Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

12.3--Clowning Around

When Cheese and Pinkie started their party planning in Ponyacci's house, Ponyacci himself was in the backyard with Tomato. He was no stranger to coulrophobia, having met many foals and grown ponies who zipped out at the sight of him. He often had to take steps in order to reassure those fearful ponies that he meant no harm, that clowns were ponies just like the rest of them--they were just wearing makeup and silly outfits. Tomato Sandwich was no different, and by golly, he was going to do his best in helping him get a better handle on his fear.

Still, he couldn't help but sense that there was something a little off with this pony.

Sitting the younger stallion upon a stump, the retired clown began the session by walking around him for a good scan of him while his granddaughter retrieved some implements to try to help with the psuedo-therapy. The few times Ponyacci came in close to take a look at Tomato's eyes or his cutie mark, Tomato was thankful that the elder pony wasn't wearing greasepaint. Still, it was awkwardly silent as the examination was made, enough for Tomato to feel like Ponyacci was getting ready to eat him.

Finally, when Ponyacci had twanged his forelock, Tomato growled and questioned, "Okay, what the hay is the point of this? You're not exactly a doctor, you know!"

Ponyacci backed up and scratched his chin. "Settle down, boy. I'm trying to get a sense of your magic and how it holds you together. If I have an idea of what it's like, it may provide me with some direction with helping you with your fear."

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Really now?"

"Yep. It usually ties in to who a pony is at their core. At least that's what a friend of mine told me years ago." He looked up at the clouds wistfully. "Heh, I wish he were here now; he knew a lot about magic theory and whatnot, and could probably explain more about emotion and character in relation to magic than I can."

That was when Sparkleworks arrived with a box of various knick knacks, costumes, prank toys, and art supplies. "Okay, Grandpa! I got all the stuff you asked for!"

Ponyacci laughed as the box was placed at his hooves, and he gave her a little noogie. "Good job, kiddo! Now we can start!"

Tomato grinned nervously. "Eh..."

---

A huge scowl was on Tomato's face as he looked at the little coloring book before him. "You've got to be kidding me."

Sparkleworks placed a bucket of crayons on the stump with the coloring book, a couple of drawing pencils, and her own little sketchbook. "What's wrong with art? It helps me calm down when there's a storm." She leaned forward and whispered, "I really, really, reaalllly hate lightning."

Tomato gestured to the pencils and Sparkleworks' sketchbook. "Well, I'm not an artist--" Then he gestured to the coloring book. "And I'm not five years old. And even if I was I wouldn't be sitting still for long."

"I'm not five either. I'm nine."

Ponyacci paused in his setup of something involving a bouncy ball, a mirror, a rubber chicken, and several other items. Waltzing over to the young stallion and little filly, he said, "Now, who said that coloring books are only for foals? There's literally no rule against it. Growing up doesn't mean getting rid of childish things, you know."

Tomato crossed his front legs and pouted. "I'm not very good at art either."

Ponyacci raised what barely resembled an eyebrow. "You don't have to be Sculpte Tangelo to use a coloring book." He reached forward and opened the book. "Besides, I hear that a simple picture is the first step in overcoming a fear."

Tomato merely glanced at the black and white picture, and a quick glimpse of a clown was all it took for him to jump backward in an arch that nearly matched the height of the house. When landing on his rump, he quickly scooted back even further until he had his back to a tree, loud pants whistling through his teeth.

Ponyacci shook his head. "Come, come, now, a little picture can't hurt you."

Tomato blinked and shakily stood up. Bringing a image of his friend Flora to mind, he imagined her telling him to inhale through his nose, then exhale slowly through his mouth. After he had done so, he walked back to the stump, and sat down, forcing himself to look at the black and white picture of a smiling clown juggling bowling pins as he balanced on a ball.

Ponyacci winked. "And you can color him any way you like."

Sparkleworks started to bounce. "Oh, oh, make him a vampire!"

Tomato looked up with a sharp glare and barked, "No!"

Sparkleworks staggered back, and scowled at him back. "Sheesh, no need to be rude."

