Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

8.6--Shame and Regret

Teleporting with alicorn magic was quite the trip.

One second, Cheese had been running through an alleyway, full of shame from what he had done to the fair. A dull ache in his head, a tingle in the horn he currently possessed, and a flash of light later, he found himself outside of Canterlot, sitting on a ledge on the mountainside, near a small cave by one of the waterfalls, with a little waterfall of its own. After his initial shock from the sudden use of magic, the first thing he foolishly did was look over the ledge.

The spot he sat on was high. As he stared, that Las Pegasus street came to mind, and there was a tightness in his stomach as the sensation of falling came back to him. He could still feel everything--the rush of wind blowing through his fur, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest, his life rushing before his eyes, even as every other thought evaporated, the exceptions being his mental goodbyes to Pinkie and Tomato. His legs had gone numb, and all he could do was watch the clouds pass him and the ground come closer, the screeches of vampires and screams of ponies filling his ears. And he could just sense that insane unicorn mocking him.

It was terrifying to be helpless.

Snapping out of his trance, he quickly scooted back into the cave, shaking his head. He didn't want to believe that that had happened. Cheese Sandwich, helpless? After surviving in the wild for over a decade, fending off monsters and bandits and the like? With the ability to exploit any tight spot through humorous means to save himself? How could he have ended up helpless in those moments of falling? The thought was ludicrous--what happened in Las Pegasus must have been a dream.

Something flew by the door of the cave, and Cheese's heart stopped. He retreated into the cave further, covering his neck and breathing through his teeth. He squeezed his eyes shut. Don't worry, Cheese, no vampire's going to find you here...

He took his undulating tail in his forelegs and clutched it tightly, breathing heavily. He looked at the small stream that was flowing through the cave, seeing not his own face--but the face of Princess Celestia. His stomach was still tight as he stared at the reflection, and his heart sank as he was reminded of the whole fire disaster that he caused.

He sighed. "Isn't it great? I just damaged Princess Celestia's reputation." He hugged the tail even closer, wishing he was holding his rubber chicken instead. "Why couldn't I just get a grip?"

He imagined that he was going to be sentenced to the dungeon once he was back in his own body. Accident or not, he destroyed the fair, and made a fool of the highest authority in the land. He didn't doubt that the princesses would punish him for it. He just hoped he wouldn't be anywhere near Kazam's cell. He wasn't sure he could bear it.

He looked out the cave, watching the yellow sun turn a red-orange color as it dipped into the horizon, and the sky turned pink in the process. What he could see of the landscape was having the light slip away from them as the sun sank lower and lower. The cooler air was gently caressing his cheek, and he shivered. His head slumped against the cave wall, he just numbly watched the sunset, replays of what happened earlier on his mind.

Why did they have to bring Las Pegasus up? It would have been just fine if they had stuck to the balloon animal discussion--but no, they had to bring up Kazam, because apparently he's the brother of that balloon modeler that used to live in Canterlot. Even so, Cheese felt stupid for letting it get to him.

He looked at rocks scattered in the cave, swiped a few, and started tossing them into the stream. Each one made a splash with a plip or a plop, which was oddly soothing. Each one that he tossed in he wished were his troubles, things that he wanted to get rid of, if only to become a better party pony without having the burden of worry. It'd be easier if he was happy and confident all the time, like everypony thought a party pony should be.

The sky turned purple. He looked down on the dusty ledge, and sighed, a hoof coming forth to rub his eye. Those events drained him, and he didn't feel like moving from his spot. He just wanted to go to sleep.

---

Once Celestia and Tomato had left Fancy Pants' manor, clad in their original clothes (or in Celestia's case, Cheese's yellow shirt), the two joined along with Twilight and Pinkie, who explained how Cheese had ran off and that their other friends and the Royal Guard were now searching the entirety of Canterlot for him. With him not knowing how to fly, Twilight reasoned that he couldn't have gone far, and it shouldn't be hard to find a tall, white alicorn with undulating hair.

Tomato was unnerved by how grim Celestia was as they walked down one of the streets. He knew everyone had their limits, but it still worried him that her current mood was different from the warm and inviting one she had extended to him all day. Part of him wanted to reason that it was because her nose was red and sore from the pepper-induced sneezing fit, but he knew that wasn't it. At that moment, he wasn't sure he wanted Cheese to meet the princess.

"Of all the things that could have happened while he's in my body, he had to end up lighting on fire," Celestia groused. "The food fight is one thing, I find that funny. But destruction and bringing harm to my subjects is not something I'm pleased with."

