small cheese sandwich representing the memories; their eyes scanned the map for any other marks until they found a pair floating in the northeastern corner of Equestria, above one particular city.

"Manehattan..." Twilight said, looking at the split cheese sandwich and three balloon cutie marks. "They're in Manehattan."

Everyone turned to Tomato, who had paled at the name of his hometown. It was easy to tell what was running through his mind; from ponies he knew becoming ravenous beasts to the inevitable confrontation with the alpha wolf and the attending beastmaster, both ready to kill him. He looked ready to throw up, which had ponies like Braeburn and Silk Shimmer coming in to rub his back in comfort.

Twilight sighed. "I guess I can't check on Shining Armor and Cadance. Well, at least the spell worked..." She smiled at the map. "Thank you."

She looked up at Tomato. "Don't worry, we've all got your back. I'll make sure that Wayer doesn't get in the way."

Fluttershy raised her hoof. "I can stop Cheese with my Stare so it'd be easier to return the memories."

Rainbow was in the air. "And the rest of us will be kicking werewolf and vampire butt! Don't want all of those coming after you, huh?"

Tomato smiled. "Thanks... though, Manehattan's a pretty big place, with a lot of ponies. Do you think we have enough ponies to keep them all at bay?"

"We fought an army of Changelings," Applejack said. "We're kind of experts at this."

"And I did just fine with only Trixie to help in Las Pegasus," Silk Shimmer said.

"And we have held our own before, in both Appleloosa and Canterlot," Little Strongheart said, gesturing between herself and Braeburn.

Braeburn smiled. "It ain't a problem; I want to rescue my neighbors and my friend; heck, we all have somepony to rescue in this mission. And we're gonna make sure that you make that happen, because we ain't giving up our loved ones without a fight."

Tomato inhaled, and then slowly exhaled. "All right... no pressure. Let's go."

All grabbed their saddlebags and tied them on their barrels. Twilight levitated the spellbook out of hers, and held it up so that Rarity could reference the alchemy circle and draw it on the floor, big enough for all to fit.

As they did this, the Crusaders piped up, "We can help, too!"

Applejack glared at them. "Oh, no! It's way too dangerous for you fillies!"

Apple Bloom pouted. "And Ponyville isn't?"

"We want y'all to stay in the castle, it's the safest place in town. We don't want you fillies to get hurt--especially since gettin' bit will just have y'all transforming back to them monsters. Just stay in this here building until we come back, and don't do anything reckless, you hear?"

"What if something breaks in?" Scootaloo asked. "What do we do then?"

Twilight answered that with, "Hey, there are several places in this castle where you can get water; it has the cure, so you could splash any intruders with it to defend yourselves. Be sure to tell them what's going on, and maybe they could pitch in. It's the best way you can help."

Spike was by the Crusaders' side. "Don't worry, I'll be with you fillies..." He was joined by the pets all waddling, hopping, or floating to right behind him. "And so will these guys. If any vampire or werewolf gets in here, we'll give them a water fight they'll never forget!"

The Crusaders looked amongst each other to ponder this. After a moment, they smiled, and shouted, "Cutie Mark Crusader Defenders of the Castle!"

Applejack grimaced and asked Twilight. "You sure we shouldn't lock them in the library?"

Twilight glanced at her. "Well, they need to know how to defend themselves when all else fails. Here's hoping it doesn't go wrong."

They noticed that Rarity was done with the circle, and all the adult ponies and their buffalo friend gathered onto it. They looked at the young fillies, dragon, and pets one last time, and waved goodbye to them. And thus, Twilight cast the spell and activated the circle once more.

And off they were to Manehattan.

Author's Note:

Well, this took a much longer time than I'd have liked to come about.

Anyway, now we're getting somewhere. Here's hoping I don't take forever to get to the next part.

Comments

[redmar]

At least this has updated again but the sooner the whole thing with Wayer Rune is over the better.

[SageBrony07]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad to see Spike was alright and the cutie mark cusaders are back. I'll be honest, I stopped breathing when Fluttershy washed out her eyes. But I'm glad ponies are getting better. I just wonder where is the princesses. If I'm right, then oh boy, this is going to get messy.

[Goldfinch142]

I'm always up for creative uses of the Map!

Well. It would appear that the final stand is imminent. Time for the group members to be at their best. Game on.
(Heh, I had a feeling it would be in Manehattan! What better place to end than where it all began?)

At least the water cure means they won't have to deal with an entire country's worth of monsters after whipping Wayer Rune. Can't wait to see him get what he deserves. He sure likes making things personal for a lot of his victims; he's petty like that.

Glad to see you up and at 'em again. Don't forget, slow and steady wins the race.

[howard035]

Time for the big face-off.

[Chromio]

When I said to take your time last chapter, I didn't think you'd take it literally

In all honesty though, great chapter! Makes me glad I'm still here reading this story, it's been over 4 years since you started this Cheese & Tomato business and you're still going, so thanks for a good time.

[Dashie04]

I know I’d say I’d add this to my favorites after it was finished. But I realized something, I was disappointed when I had to read the most recent chapters of the stories I’m tracking over this one.

So Sketcha-holic, take your favorite, I only favorite the best of the best and this, this definitely fits that bill.

[Godslittleprincess]

Please fix Cheese and Pinkie soon. Please fix Cheese and Pinkie soon.