Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

8.1--Anticipation of the Summer Sun

Pinkie was right. There was nothing to worry about. After he and Tomato had left Ponyville on foot, Cheese was relieved when Cheesy Sense informed him of a Summer Sun party that was going to take place in Canterlot. As far as he could tell, it wasn't for the Princesses--he knew they'd have Pinkie and friends planning things for them (he was excited for the possibility of them bumping into each other again, and imagining how surprised and excited she'd be was great). So, he was left to wonder just which of the nobles he was going to plan for. Whoever it was, he or she was going to have the best all-night party before sunrise they ever had.

Of course, the sophistication and high-classness of Canterlot was quite daunting. As they drew ever closer, he couldn't help but think of all the complaints that could come from many of the snobs that lived in the city. He had planned a couple of parties there before, and every time there had been someone complaining about how foalish those parties he planned had been, even when he tried to imitate the high class style. Heck, he even had to urge himself to create a party that his mother would like, even though he knew that it was really difficult to please her with a party. He was certain it was impossible.

As he and Tomato drew closer to the city on the mountain, he recalled how their grandmother Cucumber Melon had been born and raised there. She had said she left because she thought it was boring, and none of the suitors there quite interested her as much as their Grandpa, who she met when she was lost on a business trip with her parents and then becoming pen pals with him. She admitted to eloping with him, settling in one of the smaller neighborhoods in the Manehattan area. It took a while to reconcile with her family over that.

That made him wonder if they were throwing a party for Great Uncle Lemon Lime. When they were colts, he had hardly visited them in Manehattan--and hadn't since his sister's death--and they had never visited him in Canterlot, so it'd be nice to see him again. If not, oh well.

Cheese glanced at Tomato, who looked at the waterfall beside the city, and then his eyes followed the river flowing under the drawbridge and tumbling into another waterfall. Tomato then looked out over the valley, whistled, and muttered something about the view. Then, he gazed at the city in front of them, wondering what was behind the walls. The roar of the falls were great as the brothers crossed the drawbridge and entered the gates of Canterlot.

As they stepped onto the cobblestone streets, the pair gazed up at the sparkling walls of alabaster, ivory, and polished marble on each building. Half of them basked in the afternoon sunlight, while the other half was shrouded in the shadow of the mountain the city was perched on. The gold and ivory spires of the castle towered above the rest, shining in glory like the ruler of the land that resided there. Looking forward, Cheese and Tomato kept on walking forward, passing with ponies endowed with fancy fabrics and jewelry, some idly chatting, and several of them giving the brothers funny looks as they passed.

Tomato noticed a couple of unicorns with their muzzles pointing high to the sky as they strutted through the street. Raising a eyebrow, he said, "You know, I'm surprised that they're not hitting a wall. How can they see where they're going?"

Cheese looked at those same ponies with turned up nose. Tapping his chin, he answered, "I have a theory... perhaps unicorns have a third eye in their horn, which they use to see whenever they're strutting around like that."

Tomato blinked, and then gave him a half-lidded expression. He pointed to an earth pony doing the same strut with a turned up nose, and replied, "Where's her third eye, then?"

"Oh, her? She's an earth pony, and we earth ponies got a connection with the earth. She obviously has some sort of seismic sense, talking to the rocks with her hooves, and they guide her so she doesn't crash into a building."

"All right, I suppose that 'seismic sense' can warn her of an impending landslide; this city is on a mountain after all. But what's the excuse for when a pegasus does the strut?"

Cheese opened his mouth to answer, then closed his mouth again as he put a hoof to his chin in thought. After a few awkward seconds, he answered, "Er... they have extra ears in their wings?"

His eyes still half-lidded, he pulled Cheese's hat over his face. "Now that one's just ridiculous." He looked around some more, seeing shops and restaurants lining the streets. "So... where's the party site? Is it the entire city or just somepony's house?"

Cheese pulled the hat off his head, pointed to an intersection, and said, "Cheesy Sense says to go left at that intersection."

