Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

12.4--A Celebration of a Half-Century

That evening, everypony was gathered in the shared yard between the foal's schoolhouse and Ponyacci's clown school, sitting in the circle of tables that Cheese, Pinkie, and the clown students had set up. Many of the townsponies talked among themselves and admired the colorful banners and streamers that adorned the town. At the long table that was serving as the crown jewel of the circle, Ponyacci and June's children and grandchildren were patiently waiting for their beloved patriarch and matriarch to arrive. They watched the end of the exit tunnel for Lucky's house of mirrors nestled in the town wall's corner, ready to give a signal to their friends should they be spotted.

Some ponies looked at the rectangular tables outside of the circle, their lips dripping with saliva. Whether they be sweet like ice cream and cake, salty like popcorn and fries, tender like hayburgers and carrot dogs, or even verdant sides like salads, there was plenty of food covering the wide range of tastes of the guests. Only one table didn't serve food, instead serving as a turntable for a DJ, for within the circle was what looked like a dance floor, for those that wanted to get down and stretch their dancing muscles. And beyond the food tables, several confetti cannons surrounded the area, ready to fire the signal that the party was to begin.

Cheese, Pinkie, and Tomato sat at the table closest to the main family one. Pinkie was busy drawing and coloring on the tablecloth, much like the foals at other tables were. Tomato was reading a book, and Cheese was tuning his accordion in preparation for the moment the party truly started. All the while, he chatted about old times with some of Ponyacci's family members, and even told some stories to Pinkie, who nearly choked on her crayon due to how silly they were. Cheese also told the family stories about his and Tomato's summer trip, with Tomato looking up and adding a few tidbits here and there.

In looking up, the younger brother's eyes were drawn to little Sparkleworks, all spruced up in getup which was greasepaint that was simply a whiteout of her face with some added blush, a couple of polka-dotted bows holding her mane in pigtails, and a matching hat and collar. Despite the tenseness in his muscles and a somewhat higher pulse from looking at the makeup, he kept still, having seen the application of the makeup spur the harmless transformation from pony to clown in person. Said pony being a filly had him willing himself to relax, and even eagerly awaited what her act for the party was going to be.

After doodling a picture of her and her friends, Pinkie set down the crayon and leaned over to Tomato to peek at his book. "Whatcha reading?"

Tomato glanced at her. "The Waters of Forever."

Pinkie rubbed her chin. "Is it about the Fountain of Youth? Because Rainbow Dash recently got a new Daring Do book where Daring came across the Fountain on an adventure and had to help its guardians protect it from this pegasus dude who was trying to make the fountain into a rain cloud, and make it rain on Canterlot on Summer Sun to turn everypony--even the princesses!--into babies so that he could take over Equestria. Rainbow was gushing about it a lot lately."

Cheese snickered. "Imagine if that had actually happened back when we were in Canterlot. It might have put out that fire that I... started..." Pursing his lips, he flushed and turned his focus to his accordion, mumbling under his breath.

Pinkie leaned back to Cheese and patted his head. "Don't worry, Celestia forgave you for that. She's even thinking about inviting you to the Gala because you're lots of fun." She leaned to the other side to tell Tomato, "And you too. She likes you."

"Hm, I guess I'm luckier than I thought." Tomato turned the page, and shook his head at what he read. "But anyway, that guy in that Daring Do book is ambitious, I'll give him that."

"Yep, yep!" Pinkie leaned her stool back, waving her front legs. "But can you imagine the princesses as babies? I bet they'd be the cutsiest-wutsiest baby alicorns we've ever seen! Of course, they might be the only baby alicorns we ever see..." She steadied her stool and crossed her legs, her eyes glancing upward. "But, wait, Twilight was born a unicorn! She earned her wings! So, if she gets hit with Fountain of Youth water, will she keep her wings or lose them?"

"That's food for thought," Tomato murmured, resuming his reading. "But I haven't come across any chapters where anypony turned into a baby. Ponies just take frequent sips of the fountain's water to sustain their youth, that's all. I think you'd have to practically drown in it to turn into a baby."