Pinkie hopped back from looking in a dumpster, and heard this. She frowned. "But, Celestia, he didn't mean to! Cheesy would never ruin a party on purpose!"

Celestia sighed. "I know it was an accident, as was what happened this morning and any other time he may have used my magic. It doesn't make me less upset that my little ponies could have been hurt or even killed by his actions."

Tomato winced. "Then... why were you in good spirits the whole day? You weren't that mad when the whole sun thing happened, and that's worse than the fair."

"Because I had faith that Luna and Twilight would keep him in check, and I know that most possessors of jester magic are good ponies that never mean any harm. Those that did do harm were usually misguided by one thing or another." She sighed. "I still remember Jamboree Rune and how her desperation over her husband's use of dark magic made her go insane."

"Well, I don't think Cheese is going insane--well, even more insane and in the bad way--anytime soon," Twilight said. "Let's just find him and get you two switched back before things get any worse."

Celestia nodded. "This mess can only be fixed when we're in our own bodies. So tell me, what was it that made him angry enough to summon my fire form?"

Twilight grinned sheepishly. "Stress? I, uh, wasn't there, so I received secondhand accounts that told me how random it seemed."

"I was there!" Pinkie exclaimed. "He was sitting by the cotton candy stand when all of a sudden, FWOOSH! And then he ran around screaming."

"Well, once we find him, we'll have to ask what upset him." Celestia scratched her chin and turned to Tomato. "Tell me, Tomato, where is the most likely place he could hide?"

Tomato bit his lip. "Well... I know you're asking me by virtue of me being his brother... and well, he was a hide-and-seek champ when we were colts..." He shook his head. "But, Your Highness, I don't know Canterlot enough to make an accurate guess on where he'd hide! My best guess would be that he somehow slipped out of the city, like he did with Manehattan when he ran away years ago."

Celestia blinked. "Wait... ran away?"

Tomato looked at the stones that made up the street they walked down. "Yeah... you don't know this, but I'm a lousy brother. I took him for granted and thought he'd always be there, thought I could instantly solve his emotional issues by getting him to play with me and my friends, and I've broken something of his more than once."

"Wasn't the broken accordion the final straw?" Pinkie asked.

"Pinkie!" Tomato snapped. Noticing Celestia staring at him, he sighed. "Yeah... she's right, it was. As a result, he pretty much hated me until last fall." He gave a dirty look to Pinkie, which softened after a couple seconds and he shook his head. "Psht, I still don't quite understand why he forgave me. No one else did."

"Hm." Celestia nodded. She looked up at the rising moon. "I see. Accidentally alienating your sibling out of ignorance and pride? I think I see where you're coming from."

That was when Luna descended from the sky and landed in front of the group. "How is the search going?"

Twilight looked back at the others. "Well, we got Celestia out of the party that was occupying her. We're still looking for Cheese."

Luna looked to Celestia and Tomato, looking between them to figure out which body was that of Cheese Sandwich. "Celestia, are you in the body that reminds me of... those chips covered in cheese?"

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "You mean nachos?"

"Yes, those."

"Forgive me, Your Highness, but... why did you think of nachos specifically?"

"I saw a spilled plate of them at the fairgrounds, and they've been on my mind because I am hungry."

"Well, in any case, yes, I am Nacho Pony," Celestia said. She noticed Pinkie scrunching her face and giggling under her breath. After a quirked eyebrow toward her, she turned back to Luna and said coolly, "Luna, please explain why you let this swap happen."

Luna groaned. "Celly, they got you while I was checking on Mara. I can't be in two places at once!"

"Oh, you couldn't have created a clone to scare them into compliance?"

"The last time I created something in the Dreamscape it nearly ended in disaster!"

"Then maybe you should have dealt with the dream gremlins first before you checked up on Mara!"

Tomato nudged Twilight and asked, "Who's Mara?"

Twilight responded, "You don't want to know."

One of the Royal Guards happened to be passing by, heard Celestia and Luna arguing, and then trotted toward the group. Looking at Luna, he said, "Princess Luna, is this pony bothering you? Shall I throw him out of the city?"

Luna waved a hoof. "No, no, a pony disagreeing with me is not that big of a concern. Continue looking for Celestia."

"Yes, Your Highness." With that, the guard galloped away.

When the guard was out of sight, Luna sighed and said, "At this point, I doubt it matters how the switch could have been prevented."

"Right," Celestia said. "What matters is that we find Cheese Sandwich as soon as possible. Let's hope he doesn't use magic again." She turned to Tomato. "You said he'd slip out of the city, right?"

Tomato nodded.

