Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

1.2--Just the Two of Us

Once out of the city, Cheese found his body relaxing. He briefly glanced back at Manehattan, the one city that made him tense whenever Cheesy Sense called for a party there. There were more unpleasant memories there than pleasant ones, so he had tried multiple times to break away from it. But, there was still one tie there, which was the pony walking beside him.

Tomato had been his one remaining tie to Manehattan, thanks to Cheesy Sense always insisting that there had been unfinished business in the city. For years, they had believed that if they pretended the other didn't exist, everything would just work out. Cheese especially had the pressure of keeping a happy face for other ponies--after all, who ever heard of a party pony in a feud with his brother? He inwardly cringed at the memory of how he had just exploded in front of the entire town of Ponyville at the Fall Festival.

Perhaps that anger needed to be released in order for him to see how much Tomato had really been hurting. Cheese didn't have the full story behind his transformation from happy colt to sour stallion--he had only the bits where salt was thrown into Tommy's wounds by Cheese himself--but from what he could gather, it wasn't the happiest story. Even if Tomato was noticeably happier, Cheese knew that was more that needed to be done.

Hopefully, pulling him out of Manehattan and away from their parents would improve things. Cheese prayed that Tomato would move out of the city as soon as possible, for both of their benefits.

It was then that he realized that things were awkwardly quiet. The silence being awkward was a strange feeling; Cheese was used to quiet, since he often traveled alone and only talked with Boneless 2. But now that a living, breathing pony was traveling beside him, he felt like he was wasting a chance for a conversation. Of course, he couldn't predict just what Tomato was going to say, and he kept on assuming the worst coming out of his younger brother's mouth.

He noticed Tomato turning to him. Cheese braced himself for an insult out of the blue, reminding him about how he was the family disappointment, wondering how he managed to survive on his own for years--

"You're awfully quiet, Cheese," Tomato said. "Thinking up ideas for the next party?"

Cheese wanted to slap himself for falling into that old line of thinking. He had convinced himself that Tomato had been turning into their mother and became as stagnant in his attitude as she was in hers. Cheese suspected those friends of his kept him from going all the way.

Of course, not wanting to leave the question unanswered, Cheese answered, "Well, I do use the time in between parties thinking up of new ideas."

Tomato nodded. "Can't wait to see those ideas in action. You always were the creative one."

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "You had your moments of creativity, too, you know."

"Yeah... but I'm going to admit that I've always been jealous of how artistic you were. I still only draw ponies as incomprehensible blobs."

Cheese blinked as he processed that, and then laughed. "Oh, yeah, I remember that picture you drew of our family years ago. I remember I was the blob with big eyes and a circle for hair and you were the blob with small eyes and a single black curl."

"Those 'big eyes' were your glasses."

"Oh, really? Explains why Dad's blob had them too." Cheese looked at Tomato's glasses. "Do you draw yourself with big eyes nowadays?"

Tomato shook his head. "Nah, I don't draw much. My talent never was in art. I do not understand how ponies can draw a straight line, let alone an accurate profile of Princess Celestia."

"A lot of ponies have practiced since they were little. I once met a filly who earned her cutie mark early because she was very obsessed with drawing."

"I suppose I couldn't sit still long enough to learn. Eh, not like it mattered in the long run: my talent is in the area of finances."

"Your cutie mark makes that a little obvious." Cheese threw his hat up, started walking on his two front legs, and caught the hat with his tail, twirling it. "But, hey! That's not the only thing you can do, bro--you can sing, remember?"

"If you're trying to convince me to perform with you at one of your parties, sorry, not happening."

Cheese pouted. "But we went caroling..."

Tomato sighed. "I appreciate that you think I have a decent singing voice, but I'm not a performer like you. I don't want to draw any attention to myself."

Cheese narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow. Funny, you loved attention when we were little. You were always begging for mine, even when you had everyone else's. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Well... you have to have something to do when it comes to setting up the party. After all, it wouldn't be fair for me to leave you out."

