Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

12.5--Mirrors

Cheese downed his pill and water as he stood in the entrance tunnel of the hall of mirrors. As he stored the glass in his mane, he couldn't help but stare at the party, hearing the swell of swing music. He watched the dancers step, spin, and swing to the upbeat, jazzy tune, and could hear their whoops and laughter. He smiled fondly despite the ring in his ears. He wondered when the next swing music was; hopefully it was long enough so that he could rest up from that last dance and jump in headache free, but soon enough so that the party was still alive and kicking.

He rubbed his head, wincing from the high-pitched knife stabbing his brain. He turned to go deeper into the tunnel; if there was anything he needed at that moment, it was silence.

He didn't mind going through this hall again. In fact, he recalled what Lucky had said about the mirrors that bore images of what a pony would look like as a different animal: the species you see changes with each look. Cheese had already saw himself as a chicken, a weasel, and several other animals, but it couldn't hurt to see what animal was next.

A hippo. Definitely a hippo.

But, since he was in the entrance tunnel, he took his time looking through the mirrors to see himself at various ages.

It wasn't long before he paused at the mirror showing him as a baby. He turned and stared at the tiny colt, holding the purest gaze of anypony he had ever seen. He touched the mirror, with the baby's tiny hoof doing the same. He grinned, the baby copied it. He pulled a funny face, and the baby did the same. Then, he held still once again, with blinks matching his younger reflection's. Two thoughts were at war with each other; one that processed an estimate of the baby's age and defined it as a separate entity from Cheese himself, and the other who saw the coat color, hair color, and eye color and told him that it was definitely him.

Either way, it was amazing to think that at one point in his life, he had been that tiny baby, with that curious and innocent light in his eyes.

He moved on to the next mirror, holding the image of his toddler self, older by just a couple years. He could see that his eyes were still mostly innocent, though there was clearly a streak of mischief within them. There was also some pride, some of which he guessed was because of his newly-appointed position of big brother. Even so, that was still a little foal, and Cheese was again amazed that he had once been that young.

The next mirror showed him as a kindergartner, with his mane having grown bigger and bushier from toddlerhood, his muzzle bearing a pair of large glasses, and his mouth in a forced smile that was all too familiar to him.

Cheese's own mouth tightened as memories of his first day of kindergarten came to mind. The echoes of "Poofhead", "Four Eyes", and "Weirdo", made him step back, though he felt the phantom of a push in the process. He moved on to what he figured was him as an eight-year-old, which brought about memories of "accidents" that resulted in various bruises and ruined homework, him covered in mud or garbage depending on the day, or being locked out on a rainy day because he was too darn quiet for the teacher to notice. He shuffled on to early adolescence, and he remembered the boiling jealousy he had of Tomato somehow managing to thrive in school both academically and socially, while Cheese himself still suffered. And the worst part was that Mom somehow didn't think it was all that bad, and simply blamed him for his misery.

He moved on to his teenage years, and relaxed as he looked at his other self's confusion as his sudden growth spurt. He chuckled at the mustache he had grown at that time, the unbuttoned Haywaiian shirt over his undershirt, and the glasses he still wore. He looked stupid; but, that was part of his charm as a teenage party pony.

He passed his current age, then to his middle-aged self--who apparently regrew the mustache and taken to wearing a nice jacket--and then finally to his elderly self. He silently bemoaned that old pony Cheese had let the glasses return and had less hair. Was he going to go bald? He sure didn't want to follow in Grampa Beans' footsteps when it came to that. But, other than that, he was glad that his elderly self was clearly content with life, possibly having had a good run like Ponyacci did. And he was also wearing a Haywaiian shirt.

The end of the tunnel lead to the main room, which sported mirrors on every wall. Having been originally a barn, it also held a loft where hay bales were usually stored; naturally, its current use was that of holding more mirrors for ponies to look through.

Cheese instantly pinpointed the closest animal mirror, which he didn't hesitate to bound toward. Passing by other mirrors that showed him bearing various different cutie marks that could have happened--hoofprints, a Swiss cheese wrench, and a sandwich suitcase to name a few--he stopped short of crashing into the mirror, and took a look at what animal appeared this time.

He saw a wolf. Its fur was browner, its height was shorter, and its build was bulkier than his, but it still held the signature Sandwich forelock, albeit messier than usual, and generally looked like him. Though disappointed that it wasn't a hippo, he stared at it and bore his teeth in order to take a look at the canines.

"Hey, Cheesy!"

