Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

14.2--Bring Me to the Valley

And so it was that Cheese and Tomato said their goodbyes to Manehattan for the second time that summer, and boarded the train to Salt Lick City. With that city located far west in a valley nestled within one stretch of the Unicorn Range, walking wasn't much of an option. The trip was going to take a few days, so they might as well relax during the ride.

The drone of the train's wheels on the track below was the only music for the passengers. There were slight shifts of the car, noticeable but not jarring enough to distract from whatever activity the ponies were doing. Some slept, some played card games, and some, like Tomato, had their nose in a book. Cheese sat across from him, and was busy inspecting his accordion, making sure that it was in tip top shape for the next party. Boneless Two was right next to him.

Tomato tried to focus on the book he had swiped from his bookshelf back home, The Hound of the Baskerfillies, but his thoughts kept turning back to his argument with his mother. He had trouble understanding the observations of the main characters thanks to a thought of what he could have said or should have said to Mom, such as how she made him feel like he wasn't allowed to have problems. The setup of the story was but a blur to him as he agonized over something he said in defense of Cheese's job and morals, worried that he did indeed sound like a whiny teenager rather than a truly aggrieved adult.

And then there was the moment he inadvertently channeled that one thing he would rather be rid of--the remnants of the vampire, magically embedded in him forever it seemed. While he hadn't done much aside from visibly scaring his mother, he was not proud that he was briefly as demonic as the title canine in his book supposedly was. He briefly glanced at Cheese, thankful that he hadn't seen the relapse.

Still, his stomach was in knots. The only reason he was still on this trip was because Mom knew that Cheese wouldn't listen; her only demand was that Tomato stay in one piece. Really, Tomato didn't really know if he won that battle. If anything, he felt like he lost.

He shut his book, and gazed outside at the corn field the train was cutting through. The stalks could hardly be considered full-grown, their height rounding up to just above the knees of a full grown stallion. Still, they had a clear future ahead of them, with the destiny of plucked ears during the next fall harvest, and delicious cobs gone bare thanks to hungry ponies. They were going to serve their purpose, and serve it well, producing something that all of Equestria could enjoy.

He wished he could say the same for his own future. Could his college resume help him re-earn respect with those Manehattan business leaders like his mother believed it could? Or was there someplace else out there that needed him? Whatever the case, the road ahead was foggy, and there was no way to turn back time and undo any mistakes he had made. Time could only go forward, and he had to decide his destination quickly.

Speaking of destinations, he figured that it'd be prudent to ask about the train's destination. "Hey, Cheese?"

Cheese looked up from his accordion. "Yeah?"

They hadn't done much today, yet Cheese looked a little tired. Tomato continued, "So, mind telling me a little about where we're going?"

Cheese took a moment to process the question and come up with an explanation. "I've been in that valley a few times before. The ponies there are generally nice, though some might be self-righteous. They are far more tied to family values than friendship values--not that they don't appreciate friendship, they just put more focus on family. They are also proud of their pioneer heritage, honoring the strength and courage of their ancestors who settled in that desert and made it bloom. They have a big valley-wide celebration about it that they call the Frontier Festival. In fact, I'm certain that's what we'll be helping with."

Tomato crossed his front legs. "Family values, huh? Well, I wonder if they have a handbook on handling bad family members."

Cheese stared at him, gently setting the accordion down right in Boneless Two's lap. Leaning forward, he asked, "What do you mean?"

Tomato turned and rested his head on the window, stretching his hind legs across his bench. "Don't play dumb, you know what I'm talking about." He paused for a moment, gathering even more thoughts pulled from youth, and sighed. "But, you know, I guess that hypothetical handbook would have been useful when dealing with the problems between us."

Cheese blinked, confusion written all over his face. He spent half a minute contemplating that, swaying along with some bumps of the train car, before saying, "Heh, yeah, I would have liked to know how to deal with those moments you drove me crazy. I mean, imagine this..." He threw his front legs up in the air. "'Oh Brother! An Official Guide for Dealing with Your Crazy Siblings!'"

Some of the passengers glanced at them, before turning back to any conversation or book they were occupied with.

Tomato snorted, and held his chuckles in a closed mouth. "You're ridiculous."

"I made a career out of it!" Cheese said with a huge grin. Rubbing his hooves together, he continued, "When your little brother touches something of yours, respond with a tickle attack! That'll keep him out of your mane, because he's ticklish and absolutely despises being tickled."

"Oh, ha ha." Tomato sat straight back up. "Here's one: When your big brother steals some Nightmare Night candy from you, return the favor and steal all of his taffy."

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "And get stuck to the ceiling."

Several of the other passengers overheard that and chuckled, while Tomato blushed. "Bah, don't remind me of that!"