"I can just read a book while you plan the party." Tomato forced his hoof into his hat, presumably to scratch his ear. "So... when is that Cheesy Sense of yours going to activate? I'd like to have an idea of where we're going."

Cheese fell back on all four hooves. "It'll do that in it's own sweet time. For now, let's just relax and keep on walking forward."

Tomato pulled at the neckhole of his serape. "Hopefully the heat doesn't kill me."

---

Their first day out was rather uneventful. All that had happened was just the pair walking, with Cheese singing impromptu road songs and throwing ideas out on Tomato, who was a little confused and not very helpful with his feedback. They exchanged stories of their daily lives, and laughed over the antics of party goers or one of Tomato's friends. They came across a family of deer crossing their path, and a rather friendly cat and dog duo. They passed a few ponies on their way, with Cheese tipping his hat to each.

Much of Tomato's time was spent looking around at the scenery. Cheese wondered how their neighbors would react to the supposedly stiff and humorless younger Sandwich son with the look of childlike wonder on his face as he took in new sights. Knowing their parents were hardly the vacation type, he could see Tomato didn't get out of the city much. Cheese could hardly wait to show what other sights Equestria had to offer. If Tommy had read about it, there was a chance he'd see it in person.

Tomato did have a few complaints about the heat, which Cheese responded to by pulling him to the next stream, and playfully splashing him. Tomato scowled at him each time for that, and then silently drank from the stream. And Cheese would sigh in exasperation.

The sun was just descending in the horizon when they made their stop for the night. The field that was chosen had soft and cool grass, and Cheese did not hesitate to leap forward--with Boneless 2 flying off and Tomato catching the chicken--and begin rolling in it. He laughed aloud as he let each blade gently brush his coat and the coolness seep into his skin. Once he stopped rolling, he gave a blissful sigh and looked at the sunset, blending bright orange and luminescent pink. He especially focused on the pink, and imagined wide and bright blue eyes among the color, staring back at him.

Tomato strolled up to him, and laid down beside him. "Well... that sunset is beautiful."

Cheese sighed once again. "She sure is."

Tomato gave him a funny look. "I never knew that it had a gender. Tell me, is the sunrise a boy?"

Cheese blushed and sat up. "Did I say 'she'? 'It', I meant 'it'."

Tomato held his curious expression just a little bit longer, until he shrugged off Cheese's fumble. It was then his turn to blush as his stomach growled. "Uh... what's for dinner?"

Cheese grinned at him and took off his hat, giving it to him. To Tomato's surprise, there were tortilla chips in the hat, which didn't bear any strand of Cheese's hair in them and were completely intact. He confusedly looked between the chips and Cheese, and gingerly poked at one of the chips, seeing if they were real.

"Um, Cheese? How did you manage to conceal these... and not drop them when you tipped your hat at strangers. Or not crush them with your head?"

Cheese chuckled. "They're leftovers from my last party." He pulled out a pair of maracas and shook them. "It was quite a fiesta!"

Tomato was even more confused. "I didn't ask where you got them."

Cheese blinked, and threw the maracas away, groaning. "You know how a magician never reveals his secrets? Well, neither does a party pony." Besides, it'll be impossible to explain in a way that a non-party pony can understand and not be broken.

Tomato pouted. "I won't tell anypony."

"Tomato, in case you didn't understand, that meant 'no'," Cheese said firmly.

"I don't see why you can't just tell your own brother what's going on."

"Ugh... Tommy, it'll ruin the magic. Besides, your head would explode from the weird complexities of my career--much of it is stuff I had to figure out on my own. Now, stop asking, and just eat your chips like a good little ketchup squirt."

Tomato groaned and rolled his eyes. He leaned forward and sniffed the chips. "Are these safe to eat?"

"Yes!" Cheese shouted.

Tomato jumped from the volume of Cheese's voice. He then stared at the chips, with only slow blinks gracing his face. Awkward silence was filling the air again, and there weren't even crickets to break the silence. Cheese stared at Tomato, who for some reason seemed to be mesmerized by the food in the hat. Cheese whickered in annoyance.

