Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

14.1--A Word With Mom

"Mistake... mistake..."

"Their treatment you did not deserve..."

"Release the pain..."

"You made a mistake..."

"Party pony shouldn't live with pain..."

"Or all this laughter turns to disaster..."

"Hush, Cheese... the monsters are only in your head..."

"Please, Cheese Sandwich, you don't know what you are doing..."

Those voices echoed inside the head of Cheese Sandwich, stirring him from his slumber. He lifted his head from a half-wet pillow, his eyelids weighed down by tiredness. Rubbing his head, which seemed to ache by the array of voices bouncing around in his head as if it were hollow, he shoved his front legs onto a spongy surface below him, boosting himself up with wobbly limbs. He smacked his lips, and when he paused to wipe his mouth, the remaining leg supporting him gave way, and he crashed face first into wet fabric cushioned by feathers. With a groan, both legs launched him back up, and he balanced himself into sitting position, his eyes finally creaking open.

He was in a cozy apartment, sitting upon a purple couch and sitting across from a seamstress' workspace, with a mannequin, hat rack, sewing machine, and plenty of fabric stuffed in shelves off to the side. On his left was a window-door leading to a balcony, holding a view of many of the neighboring buildings. His eyes dashed from the curtains slumping from a bent rod to the chicken-shaped lamp, from the cushioned stool to the bookshelf, and from the cello behind the couch to the pillow on the couch that had its bottom half soaked in drool. He cringed at that last item, murmuring, "Oops."

He looked forward at the workspace once again. Where am I and what am I doing here?

He jumped off the couch to stretch, pausing in the middle of stretching a hind leg when he heard the voices of his brother and Coco Pommel chatting in another room. Blinking, it clicked with him that he must be in Coco's apartment.

He unfortunately stretched too long, and a muscle in his leg burned in protest. Biting his lip to bear the muscle's rebellion against him, he was forced to limp with a stiff leg until the wave of pain had passed. He was thankful that it didn't last long, and he was walking normally before half a minute even passed.

He strode into a small and homey kitchen, where he found Tomato and Coco having a pancake breakfast--or rather, have already finished their pancake breakfast, while a stack of them apparently sat at an empty seat, presumably for him. They had been having a conversation about how Tomato had been sleeping upside down from his tail on the curtain rod, which had the red-orange stallion stammering for a good explanation. The conversation stopped when they turned to look at him.

He smiled at them and said, "Morning."

Coco smiled at him. "Oh, good, you're awake! I hope you like pancakes."

Cheese paused when hearing her voice echo, and felt pinches in his temples and back of the head that radiated to the rest of his brain. He quickly recovered from his pause and hopped into the chair. "Are you kidding? I'm up for a nice breakfast like that!"

Tomato furrowed his brow and drummed his hooves on the table. "What happened last night? We found you unconscious just outside of the party zone, and we had to carry you here." He glanced away and grumbled, "And go back to clean up the mess..."

Cheese had already stuffed his face with some pancakes. Blinking with wide eyes, he took a moment to interpret Tomato's speech beyond the echoes, and shrugged before he swallowed. "To be honest... I don't remember much after talking with you on that bench. I was just alone with my thoughts, and next thing I know, I'm drooling on Coco's couch."

Coco frowned. "What?"

Cheese grinned sheepishly at her. "Sorry." He turned back to Tomato. "Maybe it was a hit-and-run?"

Tomato rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised if some creep randomly did that. Sadistic weirdos in this city strike whenever they can. But, knowing you, you recover relatively quickly from blows like that."

Cheese pouted. "Still rude."

Cheese swallowed another pancake whole, which had Coco staring with wide eyes, opening her mouth to say something, and then changing her mind. A moment passed before she said something else that was on her mind. "Anyway, I'm glad you're okay. I'd also like to thank you for helping with the party--it was wonderful."

"No problem!" Cheese chuckled. "Sounds like my work here is done, and me and Tomato can move on to the next one."

"Where are you planning to go?"

Cheese looked down at his cutie mark. "Well, Cheesy Sense hasn't said anything yet, but we'll see." He looked up at the calendar on the wall, which had all the days up to mid-July crossed out. "I have a couple ideas from experience, though."