He lunged forward upon hearing that high voice, and ended up smacking his forehead on the mirror, hearing a crack in front of him. Cradling his head, he looked forward to find that the mirror had been broken. The spell had dissipated as well, leaving him to look at a cracked image of himself.

Pinkie Pie was suddenly beside him, her face in a sheepish little smile. "Oops! I didn't mean to scare you into doing that..."

There went his head, floating away with the dullest of aches in the front of his brain. "No, no... no need to apologize... I, uh, gotta catch my head before it goes into space..." He raised his front legs and attempted to catch his head, not quite realizing that it was still attached to his neck.

Pinkie poked him. "We're inside, silly." She leaned forward to the mirror. "What were you looking at anyway?"

Cheese stared forward, and what he had seen just a minute ago slipped out of memory. His head was aching too much for him to even recall it. Instead, he just blankly stared at the broken mirror, each shard distorting the picture of the party pony. Somehow, Pinkie was looking in a corner that kept her completely intact.

Pinkie waved a hoof in front of him. "Yoohoo! Are you there? Or are you spacing out because you're guilty that you broke somepony's mirror? Or is the horror dawning on you that you could have seven years of bad luck, and that every party you throw would end up terrible for one reason or another, whether big or small, and nopony was having fun because bad luck spirits were haunting you, and will not let you be a super duper party pony because they decided to punish you for an accident, and--"

Cheese put a hoof on her mouth. "Please stop. Can I just have a remedy for the bad luck?"

Pinkie opened her mouth to answer when Ponyacci walked in and said, "Try throwing salt over your shoulder. For extra measure, take my mirror there and bury it under some tree during the next full moon."

The two younger party ponies looked at the mirror, and then back to the elder pony. Cheese said, "Oh, it was your mirror? That was oddly lucky. Still... my bad."

"I can get a new one." Ponyacci chuckled before he put on a grave face. "Cheese, you mind telling us about those headaches of yours? Your brother told us that they were bad enough that you needed medicine. Are you all right?"

Cheese felt a chill down his spine, and pointed to a different mirror. "Hey, look, in that mirror, I'm a mare!"

PInkie perked up and turned to where Cheese had pointed. "Ooh, you're right! You make a pretty mare." She zoomed to the mirror, and nodded at her reflection. "So that's what I look like as a stallion..."

Cheese nudged Ponyacci. "You should see what you look like as the opposite gender."

Ponyacci furrowed his brow. "I already saw that... and I know what you're up to; you're trying to avoid the question."

Cheese ignored him, and zipped to another mirror. "Check this out! This is..." He looked at an image of himself wearing a dirty poncho, those big glasses, and having that hoofprints cutie mark. "...the nerdiest hobo I've ever seen."

Pinkie jumped on top of him. "Oh! Am I a nerdy hobo?! Oh, no... my hair's just straight and I'm not so pink."

Cheese stepped over to the next mirror. "Aaaand, here I am, I kinda look like some engineer for a war." He pouted and tilted his head. "Pinkie, why are you dressed up like some member of the EUP?"

Pinkie stared at the hardened version of herself and shrugged. "Dunno. Though I wonder if she'd like parties..."

Cheese stepped to the next mirror, and then blew a raspberry at it. "Geez, business Cheese looks pretty sour. Makes me think of a certain brother of mine..."

"Aaaaand there's the straight hair again." Pinkie's elbow was on Cheese's head, and she leaned in her hoof. "Do you think Tomato in that universe is a party pony? What would all my friends be? Is Rainbow Dash a tortoise in that universe?"

Ponyacci was soon beside them. "That's the mirror where I'm an accountant."

Pinkie looked at Ponyacci's reflection and giggled. "You look good in a suit."

"Why thank you."

Pinkie beamed at him, and then hopped off Cheese. She bounced off to another mirror, wondering aloud, "I wonder what else we can see..."

Cheese smiled at her and turned to Ponyacci, but then quickly looked away when the retired clown had his serious face on. Pursing his lips, he said, "Ponyacci... I know you're concerned... and want to know what's going on with me... but how can I tell you when I don't even know? These headaches just started back... back in... uh..." He scratched his head until the date came to him. "The end of June! Yeah, that's it."

A look of worry emerged on Ponyacci's face. "They've been going on for that long? That's going way past the point of funny."

Cheese walked past several mirrors, silently noting whatever showed up in the reflection. Unicorn. Pegasus. Changeling. Dragon. Some strange, two-legged, furless creature with a mane, hands, a flat face with a pointy lump in the middle (a nose?), and clothes. There was even a plant version of him. "All I know is that my 'brain chemistry is imbalanced' and that I feel like... something's..." He stopped, looked up at the next mirror, and started staring at what was standing before him. "...missing..."