---

After being guided through the streets by Cheesy Sense, Cheese and Tomato found themselves at the gates of a mansion. The front yard was a vast expanse of green, with a single large fountain stretching from one end to the other, looking like a square lake. The fountain had water jets leaping over a bridge and each other, dancing similarly to the fountains they saw in Las Pegasus. The path from the gate went straight, over the bridge and leading to the large, bluish white house with gold lining the bottom of the house, the roof, and the windowsills. The building itself had pillars on the front, each with the emblem of three crowns carved into them.

After staring at the mansion for a few minutes, Tomato remarked, "Fancy."

"And it's apparently where our little party animal lives," Cheese said. "Now... how do we get them to let us in?"

"Last time I was in a mansion, I was invited," Tomato mumbled.

Cheese perked up in surprise and turned to him. "Wait, you've been in a mansion before?"

Tomato sighed in irritation, and looked away. "Yeah, Rich Custard and Jasmine Flower hired me to tutor their daughter in math when I was a teenager. The house was nice, but it was so big, I wondered if they ever got lonely, even with all the servants catering to them."

Cheese snickered. "So you tutored Creme Brulee? Pfft, wow, must have been a dream come true, eh?"

Tomato snorted. "Yeah, a dream all right. Was one of those nightmares that started out nice, and then suddenly spiraled down to Tartarus."

Cheese frowned and tilted his head. "What happened?"

Tomato leaned against the gate and crossed his front legs. "I don't want to talk about it."

Suddenly, the gate opened, and Tomato stumbled onto the ground. He laid there for a moment, and looked up to see well-dressed, older unicorn stallion, blinking at them with tired eyes. Tomato quickly got up onto his hooves, and brushed himself off.

"Please state your business," the stallion droned.

Tomato looked at Cheese, who cleared his throat and stated, "Hello, my name is Cheese Sandwich; I'm a party planner. My Cheesy Sense told me that I was to throw a party here, presumably for the Summer Sun Celebration. Is your master home?"

The elderly pony blinked slowly, and then turned around. "This way, young colts."

Cheese and Tomato looked at each other, and then followed the pony, who they assumed was the butler. They walked forward down the path and over the bridge, feeling the mist of the water jets jumping above them. Though a longer trek than walking across a front yard should be, they soon found themselves at the open front door, where they walked into a large foyer with a grand staircase and a crystal chandelier, with many shades of blue. The butler ascended the stairs, leaving the two to wait.

Tomato whistled. "Fancy manors like this never cease to amaze me."

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "How many have you been in?"

"Mm... okay, this is only my second time..." Tomato turned and faced a bust which held a face so stern it was comical. Scooting away from it and scrunching his muzzle, he remarked, "I don't know why, but I'm expecting that bust to burst into song."

It wasn't long before the butler returned, followed by another unicorn stallion. This pony had a snow white coat, complimented by mane and eyes of blue. Upon his muzzle was a dainty and classy mustache, and he wore a monocle over one eye. His manner of dress was of a clean black suit jacket with coattails, a blue vest and white button shirt under it, and a purple bow tie. Finally, his cutie mark resembled the emblem on the pillars outside.

Tomato's eyes widened as he muttered, "Oh, my... we're in the home of Fancy Pants."

Fancy Pants strode down the stairs, giving them a friendly smile. "I dare say, am I really being paid a visit by a golden example of a party planner? Well, I'll consider it my lucky day!"

Cheese waved a hoof. "Oh... I strive to do my best at my special talent--especially when I get to see ponies having fun!"

Fancy Pants nodded as he stopped in front of them. "Don't we all want to do our best at our special talents? I'm happy that you have come by--my usual event planner's at a funeral in Vanhoover this week. So, Cheese Sandwich, who is your companion?"

Cheese pulled Tomato closer to his side and said, "This pony here is my younger brother, Tomato Sandwich."

Tomato waved shyly, and forced a grin. "Hello."

Fancy Pants held out a hoof. "Pleased to meet you, Tomato. Aren't you a strapping young stallion?"

Tomato reached forward and shook the hoof, glancing between it and Fancy Pants' face. He nodded, his mind blank as to just what he wanted to say. He never quite realized how intimidating talking to a member of the Canterlot elite was until this moment, even when said member was being quite polite to him. He couldn't recall ever being this nervous when he had talked to Rich Custard at any point.

