Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

13.2--City Park

The next day, Destiny had led Cheese--carrying around his now-literal "baby bro" in a makeshift sling--out of the cave, and repeated her warning about being careful with Tomato's sudden age-ups. He waved her goodbye, and thanked her for the baby supplies he'd need for the next couple of days. He dreaded the thought of having to change Tomato's diaper; the last time he did that, he was three and clumsy, and the mess he made was bad enough for the smell to linger for weeks. He shuddered at the thought, but soldiered on, assuring himself that was just for a couple days, and Tomato would be all grown up again.

Walking through an open field sparse with trees, he looked down at Tomato, who had gone from tiny newborn to wide-eyed cherub the night before, and said, "You know, when you're back to normal, I'm fully expecting you to slap me for that stunt I pulled back there."

The tiny foal blinked his bright green eyes and tilted his head.

---

Cheese had spent the night in a hammock that he made out of his tarp, tying it to a branch just high enough to avoid any animals that would consider Tomato a snack. After feeding him with that bottle of formula given to him by Destiny, rocking him, burping him, changing his diaper--goodness gracious, he hated that smell!--and getting puked on, Cheese finally managed to get Tomato to sleep.

Before drifting off himself, Cheese had jokingly asked Boneless 2, "On a scale of one to ten, how good of a parent do you think I am?"

Boneless 2 simply laid there, and Cheese figured that he already fell asleep.

Patting the dark curls of the foal curled up on his chest, he somberly answered somewhat to Tomato, "Better than ours, I guess."

So they slept through the night, with Tomato surprisingly staying quiet throughout the entire night. As Cheese learned when he woke up, it may have been in part to Tomato having an age-up sometime in the middle of the night.

He was still a cherub, but instead of a little one that was more or less content with riding in the sling, he was bigger and bouncier. He was bouncing and crawling all over Cheese, pulling at his face, and chewing on his tail. Bouncing on Cheese's chest was how Tomato got his older brother to wake up, knocking the wind out of him, but the stallion quickly regained his breath when Tomato nearly fell out of the hammock.

Pulling the giggling baby back in after that heart attack, Cheese held him up, and said, "Wow, it looks like you're about a year or two already! They weren't kidding when they say 'they grow up so fast'."

Tomato responded by blowing bubbles with his little raspberries.

Cheese brought him to his side and rubbed his chin. "Okay... I think the rate of aging might be one age-up per day, but I'm not sure, you need to do another one for me to be absolutely sure." He stretched his front legs, not caring that the foal was pulling at his shirt and chewing on it. "I do think that that rate could keep us in the down-low about your actual condition, baby bro, so we'll be able to breeze through our next party with little trouble."

Tomato released the shirt, and started squeaking Boneless 2, laughing with each squeak. One squeeze shot out confetti from the rubber chicken's mouth, which startled the foal. Not a moment passed before he squealed in delight and continued to laugh.

Cheese smiled. "I forgot how happy of a baby you were, especially with how your, uh, stallion self tends to be pretty grumpy." Cheese sighed and shook his head. "There's a serious disconnect there, no doubt about it."

His smile faded once his nostrils caught a foul smell, and he groaned at the prospect of having to change Tomato again.

---

Manehattan was in sight. From where he walked, he could pinpoint each and every skyscraper that the city bore. There was the giant horse head of the Trade Plaza; and there were the single spires of the Crystaller Building and the Equire State Building, standing out among the many other towers that dwarfed the ponies on the streets. From Uptown to Midtown, and from Midtown to Downtown, the metropolis stretched out across the island.

Cheese kept on trotting forward, his babbling toddler brother on his back with his rubber chicken. "Back to the place of our colthood. Funny that you're literally reliving it, Tommy." He heard the squeaks of Boneless 2. "Why, yes, Boneless 2, I've got a lot of stories to tell about the crazy adventures that Tommy and I would have in that city. I've told you some, remember?"

