• Published 27th Dec 2014
  • 2,798 Views, 786 Comments

Brotherly Bonding Time - Sketcha-Holic



Cheese Sandwich drags his brother, Tomato, in a trip across Equestria as part of his effort to rebuild their relationship. The mishaps that occur will put their rekindled bond--and their sanity--to the test.

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8.7--Swap Meet

It was declared that Princess Celestia had been found, and that she and Princess Luna were going to discuss how to fix the mess that was made. The news had spread through Canterlot, and once Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy heard it, they stopped their respective searches, and decided to go and meet Spike at the Canterlot train station. Once they retrieved him, they went to explaining the entire situation to him as they walked back to the castle. After learning from the guards that Celestia and co. were going to her bed chamber to get cleaned up, that was were they were headed.

"So, let me get this straight..." Spike said as they walked down the one of the castle hallways. "Little demons in the Dreamscape pulled Celestia out of her dream door, and threw her into Cheese Sandwich's door, and vice versa, and because of that, they're now in each other's bodies?"

"Eeyup," Applejack said. "Crazy things have been happenin' all day because of it."

Fluttershy nodded. "We were lucky that the Sandwiches were in Canterlot so Luna could switch them back earlier."

Spike sighed. "The things I miss when I stay behind to help Ponyville prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration. Still, it explains why the sun was acting weird this morning."

"Well, I'm just glad Cheese was found before anything else went wrong," Rarity said. "He clearly wasn't meant for high society."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I don't think any party pony is."

The group made it to Celestia's bedroom, and Applejack knocked on the door. Twilight answered the door, and looking down both ends of the hallway, she quickly ushered them inside. She shut the door behind them, and noticing Spike, she asked if he was in the know. They confirmed it, and they went back to business.

Inside the room, Pinkie was serving some hot chocolate to Celestia, who was on the floor trying to figure out Cheese's tail, and Cheese, who sat in the bed and was using his hooves to hold the mug, while Tomato was in the corner, curiously looking through scrolls from one of Celestia's shelves. Luna was waiting impatiently as Celestia was trying to figure out how to make a bed out of Cheese's tail, and was trying to both fluff it up and spread it out on the floor. She tried to lay down on it, only for her head to hit the floor.

"Are you sure you don't want the bed?" Cheese asked after taking a few gulps of hot chocolate. "I mean, we are technically both going to have a turn in this thing, and frankly, I'd rather you be comfortable, Your Highness."

Spike blinked. "That sounds weird coming from Celestia's mouth."

Celestia stood up and shook herself. She took her hot chocolate from the stool and took a sip. "No, no, it'd be easier for you to get comfortable on my bed than the floor. Seeing as you're not used to sleeping with wings, you should have the more comfortable place to sleep. Besides, could you instruct me on how to make your tail a bed?"

"It... kind of requires control of my magic."

"Oh. That's a problem, because I could only activate it by sneezing."

"I wonder why sneezing," Twilight grumbled.

"Because it's funny," Pinkie answered.

"That doesn't answer my question!"

Without taking his eyes off the scroll he was reading, Tomato suggested, "Maybe if we make her sneeze, a bean bag will pop out."

Cheese turned and glared at him. "No, I'm not willing to put my nostrils through more torture!"

Celestia sneezed once again, with confetti and bubbles jumping from behind her back. She shrugged. "Sorry, no bean bag."

Spike held his breath, a few chuckles seeping out of him. The others stared at him, and then turned back to the party pony and princess, still arguing about the sleeping arrangements and who gets the bed and who sleeps on the floor, until Cheese took one of the pillows on the bed and dropped it on the floor, telling her to at least take a pillow.

Luna was rubbing one of her temples and grumbling, "Please stop wasting time and just go to sleep already." She turned to Pinkie. "Why did you give them hot chocolate?"

"Because hot chocolate helps me go to sleep!" Pinkie answered. "It feels so nice when my belly is warm and it makes me sleepy. I also get lots of good dreams, like the one where Rarity was a marshmallow making gumdrop dresses." She grinned at Rarity, who was giving her an odd look. Then she turned back to Cheese and said, "I want you two to have good dreams. So drink it to your heart's content!"

