Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

11.4--Behind the Curtain

Once his grand song was finished, Pants bowed to the judges after receiving his score. With a goofy grin, he merrily hopped off the stage as the applause rang through the stadium, with some extra loud whoops and cheers coming from a certain section of the seats obviously containing his large and boisterous family.

Cheese sighed in relief and rubbed his head. Just one more song to go, and then the afternoon show was done. He could go back to the park where he and Tomato stayed their nights and take a nap, maybe wearing an ice pack to kill this headache before it killed him. The show only had been half as long, yet Cheese felt like a limp noodle with a throbbing ringing between his ears and a stomach twisted in nausea. The flashing lights and the singing were no help at all, and he wasn't sure if he was being fair, since for all he knew, his perception of the performances was warped. The question of why this was happening was nagging at the back of his mind.

"Yo, Cheese, you all right?"

He glanced at the other two judges, who looked at him in concern. Sitting up straight and idly brushing off his shirt, he said, "Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine." Play it cool, Cheese. If they think you're sick, they might ask you to stop. And if you stop, where are they going to find a replacement? "Why do you ask?"

"Well, for starters, ya lookin' a little pale," Sapphire Shores said.

Cheese blinked. "You know, I have fur. How can anypony tell if I'm pale?" He put a hoof to his chin. "For that matter, how can anypony see another pony blushing?"

"There's also the fact that you've been rubbing your head a lot," Starsong added.

Cheese found himself rubbing his head again, and then smacked the offending hoof. "Uh, you must be imagining things. You're talking to a party pony, I'm used to stuff like this!" He forced a large grin, hoping they'd drop it. I should be used to it... what's going on with me?

Sapphire and Starsong raised their eyebrows and glanced at each other. Then, Starsong turned back to him and said, "Perhaps we should talk with the producer and find a replacement for you. You really shouldn't be a judge while you're not feeling well."

Cheese's hair bristled. "Oh, and who are you going to get? Prince Shining Armor?"

Sapphire smiled. "He's a mighty fine stallion--Princess Cadance is one lucky mare. Wouldn't it be just divine if he was on our panel?"

Cheese snorted. "Then why didn't you go to him before I came on the scene? He'd be a fine judge!"

Starsong grimaced. "It's... rather hard to approach royalty."

Cheese groaned and dragged a hoof down his face, his mind flashing back to when he had been Celestia for a day. How awkward and embarrassing that was, especially after getting angry for no reason and ending up setting the fair on fire. Crossing his front legs, he spat, "Well, good luck trying to find another celebrity to fill this seat again before the next round tonight."

Starsong scooted away from Cheese, and whispered to Sapphire, "Wow, he turned grouchy rather fast."

"Headaches do that to ponies, darling," Sapphire said. "Even to the nice ones."

"I wonder if Windswept had found something to--"

Then, from the stage, someone muttered, "...excuse me?"

All three of the judges looked up to see Herald Angel standing there, shifting uncomfortably. "Are you three done arguing?"

---

After Herald had finished his singing, Tomato, Blazing Silver, and Raincloud watched as the judges announced those going into the next round. All lined up in a row, the contestants of Daybreak Glisten, Cirrus, Nimbus, and Herald Angel were on stage, being rained on with the applause. Blazing and Raincloud were especially loud, enough for Tomato's ears to be ringing.

As Windswept was saying his parting words, Tomato sighed, "Well, I'm disappointed that Pants didn't make it to the next round. I liked his rendition of 'Palomino.'"

Raincloud sat back in her seat. "I'm surprised the stiff one made it through. Nice voice, but not interesting to look at. He's not even taking advantage of his wings!"

Blazing put a hoof to his chin. "Call me crazy, but maybe he only got through because the host is his uncle."

"Oh, pfft, we all know the judges have the final say in who goes through and who doesn't."

"There is such thing as bribery, or blackmail. You and I have seen it before, honey."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "Cheese can't be bribed; he doesn't really care for money. And what could Windswept possibly blackmail him with? I highly doubt his reputation would be harmed if anypony knew of our feud. Heck, I'm sure it'd hurt me more than it'd hurt him."

Windswept had said his final words and expressed excitement at the next round. Then and there, the show was over, and everyone was getting up to go. As she hovered and picked up her things, Raincloud looked at the field, and then pointed to the judges in the process of leaving. "Speaking of Cheese... he seems to be walking kind of funny."