He threw the rest of the pancakes into his mouth. He savored the sweet taste of the syrup-soaked cake, and heard the reverberating squelch of the food--along with that blasted echoing ring that was giving him yet another headache--as he chewed. He swallowed the resulting lump, which would have been difficult to swallow had he not been a party pony. While he would have to take his medicine to stop the headache, he was perfectly content with his breakfast, simply thinking, Delicious!

He heard Tomato and Coco repeat it, clear as day and without that annoying echo, though neither of their mouths moved. As he pondered how that happened, he suddenly heard the voice of his father repeat, "Delicious", which was followed by his mother saying the same. It was clear and echo-free yet again, and it was as if he felt their breath on his neck.

He blinked, spun around, and to his surprise, nopony was there--just the door to Coco's studio.

"Uh..." Coco muttered. "Is there anything wrong?"

Cheese scratched his head. "Thought I heard my parents right behind me."

Tomato drew in the leftover syrup on his plate with his fork, a look of glum worry on his face. "Well, I doubt they know we're here, so we're safe from them."

Cheese wanted to know why sounds were back to echoing, but another thought crossed his mind. "Oh, yeah... that reminds me! Mom wants to have a word with you."

Tomato's face fell and he dropped the fork. "What?"

"Yeah, I bumped into her yesterday. I can't remember much of our conversation, other than the fact that she doesn't like that you didn't tell her about our vacation." Cheese crossed his arms and gave him a disappointed pout couple with a raised eyebrow.

Tomato twiddled his hooves. "Well... you know what she's like! She would have killed me for even considering it!"

Cheese shook his head. "Now, now, I don't want to hear any excuses. If she's upset, I'm sure she'll be reasonable about it like any other mother would be." He grabbed Tomato's tail with his own, hopped off his seat, and started to drag him to the door.

However, Tomato was clinging on a little too tightly to the chair, which did not help considering it wasn't bolted to the floor. Dragging the seat with him, Tomato complained, "No, wait! I haven't had time to compose a script in my head for what I want to say to her! I haven't organized my thoughts in a way to avoid the pitfalls and win the argument! You of all ponies should know how delicate this situation is--you were in a similar position, remember?!"

Cheese rolled his eyes as he walked out of the kitchen, turning to the front door. "I recall no such event. Now, stop whining, and stop stealing Miss Pommel's chair!" He glanced at the mare and said, "Thanks for your help yesterday, and for letting us stay here, and for the pancakes!"

Coco just stared at the brothers as they left her apartment, cringing at the argument happening before her. She continued to stare, up until Cheese threw the chair back into the apartment. He had shut the door before he even noticed that the chair had shattered upon impact on the floor. Now alone in the kitchen, she turned her attention to the broken chair and sighed.

"I was thinking of replacing that old thing, anyway."

---

Her thin lips curled into a smile. The echoes of that snap rang around the street, making a haunting tune in the otherwise dark and empty setting. The thick tension that had blanketed them before had all but disappeared, blowing away with Silver Rose's last breath.

Walker dropped his former fiancee's body, which crumpled into a heap. Her position had not been so elegant as she had been in life. Her sapphire eyes were wide open, and her lips were parted just enough for a trickle of blood to roll out. Her neck was bent in an unusual direction, one that wouldn't be possible hadn't Walker done what he did. And her hoof was on her chest, as if she had been clutching her broken heart.

Ebony Sage trotted to her puppet, and stroked his cheek. "You did an excellent job, Walker. Had she lived, she would have reversed your cleansing and gave that trauma back to you. It's a good thing I made you forget your love for her."

She pulled the orb out of her cloak, gazing at all the memories she had plucked out of Walker's mind. She chuckled at the contrast between the scene of Silver Rose in the orb, and the still body which lay before them. She stroked the orb, and looked at the soulless eyes of the stallion beside her, gazing at her in inquiry of what he was to do next.

"Be thankful to me, Walker... because you're free," she lied.

Mozzarella finished reading the draft of Temptress, a tragic romance written by some aspiring author from the West Side. Ever since she had started this at-home editing gig several years ago, she had seen quite a few pieces of manure that had passed under her line of vision. Not to mention that some of the authors she met were often brattier than her own sons. It often made her unsure if this was a break from mothering, or mothering was a break from this.

Not very many knew she did this, thinking she was just a simple stay-at-home mother and apparent empty-nester. Even Hay and Tomato never really cared what she was doing when she was not checking up on them, and due to being out on his own (and also not caring), there wasn't really any way Cheese knew. She had originally had the room she was sitting in--having been a nursery for baby Tomato once upon a time--rearranged to be Hay Burger's at-home office, but muscle memory always had him at the kitchen table. She couldn't let this room go to waste, so she decided to use it for editing.