Cheese grimaced, and finished up his tuning of the instrument. "I'd take the rain cloud, thank you."

Pinkie shuddered. "Ooooh, drowning. My sister Limestone almost drowned once, and had to be revived by the town doctor giving her a breath spell!" She put a hoof to her chest and shook her head. "Poor Limey's afraid of water now..." Her voice went down to a raspy whisper. "But she's in huge denial and gets mad when you mention it!"

Tomato glanced at Cheese, and then looked back at Pinkie. "I'd be angry too if I had been caught in a situation where I couldn't breathe."

Cheese glanced at them as he played a few practice notes on his accordion. "It's a good thing I kept you from falling in the bay when we were colts."

He looked up, and then saw two pony shadows in the tunnel, as well as Ponyacci's family members giving them the 'okay' signal. Hopping up on the table and preparing to play, he leaned to Pinkie and whispered, "Here they come. Ready the party cannons."

Pinkie saluted, and then rushed to the side of the tunnel, where a button wired to each of the cannons lay. She hovered her hoof over the button, biting her lip and trembling with excitement. Everypony else noticed the party ponies in their preparations, so they crouched down in order to bring more of a surprise. Tomato set his book down, and followed suit, watching Sparkleworks dash away in order to retrieve some implements for her act.

Ponyacci and Juneflower came out of the tunnel laughing, the former saying, "I don't know what was funnier, seeing me as an accountant or seeing you as an actual flower."

Pinkie slammed her hoof on the button, and the confetti cannons boomed. Confetti flew high into the sky before it exploded into paper fireworks and rained on everypony who popped from under the tables and hollered, "Happy Golden Anniversary!"

Juneflower put a hoof to her mouth, choking on her own joyous laughter, while Ponyacci looked around with a proud smile on her face. They were soon swarmed with hugs from their adult children and each of the grandchildren, ranging from just over Cheese's age to a little colt that was smaller than Sparkleworks. It was a great big group hug, and there were big smiles all around as everypony else applauded--especially Cheese "clapping" with the bellows of his accordion, with a huge grin on his face.

The hug broke, and June looked around, asking, "Wait a minute, somepony's missing."

"Oh, you're right!" Ponyacci said. "Where did Sparkleworks go?"

Right after he said that, the filly came rolling in on a unicycle, juggling six cupcakes to the accordion music Cheese played and the clapping beat provided by everypony else--and apparently Pinkie had procured a trumpet and was on the table with Cheese. Tomato was a little confused at how in sync they were, since he had not seen any choreography done at all for this act while they were there, but it was best not to question it. He might end up killing the magic, after all. So, he clapped along as well.

As she juggled to the music, Sparkleworks sang:

"You've hit a milestone, the big Five-O
And during those years your love could only grow
From each other to your children, and to your neighbors and Cheese,
We all just wanna say...

"Congratulations on your marriage reaching fifty!"

She leapt off her unicycle, throwing the cupcakes, and landed right in her grandparents' front legs, and finished off with a "Hey!"

Sparkleworks' mother and her siblings caught the cupcakes, and held them up in a toast. Her grandparents responded with laughter, while everypony else just clapped, except Pinkie, who held up her trumpet and shot confetti out of it.

Ponyacci tousled his granddaughter's mane. "Seems like the lessons Old Gramps gave you stuck well, good job."

Sparkleworks giggled as she was given to her parents, and she waved at the Sandwiches and Pinkie at the table. All three of them waved back, with Tomato especially giving her a warm smile.

June nuzzled Ponyacci. "My, my, fifty years. It's been that long? Wow, it went by so quickly, even those weeks that felt so long when you were on a tour. I can scarcely believe that we've actually made it that far--and with so much support too!"

Ponyacci nodded, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm happy that this party is going to be fun for everyone."