---

"Okay, we're outside of Canterlot..." Twilight said. "Now what?"

The five stood by the river, after following Tomato's suggestion of where Cheese would run off to. Since it was already dark, there wasn't much anypony could see. The only lights were from the buildings, the horns of Twilight and Luna, and a flashlight that Pinkie had pulled out of her hair and was holding with her forelock.

Looking between the mountainside, the field beyond the river, and the valley below, Tomato bit his lip. "I have no idea."

Twilight groaned. "Oh, come on! You should know your brother and have a good idea of his hiding habits!"

Tomato rolled his eyes. "Excuse me for not knowing as much as a brother should, but that's what happens when you feud for more than a decade. Now, those hiding habits might have something to do with his magic--oh, wait, he doesn't have it right now!"

"Arguing is not going to get us anywhere," Celestia said, coming between them. Her eyes scanned the mountainside and spotted a few caves. "Perhaps he has concealed himself in one of those caves."

Luna took to the air. "I'll go check them. Hopefully he hasn't gotten lost in the tunnels and ended up in the old catacombs."

Twilight grimaced. "Oooh, I remember the catacombs." She started to fly as well. "Still, two ponies searching in there are better than one."

"We'll stay out here in case he's hiding elsewhere on the mountain," Celestia said. "Let's meet back here at midnight."

Luna and Twilight nodded, and then flew into the caves. Once the two alicorns had disappeared into the darkness, lights from their horns guiding them, Pinkie pulled out a couple more flashlights from her mane and gave them to Celestia and Tomato. The trio began their search around the walls of the city, among the waterfalls, and around the nearby field.

"All right," Tomato murmured as he walked along the wall, his tail holding the flashlight and shining it everywhere he could. "Where could an alicorn fit?"

"I dunno," Pinkie answered. "Maybe in a tree? Celestia, would you hide in a tree?"

"If I wasn't so big, I would," Celestia answered, her words a bit slurred from the small flashlight between her teeth.

"You know, Your Highness, you're a lot more playful than I expected," Tomato said. "I mean, I always imagined that while benevolent, you were kind of stuffy and serious. I mean, running the country is not an easy task, and as my mom says, when did a pony with a silly personality accomplish anything important? After all, a serious job requires a serious pony, am I right?"

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "I'm only serious when I need to be. I quite enjoy the times where I can cut loose and have fun." She pointed to Pinkie Pie. "And she's been a big part in saving Equestria several times, and she's connected with Laughter."

"Yep!" Pinkie chirped. "I like that Laughter is important. It's okay to find something to smile about and hope that things will get better."

Celestia chuckled, rolling the flashlight to speak easier. "And when I was in Las Pegasus, I heard that somepony had put the vampires under control with an accordion and a conga line, if only temporarily. Now that would have been a sight to see."

Tomato scratched his head and mumbled, "I don't remember that."

Pinkie leaned over, giving him a quizzical look. "But how can you not remember? Didn't you turn into a vampire?"

Tomato froze and glared at Pinkie. He hated that she had managed to hear that. "What happened in Las Pegasus is going to stay there!"

Celestia blinked. "Wait, what?"

Tomato covered his mouth, and continued his glower at Pinkie, who covered hers in turn and muttered, "Oops. I guess you didn't tell her."

Tomato groaned. Even if the subject had come up, I wouldn't have told her!

Celestia turned to Tomato. "You were there? And you were..." Her brow furrowed and her voice was soft, watching Tomato as he recoiled from the implied word, shaking his head in desperation. "You were the one named 'Tommy' that I heard about, weren't you?"

Tomato backed away, looked at the ground, and then replied, "Okay, fine, you caught me. Not only was I there, but I was one of the stupid vampires, all right? And I can't remember very much because I was hypnotized. There, happy?" He threw his flashlight onto the ground, turned his back, and stormed to the edge of the cliff. He sat right next to the waterfall and looked down into the valley.

The cool night breeze blew through his coat and mane, and the smell of freshwater filled his nostrils. Looking past his perch, he noted how high the drop was, and wondered how the mountain compared to the height that he had dropped Cheese from as a vampire. He felt a pit in his stomach as he remembered snapping out of his trance by way of a pain in his muzzle, only to find himself in the sky, and his brother plummeting from thousands of feet in the air. His heart ached upon thinking of how close Cheese came to hitting the ground.

He sighed, crossed his front legs, and shook his head while his hoof was on his forehead. "Why was I so gullible?"

Celestia nudged Pinkie and told her to keep looking for Cheese. In response, Pinkie saluted her and hopped away, calling out Cheese's name. Once Pinkie had left, the princess had made her way to Tomato and put the flashlight down.