Ponyacci bopped him on the head. "You don't have to go with that suggestion, but I don't appreciate you talking to my granddaughter like that." He turned around and went back to his props. "Now, where did I put that doll...?"

Tomato sighed, and turned to Sparkleworks, his tail rising up to scratch a couple of particular spots on his back. "Sorry about that... vampires are just a touchy subject, and combining them with clowns isn't going to help."

"Why?" Sparkleworks asked. "Did Cheese turn into a vampire and try to eat you?"

Tomato shook his head, turning slightly to let his tail grab an orange crayon and start coloring. "Nah, we just got involved in some crazy nonsense a while back. It shook us pretty badly."

Sparkleworks blinked. "Even Cheese? It's hard to shake him! He's faced lions and tigers and bears! And chimeras and manticores and dinosaurs!"

Tomato nodded. "Even Cheese. Let's just say I'm afraid to bring it up with him because... well... he's less fond of the memory than I am. He'd rather pretend it never happened, and it's best not to press him about it. He's scary when he's angry."

Sparkleworks took a pencil between her teeth and started drawing in her sketchbook. "I guess so," she said, her words a little slurred by the pencil. "You don' havta draw a vampire if you don't wanna. You can make the clown a bunny inshtead."

Tomato finished coloring the clown's coat, and moved onto the mane with a brown crayon. "Sorry, I already started."

Sparkleworks narrowed her eyes, watching as Tomato's tail making the strokes and scribbles with the crayon. Her pencil fell out of her mouth after she stared for a good ten seconds. "Hey... I wish my tail could do that!"

Tomato blinked, and then glanced at his tail. "Oh? I was just using my tail to color so I could talk. No big deal."

The filly watched as the tail put down the brown and moved on to yellow to color the clown's clothes. "But I've never seen a pony use a crayon with their tail! Everypony I know that's not a unicorn uses their mouth! How do you do that?"

Tomato paused in his coloring, and then lifted the crayon up to his face. Blinking, he thought of all the other times he had seen somepony use their tail for a quick task such as carrying an item for a short trip by way of balance or a quick grab that lasted, at most, ten seconds. In all those other cases, constant fine motor skills were out of the question. And here he was, having held a firm grasp on a small crayon for at least five minutes, enough to quickly color a clown.

He put his hooves to his mouth, and his tail dropped, flopping onto the ground like a wet rag. It was like a runaway wagon hit him, carrying every instance that somepony had said or implied that he was a freak, and every instance that he denied he was, that his liberal use of his tail was absolutely normal, just like every other businesspony like he. Normal, just like Mom wanted him to be.

"Uh, are you going to answer my question?" Sparkleworks asked.

Tomato blinked and shook his head. "I, uh... don't know." He looked at the picture he colored, noting how much better the clown looked when colored like Cheese. "I don't know."

They heard Ponyacci clap and bellow, "All right! Now we get to the fun part!" He grinned as the two other ponies turned to him. "Who's ready to laugh?"

---

The next thing Tomato knew, he was sitting atop Ponyacci's head as the old stallion was precariously perched on a fully inflated beach ball. They traveled the yard, with Ponyacci rolling around an obstacle that he had set up as the younger two had colored, hopping over bars and through hoops, ducking under tree branches (though Tomato accidentally hit his head at a couple points), and snatching whatever Sparkleworks threw at him to juggle. Tomato held on tightly to his ride's ears, holding his breath as he watched rubber chickens, bouncy balls, bowling pins, pies, cookies, and a Ponyacci doll arch one after another in front of him. He willed himself not to look down, lest he accidentally cause them both to come crashing down.

"I understand if this is new for you," Ponyacci said, wincing from the hooves clinging on to his ears.

"Oh, no, no, Cheese has done this with me before." Tomato had to will his tail not to wrap around Ponyacci's neck for extra sturdiness. Choking an old stallion was not something he was keen on. "Still, aren't you straining your neck like this?"

"Nope!" Ponyacci chirped. "I've trained a long time to have strong neck muscles, and I've carried plenty of foals this way in shows."

"I'm not a foal! I am emerging into adulthood!"

"I've carried plenty of adults, too, such as my wife. You're frankly one of the easier ones to carry."