Cheese laughed, rubbing his head. "Okay, okay... when your little brother starts to run into the street, yank him out of there as fast as you can before he's hit by a speeding carriage."

Tomato huffed. "When your big brother beats you at hide-and-seek, beat him at tag!"

"When your little brother falls and scrapes himself on the sidewalk, carry him home, and ignore all his cries and howls of pain as you scrub the dirt from the wound." Cheese snickered as Tomato rubbed his front leg, cringing from the memory of that pain coming back to him. "And then slather a whole lot of ointment on it, wrap it up, and let him limp around with an awkward stiff leg for a while."

Tomato held a smug smile. " And when your big brother hits his head, take that same ointment and dump it all over his mane, and ask him if he's feeling better."

Cheese felt his mane and shook his head. "Okay... uh... when your little brother's being bullied by just about everyone..." His smiling face fell into a frown, and he turned to Tomato.

Tomato's heart sank, and as much as he wanted to tell Cheese that he didn't have to blame himself, he couldn't find the words. So, he just watched as Cheese threw out his next piece of "brotherly advice".

Cheese looked out the window. "When he feels like the world is against him... be there for him. Be that support that nopony else will give, make sure he's not alone. Just because he's a moody teenager doesn't mean that he's being overdramatic. Maybe he lost his friends... got humiliated by a crush... lost his job... or did something he regrets. Let yourself be a shining star in his darkness."

He turned to Tomato, stretched his front legs forward, and had pulled him into a crushing bear hug. "I'm sorry, I was a jerk that was too caught up in my special talent to pay you any mind. I mean, you were going through so much, and my pride took offense at you being miserable for 'no reason' when all along I thought our parents were giving the best life they could to you. After all, I thought that if I was brave enough to go out on my own at eleven, surely your life would turn out equally as awesome! No wonder you were so mad at me!"

Cheese's front legs had constricted around Tomato's chest, which especially made his struggling lungs hurt. "You're... crushing... me..."

Cheese dropped him. "Sorry."

Tomato took a deep breath, his lungs inflating in relief. "Look, we've forgiven each other for that whole mess, and we're fixing it." He climbed back onto his bench. "Besides, I might as well add a 'handbook rule' about making sure to apologize for any wrongs as soon as you can. Otherwise, you might get thrown into a nasty, mutual grudge."

Cheese tilted his head, an uncertain expression creeping up on his face as he flicked his ear. "Mutual?" He narrowed his eyes in concentration, his eyes twitched as he searched his memory. "But, when did--yowch!"

Tomato jumped at Cheese's sudden exclamation of pain, which brought some attention from the other passengers. Cheese himself had clutched his head, swayed until he tipped forward, and then fell onto the floor. The resounding thud echoed through the car, and ponies stared at him. Some murmured in concern, wondering what was wrong.

Alarmed, Tomato hopped down to Cheese's level, and helped his panting older brother up. Cheese leaned on the bench, still holding his pounding head and groaning. Looking up at everypony, he sputtered, "Wh... why are you all echoing?"

Tomato grimaced. "Need to take your meds again?"

Cheese turned to him and winced as he thought about what Tomato said, as if he was trying to translate from one language to another. Once he appeared to understand the question, he snorted as he summoned his canteen from behind his back and his prescription bottle from his mane. "I hate my stupid meds and these stupid headaches and the stupid brain chemicals being stupid..."

"I'd hate it, too." Tomato took Boneless Two and the accordion off the bench and set them on the floor. "You also look kind of tired."

Cheese had finished taking his pill and was now dampening a handkerchief with his canteen. "I feel kinda tired too... head was kinda dull today, so I thought I didn't need to take the meds..." He squeezed out excess water back in the canteen before throwing the rag onto his face, climbing onto the bench, and laying down. "I was wrong."

"So... now what?"

"I'll just sleep now. Good night."

As he screwed the lid back on the canteen, Tomato looked outside, noting that it wasn't even sunset. "Well, at least we won't get there until tomorrow." He grabbed Cheese's poncho from under the seat and draped it over his brother, and put Boneless Two on the seat, prompting Cheese to grab the rubber chicken and hold it close.

As he sat back on his seat, he picked up his book again. As he opened it, he took one last glance at Cheese, wondering about what just happened. Between that unnecessary spiel of guilt and the sudden migraine attack, Tomato was certain that Mom was right about one thing.

Something just seemed off about Cheese.

---

The jolt of the train stopping threw Cheese off his seat. He was at first caught by a warm, thin, squishy cushion--though it had bony spots that weren't so cushy--which were accompanied by an echo-y "Oof!" Then he tumbled onto the floor. His head slamming on the hard surface, he felt as if a gong had been slammed inside his skull, and he curled up, clutching at it. Peeling the now-dry handkerchief off his face, Cheese rolled onto his belly, and looked up, his stinging eyes blinking away sleepiness.