"So," Cheese said. "What kind of party are you asking for? How fancy does it need it be? I know I have a reputation for the epic and crazy parties, but I am capable of slowing down..." Cheese slicked his mane down, making it look similar to Tomato's, forelock and all, with the exception of the end of the hair at the neck, which was still noticably curly. With his nose turned up, Cheese finished with, "...and going for a more sophisticated approach."

Fancy Pants nodded. "Why, yes, I would like one of those parties--though I wouldn't mind a few chuckles along the way."

Cheese grinned. "Well, I suppose I could pull something with my accor--" Cheese's nose twitched. "Accord... Accordi--AH-CHOO!"

Cheese's sneeze rang throughout the manor, while both Tomato and Fancy Pants flinched. Cheese's hair burst back into it's poofy state, and confetti flew from his person. Shaking his head and wiping his nose, he muttered, "Bless me."

"Would you like a tissue?" Fancy Pants asked, pulling a handkerchief from his front pocket and giving it to Cheese. He looked around at the confetti still raining down. "My, my, does this happen often whenever you sneeze?"

After he blew his nose, Cheese answered, "Hey, it could have been worse--confetti's the least harmful of what I've sneezed out. But don't worry, I've got enough self-control to just limit it to confetti."

Fancy Pants blinked. "I see. Shall we take this discussion of tomorrow's party to the visiting room?"

Cheese returned the handkerchief. "No problemo." He turned to Tomato. "Come along, bro! I'm sure you'll be a big help with this party."

Tomato rolled his eyes, and followed them to the visiting room.

---

Meanwhile, a band of princesses flew into Canterlot, after having done their duty of returning the ponies in Las Pegasus to normal. They had brought the unicorn responsible for the vampire disaster, and put him in the dungeon to await his trial. Once the criminal was behind bars, they returned to the castle to rest. Now, the four of them walked in the halls of the castle.

"I cannot wait until that disgusting cretin receives his trial," Luna spat. "I'd like to chop off his horn so he cannot perform a spell like that again."

Celestia sighed. "I'm just thankful that we prevented a repeat of the werewolf disaster from years before."

"I just don't understand why anypony would even want to make vampires real," Twilight said. "You said yourself that those ponies who became werewolves went mad, and given more time, the vampires in Las Pegasus would have gone mad too. And when I met them... they were aware of that and were afraid of it happening. Not to mention how dangerous it would be for those still not transformed."

Luna shook her head. "Some ponies cannot be reasoned with. And to think that Kazam was the son that Quasar Rune was bragging about."

Cadance grimaced. "I'd hate to be in Quasar's horseshoes--I can't imagine how painful it'd be to learn your son is responsible for unlawful magical experimentation, altering another's body without their consent, mind control, and I'm sure he was going to commit treason."

"So... what'd you do to Wayer Rune when it came to the werewolf thing?" Twilight asked.

"He was banished to Tartarus," Celestia replied.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Yes, because nothing ever escaped from there."

Celestia groaned. "Luna, we made sure he was locked tight in there, his magic was disabled, and he wouldn't get past the other monsters down there." She shook her head. "I hated seeing such a great general descend into madness like that."

Twilight giggled nervously. "Well... at least we returned in time to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration! And certainly nothing can go wrong this time! I told Discord to behave, me and my friends checked the perimeters of Ponyville for any dangers that could pop out at any time, made sure Cerberus stayed at his post, we just put an insane criminal in the dungeon, everything's all cleaned up and my stove is--wait, did I leave the stove on? I think I left the stove on!"

Cadance put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Twilight, breathe."

Twilight blinked, put her hoof to her chest, and inhaled. She extended her hoof as she exhaled. "I'm sorry about that. It's just... the last couple of Summer Suns have been sorta... stressful."

Celestia nodded. "We know that. But as stressful as they were, I remember them fondly for good reason." She looked at Luna as she said this, smiling warmly at her. Her sister smiled back.

Twilight smiled and nodded. "You're right." Then she looked at Luna. "Still... Luna, are you making sure that dream demon is still in her prison? Because it'd be a terrible disaster if she--"

Luna lifted a hoof to stop her. "I'm going to make sure her prison is secure tonight. Then I'll sweep the Dreamscape for any other disturbances, like the usual nightmares, mystical forces threatening to possess a pony, or those annoying dream gremlins."