Ponyacci tilted his head. "Cheese?"

Pinkie jumped off the loft that she had apparently climbed up at some point, and landed beside Cheese. She reached into his tail, and pulled out Boneless 2. "If you think your rubber chicken is missing, don't worry, he was in your tail the whole time."

When Cheese didn't respond, Pinkie turned to the mirror. Her eyes widened, and she dropped Boneless 2 at the sight of Cheese as a vampire, with the long, sharp fangs, the red eyes, the large ears, and the leathery wings. She looked back and forth between the reflection and the real pony, biting her lip. Under normal circumstances, she'd find vampire Cheese neat; but at that moment, it was an uncomfortable reminder of what could have happened to him. Just the thought of a vampire sinking its teeth into Cheese's neck...

She jumped onto Cheese's head and covered his eyes. "Stop looking!"

"Whoa!" Cheese stumbled back and blindly ambled around the room. "Pinkie, what are you doing?"

"Saving you from seeing what could have been!" She clung tighter to his head. "You could have turned into a vampire back in Las Pegasus, remember?!"

"What are you talking about? Vampires don't exist!" Cheese asked.

"Of course they do! Tomato turned into one!"

Ponyacci stood there, scratching his head. Each of the mirrors held a more amusing version of what was transpiring before him, but he got the feeling that Pinkie didn't mean for this to be funny. "Eh, pardon me, but I'm out of the loop. Mind filling me in?"

Pinkie looked up at him. "Oh, Cheese and Tomato were in Las Pegasus when this crazy unicorn turned Tomato and other ponies into vampires and sicced them on the city. I don't really have all the details; Cheese has the details, though."

Cheese managed to peel her hooves off his eyes. "Pinkie... I don't have the details of a event I never witnessed. I didn't even go to Las Pegasus at any point this summer."

Pinkie blinked. "Huh? Don't be silly, Cheesy, I saw Tomato as a vampire, since you took him to Ponyville to have Twilight cure him, and told us what happened, and then Twilight went on a curing spree with the other Princesses." She jumped off Cheese's head. "How could you forget?"

Cheese scratched his head. "But... I'm usually good at remembering things like that... especially if vampires were involved!" A low nicker come from him. "Tomato said we went to Pegasus and there was an incident there. I just thought he had a vivid dream..."

He turned back to the vampire mirror, trying to imagine Tomato in his place instead. He then squeezed his eyes shut, a slight tremble going through his body. "But, if you say it happened and Tomato says something happened there... maybe I can force myself to remem--YOWCH!"

He fell onto his rump, and clutched his head. It was like a knife had been embedded into his brain. "Okay... maybe not."

Ponyacci rubbed his chin. "Call me crazy, but... what if that missing memory is the reason you're having these headaches?"

Cheese groaned. "What makes you say that?"

Ponyacci looked at the mirror he stood beside, which had him as a unicorn. "I had a friend once who was into psychology and how it affects magic and whatnot. He told me about this class he was taking on 'memory magic', and demonstrated a spell that popped all my memories out of my head and had them circling around me in these little balls stuck in a web. Of course, they were all still attached to me by the ears, and he told me that plucking any of the memories off would not only make me forget them, but was extremely painful to the point where it lingers."

Pinkie gasped. "So he's having headaches and can't remember Pegasus because... somepony stole that memory? What do you think they're planning on using that memory for? To blackmail him? To live the memory as their own? To add it to their stolen memory collection?"

Cheese stood up. "Or maybe there's some kind of conspiracy where they're trying to make me literally lose my mind! But they only managed to get one of my memories so far..."

"Well, whatever the thief's doing with it, you better go get that memory back," Ponyacci said. "My friend also said that it'd leave you more vulnerable to magical hoodoo... not to mention you're not going to be able to focus very well with those headaches."

Don't I know that, Cheese thought, thinking of what happened back in the Crystal Empire. He nickered and rubbed his head. "But I don't know who did it."

Pinkie slid to his side. "Don't worry! Me and my friends will help solve this mystery! If there's anypony that can figure out what happened to you, it's Twilight!"

Ponyacci bumped him on the shoulder. "And let's not forget; Tomato may be some help in solving this."

