Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

7.2--Leisure Time

In the dining room of Twilight Sparkle's castle, there laid upon the table a whole buffet of various breakfast foods. Stacks of pancakes, waffles, tortillas, and crepes stood upon their plates, towering over the rest of the food. Plates of scones, hash browns, muffins, toast, eggs, strips of fried hay, and baby carrots were scattered among bowls of various cheeses, various fruits, chocolate chips, and small containers of cinnamon. Cans of whipped cream, bottles of syrup, ketchup, and honey, several gemstones for a certain someone, and the ever-welcome salt and pepper were placed in the mini-city of foods, much to the delight of the six mares and one dragon within the room.

Pinkie Pie bounced up and down. "This is great! I love how the food for our little Breakfast Bonanza turned out. It all looks so..." She licked her lips and drooled as she stared at the table. "...oh, so goooood..."

Upon seeing Pinkie's drool drip on the floor, Rarity recoiled. "Pinkie! Not on Twilight's floor!"

Twilight levitated a couple of napkins from the table and wiped both Pinkie's mouth and the floor. Shaking her head, she said, "Well, we better get to eating before she floods the room."

"And before I die of hunger!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She flew to the table, grabbed an empty plate, and starting grabbing one of everything. Pinkie joined her once her mouth was all wiped, and the others walked to the table to prepare their meals.

As Applejack was putting cinnamon and fruits on her pancakes, she heard a knocking coming from the front door. "Now, who would be knockin' at this hour?"

"Probably the delivery of the new books for the library," Twilight said. "Spike, could you get the door, please?"

Spike, who had several gemstones in his mouth, started to munch on them as quickly as he could while running out of the dining room's door. The mares continued to fill their plates as he went to answer the front door, chatting away about the various happenings in their lives. Between Rarity having to make new outfits for Sapphire Shores' next concert, Applejack remarking about Apple Bloom testing some potions on some apples, Fluttershy looking forward to Discord's visit that day, and the news the other three had, the conversation was hardly boring.

When Spike returned, Twilight glanced back and then turned to him. "So, is everything in order?"

"Oh, uh, it wasn't the book delivery."

Twilight frowned. "Then who was it?"

Spike stepped aside, and much to the girls' surprise, Cheese Sandwich, dressed in his cowpony getup, walked in, followed by Tomato, who was rubbing at his back with an uncomfortable look on his face. Cheese tipped his hat, and said, "How do you do, little fillies?"

After a moment of wide-eyed staring, Pinkie grinned from ear to ear, jumped across the table and over the food, and tackled Cheese in a bear hug. As she squeezed him, she squealed, "Cheesy! You're back, you're back, you're back so soon!" Then she somersaulted off of the wheezing Cheese, and looked up at Tomato. "Hiya, Tommy! You having a fun summer so far?"

Tomato kept on shifting back and forth. "It's been interesting, that's for sure." He glanced at the table, and pursed his lips, murmuring about how he wished he craved that breakfast.

Pinkie helped Cheese up, and bounced in place. "Come on, guys! Have breakfast with us and tell us about the adventures you had so far."

Cheese grinned. "You know I'd love to, but there's something that needs to be done first." He turned to Twilight. "Twilight, we need your help."

Twilight blinked. "Why? What's the problem?"

Cheese chuckled nervously and twiddled his hooves. "Well... Tomato's got a little itty bitty problem..."

Rainbow leaned on the table and rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, he lost his wallet."

Tomato pouted at her. "No, this is worse. Much worse."

Cheese scooted toward his brother, and touched a spot just within the forelock. "Now... please don't freak out. Because now that we're here... with the problem... that's completely and utterly freaky so I'm really hoping you don't panic!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Now what could possibly be so freaky that you're so worried--"

Cheese then unzipped Tomato's "skin" and the full body suit that the younger Sandwich was apparently wearing fell to the floor. The girls gaped at what had been under the suit: a messy furred, fanged, bat-winged Tomato Sandwich with his fur grayer and darker then his normal red-orange sheen.

"Oh," Applejack finished.

"Whoa..." Rainbow said.

Tomato didn't hesitate to stretch his wings. "Oh, finally, I can stop the cramping in these things. Feels good to have them free."

Fluttershy blinked, and then leaned to Rarity. "Is that what I looked like... so to speak?"