Before he knew it, he had made it to the bridge, walking alongside the railroad leading into the city. "Tomato tended to fall off this bridge... no, he pretty much almost fell off everything in this city--bridge, building, ferry, you name it. Slippery little colt always managed to get past the railings... heheh, but I was also quick enough to catch him."

Pursing his lips, he looked at his back to make sure Tomato was still there. Thankfully, he was, though he was tossing Boneless 2 in the air repeatedly, whooping with each toss. One toss had the chicken going halfway through an arc over the railing before Cheese's tail launched out to snatch him, and put him back on the saddle with Tomato.

Cheese turned to Tomato, his brow furrowed sternly. "Tommy, please stop throwing him, I don't want to lose him."

Tomato gave him a dirty look, and then proceeded to slap him with the chicken.

"Ouch!" Cheese rubbed his cheek. Huffing out an airy snort, he gently, but firmly scolded, "No, Tommy, that's not nice."

Tomato huffed and crossed his little front legs, turning away and pouting.

With a sigh, Cheese continued, "That hurt both me and Boneless 2, Tommy. Would you like it if somepony slapped you with a chicken, or used you to hit somepony else? Yeah, I'm fairly certain that second one would hurt a lot."

Tomato still pouted, refusing to even look at his older brother. Cheese shook his head, as toddlers were wont to pout. Luckily, it wasn't too bad, and he figured that Tomato would forget about it by the time they made it to the party site. Instead, he continued to Boneless 2, "Remember last Hearth's Warming when we snatched Tommy, and took him to that Hearth's Warming party and went caroling? You know, how I showed you the neighborhood where I spent the first eleven years of my life?"

Those eleven years came to mind, and he frowned upon hearing the malicious laughter of bullies, whether it'd just be simple name-calling (sure, why not, it's not like any of them cared to remember his actual name), chasing him whenever he so much looked at them awkwardly, or stealing his glasses to make fun of his eyesight. The meaner ones had used the school's doors as a weapon against him, resulting in nasty bruises and even black eyes; the nicer foals were just simple bystanders, with the mentality that somepony else would take care of it.

And then there were his parents. Another two entries to the list of unhelpful adults: one who was always too busy with his work to give either of his sons the time of day; the other discouraging him from using any "freakish" abilities, telling him that showing weakness would make things worse, and not letting him live down the marks short of the acceptable grade of A. Constant stress put a great strain on his brainpower, and there was no need to remind himself of how he fell into the trap of jealousy of Tomato and his less stressful life.

He glanced back at Tomato, who was in awe at the skyscrapers they approached. What he'd give to be that innocent again.

He sighed. "Yep... where Mane-tua helped me bloom, Manehattan was helping to shut me down."

They crossed into Midtown, walking down the street to where Cheesy Sense was leading the stallion. He wove into Manehattan's large and colorful herd, all trotting at a brisk pace in order to make it to whatever appointments they had. The beats of every individual drum synced perfectly for a blend of various walk cycles and directions, and he made sure to blend his own beat with all the others. Their hooves all danced around garbage that everypony was too busy to pick up, and followed the paths dictated by tall buildings of brick and concrete and the streets sandwiched between.

At one corner, Cheese turned to cross the street, carefully watching the carriages zoom by. As Cheese faced the parallel corner, Tomato was facing another adjacent corner, staring at the ponies waiting to cross. The toddler was especially drawn not to any of the more bright and colorful coated ponies, but the one unicorn leaning against the building, concealing his mane with a cloak and his face with a newspaper that he levitated.

The paper slid down to reveal purple eyes, and Tomato giggled, and shouted, "Peek-a-boo!"

The ponies beside Cheese gave Tomato a funny look. Cheese looked back at him as well. "Hey, who ya talking to, baby bro?"

Tomato faced him, pointed across the street, and shouted, "Unicorn! He play Peek-a-boo!"

Cheese looked at the crowd at the adjacent corner. "Which one?"

Tomato flapped his other front leg. "Paper!"