Cheese's brow furrowed. "I don't know... if it did happen... wouldn't he prefer me to not remember him being a vampire?" He rubbed his neck and looked at the vampire mirror again. "Especially if it turned out that he had nearly bitten me or something like that. I don't want him to worry that I'll see him as a monster."

Ponyacci winked at him. "I think he trusts you to not think that way. In any case, we can't let some thief get away with a crime like stealing memories, right? Telling him might have you boys figuring things out more quickly."

"I guess..."

"You want me to tell him?" Pinkie asked.

"No, no, I can do it myself." Cheese turned and trotted to the exit tunnel. "But first I should go find him. Of course, maybe I should wait until after the party, when we've winded down... or maybe not directly after the party, since I don't want to sour the mood..."

Cheese felt the muscles in his flank spasm suddenly, and it lifted him up for a few seconds before putting him down. After a pause, he said, "I guess I could tell him on the way to the next party... ugh, he's not going to like that we're returning to Manehattan so soon..."

Pinkie and Ponyacci exchanged concerned looks. The former smiled and said, "Don't worry... Cheese Sandwich always has a way of bouncing back from things like this. There's no way any of us will let the memory thief get away!"

The latter sighed. "Perhaps. I'm just wondering if a memory like that is something that he'd want back."

Pinkie looked at the exit dolefully. "He's my friend... I just want him to be okay."

"Speaking of the mirror..." The old stallion backed up to the cracked mirror and grabbed it. "Mind helping me carry this out?"

---

Just as Cheese had walked out of it, Tomato had decided that he wanted to see the hall of mirrors, with the two barely missing each other. Cheese decided not to follow him and spoil his fun, and opted to try out a slow dance with Pinkie instead, as the party had been winding down and slow dancing was becoming more common. He wondered what Tommy would see in there, and hoped he didn't mind that there was one mirror missing.

Meanwhile, Tomato had just entered the tunnel, and looked around with awe. Seeing as it was getting dark, the tunnel had lanterns hanging in it to provide light. He looked down the hall, seeing a row of mirrors on each wall that had eternal reflections in each one. Stepping forward, he looked in the first mirror.

His first thought when seeing himself as a baby was that he was reliving his childhood. He smiled at the small, curly-haired foal that stared back at him. It was strange to think that he had been that baby that was standing there.

He jumped when Sparkleworks popped up--her face clear of makeup and showing her freckles--and said, "Wow, you were a cute baby!"

Tomato blinked. "Um... yeah."

Sparkleworks jumped to the mirror across from it. "So was I!" She cartwheeled to the next mirror. "And I was a cute toddler too."

Tomato chuckled, and went on to the next mirror to see his toddler self. "As was I." And then he continued onward to his kindergartner self. "And here's me in kindergarten, one of the brightest and happiest colts you've ever met..." He rolled his eyes, "I was so blind to how lousy our life really was..." He walked to his eight-year-old self, now wearing glasses but still smiling brightly. "...but as long as big brother was around, I didn't really care."

He stopped upon seeing himself as a preteen, the smile having disappeared. It had been replaced with a confused furrow of his brow, tearful eyes, and a scowl. He crouched down, and touched the mirror, the hoof 'touching' the one of his preteen self.

Sparkleworks was beside him, her own reflection only slightly older than she actually was. "Why are you so angry there?"

Tomato pulled his hoof away. "It's kind of hard to be happy when your brother runs away, you have to 'be strong' or your parents would kill you, and your so-called friends are very insensitive about your feelings on the matter and ditch you when you don't do what they want." He stood straight up and walked to his teenage self, clad in a sweater vest, who was still unhappy. "And also, Cheese and I were having a feud."

Sparkleworks had took to admiring her teenage self in the mirror. "Why?"

Tomato rubbed his leg. "It's complicated... but basically he was shy, bullied, and lonely, and jealous that I wasn't. I felt shut out by him for years, without really knowing why, and I didn't dare reveal how miserable and lonely I was as a teenager because really, I didn't think he'd care. I had to scare him off to keep myself from hurting."

He moved on to the next mirror, showing his current age. "And here I am now. Bye-bye, happy little colt." He noticed Sparkleworks looking at her adult reflection. "By the way, it looks like you're going to grow into a lovely mare."

"Aww, thank you!" Sparkleworks brushed her hoof on the ground. "And I'm happy that you and Cheese aren't fighting anymore. It's so weird to think of Cheese being mad! He's usually really nice whenever he comes over to visit, and even though you're kind of grumpy... you're a pretty nice stallion, too."

"Um, uh... thanks." Tomato sighed. "Still, I wish I had a do-over for my childhood; I'd like for it to be happier."