Cheese smiled at her. "You're really sweet and thoughtful, Pinkie." He guzzled the rest of the chocolate down and sighed in delight. "Wow, that's some tasty chocolate! The heat didn't even bother me!"

Celestia took a sip of hers and then recoiled. Feeling her tongue, she sighed. "That might be my body's heat resistance coming in play." She set the hot chocolate aside and laid on the pillow. "Might as well try to sleep now."

Cheese put his mug aside, and laid on the bed, quietly singing, "Going to have sweet dreams... sweet dreams are made of cheese..."

Twilight looked at the rest of her friends, and asked, "Do you guys mind standing guard so nopony bothers us?"

Applejack smiled. "Of course, Twi." She turned, opened the door, and beckoned the others. "Come on, y'all, let's give them some quiet."

Twilight looked between Spike, Pinkie, and Tomato. "You three be on the lookout for any disturbances outside, okay?"

Pinkie saluted. "I'm on it." She hopped to the window, followed by Spike, and then was joined a few seconds later by Tomato.

As the four outside stood guard and the other three watched the streets from the window, Twilight shut off the lights. She watched as Celestia and Cheese fell into their slumbers, with Cheese grabbing a pillow and snuggling it, while Celestia lay still.

She glanced at Luna, who was beginning to hover and her horn was glowing a brilliant white. From the tip of the horn sprung magical threads, and they stretched forward toward the two, touching their foreheads. Cheese giggled a little and mumbled, "That tickles," before lolling back to sleep.

Everything was still as Luna went about her work. The moonlight provided enough light to see, but not enough for it to disturb the two sleeping ponies. The three at the window kept quiet, and while Twilight could hear muffled conversation through the door, at least it wasn't enough to disrupt the process. She smiled at how smoothly things were going.

I wonder what they're dreaming about, she thought.


Cheese Sandwich had found himself in Las Pegasus again, under the light of a lamppost on a cold, dark bridge. He could see the neon lights around him; however, they weren't very bright. It was quiet, and he could only hear his heartbeat as he awaited what was coming. Holding his accordion close, he felt as if that was the only thing he had to defend himself.

He felt a chill run down his spine as the floating paths finally came alive with the cacophony of screeches and hisses. Looking around, he was searching for the source of the noise, all the while trying to keep himself from quaking. Fear was gripping his heart, but he at least wanted some dignity.

The first vampire leapt out from his left with a hiss, and he jumped out of the way, soaring over the clouds onto another bridge. Another came from his right, and he stumbled forward. Another came from behind, and he ducked. He rolled out of the way of another coming from above him, and he was out in the dark. Looking around, he could still hear the screeches and hisses, coming from the red-eyed shadows staring at him.

The winged shadows swarmed him. Due to being surrounded, he had no choice but to fight back.

He slung his accordion onto his barrel. With a solid stance, his first action was to buck away those leaping at him from behind. He was grabbed by the front leg of one shadow, and he in turn tossed it into another shadow. He rolled out of the way of those coming above, which smacked head first into the walkway. He punched one coming in front, kicked one coming from the rear, and when some jumped onto him, he channeled his inner bucking bronco and had a brief rodeo with the bat-ponies until he finally bucked them off, sending them down beneath the cloud sea.

His heart pounded, and he wiped his forehead. Looking up, he felt his gut being twisted as he saw a little orangey speck dropping from thousands of feet in the air. Blinking, he stared at it for a good moment, wondering what it was. Everything was numb as he stared at it, trying to make out its shape. He narrowed his eyes, and a little glance upward had him spotting another speck--which was a reddish color--chasing the orange one.

He heard a hiss in front of him, and he quickly pulled off his accordion, and slung one end at his attacker. The instrument smacked the creature in the face, and the creature was knocked back into the light.

Breathing heavily, Cheese was surprised to see that it was pink. Curious, he strapped his accordion back on, and walked forward, hoping to get a closer look at the creature he just knocked out.

The moment he stopped, the bat-pony turned to him.