His eyes widened when he saw Ponyacci stand before him, spruced up in his greasepaint and dressed in his full clown attire. He blinked, and then smiled before launching himself to his feet. "Ponyacci? What are you doing here?"

"Just thought I'd come and say 'Hi' to one of my best students!" Ponyacci replied.

Cheese chuckled. He scanned Ponyacci's outfit and frowned. "Uh, not to be rude, but I don't think the clown costume is the best idea... you might scare Tommy."

Then, Tommy's warped voice asked, "Who might scare me?"

Cheese quickly turned to Tomato, who was sitting on his bench and looking up at him with a furrowed brow, holding his stomach. Cheese raised an eyebrow at him, and pointed to the clown he was sure was there. "Ponyacci, of course! He's right here! I'm surprised that you haven't freaked out..." He turned to face Ponyacci, only to discover he was gone. "...yet. Okay, where'd he go?"

Tomato shrugged. "Maybe he's still home in Mane-tua? He was never on this train."

Cheese pawed at the air in front of him. "I could have sworn he was right here. He looked and sounded so real..."

Tomato crossed his front legs. "What I'm wondering is why the train stopped."

The conductor came into the car at that moment, and everypony turned to him. Clearing his throat, he announced, "Thank you for your attention, passengers. We have just received word that there was a rock slide in Dun Canyon, and Salt Lick's rock team is on their way to dispose of the rocks. We might be here in Hocksville for a while, perhaps overnight. We apologize for the inconvenience."

The entire car groaned, with some complaining that they were in a hurry, some sighing about how to explain this to extended family, and some grumbling under their breath. Even Tomato nickered in annoyance and grumbled, "Well, isn't that just peachy. Stupid rocks."

Cheese didn't complain, though he didn't like the ringing and the echoes accompanying the complaining. Instead, he picked up the poncho that fell to the floor with the stop and stuck a hoof in its inside pocket. He pulled out a map and looked through it, clicking his tongue and muttering, "Hocksville... Hocksville... Aha! There you are!"

Tomato looked at him and tilted his head. "What are you doing?"

"Just checking to see if its possible to walk the rest of the way," Cheese said. He looked out the window, beholding the green mountains within walking distance of the town they were currently in. "According to the map, the next train station is beyond the mountains, and well, you know that problem with that, so I don't think sticking with the train can help us right now. If we head southwest and go through the mountains, we may have a steady course for Salt Lick City."

Tomato looked at the mountains. "Will we get there in time?"

Cheese noogied him. "Don't you worry your little head, we've got a couple of days before the Frontier Festival starts. Besides, I'm in the mood for camping." He frowned and scratched his chin. "Say, we actually got to this point a day earlier than we thought. We're really making good time!"

Tomato gave him a half-lidded look. "No, we aren't. You were asleep for a full twenty-four hours."

---

The duo left Hocksville on that warm July afternoon, and started to wander through the mountain range. Cheese opted not to take any underground shortcuts through the range after what happened last time, and instead figured climbing around the mountains was a better idea. Tomato disagreed, as his panting from his fight against gravity attested to.

They climbed over rocks, weaved around a few different varieties of trees, and skipped through some dry grass and shrubbery. Cheese idly plucked some of the dry plants, remarking that it would be great for a campfire. He even added a joke about how it was drier than Tomato's sarcasm. Between bushes, grass, and some stray sticks, he was ready to start a fire once it was time to stop hiking and settle for the night.

They were still in the mountains when night fell, and the high pitch of crickets rang through the air. The low light of the sunset made the forest colored in hues of dark blue, which was soon to give way to a grayscale. Cheese realized that it'd soon be too dark for them to know which way was which, so he found a nice, clear patch of ground and laid out the tarp. Once camp was set up, the brothers shared a dinner of beans over their campfire.

"And so, the cop gave me a warning about using confetti cannons on Bridleway," Cheese said, scooping his last bit of beans into his mouth. "I had no idea that it would disrupt traffic and cause a pileup! And that's the story of why Manehattan cops don't like me."

"Wow, you criminal," Tomato said dryly.

Cheese shrugged. "It's fine, it's fine..." He leaned in in his hoof and sighed. "I tend to be pretty careless..."

Tomato scoffed. "I've met ponies far more careless. You're fine."

Cheese wasn't sure he was fine. He had no idea how Tomato could be so forgiving after years where Cheese was a jerk to him for no good reason. He felt horribly sick thinking about how arrogant and careless he was in his younger years, and figured that any party clients would immediately hate him for treating his innocent brother the way he did. At least nopony would ever know, as long as he keeps up his atonement to his brother. Yeah, that was the reason for this road trip.