---

The party was in full swing, with everypony finding something that they enjoyed. Whether it was scarfing down a plate of food, going out on the dance floor, exploring the house of magic mirrors, or just sitting and talking with friends. Some of the foals were eagerly showing their parents their drawings on the tablecloths (Pinkie had to reassure them that she meant for them to be drawn on). Other foals were being amused by the antics of Ponyacci's students. And some were just running around in a chase.

An old song was being played, and some couples, including the star couple, were engaged in a slow dance. Meanwhile, Pinkie, Cheese, and Tomato were sitting at their table, eating some food they had gotten. Pinkie's in particular was stacked up with sweets, and the brothers were nabbing a few pieces of candy or cake to add to their nachos, pizza, and salad.

Pinkie flung some pieces of cake into her mouth, practically swallowing them whole. She licked her lips and rubbed her belly. "Mm-hm! This is some of the moistest and fluffiest cake that I've ever had! I wish my friends were here to have some!"

"Why aren't they?" Tomato asked.

"Oh, they were busy." She sighed and grabbed a cupcake with her tongue, whipping it into her mouth. "It's a shame they missed helping set up a party for the Great Ponyacci." She leaned to the side to see Ponyacci and his wife in a slow dance, and smiled at their content and loving bliss. "But at least he's happy with the party."

Cheese put his hoof on hers. "I'm happy that he's happy too. Though he hasn't put on the clown costume yet... I suspect that he's planning on doing that sometime tonight."

"Oh! I hope he does!"

Tomato grimaced and sunk in his seat. "Joy."

Cheese frowned. "Hey, I thought you were over that fear of yours. You weren't scared of Sparkleworks in her getup at all!"

Tomato crossed his front legs. "That's because A, she's a kid, and B, I watched the application of her makeup, so she wasn't as otherworldly as other clowns to me. What, did you think I could get over it in a day? I doubt you got over your shyness in a day."

Cheese opened his mouth to retort, but he closed it again with a thick frown and a growl. "Can't argue with that."

"Like Fluttershy says as she's trying to get over stage fright, 'baby steps'," Pinkie said proudly.

Cheese shrugged. "Hey, if Tommy pulls this baby steps thing, who am I to complain? As long as he keeps at it like I did with overcoming my shyness, he might get there eventually." He leaned over and patted Tomato on the head. "No worries, if he does pull out the clown outfit, I'll protect you, baby bro."

Tomato narrowed his eyes. "Don't patronize me."

The slow dance ended, and all the older couples went back to their seats. In its place, the DJ played an upbeat tune, one that a bunch of the younger folks recognized. Hearing just the first few notes had them spreading out on the dance floor, whether alone or in pairs, and they all started to hop and tap to the beat, and sang along with the song.

Pinkie was among one of those who recognized the song, and immediately grabbed Cheese by the shirt. "Cheese! Cheese! We have to dance to this song!" She jumped out of her seat and dragged Cheese to the dance floor.

Cheese blinked, and pointed to the food at their table. "Dance? Eh, wait, wait, what about the food? I mean, uh, not that I don't like this song, but we gotta finish... oh, never mind." He and Pinkie were at the center of the floor, and he took one last nervous glance at Tomato--who had been confused for a moment before snickering--before looking straight at Pinkie's face.

Pinkie stepped from side to side, bouncing along to the beat. "Ready?"

Cheese gulped and nodded, and started to mirror her movements. "Eh, uh, yeah."

They repeated those side steps for the first verse, with Cheese mumbling to himself "One, two, one, two..." until the song swelled and Pinkie grabbed him by the foreleg, yanking him off his hooves. She swung him around a bit before he regained his footing, and he swung her in return.

While he was swinging her, she slipped out of her grasp, turning into a little pink tornado on the dance floor. Some ponies jumped back from the little dust devil, and Cheese grinned sheepishly at those who glared at him. When she was close enough, he had to use his tail to grab her tail, and pull her back to him. He stood up on his hind legs to catch her, and blushed when her cheek pressed against his chest. Looking down at her, he discovered as she looked up at him that her face was pinker than usual.