Twilight nodded. "Gotcha. You've got it covered."

Cadance sighed and turned down a different hallway. "Well, it's been nice seeing you again, but I've got to return to the Crystal Empire. We've got our own celebration to prepare for."

"Oh, okay! See you later, Cadance! Have a safe trip!" Once Cadance was out of sight, Twilight turned to the other two, and said, "Okay... well... I better get to my room and write my friends to tell them I'm staying the night and that they'll see me tomorrow when they come to Canterlot."

Celestia nodded. "Of course."

Twilight bowed, and then trotted away, leaving the sisters alone together.

Luna glanced at Celestia. "She certainly worries a lot. But I can hardly blame her after both those previous Summer Suns."

Celestia's mouth was the ghost of a smile. "Well, even if we can't predict and prevent every mishap, I have a feeling that a big scale disaster isn't going to happen this time. If there's any trouble, it'll be minor, and we can all rest easy as the holiday passes."

"I hope you're right." Luna looked outside the window, and then to a clock on the wall. "It's time for sunset, sister."

Celestia smiled. "Oh, so it is. Would you care to watch it with me? I'll be happy to watch the moonrise with you before I retire for tonight."

Luna smiled back. "That would be nice."

---

Cheese laid on one of the beds in the guest room, checking over the clipboard of what was needed for the party the next day. After going over the types of tablecloths needed, the arrangements of the decor, and the types of food to be served, he set down the clipboard and sighed. "I'm not a big fan of planning these fancy parties."

Tomato, lying on the other bed and reading a book, replied, "Then why do you do them?"

"Gotta do what the Cheesy Sense tells me," He hung upside-down from his bed, pulled a few colorful balls out of his shirt, and started to juggle them. "I suppose I oughta experience a wide variety of parties to be a full-fledged party pony."

Tomato slowly lowered his book, looking at him with wide eyes. "Please tell me you haven't gone into the area of drunken debauchery... because if I recall, that kind of goes against the definition of a party pony that you described."

Cheese shook his head, his eyes still on his juggling. "Cheesy Sense hardly ever leads me to that kind of stuff. Good thing, too, because too many drunk ponies scare me, they smell bad enough to make me sick, and they tend to get out of hoof. And when they do... well, here come the cops to stop the thing and arrest the rabblerousers! Heck, if I get arrested, it won't be good for me if my Cheesy Sense goes nuts and I can't leave. Pretty sure it'd end up killing me."

"So... fancy parties over overly rowdy ones?"

"Yep. There's a limit for my crazy. At least Fancy Pants said he wouldn't mind some surprises." Cheese caught the balls and looked up at Tomato. "Say, whatcha reading?"

"'101 Inventions and Products that Went Horribly Wrong'. Found it on that bookshelf in the corner."

Cheese looked at every corner until he found said bookshelf. "Oh, I didn't notice that." He turned to his brother and asked, "So which invention or product are you reading about? How'd it go wrong?"

"Oh, just a story about this magical dog collar that would force dogs to obey their owners. It went wrong because some ponies used them to get others to commit crimes for them and then act as a scapegoat. Those poor ponies must have been horrified because they didn't even have control of their bodies. Needless to say, the collar was recalled because of the rampant misuse and, well, animal abuse."

"Ooh, rampant misuse. That's not good. Neither is the animal abuse."

Tomato looked at previous pages. "There were also dolls that ate fillies' manes, a shirt that everypony was allergic to, and exploding soda."

Cheese laughed. "Exploding soda? Wow, wouldn't I like to put that in one of my parties! Heck, they'd make great fruit-flavored fireworks."

"Sorry, Cheese, but they were recalled."

Cheese whickered and muttered, "Dang it." Scratching his chin, he said, "I wonder if I could convince Aunt Cocoa and Uncle Acorn to recreate that. Being chemists, they ought to know a thing or two about a solution that could cause a reaction like that."

Tomato glanced at him. "I thought you didn't like Aunt Cocoa Butter because she was mean."

"Oh, I've visited Seaddle a few times and visited, and we're actually buddies now. Besides, that was when we were colts, misinterpreting her arguments with Mom and Dad whenever she visited."