Cheese narrowed his eyes, took a closer look, and shook his head. "None of them are carrying papers. I guess the one you saw left."

Tomato blinked and turned to face that corner again. Sure enough, the cloaked unicorn with the newspaper was gone. There were, however, some ponies looking away as if they had been staring at Cheese's cowpony outfit from afar, but were embarrassed to have been caught.

Cheese chuckled. "Some ponies may stare at your undeniable cuteness, but most folks would find it strange to play peek-a-boo with a stranger's baby from across the street." He rubbed his chin. "Now that I think of it... I'm surprised you haven't fussed over being carried around by me; I don't think you recognize me as your brother... or do you on some subconscious level?"

Cheese perked up when the police officer in the road blew his whistle, and crossed the road. "Come on, I'm sensing that this party is being set up in the park."

---

They had ventured deep into the park before finding the location of the party. There, Cheese found a stage, with a great canopy that rose above it. In the grass before it, with much under the shade of trees, there were a couple of ponies spreading out some picnic blankets, who kept looking back at the stage and mumbled something about decorating it later. Finally, there was a cream-coated, blue-maned mare rolling in a rack of outfits and talking with a hot pink mare with a mane of lighter pink, white, and lavender.

"I'm so excited for the official Summer Theater Days kickoff party, Flower Garland," the cream one squeed. "I'm grateful that you came to help with the future plays after the Midsummer Theater Revival was a success."

The hot pink mare waved a hoof. "It's nothing, Coco--I've forgotten how much I loved participating in those plays before Charity Kindheart left." She looked up at the ponies spreading the blankets, and frowned. "Though... you don't seem to be good at fetching help."

Coco sighed. "I know. It's difficult to get ponies that are available, since somepony always has work to do or an appointment to get to... even I had some costumes to sew for the next show! Sometimes I just wish that city life would slow down."

Cheese leaned against a tree. Well, lucky for you, Cheese Sandwich is here to help! Now, shall I use introduction A, M, or Y?

Flower Garland looked down. "Hey, where did that foal come from?"

Cheese's eyes widened as he noticed that Tomato was running around the confused mares and pulling grass to throw as confetti, Boneless 2 in his mouth barely concealing the squealing laughter. He jumped on their backs, snatched Coco's floral hair clip--with Coco giving the weak protest of "No, please don't take that."--and clipped it on his forelock. Then, he jumped through the rack, slipping between outfits in a little game that no adult knew the rules to.

Cheese checked his back to make sure it wasn't an illusion, and he groaned. Well, so much for deciding on a good entrance, he thought, and he galloped forward in order to catch the toddler.

Snatching Tomato mid-run, he skidded to a stop before hitting the stage. He turned to the mares, and squeezed the squirming colt close to his body. "Excuse me, this little guy's with me. I took my eyes off of him for a second and he just bolted off!" He pulled the clip off Tomato's forelock and returned it to Coco. "Hahaha, kids, am I right?"

Tomato flapped his front legs and kicked his hind legs wildly. "Put me down!"

Flower and Coco blinked, scanning the poncho and hat that he wore. After a moment, as the latter muttered her thanks and fastened her clip back in her mane, the former said, "Well, at least you caught your son before he got into too much trouble, cowboy."

Tomato dropped Boneless 2 and bit Cheese's foreleg. The pain from the little sharp incisors radiated through Cheese's body, but he kept a grin on his face. "Oh, no no no, he's not my son; he's my brother."

"Really?" Flower scanned Cheese up and down, noting his height and taking a guess at his age. "That's... a big age gap."

"Uh... accidents happen?"

Flower raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't tell him that if I were you."

Cheese managed to pry the colt's mouth off his leg. "Oh, no worries, he won't remember it years down the road. For now, he's just a little rascal that likes to have his fun." Then, he said to Tomato in a baby voice, "Isn't that right, buddy?"