Her nose wrinkled as she daintily pushed the heavily-marked draft away. She couldn't help but notice that there was something off about that tone, but she couldn't place what it was that was upending the story. She dreaded the thought of having to reread it, but if she wanted to spot the major flaw with the tale, then it had to be done. A second read-through would be good for this story.

So, she flipped on back to the first page, and read from the beginning. Nearly gagging at the sickeningly sweet love talk in the first chapter, she grumbled, "Why do I get the sense that this would be something that Honeydew would've written? If she dared to pick up a pencil and work on her fairy tale, that is..."

She was interrupted by a knock on the front door. With a sigh, she supposed that stepping away from it would allow her to have a clearer head. So, sweeping out of the room, she trotted down to the front door, pausing when she noticed her husband in the kitchen doing some puzzles in the newspaper. She wanted to smack herself for forgetting that it was his day off.

She snorted. "Oh, sure, you're too busy playing Sudoku to answer the door. It's not like there's a dragon visiting us."

She turned back to the door, and opened it. Next thing she knew, she was being suffocated in a bear hug.

"Hi, Mom!" Cheese Sandwich exclaimed.

Her mind went blank for a moment, processing what her oldest son had just said, his tone of voice, and the fact that he was unashamedly giving her a bear hug. In fact, it was unusually affectionate, with both her and Cheese being cheek to cheek, and with a tender gleam in his eyes not too far from a small foal's. If it weren't for his unmistakable cheesy smell, she could have easily deemed this an impostor.

Usually, whenever he visited because his "Cheesy Sense" told him to, he was usually full of cold, deadpan sass toward her and Hay, and an overblown circus act of obnoxiousness toward Tomato. And usually, it'd transform into anger by the end of his visits.

It was even just yesterday that she and Cheese last met, and that was a huge contrast with what she was experiencing right then!

And then she saw her younger son, right beside Cheese. Tomato was clearly as confused at this behavior as Mozzarella was, while also giving his brother a glare and mouthing, "Traitor," to him. Of course, once he made eye contact with his mother, Tomato's eyes widened, and he slunk behind the door frame.

Once Cheese released her, he grinned and said, "Oh-ho-ho! Do I have a bunch of stories for you guys to hear! Tommy and I have been having the craziest summer together, with some fun stuff and some terrifying stuff, and frankly, some boring moments that's to be expected with long stretches of walking in the middle of nowhere."

Mozzarella held an impassive demeanor. "Feel free to tell your father all about it, he's in the kitchen." She looked straight at Tomato, who shrank when hit with her gaze. "In the meantime, Tomato and I need to have a little chat."

Cheese blinked and pursed his lips. "Oh, right, that's what I brought him here for. You know, for the whole thing about him being in trouble for not telling you about our brotherly vacation and... ooh..." Cheese rubbed his head and sighed. "Excuse me, city was extra loud and echo-y today." He walked to the kitchen, muttering, "Haven't taken my meds this morning... better take 'em now..."

Mozzarella raised an eyebrow. "Meds?"

"He's been suffering from headaches for some reason," Tomato stated.

"All those parties finally got to him, huh?" Mozzarella shook her head. "I knew it was a horrible career plan, and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the mountains of problems coming from being a... ugh, party pony. I sure hope his gaudy lifestyle hasn't rubbed off on you."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "I haven't developed any tasteless traits, Mom, because Cheese doesn't have any."

Mozzarella narrowed her eyes and tilted her head toward the stairs. "Let's have this discussion in another room."

---

After taking his medicine, Cheese plopped in the chair right next to his father. He fidgeted in the seat for a moment, and leaned on the table, watching the older stallion write numbers in a nine-by-nine box in the newspaper. Odd, as Cheese remembered it usually being accounting stuff, but he supposed that it didn't hurt for him to take a break every so often.

With a grin, Cheese said, "Hello, Daddy-o."

Hay Burger glanced at Cheese, and greeted him with a grunt.

"How's life treating you?"

Hay snorted. "Eh..."

Cheese poked him on the shoulder. "Would you like to hear about what me and Tomato did this summer?"

"Hm."