"Did we misinterpret our cousins picking on us?"

"Eh... no. But they're nicer nowadays! Growing up does that--remember, Aunt Cocoa was a bully when she was a filly." He pursed his lips and scratched his chin. "I don't think Dad ever forgave her, though... did he?"

Tomato shut the book. "Nope. But, I suppose if we visit Seaddle, I'll have to see for myself." He put the book on the nightstand and yawned. "In the meantime... we better get some sleep, since tomorrow night we'll be staying up 'til dawn."

Tomato slid himself under the covers, removed his glasses, and put them on top of the book. Snuggling into his pillow, he muttered, "G'night."

Cheese put his clipboard on the nightstand beside his bed, and then turned off the lamp. Throwing his head onto his pillow, he replied, "See ya in the morning." He yawned. "I hope to feel like the sun tomorrow."

And then they drifted off to sleep.

---

There he was. Standing in a valley of pink clouds, under a pink sky, and with pink birds dancing around him.

Cheese looked around, wondering why everything was so pink. He listened to the lighthearted and airy music, thinking that it sounded pink. He took a whiff of the air, and thought that it smelled pink as well. He swiped a bit of the cloud to his side, and it felt pink. And then he ate it, noting that it tasted pink. He noticed a couple of strawberries floating by and some pink roses were raining down upon him. Looking at his person, he realized that his polo shirt was pink as well. There was a lot of pink.

"Cheeeeese!"

His ears perked up at the sound of that high voice. "Pinkie?"

"Cheese Sandwiiiicchhhh!"

He looked around and started galloping through the clouds. The pink mist flew into his face as his eyes dashed back and forth, searching for the sweet mare with the ringing voice. He could still hear her calling his name, but he couldn't see her. Seeing that she was unable to stand out in this landscape, he silently cursed everything for being so pink. So, he opted to look for those beautiful blue eyes of hers.

"Cheesy! Over here!"

He spun around, and there she was. He could barely see her, but her eyes stood out as two bright blue specks in a sea of pink. He stared in awe as the wind blew through her curly mane, and she smiled at him, her face blushing with a slightly darker pink. She lifted her hoof and beckoned him, giggles and snorts leaving her muzzle.

Cheese's heart leapt, and he gleefully started to gallop toward her. As he ran, all he could think about was that when he reached her, he was going to wrap her in an embrace and twirl her around, stare into her eyes, smell her sweet strawberry and cotton candy smell, and maybe... just maybe...

Maybe he might kiss her.

However, when he was almost to her, the clouds collapsed underneath him, and he found himself falling. He found himself facing upward, and one blink later, the pink all disappeared, and he saw the dark skies he had seen in Las Pegasus. He heard Kazam's laughter ringing and the screeching of many vampires in his ears. His heart pounded, and he found himself unable to scream for help. All four of his legs could not move, and he could only stare up at the sky, searching for someone to save him.

For some odd reason, a door had appeared on the street, opened wide open, and Cheese just fell through it, seeing stars and hearing impish laughter as he passed through it and a second door. He could have sworn he saw Princess Celestia flying out the second door.

Finally, he managed to turn his head, and there was a black alicorn waiting for him to be impaled on its horn.

---

His eyes snapped open as he awoke. It was still dark in the room, and he breathed heavily. He wiped sweat off his brow, which was mildly disrupted by his hoof bumping something on his forehead. He paid no mind to it, nor to the funny feeling in his back, instead turning onto his side and burying his face in his blanket.

"Stay calm, Cheese," he whispered. "It was only a nightmare..."

With it still being dark, he closed his eyes to put a comforting thought in his mind to help him go back to sleep.

---

Celestia woke up at dawn, her internal clock telling her that it was time for sunrise. With a yawn and a stretch, she smacked her lips to get rid of the bad taste in her mouth, and opened her eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she immediately noticed that something wasn't right.

For one, this was not her room.

From what she could see, the room was nice, with some fancy wallpaper, dark curtains, nice furniture, and two comfortable beds. She was in one bed; she had no idea who was in the other. All she could tell was that it was a stallion by the voice, since he gently sang in his sleep, "In the middle of the night... I was walking in my sleep..."