Rarity nodded in reply, her face unchanging from her look of shock.

Pinkie gasped. "A vampire?! Tomato turned into a vampire?! Oh, my gosh, that is worse than losing his wallet!" She peeled off the serape off of Cheese and then hid in it. "Is he going steal all of the apples? Or is he the blood-sucking kind?"

Cheese sighed. "Pinkie, I asked you not to freak out."

"I was expecting somepony to faint," Tomato stated.

At that very statement, everypony looked at Rarity. After a few moments of their staring, Rarity got a little annoyed. "What?"

Twilight hopped off her seat, and approached Tomato. She took a look at his fangs, and then circled him. Once she stopped her circle, she felt one of his wings and asked, "How did this happen?"

Cheese rubbed the back of his head. "Long story short, there was a crazy magician in Las Pegasus that was trying to create a vampire army."

"How'd he create a vampire in the first place?"

"He fused me with a little vampire bat," Tomato answered.

Fluttershy gasped. "What?! How could he do that to such a poor innocent creature?" She flew over to Tomato, and examined him as well, holding a furrowed brow the whole time. "What did the bat ever do to be part of such a horrific experiment? Neither the bat or Tomato deserved to have this done to them!"

The others got out of their seats and cautiously approached. Shaking her head, Rarity said, "I don't see why anypony would want to create an actual vampire, let alone an army of them. I mean, it was already a nightmare dealing with the vampire fruit bats at Sweet Apple Acres! Twice!" She shuddered at the memory. "I'd hate to know what it's like to fuse with one of them!"

"You know, I think being a vampire would be kind of cool--without the blood-sucking thing, of course," Rainbow said. She gagged and added, "I think a fruit vampire would be better--less likely to kill anypony that way."

Spike looked at Twilight. "So are you going to unfuse Tomato and the bat?"

Twilight rubbed her chin. "Well, I'll have to look for an unfusing spell--"

She was interrupted by a burp from Spike, and the smoke that had erupted from the belch curled in front of Twilight and poofed into a letter, which unrolled itself in front of Twilight. Blinking, she quickly read it, and then said, "Oh... that's convenient."

"What is it, Twi?" Applejack asked.

"Celestia wants me to go with her and the other princesses to Las Pegasus to cure ponies of vampirism and bring the unicorn responsible to Canterlot to be tried," Twilight explained. "They were created the same way as the werewolf, so she wrote the spell to cure them right here."

Pinkie jumped out of her serape shelter. "All right! We don't have to worry about them stealing fruit! Or sucking blood!" She tapped her chin and grimaced. "Uh, which kind of vampire are they again? This conversation was kinda unclear about that."

Twilight grimaced. "The blood-sucking kind."

The other four backed up, with Rarity backing up the furthest. Pinkie blinked for a moment before her eyes widened, and she glanced at Tomato. "Please tell me you didn't bite anypony."

Tomato sighed. "I'm sorry to say that that would be lying."

Cheese grinned nervously. "The crazy pony hypnotized him..."

Blinking, Pinkie backed up, and then pushed Twilight forward, hissing, "Cure him! Cure him! Cure him!"

"All right! All right!" Twilight said, shooing Pinkie away with her wing. Taking a deep breath, she checked the spell again, lit up her horn, and told Tomato, "Okay, hold still."

Tomato nodded, and then stopped moving, his last movement being that of squeezing his eyes shut. He was hoping that it would work, and that turning back to normal would be less painful than turning into a monster in the first place.

Twilight levitated him, and wrapped her magic around his body. Once he was swaddled in the warm magic, he could feel it seeping into him, and he clenched his teeth as it grabbed something within him and yanked it out, giving him a nasty jolt of pain, which left as soon as it came. His heart racing, he breathed deeply through his teeth. He could feel the fangs receding, his ears shrinking, and the wings evaporating. His skin tingled, and he could feel his stomach in knots, but he could feel his heartbeat slowing down as he relaxed.

He was set down on the ground, and his legs wobbled before he collapsed. Opening his eyes, he looked at his foreleg, and sure enough, it was back to it's normal red-orange color. He lifted his head and turned to his back, and there was a lack of wings. He licked his teeth, and there were no fangs. Finally, he looked at the breakfast buffet, and he had his eyes set on the stack of pancakes.