Coco was staring at Tomato, a smile on her face and a hoof hovering just in front of it. "I'm sorry, I know it's impolite to stare, but.." She leaned forward to examine the little foal more, and then squished her hooves on her cheeks. "He's just so cute!" She looked up at Cheese. "What's his name?"

Cheese held him out proudly. "Tomato, of course! Tommy for short. Wanna hold him?"

"Oh, yes! As long as he doesn't take my hair clip again." Coco took Tomato and scratched his chin.

Tomato giggled. "You pretty, lady..."

"Aw, you little gentleman," Coco giggled. She looked up at the other two. "To be honest, his color's a bit more orange than what you'd see in a regular old tomato--I knew a Tomato in school and he was red as can be. But I suppose you could justify it with orange varieties of that vegetable--I've actually seen orange tomatoes."

Flower gave her a funny look. "Tomato's a fruit."

Coco blushed and scrunched her nose. Bending down to pick up Boneless 2 to give to Tomato, she murmured, "Oh, right, that's something we learn in grade school..."

Cheese cleared his throat. "Anyway... I couldn't help but overhear you girls needing a bit of help for your shindig you and your pals are setting up here."

One pony spreading out a blanket called, "I'm only here because I was promised free food."

Coco glanced at that pony for a moment before facing Cheese again. "Oh, you see, I planned a Midsummer Theater Revival for this park earlier this month, and with the help of a couple of friends and the Method Mares, it was a success in promoting community togetherness. I've been planning events for the rest of the summer in order to keep the togetherness strong--it takes effort to maintain, you know."

Cheese nodded in approval. "Ah, a planner, are you? I like you already, Miss..."

"Oh, Coco Pommel." She freed a hoof from holding Tomato (who was busy trying to untie Coco's purple sailor collar) in order to shake Cheese's outstretched hoof. "I'm technically a Bridleway designer, but I did enjoy planning these events. Are you planning on lending a hoof for our kickoff picnic party, sir?"

"That I am."

Before Coco could say another word, Flower butted in with, "Oh? And just what can you do, cowboy?"

Cheese smirked. "What can I do?" He leapt onto the stage, spun around, and tossed his cowpony getup off of him in one fell swoop. Holding his accordion and pumping out an upbeat tune as he did a mini can can dance, he hollered, "I'll tell you that Cheese Sandwich can and will make this a kickoff party for your neighborhood to remember!"

Tomato, who had climbed on top of Coco's head, was clapping and squealing, while the mares stared up in awe.

Cheese started to sing his signature song and danced a energetic dance, telling them all about how his parties were all off the hook and that he never planned them by the book. Listing the many activities he had done in the previous parties, he hopped, danced, and cartwheeled around that space in the park. Slipping behind one tree made his apparel change into lederhosen, spinning past another had it change into a Starswirl costume, and passing behind any other trees, lampposts, or anything else had him changing outfits until he popped up onto the stage's canopy, back in his yellow shirt.

He continued singing, hopping down in front of the two, having somehow acquired a few balls to juggle with his tail. After singing about some of the delicious food that his parties have boasted, he threw those little balls up in the air, and they all burst into confetti and streamers raining down on the ponies in that area.

Finally, he grabbed little Tomato, flipped back onto the stage, and sang,

"The Super Duper Party Pony, that pony is meeeeee...."

He lifted the giggling and whooping Tomato up with pride.

"My parties are for young and old, and for bright smiles like Tommy's!"

"Hey!" Tomato chirped.

As Flower looked up at him with a wide-eyed stare, Coco, the other helpers, and a couple of passersby had applauded him, whether by way of stomps or Coco's humble little clap. Several other passersby simply stared at the scene with confused pouts and raised eyebrows, and awkwardly shuffled away to pretend they didn't see that. And there were a couple that openly scoffed at the party pony's nonsense.

Cheese set Tomato down on the stage floor, and he took a bow, with the toddler attempting to imitate him.

"That was wonderful!" Coco lauded, still clapping.

Cheese climbed down from the stage, yanked a vacuum from behind his back, and started to clean up the confetti. "Thank you, little filly."