Was that a yes or a no? Cheese drummed his hooves on the table, unsure how to approach this. He must have known how to interpret his father's various grunts and mutters before, but he must have somehow forgotten them. Then again, Cheese wasn't exactly sure of how much personality this guy had, seeing as he could not remember much of anything Hay did in Cheese's childhood. Sure, there wasn't really any bad, but there wasn't really any good either. He was just... there.

His ears perked up upon hearing a knock at the door, and he rushed to the front door to answer it. Unfortunately, he opened the door to reveal nothing, so he trotted back in the kitchen in disappointment. With a sigh, he said, "I guess that must've been a ding dong ditch."

Hay didn't look up from his paper. "I didn't hear anything."

Before he could complain about the echoing voice, Cheese heard his grandmother say, "Please let us in, Cheese."

"Yeah!" his grandfather chirped. "We really need to catch up!"

Cheese backed up into the living room, looked around the room, and opened the front door again. Puzzled, he went back into the kitchen once again, asking, "Hey, did you hear Grandpa Pizza Pockets and Grandma Cucumber Melon? I could have sworn I heard them right behind me."

Hay glanced up. "Afraid not. They died when you were nearly nine, remember?"

Cheese blinked, his heart sinking as he recalled that they weren't anywhere in his childhood after he was eight. They were so prominent beforehand, and all of a sudden, they were just gone. He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes, searching his memory for when they had died, or what they died from, or their funeral. Surely they didn't just disappear off the face of the earth like Aunt Honeydew!

He cried out when a sharp pain hit his brain, and that forced a few tears out of his eyes. Wiping his eyes, he took a deep breath, and he slumped in a chair, crossing his front legs. His heart ached to think that he couldn't even remember what the funeral was like.

"You okay?" Hay asked.

Cheese sighed. It was just as well that he remembered the good times rather that his exact memory of that tragedy. "I'll be fine... I... I'll just tell you about me and Tomato's vacation." He cleared his throat. "So, we met at the train station to see Tomato's friend Flora off..."

---

Tomato was frozen. In the dark workroom, which he was seldom allowed to visit, he felt as if that was the best course of action. After all, everything in that room screamed "Do Not Touch", from that desk with papers on it, to the shelves of his mother's various knickknacks. Everything was staring at him like he was that small, hyperactive colt he once was. If he touched anything, he was sure his mother would pounce at him.

He had expected to have the discussion in his room, but something told him that Mom was placing him in a less familiar setting in order to make a heavier statement without a bed to cushion him. He wasn't even sure what Mom did in here, and frankly, he was always hesitant to ask, so he had to make himself not care. His eyes curiously glanced at what looked like a manuscript on the desk.

His mother stood in front of him, that familiar glare boring into him. He felt like throwing up thanks to the tightness of his stomach.

"I hope you know that I'm not very happy with you, Tomato Sandwich."

"When are you happy?" Tomato scoffed. Of course, once that was out of his mouth, he shoved his hooves onto his mouth, silently chiding himself for letting that slip out. He glanced away, not wanting to see Mom's reaction to his sass.

"Look at me, Tomato."

Tomato pursed his lips, biting them as hard as he could from the inside.

"Look!" Mozzarella's sharper tone rang out.

Tomato flinched, and he gazed into her brown eyes. He could see that familiar bolt of lightning within them, and he had to resist the urge to duck and curl up in a ball so that it didn't strike him. It wouldn't have helped, but he sure didn't want to be a lightning rod.

"Now... I would like to hear what specific disobedience you committed from your own mouth."

Tomato sighed. "I didn't inform you about the road trip with Cheese."

"Precisely. I don't appreciate you lying to me."

"Well, technically, I didn't lie about seeing my friend off. We did make it to the train station after her hastily catching a cab."

His mother narrowed her eyes and started to circle him. "It was a lie of omission. You may have been watching and saying goodbye to your hippie friend as she went back home to... wherever..."

"Neighton," Tomato corrected. He may not know which Neighton and didn't like that many ponies uncreatively came up with the same name for their towns, but it clearly did not matter to her. "And she's not a hippie, she's too conservative."

Mozzarella rolled her eyes. "Ugh, whatever. In any case, you immediately go out afterwards on a useless party spree with your disappointment of a brother! What were you thinking? That's not where you belong!"

"No, I know it's not--Cheese and I just wanted some time to bond! What's wrong with me having a little fun at his parties?" Tomato turned his head to follow her. "In case you've forgotten, we're trying to make up for the stupid feud we've been having for the past decade."