Tomato wanted to bring up Ponyacci's age and how that was the reason he retired, but it didn't seem to bother the elderly pony, so he opted for another complaint. "So... how is this supposed to help me with my fear of clowns?"

"I'm giving you a closer look at what kind of tricks we do. After all, it's not very easy to do what I do--you have to be funny, acrobatic, hardy, have good balance, and be adept at multitasking." Ponyacci rolled the ball over a seesaw as he did this, and tossed one of the cookies he juggled to Sparkleworks. He smiled proudly when she caught it with her mouth. "Believe me, I've had my share of falls. Cheese has failed in learning some tricks as well--poor kid was hard on himself and tried to avoid practice so he didn't embarrass himself. However, what defines a successful pony is their ability to get back up and take another shot."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "I've heard that motivational speech in school plenty of times--just with different wording. As if anypony back in Manehattan lets me live anything I do down. I make one mistake, and everything goes wrong!"

Ponyacci furrowed his brow. "Your brother had similar complaints long ago. I hope he strained out that perfectionism streak he had when I first started training him."

All of a sudden, Sparkleworks shouted, "Hey! You ready to juggle the kitchen knives?!"

Both stallions' eyes went wide. Dropping all his juggling implements, Ponyacci waved both front legs and cried, "Sparkles, no, I did not give you permission to--"

Before he could finish the sentence, Sparkleworks threw all the knifes she held with the greatest strength ever seen in a filly. In a panic, Ponyacci ducked, though he nearly jumped when one of the knives popped the beach ball. The rest of the knives all flew over the elder stallion; the younger stallion, however, was seized by the knives when they pierced his jacket. They carried him through the air until they pinned him to a tree by the sleeves and the sides, with a couple extra flying in to pin him by the forelock and his tail off to the side.

Once the knives stopped flying, Ponyacci got up, brushed himself off, and then marched toward his granddaughter. "Sparkleworks... what did I say about handling knives?"

Sparkleworks' ears drooped and she rubbed her leg. "They stay in Gramma's kitchen, I should learn to use them properly from her or my parents first..." She mutter under her breath and looked away.

Ponyacci tapped his hoof. "And?"

Sparkleworks sighed. "I'm too young to throw them or juggle them."

"That's right. Now, don't give me knifes to juggle unless I ask for them, and you most certainly shouldn't throw them." He gestured to Tomato still pinned to the tree. "They didn't exactly help with what we're trying to do with Tomato over there. Heck, if we killed him, Cheese would be upset."

Tomato nickered with a bit of irritation. "Ah, lovely, my nose itches..."

One of Ponyacci's students, a unicorn named Lucky merrily trotted into the yard. "Hey, teacher, is it okay if I borrow a--" He opened his eyes, and looked straight at the obstacle course, then drawing his eyes to the knives that scattered the yard and were embedded in the tree. Blinking at the sight of Tomato pinned to the tree, Lucky backed up a bit. "...mirror?"

Ponyacci pointed to the mirror he had set up on his obstacle course. "I was gonna use it for a trick, but my beach ball popped, so you can take it for whatever you're planning."

Lucky hopped, trotted to the mirror and levitated it. "Thank you so much!" As he trotted away, he rambled, "Oh, you're going to love what I'm planning to do for the party, Mr. Ponyacci! I thought it'd be a neat way for you and June to take a trip down memory lane."

He paused to look at Tomato once again, and said, "You are lucky that knife right under you just barely missed," before trotting off.

Beads of sweat forming on his brow, Tomato pursed his lips and turned to Ponyacci. "Free me."

---

"Okay..." Tomato said in a strained voice. "We basically just switched roles!"

Ponyacci looked down at him and shrugged. "Because... well, you were right to be worried earlier--my neck aches now..."

After the scare with the knives, the trio decided to relax with a little kite-flying. However, Sparkleworks got it stuck in a tree, which Ponyacci opted to solve by stacking several of the items in the yard, having Tomato climb up on top of it and balance on his tail, and then climbing onto Tomato's shoulders himself to try to reach the kite. Tomato didn't know what was more surprising--the fact that he was barely managing to bear the old stallion's weight, or that his tail was bearing both their weights.