Tomato blinked, and turned to where Raincloud pointed. Sure enough, Cheese was walking rather shakily and with a sway in his step. While he could usually brush off odd behavior, Cheese's walk was less of a quirk and more of a pained stagger. Tomato watched as just before Cheese went into the portal, he stopped to lean on the wall to catch his breath and clutch his head. After a few moments, he straightened up, and disappeared into the tunnel.

Tomato's brow furrowed. "Okay, that's weird... and not his usual kind of weird."

"Is he sick?" Blazing asked.

"He just recovered from a cold! What did he catch this time?"

"Maybe he's just disoriented from the show," Raincloud suggested.

Tomato scratched his head. "That doesn't happen... like, at all. Geez, how bad is that headache if it's affecting his walking pattern?"

"If he's got a persistent headache, then he shouldn't be judging."

Tomato slipped a pass (given to him when Cheese convinced Windswept to do so) out of his pocket and clipped it onto his tie. "Well, I'm going to go meet him and maybe see what's going on with him. If I'm lucky, I might convince him not to continue on with this gig... but I doubt it, he's pretty stubborn."

Blazing tightened the saddlebag on his barrel. "All right, you do that. Meanwhile, we'll go mini golfing with the twins."

---

As Tomato trotted down the halls outside the arena, going to meet his brother near the entrance to the tunnels serving as the backstage, he kept thinking about what he should say to Cheese. With him walking around in a daze like that--especially with no Baron von Whatever to temporarily blind or deafen even the most hardy in the audience--there was a nagging thought in Tomato's head that something was wrong with him. After all, the last time he swayed like that was when they were in the mountains just before the snowball, and that was because he had a cold and was sleep-deprived.

Tomato put a hoof to his chin. Is he having trouble sleeping again? He wondered if it was the headaches keeping Cheese up, or the sleep deprivation giving him a headache. Or a certain other event that Cheese was still in denial about. Either way, the competition was hardly any help, and Tomato wished that Cheesy Sense had led them to something smaller, like some kid's birthday party, or an old couple's anniversary.

He glanced at a Cirrus and Nimbus passing him by, and just waved at them before continuing on. Several other ponies passed by, talking animatedly and expressing excitement for the next round later that night. While he was looking forward to seeing the twins going to sing more, there was still concern for Cheese.

He went in deeper and deeper, wondering how long Cheese had been waiting for him. He looked at the various doors, trying to remember which one was the one that led to what served the dressing rooms for Windswept, the judges, and the contestants. Or maybe at least where a technician was.

He found the door, and started to walk past one of the dressing rooms when he heard Windswept shout, "What do you mean 'he should just be the runner-up'?! My nephew is meant to shoot for the stars, not mere second place!"

Tomato blinked, and silently shuffled over to the barely cracked open door. There, he heard Starsong say, "We're just saying that if he wins, ponies will suspect that this show is rigged in his favor, considering you've made it no secret that you're his uncle."

"Don't forget, I was runner-up when I competed in this thing, and look at me now!" Sapphire Shores said. "He could still be the star you want him to be."

Windswept snorted. "Oh, and who do you suppose would be the glorious pony that would beat him? The pathetic and useless comedy act? Little Miss Unsightly-Freckles-And-Awful-Haircut? That unicorn who sings the same boring lullaby over and over?"

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had thought that Blazing Silver had been kidding, but apparently he was psychic. Tomato wondered whether or not Herald knew about this, but it didn't change the fact that the competition was being rigged for him. Upon the mention of the other three contestants that had made it alongside Herald Angel, Tomato felt his blood boil over the insults that were describing Cirrus and Nimbus.

Another thought came to mind: why were Sapphire Shores and Starsong even going along with this? Did Cheese know as well?

"Hey!" Sapphire snapped. "Don't sell 'em short; that 'comedy act' sang a moving rendition of 'Empty Chairs and Empty Tables'."

"And the so-called 'ugly one' has a powerful voice and graceful moves! Those two show far more creativity and talent than your precious nephew," Starsong snarled. "The poor boy doesn't even look like he wants to be there."

Tomato smiled. At least those two were defending the twins.

Windswept slammed a hoof on the ground, loud enough to make Tomato jump. "I am doing him a favor! I am making sure that everypony recognizes the talent that he possesses and that he'd be able to show the world what he's capable of! He wasn't going anywhere staying in the Salt Lick Valley... why should he stay in that boring place when he could be a star?"

"Maybe he just appreciates the simple things more than you do. After all, you broke a girl's heart just because you found her 'too simple'."