She sat beside him. "I don't hold it against you. You were just as much a victim of that nightmare as everypony else that was transformed."

Tomato didn't look at her. "I could have prevented it, Your Highness. I made a deal with Kazam to help his sister pay off at least some of the debt by working for him. It was a horrible mistake, and for that, I was first pony to be transformed." He rubbed one of his temples. "I remember so little after Cheese, the sister, and I went to confront him about it. One second, I was in his trailer... the next, I was in the sky!"

"That sounds quite jarring."

"Not as jarring as finding out what I was doing during that trance." He still rubbed that temple. "With me being the first vampire... I'm sure you can figure out what Kazam did to transform all those other ponies." He licked his teeth, feeling the ghost of those fangs. "I can't believe I turned into a monster. Serves me right for being so stupid."

"Tomato, we all make mistakes." Celestia looked up at the moon. "But, from the mildly embarrassing to the unbearably painful, it's important not to destroy yourself over them, but to take steps in order to forgive yourself and move forward with your new knowledge."

Tomato leaned in his hooves. "I just wish it was easy."

That was when they heard a faint sneeze below them, and not long after, a plasma beam exploded from the ground behind them. Before they could even turn to see what damage had occurred, the part of the ledge they were sitting on broke off, and crumbled under them. The pair quickly found themselves tumbling down the mountainside, flanked by chunks of rock and a flashlight.

Pinkie, having heard the blast, quickly rushed onto the scene, and saw that the cliff had lost a huge chunk of lad near the waterfall. She gasped when she shined her flashlight down the cliff and saw them fall, and quickly pulled out long streamers from her mane to braid and tie together. "Don't worry! I'm coming!"

The cool mist from the falls was now ice cold as the wind blasted in their faces during their descent. The noise in their ears was great from both the blowing, the waterfall, and the rock slide that accompanied them. Their hearts raced as they kept on falling, and both of them felt slight tension in their backs, the ghosts of wings flapping in vain to stop the fall. But all they could do was grab each other's hooves, and hope there was a tree growing on the cliffside they could grab.

However, Tomato felt a mouth clamp on his tail, and his fall was quickly stopped. His front leg nearly popped off with the stop of Celestia's fall, and his shoulder already began to ache. Even so, his focus was on the pony who had grabbed him.

There it was, the body of Princess Celestia.

Cheese.

Cheese pulled them up, and dragged them into the cave. He let go of Tomato's tail, and started to spit into the stream beside him.

Tomato stood up and brushed himself off. Squinting his eyes to look at the alicorn in front of him, he tilted his head and asked, "Cheese? Are you in there?"

"Ugh..." he complained. "Why is the mane gel taste still lingering? I don't remember you bringing any! Did you borrow some and gel-ify your tail back in Fancy Pants' manor?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

Celestia stood up as well and shook herself off. "Falling is never fun, wings or not."

Cheese blinked. "Holy... is that really what my voice sounds like?" He crawled closer to Celestia and squinted his eyes, scanning his native body up and down. "Gosh darn it, I can't see what I look like to another in the dark."

Pinkie sprang down from the top of the cliff with her braided streamers, hung there upside down, and shined the flashlight into the cave. Waving at them, she called, "Good job finding him, guys! Now we just gotta get Luna and--"

The streamer rope snapped and she plopped onto the ledge. Looking up, she groaned. "Great, my streamers broke."

She stood back up, and then trotted in, providing light in the cave. "So, whatcha doing in here, Cheesy?"

"Yeah, we were told you didn't know how to fly," Tomato said. "Did you learn in the span of a few hours?"

Cheese looked away. "Nah, I still don't know how. I'm in this cave because I accidentally teleported here." Rubbing his leg, he looked straight at Celestia, bowed to her and groveled at her feet. "Your Highness... I am so, so sorry for wrecking everything." He grabbed his hair and pulled at it. "I don't know how to use your magic, these wings have minds of their own, and... and I'm not used to this princess gig--or even being a mare for that matter! I still can't believe that this switch even happened, I-I just keep wishing it's just a bad dream!"

He punched the wall, leaving a dent in it. He stared at it for a moment before adding, "I completely forgot about the earth pony strength."

Celestia laid on her belly and looked at him eye to eye. "I heard of what you have done today while you were being... well, me. If I'm going to be honest, I am unhappy with the results of your actions."

Cheese bit his lip. "I know..."