"Are you going to eat it?" he asked, forcing a smile.

Tomato looked up. "What are you going to eat?"

Cheese blinked, and then shook his head. "Uh-uh, don't worry about me, I've been feeding myself for years." He narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. "Just... eat it."

Tomato merely gave him a half-lidded look and a raised eyebrow. He held this look as he took a chip, and munched into it. He chewed it for a bit, his eyes veering away from Cheese, and then swallowed. He smacked his lips and tapped his chin.

Cheese was stamping his hoof. "Well?"

Tomato looked straight at him. "Well, it doesn't taste like it's been in your hair."

Cheese blinked, and then forced a laugh. "Of course! Even if it did taste like that, I know for a fact that my hair tastes better than yours."

Tomato shrugged. "You're right on that account."

He ate another tortilla chip. And another. And another. And another.

---

Night had now fallen. Though they could see the lights of Manehattan in the distance, neither of them were focused on that. They were instead focused on the stars above them, lying on the grass and using both their serapes as blankets. The moon shone its gentle, silver light on the brothers, and stood out beautifully against the dark blue sky.

"I spy with my little eye... a triangle," Tomato said bluntly.

Cheese spread his arms out in front of him. "I see a glorious picture of a dancing rubber chicken!" He gasped and thrust Boneless 2 upward. "Boneless 2, your brother is up there! Princess Luna created a constellation honoring him for his sacrifice!"

Tomato turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Why would she honor a rubber chicken?"

Cheese glared at him and held Boneless 2 close. "A guy can dream, can't he?"

Tomato sighed and shook his head. He looked forward once again, and said, "Okay, this time I see a smiley face."

Cheese nodded. "Yeah, I can see it too. Meanwhile, over there..." Cheese pointed to a random spot in the sky. "I see... I see... three balloons."

"Huh, balloons, okay."

Cheese chuckled and sighed. "Yeah... balloons..." Patting his belly, he just stared out into the dark sky. "Say... do you ever wonder what's out there?"

Tomato rubbed his eye. "Not really. I try to keep my focus here on this planet."

Cheese put his hooves under his head. "Well, I do. I wonder if there's life beyond us ponies and dragons and griffons and whatnot. I wonder what kind of creatures live on other planets, and how they live their lives. What are their parties like? How do they have fun?"

Tomato scratched his chin. "Huh... that is food for thought... Now that I think of it, how do they run their economy? What kind of trade do they participate in? What do they use for money?"

"What kind of music do they listen to? What kind of instruments do they play?"

"What kind of books do they read? In what ways do they learn?"

"What kind of holidays do they celebrate?"

"What kind of work do they do?"

"What kind of magic do they possess?"

"What do they even look like?"

Cheese shrugged. "Dunno. But I know my counterpart's name is Alfred."

Tomato gave him a funny look. "Alfred? Okay, you just named an alien after your middle name."

Cheese laughed. "You got me there, baby bro. By the way, your counterpart's name is Matthew."

"That's my middle name," Tomato deadpanned.

Cheese nodded. "And now we have pet aliens! I betcha that on the planet they live on, they're cowspies, fighting the evil Dr. Sauerkraut to keep him from taking over their world!"

Tomato covered his mouth, but a few laughs managed to escape. "Pet aliens? Okay, you're ridiculous."

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "Am I?"

"Of course. But, eh, knowing ridiculous ponies keeps my life from being boring, especially if you're related to one of them." He glanced at Cheese. "But you're the good ridiculous."

Cheese looked up at the sky again. "Just like Pinkie Pie."

"Eh, I won't be surprised if you two get married."

Cheese leapt to his hooves. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Tomato, I keep telling you, Pinkie's a friend. Seriously, where do you keep getting that idea?"

"The story of how she inspired you to become a party pony does sound like a 'love at first sight' kind of thing." Tomato sat up and blew on his forelock. "And I've seen the way you look at her; I've seen a lot of ponies with that look on campus."