After a moment of staring, they smiled at each other, giggling nervously. They grabbed each other's forelegs as their hind legs hopped and shimmied in rhythm, following each other in their dance. Their giggles grew into stronger laughter, and Pinkie squealed when Cheese threw her outward, their only link being their hooves, and then pulled her back in. When he caught her, he held her and twirled around in the same manner she did with him earlier that day.

His twirling stopped, and he set her down to have her twirl beneath his hoof before dipping her. He threw her back onto all fours before he returned to the same position. She turned to him with a big grin matching his, and their hooves rapidly pattered on the ground, before they leapt into the air, high-hoofed, and landed to dance some more.

Off to the side, Tomato was watching the entire thing, munching on a slice of pizza. Out of all the couples that were on the dance floor, they were clearly the most energetic. He even noted some of the couples who had stopped and were staring at them.

Ponyacci came over to him, watching the two younger party ponies in their dance. "Whew, I haven't been able to dance like that for years. Boy, do I hate being old." He looked at Tomato and tilted his head toward the dancers. "Tell me, do they have a thing for each other? Because I see their eyes a-twinkling when they gaze at each other."

Tomato leaned in his hoof, and looked at their eyes. Indeed, there was a light in them that he didn't usually see, even in party ponies. "Well, I'm certain that Cheese is in love... too bad he's also in denial."

Ponyacci rubbed his chin. "Not surprised. He has a habit of doing that."

Back on the dance floor, Cheese and Pinkie were circling each other, as a brief respite from their energetic dance. They gazed into each other's eyes, forgetting about everypony else. Cheese wasn't sure what Pinkie was seeing in his, but he knew what he saw in hers. There was light, there was life, and there was joy. There was a clear summer day promising lots of fun, boasting a cloudless sky for kite-flying and a cool pond promising a refreshing swim. He caught her strawberry and bubble gum scent in his nostrils, and all he could feel now was just bliss.

Of course, that moment couldn't last forever. They threw themselves at each other once again, this time to the beat of stomps and claps coming from bystanders. Hopping and shuffling on their hind hooves, they bounced around the circle, laughing as they did so. They stepped out of their closed position every four beats, waving their released hooves to other ponies. They did this for some time during the bridge of the song, and stopped when the final chorus started.

Then, Cheese swung her around for a few spins, followed by Pinkie swinging him around for a few. She threw him up, and he landed behind her, and once she turned around, he reached between his hind legs, grabbed her, and then pulled her from behind him that way. He lifted her up, spun her around, singing along with the song and laughing.

Then, after a few more steps between both of them, pushing each other's front legs back and forth, and one final dip, Cheese then threw her into the air, and the song finished as he caught her. They held that position for a few moments, sweating and panting heavily as they gazed at each other once more.

The crowd cheered, and they snapped out of their trance. Getting up to four hooves again, they bowed, and then returned to their table.

Pinkie hopped. "That was fun! We should totally do that again!"

Cheese had a hoof to his chest, still panting. "Give me a few more songs... I need to catch my breath..."

They went back to their seats beside Tomato, who was busy eating a pizza. When they looked up to find Ponyacci there, Pinkie beamed and waved at him. "Hi, Ponyacci! Are you having fun in your anniversary party?"

Ponyacci chuckled. "Of course, Pinkie Pie. It's fun dancing with my sweetheart... and watching you dance with yours."

Pinkie blinked in confusion. "We're not sweethearts."

Cheese blushed furiously, and ducked under the table. "Of course not! Don't be silly! We're simply platonically platonic friends that are just friendly in the friend way! Has Tomato's gotten to you too? Because he's confused!"

Tomato rolled his eyes and continued to munch on his pizza, a smug smile forming on his mouth.

Ponyacci looked under the table. "Well, surely denying it wouldn't require hiding under the table. Well, whether or not you do have a thing for each other, that was a wonderful dance you two had. Everypony was clapping along for you."

Cheese sank his chin on the cool blades of grass deep enough to hide his mouth. "Thanks..."