Too simple? Tomato rolled his eyes at that concept. After that crush on Creme Brulee that ended in humiliation, he would prefer a mare that's more simple, somepony more along the lines of, say, Flora Peace. He stared off into space at what he had just thought, and then shook his head, reasoning to himself that it probably wasn't going to be Flora herself. What would she think if he thought that of her?

Windswept snorted. "Rock farmer mares are so unbearably boring, and so is every little simple town girl that I've dated, reminding me of the overall nothing that was my life in Nickerlite. You were a lucky one to have been married to me for over a year before I divorced you for being too complicated, Starsong."

Tomato wrinkled his nose. The more this guy talked, the less he liked him. He wanted to stop the eavesdropping and just go find Cheese, but he couldn't bring himself to pull away, wondering where this was going to go.

"You know that's a lie, Windswept--I filed for divorce because you're an unfaithful scumbag!"

Tomato cringed when Windswept started to laugh. It was a nasally, haughty laugh that Tomato imagined required an upturned nose and an obnoxious show of teeth. He was tempted to peek through the crack to try to see if that was the case, but given that he might accidentally nose the door open, it wasn't worth risking.

Windswept finished his laughing. "Oh, Starsong, you jest... given that my brother is head of Manehattan's biggest tabloid, you know I could easily twist our little story to how you cheated on me, just like I have a little story in the works about Sapphire Shores' big ocean charity screw-up. And you know how common ponies love to read the dirt on celebrities."

There was a pause, during which Tomato looked forward, his nostrils raw in breathing the dusty air, expecting Cheese to come marching toward him and catching him in the act of eavesdropping. He wasn't sure if it'd be a blessing or a curse, depending on the subtlety or whether or not Cheese would make him apologize.

Finally, Windswept spoke again. "It's a shame I don't have any dirt on Cheese Sandwich. I was prepared for Countess Coloratura, but, you know, she cancelled for that grandmother of hers. But, nevertheless, I suppose that two out of three is enough, given that obnoxious moron is kept out of the loop. I highly doubt he's smart enough to figure out what's going on."

Tomato narrowed his eyes, feeling himself heat up once again. You'd be surprised, you shallow son of a--

His nostrils twitched from the tickle of dust, and before he could even put a hoof to his nose...

"AH-CHOO!"

His sneeze blew the door open, prompting Sapphire and Starsong to jump back, while a confused Windswept had been nailed on the forehead with the edge of the door. The three looked up at Tomato, who had eyes as wide as dinner plates, which were quickly replaced with a sheepish smile.

"Bless you," Starsong muttered.

Windswept glared at him. "What are you doing back here?"

Tomato bit his lip. "Oh, uh, I was just looking for my brother. You guys seen him?"

"Sorry, child, you missed him," Sapphire said. "He left straight away, grumbling about a headache and how he was gonna take a nap."

Tomato blinked, and then scowled. "Are you kidding me? Did he forget that I was here? He was supposed to wait for me!"

Windswept held a narrowed eye look, backing up to one of the dressers and sat on the stool, leaning on it. His hoof under the table, he asked, "How long were you looking for him back here?"

Tomato glanced away. "Few minutes. Hadn't bumped into him, so I thought of asking somepony around here."

"You know, you could have knocked, Mr. To-Mah-To. Sneezing the door open like you did could be considered rude." Windswept drew his hoof from under the dresser, and tapped both hooves together. He winced from the bump on his head, pointed to it, and added, "Especially since you marred my perfect face with it!"

Tomato backed up. "Well, I apologize for that." No, I don't, I find it oddly satisfying. "A bump on the head is painful, and not a pretty sight." But honestly, I think you look better with it. "Please forgive me, I didn't mean any harm." But I am going to tell Cheese about you rigging this thing for your nephew, you douche.

He flashed a grin at Sapphire and Starsong, who grinned and waved back. Still backing up. he continued, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to our camping spot. I'll read a book as Cheese takes his nap... and then when he wakes up, I'll hit him with it for forgetting to wait for me."

He backed right into two big, buff stallions, with both of them snorting hot breaths onto his shoulders. Before he could even turn to face them, one had grabbed him by the tail, and hoisted him up, prompting a quick and pained whinny from him. After a moment of shock, Tomato started trying to buck the offending pony's foreleg, swing to either punch or bite one of them, and even flapped his front legs around, trying to will his nonexistent wings to flap.

Windswept chuckled. "Thank you, dear bodyguards, for grabbing this troublemaker."