She climbed out of the mysterious bed, noting that her hair felt strangely still. She started to feel it, wondering why it was all of a sudden so curly. As she felt her head, she was surprised to discover that her horn was missing. With a silent gasp, her hoof went straight for her back, and sure enough, her wings were missing as well. Instead, she felt the shirt she was wearing.

Mirror... where's a mirror?

She looked at the dresser across the room, and she could barely make out the figure in the mirror. She considered turning on the lamp, but decided against it, due to the other pony in the room. So, she stepped forward for a closer look.

What she saw in the light of the setting moon was that the mane and tail were as curly as they felt, her horn and wings were missing, she was wearing a polo shirt, and her colors were drastically different, looking more brownish than her normal colors. But, what really shocked her was the fact that she was now in the body of a stallion.

She staggered back, and looked out the window. The moon was setting, and somepony was going to have a fit when she didn't rise the sun. She double-checked the body she was in, and she nipped at one of the legs for a little pinch. When she felt the sting of the pinch, there was no doubt that this situation was real. She groaned.

"Luna, I thought you were making sure the dream gremlins didn't pull stunts like this."

And then she realized just what this situation meant, especially for today. "Oh no."

Author's Note:

If you have trouble coming up with a name for your OC, look up lotion fragrances. There's a lot of options for names there! After all, that's where I got Lemon Lime (he was originally named Lemon Zest, but I found out one of the characters of Equestria Games is named that; anyway, will he appear, or will he not?).

So, yep, the next stop is Canterlot! Lots of Summer Sun parties being thrown, and a fair, and of course, Celestia making a show of rising the sun (and ever since the Season 4 premiere, being paired with Luna lowering the moon). Throw the Sandwiches in there, and we're looking for a good time.

Yes, I think Cheese can plan fancy parties. But, you know, he has preferences for the goofy parties where he can play and sing and do weird things and stuff... *scurries into a hole*

And lastly... Princesses. Just Princesses.
From this day forth, Cheese Sandwich is best princess. Because he just switched bodies with one. Curse those little dream gremlins.

Comments

[Goldfinch142]

The Princess Cheesy cometh, behold, behold...

I sure wasn't expecting this. Guess Cheese will have to learn how to move celestial bodies in the next few minutes. Of course, he's asleep, so...

Ha, I can just imagine Tomato's reaction to realizing he was casually talking to Princess Celestia herself! Though he'd most likely think that it's just a joke at first. Now Tomato interacting with either will be awkward—it's either his brother in a princess's body or a princess in his brother's. I think Luna would be more chill about the whole thing, since, you know, she actually knows what's happening.

Luna, Luna, Luna. You had ONE job. ONE. Well, she'd better look more carefully for those dream gremlins in the future.

Hoo boy, ponies are gonna panic when the sun doesn't come up on time, aren't they? Ponies sure have a tendency to panic.

At least the Sandwiches are planning for one of the only un-snobby nobles in all of Canterlot.

And apparently, Tomato sleep-sings. That's new.

[SageBrony07]

So wait. Did Tommy switch too?!?!?! If not, that is going to be interesting, and some big rumors are going to be around Canterlot. That or Tommy (If he didn't swap with Luna) is going to have to step up to the plate to save Fancy's party. Good luck.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Snooty pegasi sense subtle wind currents that alert them when they approach physical obstructions. Obviously.

Hey, it could have been worse--confetti's the least harmful of what I've sneezed out.

I'm afraid to ask. I can only imagine what Cheese's nostrils have been through.

Well... at least we returned in time to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration! And certainly nothing can go wrong this time!

Really, Twilight? Really?

Oh dear. What mischief has been wrought in the dream realm? Does it extend to the younger siblings as well? Has Mara escaped her prison? How does someone accustomed to party pony magic deal with the power of an alicorn? Next chapter is going to be good...

[howard035]

I like the idea that a true party pony can plan any type of party, from catillion through hootenanny, even if he personally despises those parties. The gift of the party pony is meant to benefit all of Equestria, not just those who like confetti.

[Godslittleprincess]

Yep. Gremlins. By the way, what happened to Luna?