Pinkie put her head under the table as well. "Yeah, I especially liked the part where you threw me up in the air and I felt like I was flying! I never realized you were that strong and could throw me up that high! It made a great finale!"

Cheese started to rub his temple, the dreaded ringing between his ears surfacing once again and starting to claw at his brain. "Y-yeah... it just came to me as we were dancing, and it's wonderful when improvising works out like that."

Tomato's head poked through the tablecloth. "Okay, get out from under there."

Cheese's head was throbbing, and he knew once again that it was time for medicine again. Gosh darn that medicine! How he wished he didn't need to take it.

Cheese climbed back into his chair, only for a booming beat, muffled voices, and static to pound at his eardrums and echo to his brain. He froze, feeling a shudder run right through him with each beat, and his heart pounded as if it was trying to break through his rib cage. Feeling his stomach acid bubble, he took swallow breaths, trying to ignore the pulsing pain afflicting his head.

"You okay, Cheese?" Ponyacci asked.

Cheese cracked open his eye, and found the other three staring at him. Blinking, he stumbled out of his seat, he mumbled, "Oh, I'm fine... just need a glass of water..." He ambled to the drink table, adding, "Aaaand, maybe some peace and quiet for a little bit..."

Pinkie blinked. "What's he talking about? Is he sick or something?"

Tomato watched Cheese as he poured some water in a glass, and then headed for the tunnel leading into the house of mirrors. "Oh, right, he's been getting a headaches lately, and he needs a bit of space to take his medicine and--"

Pinkie furrowed her brow in concern. "Medicine?" She turned to the house of mirrors. "That doesn't sound right."

Ponyacci scratched his head. "What happened to him?"

Tomato shrugged.

Author's Note:

Confession time, I came up with Cheese and Pinkie's dance based on this song:

Comments

[SageBrony07]

I hope tomato tells ponyac about the cheese headache thing. He may be the only pony that can help him.

[Goldfinch142]

That's quite a dance Cheese and Pinkie did. I would have liked to see it animated. It did kind of surprise me that Pinkie didn't knock anyone over, though, considering her exuberant dancing in Party of One. Maybe Cheese's presence reined her in. (Ha ha, get it? Reined? Because...horses...yeah.)

Cheese snickered. "Imagine if that had actually happened back when we were in Canterlot. It might have put out that fire that I... started..."
Pursing his lips, he flushed and turned his focus to his accordion, mumbling under his breath.

There should be a space between lines.

"I don't know what was funnier, seeing me as an accountant or seeing you as an actual flower."

Oh, the accountant, hands down. Seeing a clown in serious clothes is the funniest thing to me.

I wonder what Cheese will see in the house of mirrors.

[howard035]

Oh Cheese Sandwich! Someday you will have to challenge the Choosing Stone itself to a goof-off for the right to Pinkie's hoof in marriage. Good luck!

[FanOfMostEverything]

It's kind of funny to me how seeing the makeup process eased Tomato's fear. My sister's fear of clowns developed from watching one remove his makeup on an episode of Sesame Street. It was intended to alleviate kids' coulrophobia. Instead, my sister thought she was watching a clown remove his face, and she's been freaked out by them for decades since. Not exactly a successful message.

Celestia likes Tommy. That's certainly something he could tell his mother. What's she going to do, dismiss the ruler of the nation as a judge of character? (More likely call her son a liar... though now I'm imagining her face if Celestia came by to corroborate the story. )

Oh good, someone else knows about Cheese's problems, and I couldn't ask for better ponies. Ponyacci probably knows more about party pony magic than anyone else on the planet, and if anyone can get Cheese to do something, it's Pinkie. This is definitely looking up... though it could just as easily lead to Cheese alienating his mentor and his totally-not-love-what-are-you-talking-about-don't-be-ridiculous.

Eagerly looking forward to more.

[A Joe in the Bush]

I finally caught up. That was a wild ride.

[Godslittleprincess]

I wish this part didn't have to end, but if it doesn't, Cheese won't be able to get better.