Before Cheese could respond, his eyes widened and his body began to quake. Accordion notes could be heard from his flank, and he leapt up into the air. "Whoo! Okay, Tommy, the Cheesy Sense has spoken!"

"Took long enough," Tomato muttered.

Cheese bit his lip and squealed. "And, boy oh boy, what a first stop for our trip! Haha, it's none other than the place that started my career!" Cheese started to do cartwheels around the field. "Oh, sweet Celestia, what luck! What does Ponyville have planned? Oh, I bet it's something big, and it's going to be epic, and I'm going to plan with Pinkie Pie again--" Cheese stopped upon seeing the smug look on Tomato's face.

Tomato chuckled. "Yeah... going to plan a party with Pinkie Pie again..." He straightened up and stuck his nose in the air. "Platonically, of course."

Cheese's face flushed. He sat on his haunches, and tapped his two front hooves, glaring at his brother. There was no way that Tomato was going to have the last laugh! Providing a comeback about Flora would have been too predictable, but there was one other filly he could namedrop...

"Yeah, planning a party with Pinkie is sweet, I'll tell you that... but you know what else is sweet?" Cheese snickered at Tomato's fading smile. "Creme Brulee."

Tomato's face turned beet red, and a scowl crossed his face. He ground his teeth, and he hid under his serape, snapping, "We are never speaking of that witch!"

Cheese only laughed in response.

Author's Note:

The journey has just begun, and not much has happened yet. Eh, it's only the second chapter, I'm sure we'll get to something exciting sooner or later.

If I need to explain the Creme Brulee thing, she was a filly that Tomato had a crush on when he was a colt. He got over the crush, and now loathes her to this day.

And of course, first stop, Ponyville! What are they going to do there?

Comments

[SageBrony07]

That was fun to read. I love how you are hinting at the PinkieCheese Romance. Great job. I can't wait to read the next part. Good luck.

[Jordan179]

I get the impression that Cheese doesn't want to admit even to himself how much he loves Pinkie.

[Drifting Heart]

5436379
When one is madly in love they tend to be in huge denial. He will come out with it soon cheese couldn't hold something like love in forever. But yeah this story is gonna get good telling by the adventure and comedy tags. yay for cowspies

[Drifting Heart]

"The story of how she inspired you to become a party pony does sound like a 'love at first sight' kind of thing." Tomato sat up and blew on his forelock. "And I've seen the way you look at her; I've seen a lot of ponies with that look on campus."

Looks like I wasn't the only who thought that sounded like love at first sight just as much as it did an inspirational story. Who knows what will happen in ponyville a part of me hopes pinkie and cheese kiss before the brothers set off on another adventure. I can picture it as the two walk off into the sunset pinkie watches them longingly *sigh* so romantic *gets hit with a shoe* ow! Hey! Yeah it is a story for another day right now let's get the adventure started!

[Jordan179]

5438362

I think that Cheese fears admitting to the vunerability that loving Pinkie would bring. Plus, he kind of worships her, and doubts his own merits.

[Jordan179]

5438407

I wonder what happens in the worlds where Pinkie falls for Big Mac, or even Rainbow Dash? I am thinking about this because the Degradingverse is one of those worlds: a (badly damaged) Pinkie and Rainbow Dash heal one another from the effects (psychic and physical) of Winning-Through-Degradation.

[Drifting Heart]

5438669
So he feels his love for her may not be real. That hero worship can lead to a feeling of love. Real love is loving someone for who they are even when they make mistakes. so I get it if he wants to see if his love is real. Which I think it is I do think he truly cares about her.

Hmm now that would be interesting seeing what happens if she fell in love with Mac or Dash in those two different worlds. It's an interesting thought and how it would effect Cheese Sandwich.