Mozzarella scoffed. "Surely there must be a different way to bond than doing that nonsense all summer. Do you really expect him to give you proper nutrition, or give you intellectually stimulating activities to offset those parties? How about when he has his back turned, and you frolic off to do something foolish as you're wont to do without supervision? Has he already taught you to throw your morals to the wayside, and you pulled stunts like what happened at Rich Custard's party?"

"Mom, I've told you," Tomato said, turning his head further, enough that he wheezed. "His parties are not that raunchy! He told me himself that he doesn't like those kinds of parties! And good grief, what will it take for you to understand that I'm an adult that can be trusted with important decisions?"

His mother paused, and pointed to his neck, which had been twisted in his head rotation. "For one, stop it with the nonsense magic."

Tomato felt his neck, cringed, and then turned his head back around with his hooves to undo it. Of all the times for that to pop up, it had to be this discussion with Mom. Now he just wanted Celestia to burst in from above, scoop him up, and take him far away from this house.

Mozzarella rubbed a temple. "It's one thing for Cheese to display it... but at least it makes sense for him and his talent, much as I hate it. But you? It's a severe mismatch, an aspect that will drive ponies away from you when you try to do any sort of business with them. Ponies are not fond of freaks."

Tomato snorted. "Oh, I'm a freak? Well, news flash: there's plenty of freaks in town, Mom. What's one more?"

Mozzarella shook her head. "You know how ponies treat freaks with those kinds of powers as something to be mocked, as a walking joke exploited for the novelty of others, and as smiling automatons that don't know how to take anything seriously. And in the financial world of Manehattan, they'd give you the boot as soon as you started acting like a cartoon character, since that'll tell them you're not taking your job seriously. It's why you have to be a serious, normal pony, Tomato."

"Is that why I was not allowed to be a kid after I got my cutie mark? Are you just afraid that I'll end up turning everything upside-down and scare everypony? I don't know if you noticed, but I've already had trouble making new friends for reasons not related to any 'freakish nature' of mine!"

His mother was not moved. "There's a lack of respectable ponies your age in this neighborhood that'll keep you in check--we're lucky that Bluejinx is a good egg. To be frank, when it came to that party full of the influential business leaders of Manehattan at Rich Custard's mansion, that magic played a huge part in turning that into a disaster and scaring them. It'd be nice if you stayed on track as the well-behaved, serious individual so that maybe, just maybe, you could have them reconsider their opinion of you. Cheese is not helping you."

Tomato grinded his teeth. "Well... well... perhaps you should check out one of Cheese's parties! He'll show you that he doesn't do any debauchery!"

Mozzarella raised an eyebrow. "No thanks. Wild parties aren't my thing. Point is, I don't appreciate you having lied to me, and this trip of yours is dangerous in more ways than one. Aside from him bringing out the worst parts of your personality, Cheese is also subjecting you to the dangers of the wilds of Equestria! Remember when he ran away, and you worried about monsters eating him?"

"Excuse me, but summer's half over and I'm not dead," Tomato growled, some of the more dangerous encounters of the past month running through his mind. "Heck, take a look at me, I barely have a scratch! He's good at warding off anything dangerous from me!"

"Oh? Please, tell me about these dangers you survived, and shouldn't have been involved in in the first place."

Tomato opened his mouth, but froze when he realized that telling her about Bighoof, Roanie's gang, and especially the vampire incident wouldn't end well. How would she react when she learned that he had turned into a vampire and nearly killed Cheese? So, he closed his mouth, scowling at her for winning that round.

Mozzarella leaned over to the desk and adjusted a few picture frames, bearing the portraits of her parents, a family photo from when she was a filly, and pictures of her two sons as foals. Picking up the one of Cheese, she gazed into it, and said, "And one last issue I have is that your brother seems off."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "Off? Yeah, sure, you think that about him all the time."

Mozzarella set the picture down. "No, he's clearly not well in the head, even for him. There's no way he'd go from bitter to totally sweet to me in just one day--he's a stubborn boy. Something tells me that he's unstable and might fall into something terrible. If you keep this road trip up, he might end up hurting you! So you best end this road trip before disaster strikes."

With his blood boiling, Tomato growled and let out a inequine shriek. For the first time, he witnessed his normally immovable mother jump, along with wide eyes and a hoof on her chest. The mare watched as Tomato's eyes flashed red, his teeth briefly seemed like fangs, and he crept forward like a predator.