Starsong glared at the smirking Windswept. "Let him go, Windswept! He didn't do anything!"

Windswept chuckled and strode forward. "Oh, really? Funny how he just so happened to be in front of the door when he sneezed."

Sapphire grabbed him by the neckerchief. "Coincidences happen. He just wanted his brother!"

"Oh, come now, stop fooling yourself, he was obviously eavesdropping!" Windswept pulled his neckerchief away, and then trotted to the upside-down Tomato. Tapping him on the muzzle, he cooed, "And he thought he could get away with it by using his brother as an excuse."

Tomato snarled, and then screeched right into Windswept's face. The white stallion backed up with a gasp, his usually perfectly styled mane frazzled and his eyes wide as dinner plates. His chest seemed to be visibly heaving and twitching, as if his heart was trying to burst out and his lungs were overworking.

As the two mares laughed at Windswept's fright, the white stallion grit his teeth. He spun around and snapped, "QUIET!"

When the two stopped laughing, he turned back to Tomato. "It seems to me that this immature colt is just as insane as his brother!"

---

Soon enough, Tomato found himself tied to a chair. He had been carried to a small, empty closet that was located in one of the higher floors of the stadium, the key of which his captors had somehow snagged from the janitor. He was in the middle of the room, facing Windswept Goldenmane with a glower. Behind him, the bodyguards stood.

"This is a rather extreme reaction to someone eavesdropping," Tomato deadpanned.

"Don't be silly," Windswept replied, rubbing his pastern on his chest. "Considering some of the other options, this is quite mild."

"I'm tied to a chair."

"Well, I can't have a kid running around and blabbing about my secrets now, can we?"

"For goodness' sake, what's with everypony calling me a kid?"

"Considering my age, your age is still awfully young." Windswept tilted his head. "And yet... you waltz around in that outfit, hoping ponies would take you seriously as an adult. I have to say, that's adorable, especially since your jacket's sleeves are too long."

Tomato flushed. "They're not too long!"

"Uh-huh..." Windswept stamped on the floor. "You're clearly around my nephew's age. You know, the age ripe for adventure and chasing dreams, completely fulfilling the destiny that has been graced upon their flanks." He narrowed his eyes. "I'm personally trying to foster the growth of a budding star."

Tomato wrinkled his nose. "You mean rigging the competition in his favor?"

Windswept laughed. "Oh, come on, you know it's fair that the most talented of ponies most win. I'm simply trying to ensure that."

"With blackmail?"

Windswept raised an eyebrow. "Puh, Starsong shouldn't have divorced me in the first place, and Sapphire Shores' little charity activity ended up with some porpoises meeting their doom. They're lucky I'm being merciful and not killing their careers just like that. And they know better than to risk it."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "Gee, you're such a saint."

Windswept straightened up and paced back and forth. "Anyway, surely you understand that I'm trying to help Herald reach his fullest potential as a musician. The boy clearly doesn't know what he wants, so I'm making sure that he stays on the path dictated by his cutie mark. If I didn't, what kind of irresponsible uncle will I be?"

Tomato shifted uncomfortably, those words sounding all too familiar. In fact, mentally replacing Windswept's voice with his mother's, 'uncle' with 'mother', and Herald's name with his own made him sick to his stomach. No wonder that pegasus was so timid.

"Now... we can't have you letting your brother know about this, buddy..." Windswept's eyes narrowed. "Or anypony for that matter."

Tomato snorted. "Oh, please, Cheese has a knack for figuring out what's going on."

Windswept flashed him a disturbing grin. "Well, it's a good thing that he's been too distracted with headaches!"

Before Tomato could protest once again, Windswept stamped his hoof, and Tomato was gagged with a sock and a cloth tied around his mouth. Tomato threw up in his mouth at the foul taste and stench of the sock, only for the vomit to sear his throat going back down. The ropes binding him were tightened, making his chest hurt, and only shallow breaths could enter his nostrils. His tail--the only part of him that was free--convulsed in response to what he felt.

Windswept laughed. "And thus, we have secured the tattletale! Let us go, boys... there's no way he can escape, and nopony will think to find him in here during the show."

The door was closed, and Tomato was in the dark.

---

As Cirrus, Nimbus, and their parents headed to the Crystal Park's mini golf course, they had strolled by Cheese snoozing under a tree. The twins attempted to fly over to him, wake him up, and prod him to join them, but their parents stopped them, explaining that he probably wasn't feeling the best.

As they walked away from the tree, Nimbus sighed. "Bummer, I'm sure he'd make mini-golf lots of fun."

