Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

7.1--Train to Ponyville

Tomato counted himself and Cheese lucky to have caught a train that night, before the measures were put in place to keep the vampires in the city. It took a tight full body suit of himself--at least his normal form--concealing his batty wings to pass, but now they were on their way to Ponyville, where Twilight could fix him up quickly, and then they could relax until the Cheesy Sense called once again.

Still, it annoyed him how he had to sustain himself on his own blood to not go crazy from hunger during the ride. He had to stealthily bite his foreleg as to not attract attention--though he could see the worry often present on Cheese's face. He didn't know whether it was the sight of a vampire sucking its own blood or watching one's brother hurt himself on purpose that was making Cheese uneasy, but Tomato's argument was that he couldn't find blood elsewhere without disrupting the ride or turning another into a vampire. Besides, he was making sure to suck out only about a pint during each feeding time, even though it was oddly relaxing.

Still, it drove Cheese crazy enough to run off during a layover in search of some butcher shop--used for making dog food and food for other carnivorous species--to gather some blood, put it in a cup with a lid and straw, and then give it to Tomato, complaining about having thrown up at least three times during his errand.

Tomato had simply sipped through the straw, muttering, "Somepony's a bit of a pansy."

Cheese huffed, and then glanced around the train station. Seeing that nopony was around, he said, "Well, excuse me for being a pony who can't stand the smell of meat... or blood. Ugh, I don't even want to think about how those must taste. I don't know how those butcher ponies stand it! Besides, you're a vampire, it tastes good to you."

"Tastes kind of like corn." Tomato glanced at him. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

Cheese sighed. "Well, I don't want you starving or hurting yourself. The way you were biting yourself was making me uncomfortable, so... make that last."

---

During the trip, Cheese was busy fixing his accordion, while across from him, Tomato was laying on his belly and reading a book. The trip was quiet, since they wanted to minimize the risk of somepony spotting Tomato's fangs. Should that happen, they'd be in a big mess. Thus, they withheld from conversation and dealt with their respective items.

This was the third time Cheese's accordion was broken during this trip. Most ponies would have replaced it, but Cheese took pride in being able to fix his own instrument fairly quickly--and maybe cheat a little at it with party pony magic. The hassle of the last few days had kept him from fixing it sooner, but with only the murmur of the other ponies as background noise and no trouble in sight, it was nice to relax.

Well, not completely relax, as Cheese kept glancing at Tomato every so often, especially when the latter drank from that cup of blood from the layover. Every instance made Cheese feel queasy and even more eager to get him to Twilight. The train ride seemed to take forever, and he kept on rubbing his neck, imagining Tomato just suddenly pouncing on him and threatening to suck him dry. Chills running up his spine, he wondered what it'd be like to be a monster like that, and how much Tomato was actually fighting it.

It was probably better that he didn't know what it was like to transform. Or to consider other ponies or animals a meal. Or to lose your mind to an animal-like state in a fit of rage. Whatever the case, seeing Tomato like that was the most unnerving thing he ever encountered--and he had encountered a lot of unnerving things.

The train made a stop at a station, and let passengers board. Several ponies came in and boarded, taking all the remaining window seats, chatting amongst each other during the minutes that the train waited. During that time, a steel blue coated and white bearded unicorn stallion wearing a maroon hooded cloak walked on, and searched for a seat.

As Cheese tweaked and tuned his accordion, the old pony approached him and asked, "May I sit with you, boy?"

Cheese glanced up at him, scooted over, and said, "Sure."

The elder stallion nodded, and then sat beside him. The unicorn used his magic to take his hood off, revealing his glossy mane, and looked at Cheese with striking violet eyes. He looked at the accordion and asked, "So, are you a musician or is that just a hobby?"

"Oh, I'm a party pony--being a musician's a big part of that job."

The old pony nodded. "Ah, a party pony. I married a party pony--funniest and sweetest mare in history." He sighed. "She died long ago, though. Broke me heart and I nearly went mad with grief."

Cheese looked up at him. "I'm really sorry to hear that. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay now... I've learned to live with it." The old pony stroked his beard. "Say, what's your name, boy?"

"Cheese Sandwich. And you are?"

"Folks call me 'Rooney'."

"Nice to meet you, Rooney." Cheese held up his rubber chicken. "This is Boneless 2..." He set the chicken down and pointed to the pony across from them. "And the pony laying there is my brother, Tomato Sandwich."