Ponyacci reached forward as far as he could, barely touching the kite. "Hang in there, boy! I've almost got it."

"You couldn't have gotten a ladder?" Tomato huffed as he looked down.

"The neighbor borrowed the ladder to patch the town wall yesterday, and he still hasn't given it back!"

On the ground, Sparkleworks shouted, "Tomato, you should go a little bit forward so Grandpa can reach!"

Tomato bit his lip, the bite getting harder when a wheeze came out. "I'm not so sure hopping on my tail would work!"

"No, lean forward!"

"What? Um, I don't think tails work that way!"

"You've got legs to help keep your balance!"

Tomato snorted and grumbled, "Why didn't I just stand on my two hind legs instead of wasting my time balancing on my tail?" He allowed his tail to tilt him forward, and kept himself from falling off the stack of party implements with his legs. His muscles aching, he wheezed as Ponyacci reached forward to grab the kite. "Okay, please, hurry and remove it before I die!"

Ponyacci had the kite in grasp, and was tugging it away as much as he could. "Darn branch won't let go of it..."

Tomato opened his eyes, and much to his displeasure, he saw that doll of Ponyacci in clown getup, tucked in the stack of implements holding him and the elder stallion up, and it was staring right at him. In addition to his panting, there a drum pounding loudly in his chest, the fur on his brow grew moist, and his muscles grew tense, and shook in order to release said tension.

"Whoa-ho-ho-ho!" Ponyacci exclaimed as he felt one of those shudders. Glancing down, he asked, "What's going on down there?"

"Th-th-the clown..." That pasty, grinning face seemed to be laughing wickedly at him. "It's staring into my soul!"

Ponyacci leaned a little, and spotted the doll. "Oh, dear. I'd ask Sparkleworks to remove it, but removing it might cause our stack to tumble. Please hang in there for a little bit longer!"

Tomato's lungs and heart hurt between holding Ponyacci up and being forced to stare at that creepy grin for who knows how long. Even squeezing his eyes shut hurt, and he couldn't look away from the doll. He couldn't pinpoint if his trembling was that of strain or fear--perhaps both. He felt his entire body screaming, and he was certain that just one little thing could make this entire thing crash down.

Finally, Ponyacci managed to pluck the kite off the branch. "Got it! Now we can--"

A boom suddenly sounded, and startled Tomato enough for him to buck the elder stallion upwards, while he himself ending up jumping off the stack. Sparkleworks quickly darted out of the way of Tomato, who landed on his rump with a bounce and a prickly, aching numbness. Of course, upon looking up, Tomato thought that his sore posterior would be nothing compared to what Ponyacci's fall would cause.

Seeing the retired clown fall brought up a surge of panic, and without thinking, he yanked his own tail, allowing it to burst into its poofy curls, and he hopped just to where Ponyacci was about to hit the ground. His raised tail cushioned the fall, and Ponyacci bounced off onto the grass with little fanfare and a couple of grunts. When seeing the old stallion unhurt, Tomato breathed a sigh of relief.

Sparkleworks gasped, and then jumped onto her grandfather. "Grandpa! That scared me, I thought you were gonna get hurt!"

Ponyacci carefully moved each of his legs before squeezing his granddaughter. "Saw my life flash before my eyes twice today." He twitched an ear, listening for some shouts to try to discern what happened to cause that boom.

"You blew up my lettuce!" he heard one of the vendors in the marketplace say.

"Oopsie..." Pinkie said.

"Huh, I thought those were cabbages," Cheese mumbled.

Ponyacci sighed. "Sounds like Cheese and Pinkie had a little mishap." He looked at Sparkleworks and smiled, pulling the kite from behind his back. "At least I got the kite!"

Sparkleworks leaped in the air. "Hooray!"

Tomato stood a little ways away, brushing his hoof on the ground. "Mr. Ponyacci... I'm sorry for bucking you off like that."

Ponyacci stood up. "No need to apologize... neither of us could have predicted that explosion, though frankly, we already were set up for disaster... that was my mistake. It could have been worse, and I'm glad you thought quickly. You have more in common with your brother than I thought."