He glanced to his side, and to his surprise, Fluttershy was now holding a trembling vampire bat, stroking it and saying, "It's okay, sweet little bat... you're back to your old self. Oh, it must have been awful being fused like that against your will..."

Twilight approached Tomato. "How are you feeling?"

Tomato looked up, and then shakily got to his hooves. Still wobbling, he looked at the table again, and replied, "Hungry."

---

After having their breakfast, Twilight left for Canterlot to meet up with the other princesses there, and then together they'd head to Las Pegasus to fix the mess that Kazam had made. The others left to do their respective duties that day, aside from Pinkie, who was walking around town with Cheese Sandwich. Tomato decided to stay in the castle to recover and read a book or two.

Cheese was thankful for this down time. After a good deal of tension regarding Tomato being a vampire, it was so nice to relax. No more worrying about the instincts taking over, no more having to stuff his brother into an uncomfortable disguise, and definitely no more trips to a butcher shop to get blood. Once was more than enough, and he was still queasy just thinking about it. Especially that butcher who delayed him by asking why he was collecting blood.

Now, it was just a beautiful summer day in Ponyville, and everything was all right. Right now, he could walk without worry and just talk to Pinkie Pie, telling her about the other party pony that he had met on the trip so far.

Pinkie grinned at him. "Comedy Gold? Ooh, what's she like?"

"Oh, she's feisty--and I mean feisty." Cheese laughed and shook his head. "She didn't like me. I kept getting the sense that she wanted to challenge me to a Goof Off, even though she had recently had surgery, and her brother's a little overprotective. And then next thing we know, two conponies come into town with a circus train, and she gets jealous of them also. She hit a member of their troupe with a frying pan, and then was almost kidnapped."

Pinkie gasped. "What happened next?"

"Tomato and I had a music battle with the conponies... and well, we... we lost." He nickered in annoyance. "At least that same member of the troupe exposed the kidnapping plan and quit. Goldie got to stay home as a result."

"Oh, phew! I was worried for a moment."

Cheese chuckled. "So was I, but things worked out." He frowned and sighed. "Still, if there's anything those conponies had that Tomato and I didn't... they were more in sync than we were." He signed and ran a hoof through his mane. "Tommy and I have a long way to go in this brotherly bonding thing."

Pinkie patted his back. "Don't worry, Cheese. As long as you two keep at it, you might have a bond like me and Maud have."

"Heheh, yeah... like you and Maud..." He kept looking at his cutie mark, scratching his head. "What's up with my Cheesy Sense? It hasn't gone off all week."

Pinkie still pranced happily, even as they started to cross one of the bridges near town hall. "Oh, I'm not worried. There probably just hasn't been a big enough party for you to sense since that Magic Expo. I'm sure you'll sense a party for the Summer Sun Celebration soon!"

"I hope that's the case. That, or maybe I'm just tired from that whole nightmare back in Las Pegasus. I hope I'm never in that kind of monstrous situation ever again." He shuddered, recalling multiple vampires lunging toward him, and how he had plummeted from thousands of feet in the air.

"Well, whenever you need a break, I'm always right here in Ponyville!" Pinkie stopped and pursed her lips. She leaned on the railing of the bridge. "Okay, more like, usually--me and my friends have adventures sometimes. But still, Ponyville likes you, and we're happy whenever you come and visit!"

Cheese chuckled and leaned on the railing as well, looking down at the stream. "Aw, really? Well, it's a good thing I like this town. Why wouldn't I? This is a special landmark for me, where I figured out who I was supposed to be. And, well..." He simply turned to her and smiled, a sparkle in his eyes.

Pinkie blinked, and though she wanted to say something, she found that her mouth suddenly could not form words. However, it could still smile back, as an answer to the sweet look Cheese was giving her. Though she felt all tingly inside, it was the good kind of tingly.

The two gazed into each others' eyes, with Cheese staring at Pinkie's shimmering sea of blue, and Pinkie staring into Cheese's gentle valley of green. They were both as calm as a summer's morning, and their hearts were feeling just as warm. Their hooves touched, and they inched closer and closer to each other. Soon enough, their noses end up touching, and for a moment, all was silent, and it was just the two of them.

And then they burst out laughing.