He staggered back as he recognized the face of Pinkie Pie, with her raspberry locks in a wild tangle and her eyes now a piercing red. She hissed at him, baring her long, sharp fangs, and once she got up and stretched her wings, she began to creep toward him.

"Pinkie... I'm so, so sorry!" he begged, backing up. "I-I didn't know it was you! I never would have done it if I knew!"

All the dim lights had suddenly brightened, and he found himself surrounded by familiar face--all with fangs and red eyes, some standing, some flying. Along with Pinkie were her friends and family; he spotted some friends he made on his travels, such as Trixie and Braeburn; he saw his brother's friends, both old and new; he saw his parents, showing more emotion than he had ever seen. Neighbors from his childhood, his old bullies, townsfolk from Ponyville, the ponies that he had run into on this vacation so far. The only pony that wasn't there was Tomato.

They were all licking their lips and creeping forward, even as Cheese held up his accordion in defense and cried, "No, stop! I don't want to hurt any of you! Just please, leave me alone!"


Twilight's smile fell into a confused frown as Cheese began to toss and turn. A few grunts came forth from his mouth as he clutched the pillow tightly, and he rolled from one side to the other, pawing at the bed. At first, Twilight was willing to shrug it off, figuring that's how he slept normally. However, when she noticed Tomato turn and look at his brother with concern, that gave her reason to worry.

The tossing grew more aggressive, and he started to punch the pillow, mumbles slipping out of gritted teeth over whatever he was trying to fight back against in his dream. The mumbles caught the attention of Pinkie and Spike, and they looked among each other, Tomato, and Twilight, grimacing at the sight. Twilight bit her lip, hoping it wouldn't get to a point where he had to wake up.

In a whisper, Spike asked, "What's going on over there?"

Twilight ran a hoof through her mane. "I think he might be having a nightmare."

"Oh, no!" Pinkie cried in a hushed voice, covering her mouth. "I thought the hot chocolate would give him good dreams."

Tomato crossed his front legs, his face still holding worry. "That must be some intense dream."


As hard as he tried to fight them off, he was now overpowered.

At least two vampires were holding each leg, and one had stolen his accordion. He pulled to the left, and pulled to the right, but he could not slip any of his limbs out of their grip. He felt his muscles strain a little as he tried to wriggle out of the monsters' grasp, and he sprung back to position, feeling weak and tired and all around helpless as they held him.

He flinched at the awful note one of the vampires played on his accordion. Glaring at the vampire--apparently Big McIntosh with a unicorn horn for some reason--he complained, "You played a flat when it was supposed to be a sharp!"

He looked forward, and saw that Pinkie was marching toward him, licking her lips and a hungry look in her eyes.

Cheese gulped. While he did kind of secretly hope that she wanted him, this wasn't what he had in mind. Why couldn't this be a dream where she was going to kiss him instead of bite his neck? At least the former option would be far more pleasant.

She was over him, and she had her fangs prepared. Cheese was staring up at her with pleading eyes, silently begging her not to bite--transform back into that huggable pink mare, fight off the other vampires, take him on a magical flight to Saddle Arabia--anything besides what she was about to do! With misty eyes, he watched as she opened her mouth wide...

Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light, and the next thing he knew, Pinkie was back to her normal self, blinking as she stared at him. She smiled and said, "Hi, Cheesy!"

Cheese stared at her for a moment, and then muttered with a shy smile, "...hi."

Luna came into his vision. "I suppose I should have visited your mind first, seeing as you were having a terrible nightmare."

Cheese chuckled nervously. "...yeah..."

All the vampires in the scene evaporated, and it was just the two of them on the path. Luna turned her head away from Cheese, and she summoned a door just across the nearest bridge. The door was burgundy, with the cutie mark of Princess Celestia emblazoned on it. In awe, Cheese walked forward, and felt it, staring at the gold insignia.

"Wow, nice door," he said.

He looked back at Luna, who was looking around at the area. Pursing her lips, she remarked, "Your dream was of vampires and Las Pegasus. Quite vivid, and a little too soon after a certain disaster erupted in that very city. It's almost as if you had been there."