"Adding Tomato to the mix would have made it hilarious..." Cirrus grumbled.

"Speaking of Tomato, where is he? Didn't Mom and Dad say he was meeting Cheese earlier?"

"Knowing him, he's probably at the library reading some book."

Blazing Silver turned to them. "As much as I can tell you want him to join, I'm not going to wait for you guys to find the library and drag him over here. I don't want to kill too much time before you guys compete in the next round tonight!"

Cirrus sighed and rolled her eyes. "Right."

Nimbus' gaze fell on a bench, and he pointed to the pony sitting on it. "Why not invite our new friend?"

Cirrus turned to that same bench, and scoffed at the sight of Herald Angel feeding the birds. "Really? Come on, bro, haven't you already bothered him enough today? Not to mention if his uncle sees him with us, we might get disqualified or something."

Raincloud turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "What, you can't be friendly to a rival? Your father was my rival once!"

Blazing Silver snickered. "Getting disqualified for inviting a rival to an outing is a bit of a stretch, Cirrus."

Nimbus glared at her. "Besides, it can't hurt to have him join in our family fun! Look at him... he's lonely." He started to hover, and then flew toward him, saying back to his family. "I'll be right back!"

Cirrus rolled her eyes again as Nimbus started talking Herald. "Can't we just have family time without some random guy with us?"

Blazing gave her a half-lidded look. "Sweetheart, you just suggested waking Cheese Sandwich up and having him join us five minutes ago."

Raincloud nudged her. "Perhaps you think Herald's cute?"

Cirrus groaned. "Yeah, sure, he's cute, but he's such a timid little wimp."

At the bench, Nimbus leapt into the air, and hollered at his family, "He's joining us!"

Author's Note:

I am heavily annoyed with myself with wasting my free time on the computer with Facebook Games and tumblr, instead of the more productive activities of writing and drawing. STUPID TUMBLR WITH ITS ADDICTIVE UTTER NONSENSE ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Plus, this chapter feels weak to me.

Anyway, stuff happens. I imagine 'Palomino' to the tune of 'Oklahoma', and apparently Nimbus likes Les Miserables. Nimbus, no, you're the comedy stallion, quit singing songs from a musical that literally has the word 'miserable' in it.

Oh, yeah, have a picture of the Herald guy:

Comments

[Leviathan Splash]

Windswept needs to have an.... unfortunate and deeply tragic accident...

[Goldfinch142]

...
Yup. Windswept Goldenmane is definitely on my 'massively dislike' list.

I'm not sure Herald even wants to win. Like with Tomato, having a destiny forced upon you is never pleasant and is generally a deterrent.

Ugh. As horrible as Windswept is, he has a point. Cheese is distracted with the headaches. Who knows or or when he can figure out what's happening?

Tomato can't be feeling great about being alone in the dark for what will probably be hours. At least there's no bodyguards literally breathing down his neck.

"Considering some of the other options, this is quite mild."

Mild? What, have you killed somepony? Ruined their life with your influence in the tabloids?
I honestly wouldn't be surprised, though.

Tomato threw up in his mouth at the foul taste and stench of the sock

Dang, that must be one NASTY sock. I don't even want to think about where it's been.

[RadicalDishonesty]

Well... I guess kidnapping's not that illegal, right Windswept?

No? It's very illegal? Even more illegal than rigging competition with coercion? Funny, that.

While Cheese's missing memories are potentially still to blame for his headaches, I wouldn't be surprised if Windswept has a hand in that.

[SageBrony07]

Man. Cheese really needs to get better pronto.

[Jordan179]

That's pretty scary what Windswept did. It's possible to die throwing up into a gag. Also, it's an insanely-extreme reaction -- I think he did it at least half out of anger for Tomato seeing him with his emotional mask down.

Plus, it's seriously cold of him to be bragging about ditching Seddie. I think Windswept is mostly restrained from more extreme evil by his own fear of punishment, rather than any inherent sense of morality.

[KawaiiShadow]

i think i know whats going on here....

[howard035]

The stakes just got much higher. I hope Tomato doesn't "hulk out" in his vampire form to escape, but I suspect he might.

[thecheshirecat1]

6928409
Hulking out i see what ya did there

[Dashie04]

Did I say Windswept was one of my least favorite characters in fiction? Scratch that, he is. He’s worse than Scourge and Arctic, so much worse.

[Godslittleprincess]

So, what does Herald want out of his life anyway?