Sparkleworks stared at Tomato's tail. "How'd you make your tail all poofy?"

Tomato flushed, and glanced at his currently frizzy tail. He licked his hoof, grabbed his tail, and slid the tail through his grasp. "My hair's naturally curly, and I have it straight because curly looks ridiculous with this outfit. Look, it doesn't matter, it was just a sense of urgency that prompted me to do that, okay?"

"Why don't you get a different outfit then? A more fun one?" Sparkleworks asked.

Tomato turned around to show her his cutie mark. "Gotta dress the part of my mark."

"Your mark? What does it mean?"

"Business stuff. Mom says it's a serious talent, so I've got to be an absolutely serious pony in order to be taken seriously."

Ponyacci scratched his chin. "Well... I wouldn't say you're absolutely serious. After all, I'm of the belief that everypony has a little party pony in them, even the most serious and the grumpiest of ponies. Though in your case, it might not be just a little..."

Tomato felt his mane bristle. "Well, I'm not a party pony! I've already earned my mark, any party I've thrown by myself ends with broken items and tears, and it's stupid to believe the idea of a party pony being afraid of clowns! I'm the normal Sandwich, because if I'm not, what chance do I have at surviving anywhere without mockery and scorn and inciting Mom's wrath when I don't act like how a businesspony should act? I don't want to be a freak, it always leads to me being an unforgivable screw-up!"

Tomato plopped on the ground and slumped forward, heavy pants coming out of his mouth. He groaned and wiped sweat from his brow, kicking himself for letting his mouth run off like that. "I'm sorry... that has nothing to do with what we're doing. Anything else you want to try in order to make clowns more equine than monster in my eyes?"

Ponyacci stepped forward and patted his back. "Don't worry, I think I get what's going on. Sure, Cheese said your fear started because of an overeager clown and horror fiction when you were small... but, perhaps it grew worse because you might be afraid of your silly side."

Tomato sighed. "Well, you really expect somepony with my talent to be silly? My mom is hard on me every time I move outside the realm of my talent; it really killed my joy in my cutie mark for a long time."

"Well, your mother needs to lighten up. I don't think that she quite understands that there's a time for seriousness, and a time for silliness."

"Or that a pony can be serious about being silly!" Sparkleworks chirped.

Tomato snorted. "It all sounds ridiculous to me. Talking back to Mom is so hard--no, it's terrifying! No wonder Cheese ran off. At least he escaped and found you; in fact... you're a lot like Grandpa Pizza Pockets."

Ponyacci chuckled. "Well, your general discontentment isn't something I can cure; but I'll keep trying to help with the step of handling that fear of clowns you've got." He helped Tomato up to his hooves and lead him to the house. "Perhaps watching my wife put some makeup on Sparkleworks will make clowns less monstrous for you. Sparks does have a little show to put on for us at the party."

Sparkleworks bounced and clapped as she followed them. "I can't wait to show you! I've been practicing at home a lot, and Mom and Dad say I'm great, and..."

Tomato couldn't help but smile at the little filly. At least she'd make a cute clown.

Comments

[Leviathan Splash]

Aww!

[SageBrony07]

We have one small victory.

[KawaiiShadow]

[FanOfMostEverything]

Well, at least Tommy's talking about his issues. Communication is the first step in solving almost any problem.

Also, I'm quite curious about that old friend of Ponyacci's.

[Goldfinch142]

"Hey! You ready to juggle the kitchen knives?!"

Scarier words have never been spoken. The fact that a nine year old said them makes it doubly so.

Had to add the obligatory "My cabbages!" joke. It's a necessity for any comedic story.

Seeing as Tomato has a soft spot for little girls, a little girl dressed as a clown should be a good step in alleviating his fears.

At least talking about his problems is good. One day he'll make it to confronting his mother.

[howard035]

For a serious episode about coulrophobia therapy, this was surprisingly funny. I suspect Ponyacci cannot help but have harmless wacky shenanigans happen around him at all times.

Since Ponyacci's set up this big famous clown school, I wonder if Troubleshoes or any other rodeo clowns have ever attended?

[Godslittleprincess]

Please tell me that boom had nothing to do with Cheese's personal problems.