Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

15.1--The Flowerwood Inn

In the valley, a town spread across a large hill was just beginning to go to bed for the night. Lights went out house by house, shutting off quickly before any other distraction came. Teenagers having cookouts extinguished their fires and trotted back in their homes so their parents wouldn't get on their case--not to mention that it had begun to rain. The nearby military base was slowing down as well, with its officers preparing to head home.

Yards away from the base of the large hill, the Whicker River winded through the deeper part of the valley, carrying much of its clear water through the shades of yellow and green that were prevalent among the valley's vegetation. However, some ashes and charred branches were being carried downstream, destined to be carried to the lake that locals called Salty Lake.

The few ponies who were out and about noticed an unusual sight that evening. A downpour was heavily concentrated on the mountain across the river, soaking it to drown a wildfire even as the rest of the valley was sprinkled with a light drizzle. Those ponies outside were watching the efforts of the weather team to kill the fire until all that was left of it was steam. Sweet relief spread throughout the neighborhood before they made their way inside, escaping the rain that had just begun.

Had any of the houses been closer to the river, somepony would have noticed a brownish gold hoof bursting from the waters of the Whicker River to grab the bank. Out climbed Cheese Sandwich, coughing and groaning as he pulled himself forward with one foreleg, and tugged his brother out of the river with the other. He dragged them both to a tree, situating himself and Tomato under the branches for shelter, and leaning his brother against the trunk. After pressing on Tomato's chest, Cheese was relieved when his little brother coughed out some water, and took a moment to breathe.

Cheese panted as he sat on his haunches, tilting his head and banging it in order to dump water out of his ear. Looking back at the steaming mountain, he thanked the heavens that he and Tomato were still alive. Tired and wet, but very much alive.

Still, he could still feel fire gnawing at his foreleg. He looked down, and grimaced upon finding that he still had that nasty burn, even though his party magic should have healed it when nopony was calling attention to it. He didn't know how long he had been in that river, but it should have been plenty of time for the burn to fade away. He supposed that it was one of those that took longer to heal than normal, and he figured that it'd be better overnight. But, for now, he had to soothe that burning pain away.

He reached behind his back for his first aid kit. To his surprise, he pulled out the gag flower he was looking for earlier.

He scowled at it. "Where were you when I needed to fight off the fire?"

The flower squirted him in response. With a fresh cold spot of wetness on his face, he sighed and stored it away.

His first aid kit came out, and he quickly got to work on drying the leg--Cheese bit his tongue to keep himself from screaming along with the burn--then slathering it with ointment, and then bandaging it up as firmly and gently as he could. Now that his foreleg was mummified, he put his things away before Tomato was fully awake and taking note of his surroundings.

Tomato smacked his lips, and looked at his legs in confusion. He groaned, "Are we in heaven? I don't think I belong here."

Cheese shook his head. "No, we're still alive. Take a gander at that mountain--we escaped from there."

Tomato stood up and took a few steps forward, seeing the mountain unleashing its last bits of black smoke, replacing it with white steam. "Geez, it looks like a volcano. I'm amazed that we actually survived any of it! A-and that I still have my glasses!" He looked down at his attire, and then turned to Cheese with a dry pout. "Get me a new jacket."

Cheese looked at the now half-length sleeves of Tomato's jacket and grinned. "I don't know, I think you look better this way."

"Ha, ha." Tomato rubbed his legs. "Is it just me, or are my burns gone?" He quickly turned his attention to Cheese's bandaged leg. "And yet, you still have one!"

"Don't worry about it," Cheese said sternly. "There's a good reason for it, and it works best if we leave it be."

"Uh, doesn't that usually make things worse?"

"Not for ponies like me, bro. Remember Comedy Gold and how her brother kept fussing over her? She had problems healing because of that." Cheese held up his leg for closer scrutiny. "Don't know why this is taking a while, but I'll give it until morning to work its magic."

Tomato pointed to his own legs. "And why did--"

"Sometimes being close to party ponies can do that." Cheese chuckled and added, "Unless you're already one under that grumpy businesspony skin and did it yourself."

"No, no, I think I get it." Tomato glanced at the mountain again, and then looked upward as the rain pattered on the leaves above them. A cold drop splashed on his nose. "So much for camping tonight. So, where do we sleep now?"

"What, you don't like this tree?"

"I don't want to sleep in the rain. We're wet enough as it is."

"Hm, good point." Cheese leaned over to look on their right, spotting the town scattered all over the large hill and the EUP base that sat at the bottom of the hill. "Good news is, we made it to civilization."

Tomato looked at the town, frowning at how dark it was. However, upon seeing the last light sitting on the neighboring mountain, coming from a house that seemed a bit large, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Suppose we could ask those ponies for refuge? Or at least directions to an inn or motel or something?"

Cheese directed his attention to that house. "Sure. They don't bite."