Concealing his mouth with his book, Tomato glanced at them and said, "Hi."

"Nice little family you've got there." Rooney leaned back in his seat. "So... you boys hear of what happened in Las Pegasus?"

The brothers stared at him wide-eyed, and glanced at each other. Seeing this, Rooney laughed and continued, "My, oh, my, you two look like you were there and are escaping the vampires that were flying around and attacking ponies!"

Cheese rubbed the back of his head. "Wow... news travels fast."

"I'll say," Tomato muttered.

Rooney chuckled and stroked his beard again. "I'm amazed that the unicorn responsible was able to do it. I've heard rumors saying that he used the same spell that was used to create the werewolf. Wouldn't be surprised if Celestia snuffed out the vampire like she believes she snuffed out the werewolf centuries ago."

Tomato narrowed his eyes, still concealing his mouth. "What do you mean 'believes'?"

Rooney dusted off his cloak. "Oh, there are some who think that she didn't get all of the magical wolf pools, and that at least one is still out there, waiting for an ignorant pony to come along on a full moon and drink the water in it. But... I'm not one of those who believe that nonsense; reports from long ago say that Celestia was very thorough."

Cheese grimaced. "Okay, I don't like this conversation... we just escaped from some monsters, we don't want to hear of more!"

The train started to depart from the station, and Rooney laughed. "Okay, okay, I get it. How about I tell you stories of my wife and I? With me being a powerful mage and her being a party pony, we've had quite a few laughs over the years! We managed to be pretty embarrassing for our foals, I'll tell you that..."

---

After Rooney had left, expressing that he wanted to see the Sandwich brothers again, things were quiet again. And as night fell and he drank the last of the blood, Tomato had a few things on his mind.

Just one more night. By morning, they should reach Ponyville, and once that happened, Tomato would be back to normal and eating regular pony food such as hay burgers, desserts, fruits, vegetables, and countless other things that he was looking forward to. Except sauerkraut. He and Cheese agreed that sauerkraut was a blob that had crawled out of Tartarus to torture young foals with its stench and taste. Tomato never knew what his classmates talked about when they complained about broccoli or spinach--he always liked those foods for some reason.

Still, one more night until Tomato was a normal earth pony again. It was too bad that he couldn't sleep.

First off, his wings itched and hurt and felt weird on his back and he kept having urges to go out and fly. He could feel them wanting to spring out of the suit, breaking free from their prison. He imagined that every time they did that, lumps would just suddenly appear in his jacket, and he always looked around for ponies watching. He tried to keep from wincing from the skin that felt overstretched, the burns he was receiving from the suit, and the cramping of the wing joints. He could feel those just fine, even with the sensation of them feeling so alien.

Second, he was hungry and his cup was empty. How wonderful it was to try to sleep on a empty stomach, with hunger gnawing at it until it threatened to implode. He had to remind himself that there was only one more night of this, and then Twilight could reverse the spell. Well, he hoped.

Finally, his mind kept on flashing back to what happened in Las Pegasus, especially when he glanced at a sleeping Cheese. He still remembered how painful his transformation was. He still remembered the shock of learning that the transformation was intentional on Kazam's part. And he still remembered the moment where he had nearly killed Cheese by dropping him from a great height, only able to save him at the last second, despite not remembering what led up to that.

He still remembered how his heart raced, his blood pulsed, his eyes stung, and how the wind blew through his fur as he dived at full speed in order to catch Cheese. It still frightened him how Cheese was clearly accepting the demise that was coming, and that it was so close. Tomato questioned how he was even a good enough flyer to even catch him and stick the landing with both unharmed. His heart ached to think of that story ending differently.

And to think, all he was doing was trying to help somepony who had absolutely nothing to do with the events in Las Pegasus.

He covered his eyes. He bit ponies. He actually bit ponies, drank their blood, and transmitted the curse to them. Under the control of a madpony. Of all the crazy things that could happen, he never thought that he would end up being a part of a vampire army, attacking innocent ponies. Thank goodness Kazam was stopped, and now he was surely going to prison.

Still... how many ponies like him are there?

"Tomato."

His ears perked up at the sound of his name, and he turned to the seat across from him, assuming Cheese was starting a conversation. His face fell when he saw his mother sitting there, and he shot up to sitting on his haunches. "Mom?! What are you--"

Mozzarella put a hoof up to stop him. "Seeing what you and your brother are up to on this trip--which, by the way, you didn't ask my permission."