While he didn't pounce, Tomato hissed, "He is plenty stable! I've been happier and healthier on this road trip than I have been in my entire life! So don't go telling me that my brother, the one pony who loves me the most and wants me to be happy, is too dangerous!"

He stood straight up, regaining a more equine stance. "Besides, my summer's not finished yet. Cheese and I started it together, and we intend to finish it together." He turned around, and started walking toward the door. "Hope you have fun finishing that book."

Mozzarella took a deep breath. "So, you're closing with a emotional remark like that? Huh, usually 'love is blind' applies to romance--I had no idea that it could apply to sibling love too. Or perhaps you're just in denial."

Denial. Tomato paused briefly on hearing that word, he could feel himself droop as he thought about how in the past few weeks, Cheese had been in such severe denial of the Las Pegasus incident that he pretended to have forgotten about it. At least, that was what Tomato was telling himself--it's not like Cheese actually had any way to wipe that memory from his mind, right? There weren't any powerful unicorns available who'd agree to do it, right? And if there was a way, surely Cheese wasn't stupid enough to take that option!

"I must congratulate you two on making up, though," Mozzarella said, looking at her hoof. "My sister never contacted us, so I assume she's still wallowing in her victim complex, taking advantage of someone else's charity while spending precious time playing in the dirt instead of anything constructive. Poor girl, I wanted her to reach her fullest potential, but it's just as well."

Tomato grunted and walked out, shutting the door behind him. Mozzarella didn't bother to follow, knowing that Cheese would pull Tomato out of there to finish the trip, despite her protests. As usual, Tomato had to learn his lessons the hard way--hopefully he came back in one piece. So instead, she glanced at her old family photo, gazing at her filly self and her sister, managing smiles for the camera.

"She'd be saddened over our parents having passed, though," she muttered.

---

Tomato ambled down the stairs, and once at the bottom, was grabbed by Cheese.

"Hey, you're back!" Cheese said, grinning.

"Yep," Tomato said, his voice as low as his spirits. "You seem pretty happy... a little too happy..."

"Well, recounting our crazy summer to Dad lifts the spirits, don't you think?" Cheese turned to the kitchen door, waving to Hay Burger at the table. The older stallion responded with an awkward glance and an awkward wave back before going back to his paper.

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Well, at least he's not much for speaking his mind."

Cheese chuckled. "Anyway, Cheesy Sense has just spoken. Next stop is the Salt Lick Valley."

"Great. I hear that's nice and far away from this house," Tomato grumbled. "When do we leave?"

Author's Note:

While it's not part of the main Manehattan story, I had to write one last chapter in the city before moving on to the Salt Lick Valley. Because, really, Cheese doesn't remember the emotional baggage he has involving his parents, and thinks stopping by to say 'Hi' is a good idea!

Also, Mozzarella's thing there was a result of me asking myself, "What the heck does she do in her spare time?" And then that happened.

Anyway, this and about one or two other chapters are serving as the interim between the Manehattan and Salt Lick stories. Because I don't think we've had one of those since... I think between Our Town and Crystal Empire.

Comments

[redmar]

Cheese really needs to talk to Tomato about his memories and then he needs to get them back.

[Sketcha-Holic]

7286360
Oh, no, I haven't.

It's a good thing that the Sandwiches didn't come across any of those ponds. The Fountain of Youth is bad enough!

[Goldfinch142]

Huh. Cheese's past literally echoes back at him. Interesting. Well, he's gotta realize something's up if he keeps hearing the voices of ponies that aren't there and especially of dead ponies.

it's not like Cheese actually had any way to wipe that memory from his mind, right? There weren't any powerful unicorns available who'd agree to do it, right? And if there was a way, surely Cheese wasn't stupid enough to take that option!

Uh...about that...

Yeesh. Seems like Tomato's still got some bat hanging around. And if a relapse did occur, Cheese wouldn't even know what was happening...

Ooh, the Salt Lick Valley! I'm pretty sure Flora lives in that Neighton. Tommy's in for a pleasant surprise.

[Wolven5]

Who the BUCK is this Roony guy and why the hay does he keep messing with Cheese's head?!

[Godslittleprincess]

Gee, if she wasn't so insistent on hiding the fact that she has some semblance of a heart under that cold, hard, domineering shell of hers, I'd actually sympathize with Mozzarella.