[Jordan179]

5438930

My opinion is that Cheese would wind up as Pinkie's loyal friend and disciple, but find love with somepony else. He seems in both your and Scoots2's fanon to have been subconsciously "waiting" for her: if he found she loved another, he'd be disappointed, but become open to loving another himself.

Who? It could be almost anypony with a compatible personality, OC or otherwise. Trixie's an obvious possibility -- in my fanon, she falls for an original character, Piercing Gaze, but that's hardly inevitable. Trixie is also an intinerant entertainer, and theiy could easily wind up falling into each other's company and becoming friends -- things could develop from there.

I don't know if Trixie's personality is "compatible" -- she's remarkably obnoxious and sometimes paranoid even when she's in Heroic Mode -- but Cheese's genuine kindness might be able to penetrate her arrogance, and Trixie can even in canon be nice to somepony whom she realizes is honestly being her friend. I will say that Cheese is probably on the short list of characters who might have the benevolence and patience to tolerate her long enough to love her.

[Drifting Heart]

5439785
I have given Cheese/Trixe shipping some thought and I just can't see it. I guess its because I can only see Cheese loving only one pony and that's Pinkie. Sure I ship her with a lot of characters but when it comes to Cheese its hard to see him with anyone else but Pinkie. Still I see your point and I can see how Trixie and Cheese can work since they both dont stay in one place for long and such. Then again I have a hard time shipping Cheese with anyone else I wish it was as easy as it is to ship Pinkie with different characters. Like I can see how pinkiemac can work or pinkieburn. But hey any ship can work if written well so why not?

[Jordan179]

5440057

Agreed: I think that Cheese / Pinkie is the likeliest pairing -- unless Pinkie was for some reason seriously in love with somepony else. In my fanon, my current assumption is that Cheese and Pinkie eventually wed.

[howard035]

5439785 This is an extremely articulate version of what I've always thought about Cheese, Pinkie and Trixie.

He narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. "Just... eat it."

Oh Snap! I love the song references.

I wonder where Matthew comes from? I know Weird Al doesn't have a brother.

Oh, and I love the idea of rational Tommy butting heads with Cheese over party pony powers, demanding to know more.

[Sketcha-Holic]

5442971 Matthew is Weird Al's middle name.

[howard035]

5443094 Thanks!

[FanOfMostEverything]

I somehow completely missed this chapter when you published it.

I once met a filly who earned her cutie mark early because she was very obsessed with drawing.

Stealth self-insert?

Delve not into the mysteries of the party pony, Tommy. There are things pony was not meant to know. Secrets that should not be brought to light. Jokes that should never be explained.

I love the alternating connection and tension. The stargazing scene was especially nice. Looking forward to more.

[Jordan179]

Cheese spread his arms out in front of him. "I see a glorious picture of a dancing rubber chicken!" He gasped and thrust Boneless 2 upward. "Boneless 2, your brother is up there! Princess Luna created a constellation honoring him for his sacrifice!"

Tomato turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Why would she honor a rubber chicken?"

Well, considering that he became a key to the Elements of Harmony ...

The contrast between Cheese and Tommy's speculations about the nature of alien civilizations is good.

[insolentboi]

He narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. "Just... eat it."

GAH! References!

[Bluegrass Brooke]

Daaaawwe. Forgot how cute a story this was!

[redmar]

This story is already great. I wonder if Tomato is curious as to what Pinkie's friends think of CheesePie.
Of course we all know that Tomato is right about his brother and Pinkie.

[Wellwater]

Tomato strolled up to him, and laid down beside him. "Well... that sunset is beautiful."

Cheese sighed once again. "She sure is."

For a second there I misread that as CheeseShimmer. I would not say no to that.

[Dashie04]

Alfred Matthew Yankovic...

That was brilliant ma’am, brilliant...

[Godslittleprincess]

"Yeah... but I'm going to admit that I've always been jealous of how artistic you were. I still only draw ponies as incomprehensible blobs."

Hey, stick horses are all the rage these days. Maybe blob ponies will be the next big thing.

Are any of the Sandwiches' exes showing up in this story?