Tomato growled. "Mom, I'm an adult, I can make my own decisions. I wanted to spend more time with my big brother, and that's what I'm doing! Right, Cheese?" He gazed at the seat beside Mozzarella, which was vacant and without even a frizzy hair of Cheese Sandwich on it. "Cheese?"

Mozzarella shook her head. "As per usual, when left to your own devices, you make rather poor decisions. Why, have you forgotten how much of an infidel he turned into? How he rebelled against the rightful image of the strong, upstanding eldest son he's supposed to be? Do you even realize how he will corrupt you, make you stray away from your destiny?"

"Ugh, Mom... he is strong and upstanding--just in a different way! His parties are fun and family friendly! I've seen them firsthand, there's no need to make assumptions!"

"Nonsense! Just look what he did to you!"

Tomato looked down, and discovered to his horror that his full body suit was gone, and that the grayish-reddish-brown fur and bat wings were in full display. Looking back up, he cried, "Mom, he didn't do this! It was a crazy unicorn in Las Pegasus!"

Mozzarella shook her head. "But it wouldn't have happened if you had just stayed home, where you'd be safe and away from any bad influences that Cheese would have led you to. I would've made sure your impulses and flaws were kept under control, so that you couldn't be any source of pain and embarrassment--I already had that problem with one son, and I'm not letting it happen with the other."

Tomato snorted. "I'm not going back to Manehattan yet. Cheese and I have the rest of the summer ahead of us."

Suddenly, Mozzarella did something that Tomato had never seen her do before.

She laughed heartily.

Even though it was clearly in a mocking and condescending tone, she was still chortling. Tomato sat there, gaping at the mare he had known to be one of the biggest killjoys he knew. He leaned back against his seat, unsure of what to think of his usually uptight mother laughing like that. It took him a few moments to process the fear that was gripping his heart in that moment.

Finally, Mozzarella's laughs were reduced to a few giggles, and she said, "How could you spend the rest of the summer with him when he's dead?"

Tomato's heart stopped. "...what?"

Mozzarella examined her hoof. "It was in the newspaper. He was dropped from quite a few thousand feet in the air."

Tomato held his head. "But... but... I saved him! I distinctly remember grabbing him before he hit the ground, and hugging him, and he noogied me and... and... no... no..."

"I know it's tough to lose a sibling... I'll admit, I was actually quite sad when Honeydew left. But, alas, this world does not allow us time to grieve--especially when it comes to a death of a pony in a catastrophe. It's a real shame... you could have prevented this disaster by staying home." Mozzarella stirred a cup of tea she suddenly held and sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if it's even a good thing that you two reconciled."

Tomato felt as if a severe, electrical thunderstorm erupted within him, setting fire to tranquil forests and killing his remaining equinity. With a vengeful hiss, he leapt forward and tackled her to the floor, all the seats in the train disappearing and everything turning red. Pinning her down, he gazed at her to take in the horror that permeated her eyes, and then trailed down to her neck. He licked his lips, and chuckled darkly.

"I am going to suck you dry... just as you have with me!" He opened his mouth and leaned forward to take a bite out of that neck.

---

"Tomato!"

He felt a slap on his face and staggered back. His eyes snapping open, he saw a frazzled, wide-eyed Cheese gazing at him, laying on the floor and leaning on his elbow. He had a hoof to his neck, and was rubbing it as he was processing what had happened. Tomato blinked, and then looked up and down the aisle, where several horrified ponies stared at him. Realizing what had happened, he quickly stood up, and then helped Cheese up.

Cheese still rubbed his neck, and turned to the ponies. "Sorry about that, folks! He, uh... has a tendency to act out his dreams while he's still sleeping! No worries, he wouldn't hurt me!" Still seeing the ponies staring, he forced a grin, and then started playing the accordion in order to distract them.

As the ponies started to smile at Cheese, Tomato felt relief washing over him, and then quickly looked over himself. He was still wearing the body suit, so he still looked normal--though he still felt his cramping wings. With a sigh, he watched as Cheese entertained the other passengers.

When the ponies clapped and Cheese bowed, the party pony fell back on all fours and said, "Glad to lighten the mood! Now, this is my stop, and I've got things to do." He grabbed Tomato and shuffled out the train door. "Bye-bye!"