Tomato looked up, and groaned. "Well, it looks like the weather department here decided that it was going to rain tonight."

Cheese followed suit, and sure enough, there were pegasi towing clouds above them and stuffing them into spots in the sky. "Aw, bummer. I made a bad call in trying to climb over to the valley. We should have waited back in Hocksville."

As the pegasi shouted to each other about how they're finishing up, Cheese heard giggling. It didn't come from any of the pegasi above them, nor did it come from Tomato. It was a distinctly feminine giggle, high with the innocent joy of a little filly's laugh, yet he could easily imagine it coming out of a cheerful mare. A cheerful mare with a coat of pink and a mane that made one think of cotton candy.

Confused as to why a party pony pal of his was here, he looked around the forest, twitching his ears to try to discern which tree she was hiding behind. Figuring that Tomato wasn't going to move--and Boneless Two could watch him just in case there was trouble--he stepped out into the woods, looking among the different shades of blue in order to at least find a light purple.

Sticks and pine needles crunched under his hooves, and the smell of pine and dust was heavy in the air. He heard the hoot of an owl, the chirps and flaps of feasting bats, and a lone wolf in the distance. But those paled in comparison to the ringing laughter that echoed through the forest. It was like a chorus of bells on Hearth's Warming Day, though he felt much less warm and much more cold when hearing this laugh. He worried for the mare, and he went deeper into the woods to find her.

Was she following them? If so, a pony he regarded as a friend that showed him a few tricks just became creepy. He hoped that this wasn't some sadistic game of hide-and-seek where it turned out that she was going to murder him and bake him into cupcakes, or some kind of cruel joke in order to scare him. He wondered if he should reconsider his choice in friends.

Was this revenge for the time he showed her up at her friend's birthaversary? Dang, he was a jerk there, too!

He grew more and more unnerved as he went deeper. The forest seemed to grow darker, and he felt like something was watching him. It even seemed like the pegasi above him were fleeing the place because of the possibility of some equicidal maniac living here.

He heard the wolf howl again, and the rumble of thunder above him. Then, it was dead silent. He stood still in a circle of trees, the silence screaming at him as he looked between the blacks, grays, and blues of the plant life. His legs were frozen stiff, and the pounding of his heart was loud enough that he feared that some creature--or even the source of the eerily cheerful giggling--would hear it. He couldn't relax, as the moment he did so, something was sure to jump at him.

Suddenly, a flash of white light illuminated the forest for a split second, and a tremendous crash boomed through the air. It startled him to the point of staggering, but his moment of light told him that nothing was hunting him, not even Pinkie Pie. But there was no sigh of relief, for an orange light had erupted behind him.

Remembering that his brother was still back there, Cheese smacked himself for leaving him. Certain that nothing was going to chase him, he turned around to return to the campsite, hoping to grab him and pull him away from the fire.

However, it wasn't long before they crashed into each other.

Stumbling onto warm ground, they looked up at each other.

Cheese muttered, "Nice hair."

A frizzy-maned Tomato immediately scowled. "Oh, very funny. Now, where the hay did you go?! I nearly got struck by lightning, and I had to hightail it out of our campsite when a fire started!" He pulled Boneless Two from behind his back. "I barely saved your rubber chicken again, because you seem to keep forgetting about him!"

Cheese stood up and helped Tomato up. He took Boneless Two and stuffed the chicken in his shirt. "Sorry, I just heard laughter, and I was investigating it when I heard the thunder."

"Well, I didn't hear any laughter! It was probably just your imagination running wild."

The smell of smoke and the sound of crackling interrupted them, and the air grew hot as the fire grew closer and closer. Tomato looked behind himself, and the fire was eating the trees behind him, a tower of black smoke billowing above it. Without skipping a beat, he immediately bolted behind his brother.

"That fire's spreading fast. You weren't kidding when you said this place was dry!"

Cheese nodded. "Yeah, we better get out of here."

As they turned and ran, Tomato looked up at the clouds. "I expected you to rain, not start a fire!"

Comments

[redmar]

It's clear that Cheese is getting more problems from the memory removal.

[Goldfinch142]

He had no idea how Tomato could be so forgiving after years where Cheese was a jerk to him for no good reason.

No good reason? Wait, how much does Cheese remember of the feud? What exactly did Rooney qualify as memories too painful for a party pony?

"I expected you to rain, not start a fire!"

Well, they're probably going to rain, too. Just wait a few minutes. Though if the fire gets too out of control, even the rain may not put it out.

But hey, at least the Sandwiches have excellent motivation to make it out of the mountains (or at least the forest) in record time. And the fire gives them a light source to boot.

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh, sweet Celestia. I'm dreading the part where everything inevitably gets worse.