Cheese felt a shudder run through his body, and he backed up against the door. Trying to turn the knob, he muttered, "Oh... it's nothing, really. I just read the news about it... I've been to Las Pegasus before... I have a vivid imagination... it's not like I saw any actual vampires or anything, I always thought they were a myth!"

"They were a myth... until Kazam decided to follow in the footsteps of his ancestor and make them real."

"Oh... Kazam? That's the crazy guy's name? That's a funny name, I'd name my son that if he turned out to be a unicorn... well, if I ever have a son..." He felt his hoof slipping as he continued to try to turn the knob.

Luna held a half-lidded look. "I can tell you're lying."

"Okay, so I wouldn't name my kid that--I'd name him after my grandfather. Your Highness, don't you have better things to do than just asking me about Las Pegasus?" As hard as he tried, the knob wouldn't turn, and he couldn't help but growl at it.

"Cheese Sandwich, the door won't open until you tell me the truth. Were you, or were you not in Las Pegasus? Did you witness the vampire invasion? The longer you hold these in, the more you'll be hurt, and the more vulnerable you will be."

Cheese snorted and stomped on the bridge. "Okay, fine! I was there, I saw the entire thing, heck, I even tried to stop it! It was too big for me to handle on my own, I almost died, and my brother was one of those that had been transformed!" His eyes grew misty. "And the worst part is... I could have prevented it..."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Prevented it?"

Cheese wiped his eyes. "It all started my brother made a deal with Kazam in order to procure money to help somebody start a business. I could have gone with him, and maybe I could have convinced him not to work for the creep and get the money elsewhere. But... I was angry with him. I was angry that we suffered a humiliating defeat in a music battle, so I was cold to him until it was too late."

"I see. I suppose your trauma is the reason you ignited Celestia's fire form."

Cheese sighed. "I feel so stupid... I'm a party pony, I don't have time to deal with stuff like that! I don't need anypony's pity. Besides, nopony takes the feelings of a clown seriously."

"You'd be surprised. A jester from long ago once had serious troubles, and destroyed herself because she denied she had a problem and tried to keep everything funny, even as she was breaking down from the obvious disaster that was occurring. She couldn't discuss it with her husband since... he was the source of the trouble, and she wouldn't discuss it with anypony else--even her own children. You don't have to announce it to a crowd, but at least discuss it with somepony close to you."

"What, talking to you isn't enough?"

"It needs to get out in the waking world."

Cheese had his hoof on the knob. "I guess... maybe... ugh, I don't know. I'd rather just forget it happened."

The door glowed, and he opened the door to reveal Princess Celestia, sitting across from the door and against another one--this one being a tan color and having Cheese's own cutie mark on it. Taking a deep breath, he walked out, followed by Princess Luna.

Celestia stood up. "What took you so long?"

Cheese looked away. "Uh..."

Luna stepped forward. "He was unable to get out until he addressed something important."

"Yeah..." Cheese walked around the princess and opened his door. He looked back and sheepishly grinned. "I'll just go back into my own body now. I kind of miss being an earth pony... and a stallion... and a party pony... you know, I miss being me."

Once he shut the door, the sisters looked at each other. With a grim look, Celestia asked, "You know what's bothering him?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, but it's not my place to tell. I'm just hoping he'll handle this before it consumes him."


Cheese woke up on the floor, his nose feeling sore. With a yawn, he rolled onto his belly, stood up, and stretched his body, feeling his joints crack from his neck to his legs. Smacking his lips, he looked around in the moonlit room, blinking the heaviness out of his eyes.

He heard Pinkie gasp and say, "Look, one of them's awake!"

Spike then replied, "What took them so long?"

He had to process where he was for a moment before he was wide awake and realizing that he had been on the bed. So, he looked at his foreleg, and sure enough, he could see that it was his regular brownish orange color, even in the moonlight.

He reached behind his back, and yanked Boneless 2 out of nowhere. Staring at the rubber chicken, he laughed and threw it into the air.

"Yes, yes, yes! I'm Cheese again!" he exclaimed.