He dragged Tomato to the station platform, and turned to him with a frown. He rubbed his neck again, and said, "Geez... I was only waking you up to tell you that we're here."

Tomato stretched his legs, and then said, "Okay... sorry about that thing I just did... now let's hurry, my cup's empty."

As they headed to the train door, Cheese asked, "So... what were you dreaming that made you do that?"

Tomato pursed his lips, and looked away from him. "Er... nothing really. Just... batty instincts taking over, I suppose."

Cheese grimaced. "Let's hurry to the castle. I hope she's home."

Author's Note:

And now, after my monster of a chapter last time, I give you a couple of breather chapters before we continue on to our next mishap (hopefully I pull it off--the idea I have is pretty funny). Fingers crossed that I build up to it properly.

Don't worry, Tomato will be fixed soon. I don't want to stretch the vampire plot longer than I need it to.

Oh, right, I should explain the butcher shop thing... yeah, I go with the ponies are vegetarian thing, but keep in mind that they own dogs (which should be fed meat), and that there are carnivorous sentient species in Equestria. So, yeah, my flimsy explanation for the butcher shop thing!
...
...
...

*brick'd*

Comments

[cowbrony93]

Oh, right, I should explain the butcher shop thing... yeah, I go with the ponies are vegetarian thing, but keep in mind that they own dogs (which should be fed meat), and that there are carnivorous sentient species in Equestria. So, yeah, my flimsy explanation for the butcher shop thing!

it's as good an explanation as any

[FanOfMostEverything]

Rooney seems nice. I'm sure he has absolutely nothing to do with Wayer Rune. That would be silly.

Why, have you forgotten how much of an infidel he turned into?

Now there's an interesting word choice. Mozzarella—or, at least, Tomato's mental representation of her—sees fitting into the mold of the strong, upstanding citizen not just as a social obligation, but as a spiritual one. By choosing a different path, Cheese has committed an unforgivable sin in her eyes. Still, the etymology definitely pans out. Infidel: Not showing fidelity. In this case, filial fidelity.

In any case, is it wrong that I'm happy to see Tommy responding to this vision of his mother with anger rather than fear? It's still not a healthy reaction, but at least he's confronting her rather than being cowed by her. (And whatever the reaction, LUNA! Cleanup on Aisle T! This one's a two-mop job at least!)

Also, nothing says brotherly love like tending to your brother's dietary needs when they instinctively repulse you. And that's a perfectly legitimate explanation for Equestrian butcher shops. All that pet food has to come from somewhere, to say nothing of any griffon communities.

[howard035]

6126633 Makes sense to me, I always figured all those pigs at Sweet Apple Acres had to be useful for more than just fertilizer and finding truffles.

Once again we're reminded who the real villains of this saga are, and its not mad magicians or conniving con-stallions, it's Mozzarella and her drip of a husband, and the long shadow they have cast over their progeny. I feel like until the day that Tomato and Cheese can go back to Manehatten together and get answers (like why such ponies ever got married and had kids, for one thing) their brotherly relationship will never fully heal.

[Goldfinch142]

I feel like Rooney's going to come up again sometime.

Vampires drinking their own blood? Makes sense. It'll tide 'em over for the week.

Apparently, what happens in Las Pegasus does not stay in Las Pegasus if news traveled that fast.

Concealing his mouth with his book, Tomato glanced at them and said, "Hi."

I thought neither Sandwich packed any books? Did the train supply one?

Sheesh, can't Mozzarella just be happy for her children? She sure is buried deep in her social beliefs if she thinks it's worth practically disowning Cheese for not conforming to them.

Also...

He and Cheese agreed that sauerkraut was a blob that had crawled out of Tartarus to torture young foals with its stench and taste.

I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment.

[Sketcha-Holic]

6127205 Earlier in the story, Tomato borrowed a book from Bluejinx. I guess I just forgot to remind the audience that he had it between then and now.

[Goldfinch142]

6127262 Oh, right. Forgot about that. "The Count of Pony Cresto." A good long read, I imagine.

[SageBrony07]

Well they made it. I'm glad Tommy didn't bite cheese, while he dreamed. Great job. I can't wait to read the next part. Good luck.

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh gosh. I think the sooner Tommy and Cheese have that heart to heart the easier this trip will get for them.