He moved on to the next mirror, and whistled at his middle-aged self. "Dang, I aged well." Then he moved on to the final mirror in the hall, and wrinkled his nose at his elderly self. "Okay, maybe not that well. Sheesh, I look like one of those cranky 'get-off-my-lawn' kind of ponies, tacky sweater vest, bowtie, and all. At least I'm not bald."

Sparkleworks was staring at her elderly self. "I might need to rethink my life."

They walked into the main chamber, and started passing all sorts of images. Tomato was nearly taken aback by the image of himself as a mare; Sparkleworks laughed at her colt self. Tomato casually imagined himself casting a spell when seeing himself as a unicorn, and his back itched upon seeing himself as a pegasus. Sparkleworks jokingly called them princesses when they came to the alicorn mirror. And she facehoofed when they came to a mirror that showed them as clowns, only for Tomato to run away in fright at the sight of his clown self.

They stared at one mirror that showed them as furless, two legged creatures with hands, with Tomato remarking, "They have to compensate for furlessness by wearing clothes?"

Several mirrors showed them as various animals, such as dogs, cats, rodents, and reptiles. They paused at the dragon mirror and Sparkleworks pretended to breathe fire on Tomato--which somehow ended up as her dragon self actually blasting fire in the Tommy dragon's face. When Tomato found one mirror that showed him as a vampire, he hastily sped past it, not wanting to go back to that experience.

Tomato paused at one particular mirror, even as Sparkleworks continued to explore the chamber. He knew that pony he saw there, wearing that same old tacky green shirt with the red polka dots. His eyes were bright, his smile was sweet, and his mane, while not nearly coming close to Cheese's wild style, had a fairly curly mane that would have other ponies labeling him as 'quirky.' It was Tomato's natural hairstyle, which was fitting for somepony that he realized that he might have become.

He and his reflection touched hooves, and he wondered how differently this pony's life went from his own. Did Cheese ever run away in this universe? For that matter, was Cheese the businesspony in this universe? Did this pony have better and more supportive friends? He obviously knew who Bluejinx was, but did he know Flora, Cirrus, and Nimbus? Did this pony have the friendship and possible romance with Pinkie Pie? He grimaced, as he couldn't believe he just thought that.

He cast his eyes down. Who was his mother in that universe?

If she was the same, then poor other Cheese, he wasn't as lucky as his counterpart. If she was nicer, oh, how Tomato envied those in that universe. It only served to remind him of how much he dreaded having to go back to Manehattan to confront her. And while a little kid clown like Sparkleworks was bearable, provided she didn't jump him, he still couldn't watch an adult one without fleeing in terror or having a breakdown. If he couldn't completely conquer his fear of clowns, how was he supposed to confront his own mother about how she was absolutely no help for his burden--heck, even adding to it--while he was growing up?

He took a deep breath. "No worries..." he whispered. "I still have until the end of August to decide on how I'm going to face her. It's not like the next party is in Manehattan."

---

When he came out of there, Cheese told him the bad news.

"We're going where?!"

Author's Note:

Aaaand that's it for the Mane-tua segment! It's meant to be a quick breather before getting a bit heavier in the next segment--in Manehattan of all places. What gives, summer's not even halfway over, and we're returning to Manehattan already?

Well, the Cheesy Sense decides where to go, and Cheese can't stop it.

Thus, let's see what the next (mis)adventure brings to our lovely brothers!

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Great chapter. I loved it. Also it gives a possible idea for your next big story for cheese and tomato.

[KawaiiShadow]

[FanOfMostEverything]

It's like I always say, there's no problem that an arbitrary of parallel universes cannot solve.

Seriously though, glad to see that Cheese is aware of the problem, though it's still going to be tricky to solve it. The increased magical vulnerability can't be good, and returning home when not at full capacity is just asking for a headache at the worst possible time. Still, Manehattan's a big city. What are the odds that the Sandwich brothers are going to run into their parents?

... Yeah, probably close to one hundred percent.

[Goldfinch142]

Well, at least they're going in the right direction in getting Cheese's memory back.

Sparkleworks was staring at her elderly self. "I might need to rethink my life."

Jeez, Sparkleworks, you're nine. You have some time.

Manehattan? So soon? Huh. Well. That confrontations's coming sooner than I thought, then. Unless they just don't see each other at all...Manehattan's not exactly a small town. In any case, wonder what the occasion is.

Love the new cover art!

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh, poor Tommy and Cheese.