Pinkie jumped on him and squeezed him tightly. "That's good! It must have felt really weird to not be in your own body, especially when you're in a princess' body! You suddenly having a horn and wings that you have no idea how to control, and you're all of a sudden ruling a country! Wow, I would not want to be in that position."

Cheese chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah... I kind of ruined stuff... I don't exactly have 'enchantelligence', you know."

Twilight gave him a funny look. "Enchantelligence?"

"What? We need a word for magic know-how!"

"At least you didn't start a war," Tomato said, coming to his side. "Celestia told me that happened the last time she was switched with somepony."

"Still, I wish I hadn't missed the whole Cheese-as-Celestia thing," Spike grumbled. "I always miss the interesting stuff..."

Celestia rose from her bed, and rubbed her eyes. She took one look at her hoof, and then smiled at Luna, who descended from the air. "Well, it's certainly nice to be back in my own body again." She leaned in her bed and quickly noticed a wet spot on one of the pillows. Wiping her mouth, she said, "Oh, my, does he drool in his sleep?"

Twilight turned on the lights. "Oh, I'm so glad that went well. I was getting worried that we wouldn't succeed because of Cheese's nightmare."

Cheese glared at her. "Who told you I had a nightmare?"

"It was kind of obvious with your tossing and turning and punching the pillow," Tomato said. "What were you dreaming about anyway?"

Cheese bit his lip, looking around at everypony. He envisioned them all with the fangs and wings and red eyes of the vampires, and he could hear them hissing. His heart skipped a beat, and after a moment of pause and seeing this, he shook his head, and answered, "Oh... just about some schmuck stealing my snorkel while summoning floating feathers to tickle me!" He narrowed his eyes. "And then he dropped me into sandwich cookie filling..."

He noticed Luna give him an incredulous look, one that was half confused over his choice in cover-up nightmare, and half irritated at him for not telling the truth. He resisted the temptation to blow a raspberry at her, since he didn't know what the consequences for doing that to a princess were. Besides, there was no way he was going there again.

He glanced at Tomato, holding an equally confused look. Cheese rubbed his throat and wiped his aching nose. "Well, yeah, looking back on the dream, it was kind of funny. Why do some nightmares end up being hilarious?"

Pinkie hopped up. "Dunno. I once had a nightmare about monster cake. Turned out to be pretty funny in hindsight!"

Tomato shook his head. "None of my nightmares were ever funny."

Celestia got off the bed and approached Cheese. "You remember my order to go fix the Summer Sun Fair, right?"

Cheese blinked. "Oh, right! I better get on it!" He dashed to the door. He stopped short of it and looked at the princess dolefully. "Oh... uh... what about your reputation? If there was a way I could fix it..."

"Don't worry, I can handle it. Just fix the fair."

Cheese nodded, and then looked at Pinkie. "I'm going to need a little help."

Pinkie smiled smugly. "You've asked the right pony."

Cheese grabbed the handle, but then paused again. Turning to the others, he smiled sheepishly and asked, "So... where does Lemon Hearts live? I want to make it up to her for ruining her hard work."

Twilight and Spike looked at each other, and then trotted to the door. The former said, "We can help with that."

Cheese coughed. "Great!" Then he turned to Tomato. "Aaaand, I can't leave my little bro out, now, huh? Not much brotherly bonding time while we were here! Don't worry, we'll think of something for you to do once we get there."

Tomato sighed, and then shrugged. "'Kay."

"Perfect!" Cheese coughed, and then wiped his nose again. He silently cursed the pepper incident Celestia had told him about, and then wore his big grin again. "Now, let's get everypony else and make this fair epic!"

Author's Note:

Okay, can I just say how happy I am that this chapter turned out to be easier for me? After a string of groaners, I am relieved to have a chapter that was easy to handle.

And thus, Cheese and Celestia are back in their own bodies! Yeah, it feels a little anticlimatic... sorry...

Also, Spike. I am ashamed of myself for forgetting him... I literally shoved in a half-baked excuse for that (seeing as he'd be accompanying the Mane Six at the Summer Sun Celebration). :ajsleepy:

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