"Ha ha ha! What just happened?" Cheese asked, pulling at his collar.

"Dunno!" Pinkie replied, wiping her brow. "Were we hypnotized or something? I was feeling kind of funny, you know?"

Cheese chuckled and twiddled his hooves. "Yeah... funny... huh, I do wonder if that is what hypnosis feels like."

"Maybe?" Pinkie shrugged. Then she giggled and said, "Cheese, you didn't finish your sentence!"

Cheese flushed and murmured, "Oh, right, um... you're the pony that inspired me to make my life better... and I'm eternally grateful to you... eeyeah, that's what I meant to say." He looked down at his reflection in the water. "I don't know who I'd be without you."

Pinkie beamed. "I'm glad to have helped!"

Then, they heard, "Could you two be a little less sentimental? I'd like to knit in peace!"

Surprised, they looked around, searching for the source of the voice, until they spotted something unusual on the roof of one house. Laying there, was a serpentine creature with mismatched horns, arms, and legs, a single fang sticking out of its mouth, and a gray, misshapen horse face. True to his word, the creature was knitting a sweater out of thin air.

Pinkie waved to the creature. "Hiya, Discord! Whatcha knitting for?"

"I'll have you know that I'm giving Fluttershy a gift when we have tea later today," Discord replied, holding up the sweater that was emitting colorful, electrical sparks. "It's more special if it's handmade, you know."

Pinkie clapped. "That's great! I'm sure Fluttershy would love a sweater!" She looked at the black sweater, and then frowned. "But are you suuuuure you want to shock her? She doesn't like that, you know."

Discord blinked, and looked at the sweater. After staring a few moments, he growled. "Phooey, I can't give her a sweater made out of toxic magic! Time to start over." With that, he knit with the needles again, this time the sweater steadily unraveling and disappearing with the sound of a rewinding tape recorder. After the sweater was gone, he started again, this time knitting a sweater of spring green.

Cheese stared the whole time. "Holy Swiss... is that really Discord? The Spirit of Chaos?"

Discord laughed and replied. "Is that really Cheese Sandwich? The premier party planner in all of Equestria?"

"Yes to both!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Discord released the needles, which continued to knit the sweater, and jumped to the bridge. He splatted into a puddle on the pavement, and then rose out of the puddle in dramatic fashion, his arms crossed. Drumming his fingers and bending over, he said, "I've heard about those parties you've thrown, Mr. Sandwich."

Cheese grinned. "Yes-a-rooney, I've been striving to make them as big and fun as I can. You want me to throw a party for you?"

Discord jumped in the air and spun, laughing as he did so. "Don't be silly! What makes you think I'd want you throwing a party when I can make my own, and in my style?" He grabbed Cheese by the head, lifting him up and looking him up and down. He put a talon to his chin, and murmured, "I think I've seen this guy somewhere before..."

Cheese blinked, glanced at Pinkie, and then back to Discord. "Where?"

After tapping his chin, Discord slashed open a portal, which was playing polka music, and then looked in it. "Ah! That's the guy I was thinking of!" He carried Cheese over and showed him what was inside. "See? He's got the hair and the voice, so those got me confused for a little moment." He floated Pinkie up, and showed her as well.

"Oh, wow! He's rockin' that accordion!" Pinkie exclaimed. "And he does sound like you, Cheesy!"

Cheese scratched his chin as he examined the creature inside. Finally, after a few moments, he said, "...I like his shirt."

Discord closed the portal, put Pinkie down, and then said, "I've heard you're a musical pony, Cheese Sandwich... but just how musical can you be?"

He grabbed Cheese's tail, and then started to stretch Cheese, and then compress him, and then stretch him again. Cheese's barrel suddenly resembled the bellows of an accordion, and the music of one started playing as Discord continued to stretch and compress him. As the tune grew louder and louder, Discord laughed, and got into it more.

Pinkie scanned Cheese's face. "Hey, Cheese, how does it feel?"

Cheese was surprised at this turn of events, and he wasn't sure what to think of being used as an accordion. But soon he started devolving into giggles, exclaiming, "Ahahaha--that tickles!" And with a grin, he pulled out his own accordion and started playing along, still laughing.

Seeing Cheese starting to enjoy it, Pinkie grinned and started to dance along to the music. "Woo! Keep on playing, boys!"