Flower pointed to the vacuum. "Mind explaining that?"

Cheese blinked and looked at the tube. "Oh, this? Well, I've got to clean up the confetti before I get in trouble with passerby officials. Last time I was here to throw a party, I got in trouble for littering, and they threatened to revoke my party permit." He huffed with a snort from his nose. "Bunch of killjoys."

"Party permit?" Coco asked.

Cheese pulled out a polka-dotted wallet. "It's the only reason I even have a wallet... aside from spare change I find during my travels. Anyway, I have permits to throw big parties for just about every park in every city in Equestria." He opened it up, and a long stream of laminated permits rolled down to the ground, and kept unraveling to a ridiculous length. It was long enough that Tomato hopped down from the stage, and started chasing what was still rolling.

"Roll-y!" he cheered.

Coco smiled at Tomato again and giggled. "He just keeps getting cuter."

Cheese scanned the list of permits until he spotted Manehattan. "Okay, good, this one didn't expire! I could go all out if I wanted to."

Coco looked up. "Oh, well, could you please keep the focus on the theater?" She pointed to the stage. "I don't want everypony to be too distracted from the main point of the first event of the Summer Theater Days."

Cheese saluted. "No problemo. Where do you want me to start?"

---

Once the stage was spruced up and decorated with soft colors, spotlights, and streamers, as well as picnic blankets spread out on the lawn and having balloons tied to them, the group decided to take a lunch break, with Cheese providing some leftover food items that he had saved from Ponyacci's anniversary. Tomato especially enjoyed the cake, and his face was messy as can be.

Coco graciously provided the little colt with a napkin. "You might want to clean up before the party starts. We want you to be a presentable little gentleman, don't we?"

Flower Garland turned to her. "The party's not until sunset."

Tomato took the napkin and threw it over his shoulder, and continued to stuff his face with cake. Cheese grabbed the napkin, and started wiping him himself, much to the squirming Tomato's chagrin.

"See, you don't just tell a toddler to wipe themselves--you have to fight them in order to clean them," Cheese said, grabbing as much frosting as he could off of Tomato's cheeks. "Seen plenty of mothers do this at plenty of parties. And, well, we've all been the toddler, and..." He shot a glare at his rubber chicken. "Boneless 2, as well as his brother the first Boneless, has been fussy when I've had to clean him after a party."

Coco, Flower, and the other two ponies exchanged odd looks.

"Stop!" Tomato snapped, trying to swat away Cheese.

Cheese shook his head. "Nope."

Soon enough, Tommy's face was all clean, despite his tiny scowl. Cheese crumpled up the frosting-lathered napkin, and then tossed it into a faraway garbage bin. Once it had dived straight into the bin, he threw his hooves up and hollered, "Score!"

Flower leaned in her hoof. "So, where you from?"

Cheese turned to her. "Oh... well, technically, I was born here in the Neigh Yoke Area. I hail from the neighborhood of--"

He was interrupted by a hiccup from Tomato, and he noticed a few of the other ponies staring at the toddler. Cheese turned to his brother, who was not only clutching his stomach as if he had a tummy ache, but glowing like a lantern as well. As the toddler emanated his aura, he was steadily but visibly growing bigger, with every feature getting a little less chubby and a little more fine. As a testament to the sudden growth spurt, the diaper had clearly gotten tighter, and was threatening to rip.

Cheese's face was still, but every corner of his mind was screaming, Not here! Not now! Don't age up in front of these ponies! He glanced at them to gauge their reaction, which was that of wide eyes and increasingly slackening jaws.

Tomato stopped glowing, and he looked up with wide eyes. With a gasp, he shouted, "Who are you?!"

Cheese waved his hooves. "Now, now, Tommy, let me explain--"

"How did you know my name?! I never met you before!" Tomato looked around with panic, and hopped to his hooves. "Cheesy, help! These strangers stole me and put me in a diaper!"

"Tomato, wait, I am Cheese!"