"However, Cheese Sandwich, I do understand that it was born out of inexperience of alicorn magic and the complicated nature of politics. And I am willing to try to understand if there are any other reasons that may have contributed to the disaster, especially when it came to you activating my fire form."

Cheese sighed. "I know it seemed sudden." He looked up at Pinkie Pie and twiddled his hooves. "Let's just say I overheard something that made me feel so tense and afraid and angry... ugh, I feel so silly for letting it get to me! And now... what a fool I've made of the ruler of Equestria."

Pinkie frowned, and then hopped forward to give him a hug. "I'm so sorry that you got scared! What was it that scared you?"

Cheese's gaze then fell on Tomato, and he stared for a good five seconds before he glanced away and shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it."

The gaze had been long enough that Tomato started to wonder if it had anything to do with him. With the memory of Las Pegasus fresh in his mind, he guessed that perhaps it had something to do with that. After all, Cheese had almost died there.

Celestia nodded. "All right, I understand. Just be aware that having someone nearby to listen when you're ready to talk about it will be a good way to help you cope." She looked at Tomato as she said this, though he pursed his lips, rubbed his sleeve, and looked away out of uneasiness.

"Uh... okay." Cheese twiddled his hooves again. "Am I going to the dungeon once we're back in our own bodies?"

"No... I expect you to fix the fair once you're back in your body. I'm certain that's the only way you can fix it."

Cheese blinked, and then hopped to his feet. "Yes! Anything to make up for that disaster! I don't want those ponies to be fair-less!" He turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie Pie, you must work with me so that we may make this fair epic!"

Pinkie grinned and bounced in place. "Okey-dokey-loki!"

Celestia chuckled. "And don't worry about my reputation--I've had blows to it before, and I can fix it again."

"There you are!"

The four of them turned to the entrance, where Twilight and Luna stood. Twilight continued, "We heard the explosion and rushed back to see what it was. And then we followed Pinkie's streamers here. So... what happened?"

"I sneezed." Cheese said, rubbing the back of his head. He then glanced at Celestia and added, "Speaking of sneezing, why is my nose red?"

Author's Note:

You know, I was originally meaning for the stories in this thing to be self-contained, but with me being a continuity nut, they just ended up bleeding into each other. Heck, what happened in Halterside did technically lead to the whole Las Haygas incident, and the Sandwiches have not forgotten what happened in Las Haygas (even though Tomato's mostly blank on the event because hypnosis).

Though who's to say that Kazam wouldn't have find somepony else to be the first vampire?

Celestia's still hard for me to write. Ugh, can't wait until this segment is over and I can move on to the next one...

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

You know, I was originally meaning for the stories in this thing to be self-contained, but with me being a continuity nut, they just ended up bleeding into each other.

I think they're still pretty "self-contained", more or less.

Perhaps, though, I simply prefer something with some continuity to no continuity.

I didn't realize, actually, that it was intended to be self-contained. I figured that it was a series of adventures with a central plot of the brothers working things out.

And I think having a shared terrible experience is pretty good.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Huh. I missed the previous chapter completely. Whoops.

Oh dear. Denial is just as bad as obsession when it comes to traumatic experiences. Though Cheese doesn't have a good track record with handling trauma in general. Still, he's going to need to talk this out at some point, or it's going to eat into him something awful.

Wow. The Rune family is just a long history of magical madness, isn't it?

"Well, in any case, yes, I am Nacho Pony," Celestia said.

Celestia's nacho pony! Celestia's her own pony! She's a strong independent mare who don't need no prince!
I'll stop now.

Cheese may still have a terribly avoidant personality, but at least Celestia's laid the groundwork for him to hash it out with Tommy. Here's hoping they take the opportunity. Though I'm not sure when would be a good time. Before the party might disrupt his preparations for it. After the party would cut into the glow of a job well done, an intrusion Cheese would resent. It's tricky...

Still, barring any last-minute complications, this arc is coming to a fairly peaceful close.

[Goldfinch142]

"I sneezed." Cheese said, rubbing the back of his head.

Celestia's body can sneeze explosions? Celestia help us all...oh, wait...

It seemed like a main focus of this chapter were Cheese and Tomato lamenting the events of Las Pegasus. They really do need to talk about what happened. After nap time for Cheese and Celestia, anyway.

Time for them to fix the festival. And maybe do something special for Lemon Hearts--all of her plans were completely ruined, after all. Poor thing.

[Sugarcookie29]

Why did they have to bring Las Haygss up?

Slight typo

[Godslittleprincess]

How long is the brothers' "I don't want to talk about it" phase going to last? There's a risk of another feud popping up the longer it goes on, just saying.