After a couple of minutes of accordion fun, Discord got bored and put Cheese down. Crossing his arms, he remarked, "Well, I will admit, Cheese Sandwich is a fine instrument, even if a little rusty and out of tune. And as much fun as that was, I have a sweater to finish." He gestured to the sweater and knitting needles, which had already made a scarf spreading through the streets of Ponyville, much to the townsponies' chagrin.

Discord gathered up the sweater-scarf thing, and looked at them again. "Oh, and one more thing, Pinkie Pie--I've been meaning to tell you and your friends to look out for dream gremlins. Those little rascals tried to make me swap bodies with your sister last night. Pfft, but the joke was on them!"

And with that, he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Cheese pouted. "How dare he say I'm out of tune."

Pinkie shrugged. "Eh, his opinion." She went silent for a moment, lost in thought, and then started to snicker. The snickers then erupted into giggles, and those giggles were accompanied by snorts. "But can you imagine him and Maud in each other's bodies?"

"How do you know he's talking about her, and not Marble or Limestone?"

"Maud's the one he met." And then she frowned. "Oh, darn it! How can you imagine that scene when you haven't met Maud?"

Cheese shrugged. "Show me a picture and I'll try?"

Author's Note:

Rest easy now, Tommy's back to normal. And Fluttershy's adding that vampire bat (which I'll call Vladimir) to her animal sanctuary. I totally want to write Vlad biting Angel Bunny.

And now, enjoy some CheesePie fluff! And a random Discord.
(To be honest, I just wanted to write the situation in this pic):

But, you know... filler, breather chapter, yadda yadda yadda...

Comments

[Blazing Song]

Lol, he saw Weird Al, or... That's what I'd assume anyway :P

[RadicalDishonesty]

What, the vampire bat doesn't have a weirdly close relationship with Tommy, since they were the same person for a bit?

[SageBrony07]

Nice chapter. I like how everything is winding down. I wonder will Tommy be the one to finally tell Cheese that he has a crush on Pinkie or not? Great job. I guess we may see the trail soon about Kazam. I do have a recommendation for a cool party place. Cloudsdale? If Twilight can get Cheese and Tomato walking on clouds, then they can host a sky party. Good luck with the next part.

[Goldfinch142]

Twilight hopped off her seat, and approached Tomato. She took a look at his fangs, and then circled him. Once she stopped her circle, she felt one of his wings and asked, "How did this happen?"

Nice to see the situation for this picture:

38.media.tumblr.com/d33ba1a8b00a5b39e5a07ded9a72bddf/tumblr_inline_ncw3qch54h1s1kmzn.png

Yeah, everyone's looking at you, Miss Fainting Couch.

Ah, good 'ol CheesePie. Also, Cheese is best Discordion.

[ChaoticKindness]

As a resident Discord fangirl, I highly approve of this chapter.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Well, that was fairly painless. Good thing it was the same basic process, thus allowing the same fission spell to work. Though I have to wonder how it will affect the other vampires; will there be a bunch of bats emerging from nothing?

Especially that butcher who delayed him by asking why he was collecting blood.

"Certainly not to feed my transformed little brother, that's for sure! Nailed it."

Soon enough, their noses end up touching, and for a moment, all was silent, and it was just the two of them.
And then they burst out laughing.

derpicdn.net/img/2012/7/19/49728/medium.png

Lovely interlude, even with the tease. Discord made it quite amusing... though a sweater made of toxic magic? Yikes.
I wonder if the dream gremlins will factor into this story...

[Sketcha-Holic]

6140013 Suppose I could have done something like that.

However, they'll always have a piece of each other inside of them...

[howard035]

I love Discord playing Cheese Sandwich! I was expecting him to announce that he was the source of party pony magic or something. I'm not saying that's true, but I could see him telling party ponies that even if it wasn't, just to mess with them.

[Dashie04]

I love how you gave an excuse for Discord to be there, I’m a bit miffed if Discord randomly appears, but this was great.

Also, not just your minor references, you literally referenced Weird Al in this chapter, which was awesome.

Cheese said he liked Al’s shirt, does that mean he likes loud Hawaiian shirts too?

[Godslittleprincess]

Those dream gremlins are making a comeback, aren't they?