Tomato glared at him. "No, you're not! You're old!"

Cheese put a hoof to his chest. "Well, I never! I'll have you know that I'm a fresh and young twenty--oof!"

Tomato had hopped on his head and sent it crashing to the ground, before hopping over the rest of him and quickly waddling away. Raising his head again, Cheese turned, and shouted, "Tomato, wait, you don't understand! I am your big brother! Th-there's a reason why I'm older than usual!"

Coco tilted her head. "Older than usual...?"

Tomato had shuffled a good distance away before he decided he had enough of the diaper and tore it off. Free from the restrictive garment, Tomato bolted toward the park's exit at full speed. Even when Cheese had appeared there in order to block his way, he just slipped through the stallion's long legs, and made it across the street just before a carriage hit him.

Cheese attempted to follow, only for his muzzle to be grazed by a speeding taxi. By the time the taxi passed, Tomato had disappeared.

Cheese stared at the street for a good long moment, plopping down onto his haunches, and beginning a series of nervous chuckles that broke into a fit of kooky giggles. He kept up the giggle fit as he stared at the streets ahead, with Tomato being concealed by buildings of all shapes and sizes, and ponies of all shapes and sizes, and horse-drawn carriages of all shapes and sizes, and--

He threw himself back in mad laughter, barely even noticing Coco cautiously approaching him.

"Um... Cheese?" she asked. "What just happened?"

Cheese laughed some more, clutching his face in anguish. "Oh, no, he's gonna die. Ahahaha, he's gonna die..." He rolled back over and looked up at Coco with desperation. "Tommy's gonna die because he was a reckless, hyperactive nut at the age of five! Eight-year-old me was always there to rescue him from danger, and right now Cheesy can't, because Cheesy's right here, as a full grown pony in the prime of his life, while Tommy's the wrong age right now because he's supposed to be just three... years... younger than me!"

A couple of ponies walking by stared at Cheese wallowing in his madness, and walked faster in order to escape him before he did anything.

Coco flinched at Cheese's raised voice. "Please calm down! Can you explain what you're going on about? I'm kinda lost..."

Cheese sighed and stood up. "Ever heard of the Fountain of Youth?"

Author's Note:

Here I am, attempting to write Manehattan, instead of just inside the Sandwich home, or at their school, or at their grandparents' restaurant... yeah, I'm totally going to have a fun and easy time writing this (not).

In other news, canon pony of the week is Coco Pommel.

Also, have another FIM-ified G3 pony, Flower Garland.

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

Oh wow, Tommy's not going to even cooperate even when he liked Cheese?

And things are only going to get worse when he's gets old enough to remember he hates Cheese... But not so old that he remembers they patched it up.

Not to mention he's also in his hometown, which means he might simply go home. Especially around the time he's a teenager.

... It's shaping up to be an exciting arc.

[Goldfinch142]

Hmm. Let's hope someone nice found little Tommy.

Actually, assuming Tommy knows where he lives at this point, Cheese might want to check his own house. Or the location his grandparents' pizzeria used to be. He'd better not waste too much time explaining the situation to Coco, though. The big city is not kind to small children.

In other news, little Tommy remains adorable.

[howard035]

I really like the bit with the extensive list of party permits. Under the wackiness Cheese Sandwich is a very organized pony, just like Pinkie!

[FanOfMostEverything]

You tiptoed around one of my more esoteric fears. Age regression past the point of conception has creeped me out since that one episode of Star Trek: Voyager. Ugh.

In any case, this is certainly a fascinating predicament. Definitely looking forward to seeing what comes of this. Part of me can't help but wonder if Tommy might have been able to save himself when the chips were down. I suppose now we'll see.

[redmar]

The unicorn with the newspaper and the cloak must be Wayer Runes who's spying on Cheese and Tomato for some reason. I like Coco's part in this and I hope she can help Cheese.

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh my gosh. I just hope Cheese catches him before either of them run into their mom. "shudder"