---

Honeysuckle had closed her workbook for the night, and had settled on the couch across the room from her desk, awaiting her husband's arrival home. For now, the pink front room--or as other ponies would call it, the lobby--was quiet. The guests beyond the door straight across the front door were quiet, and there wasn't much noise from the kids upstairs either. But, soon after March Redwood was home, that stairway on the other side of the wall the couch sat against would have their little herd rampaging down to greet him.

Her hooves holding a book, she was engrossed in the romance she read, set among the blustery winter winds that the two-wheeled pullcart company was struggling to march through. She read on how the sting of frostbite, the pangs of starvation, and the weakness of the muscles were nothing compared to the fires of the pioneer ponies who pushed forward to their new home. But, the book asked, will Charlie Chipper and Rose Gray survive the storm?

The door opened and her well-built and sturdy husband came walking in dressed in a dirty military jacket. Honeysuckle closed the book, deciding that she'll find out what happened in her story tomorrow. She set it aside, and jumped to the green stallion in order to give him a well-deserved greeting kiss.

When the deed was done, March looked at the entrance to the stairway. "How long do we have until they come down?"

"Few minutes, depending on how distracting their activities are," Honeysuckle answered. "Whisper a quick summary to me."

March sighed. "One of the cadets was being stupid. Decided to try to impress me and went full-on glory hound mode, and it was just embarrassing. I made him run several laps and clean the barracks to keep him humble."

Honeysuckle snickered. "Let me guess... he found out about your 'beautiful daughter'?"

The stallion's eye twitched and he ran a hoof through his red mane. "Every time... every time somepony learns about her, the day gets stupid real quick. At least the idiots get weeded out." March tousled Honey's short, brown mane and shook his head. "Why'd she have to inherit your looks?"

Honey shrugged. "Luck of the draw?"

He cupped her chin. "Well, in any case, I'm happy to be home with my yellow belle."

There was a knock at the door, and March groaned. "Who's out here this late?"

Honey walked around him to the door. "I don't know. Maybe Scatter Sunshine is finally returning my water can to me, or Golden Plate left his tools here again. Or maybe it's a stranger looking for a place to stay." She grabbed the handle. "And the winner is..."

She opened the door, and found two tall, wet stallions shivering in the doorway. With a pleasant smile, she said, "Well, hello there, boys! Welcome to the Flowerwood Inn. Is there anything I can help you with?"

The stallion that was a lighter orangish brown asked, "Well... you have any spare rooms? My brother doesn't want to sleep in the rain."

March retreated onto the couch and leaned back on it. "Well, as somepony who has slept in the rain, I don't blame him. It's a good call to seek shelter here; my wife's good at making ponies feel at home." He stretched and yawned, following it up by stroking his goatee. "So, please, get to the whole checking in thing..."

Honey pulled the dripping boys in, and then rushed to her desk to get her workbook. Cracking it open, Honeysuckle clicked her tongue as she checked it. "Okay, Mr..."

The orangish brown one said, "Cheese Sandwich."

"Okay, Mr. Sandwich..." She briefly giggled at the name, muttering something about how one of her kids had a friend with a similar name. "So we have Room 2 available, and--"

She heard a bang upstairs, and the chatter of several voices, ranging from teenage to small foal. Looking up, Honeysuckle cringed and said, "Oh, darn them and their timing!" She turned to March. "Keep the kiddos busy while I do business, okay?"

March cracked his neck and stood up. "They're coming down for me, anyway."

Honey dragged the two young stallions to her desk, even as they glanced upward at the hoofsteps banging and pattering above them. They could hear the path that each pony up there was taking, even if they couldn't tell exactly how many of them there were. Even as she repeatedly told them to ignore them, Cheese and his companion continued looking up and glancing backward, where March stood in anticipation of the little army that was soon to come down.

A yellow filly with bouncy, light brown pigtails came sliding down the stair railing with a whoop, followed by a brownish yellow-green colt who clung to it with much caution. A tiny yellow colt rushed down so fast that he ran into the wall, getting up just as fast to run to his papa's back and climb up to the head. Then, some banging began at the top of the stairs, making the pictures on the wall rattle. It continued on even as a yellow stallion with unkempt white hair had leapt a great distance from wherever the stairs began, stuck a pie on the wall, and leapt out of the stairway with the siblings that were getting off the railing, taking time to hug their admittedly confused father.

"Bananas, what are you up to?" March growled.

The parents and the two guests watched as not too long after, a teenage filly riding a wagon down the stairs and shouting, "No, no, no, no, no--" crashed face first into the pie, splattering banana cream on her face and the bottom of the stairway. That brought forth laughter from Bananas, as well as Cheese.

Honey shook her head. "Bananas, you know you have to clean that up."

Bananas grinned at his mother. "It was so worth it!"

The olive-colored teen, her face covered in the pie filling, glared at her laughing brother. "Oh, you think that's funny? Here, have some pie!" She wiped the cream off her face and threw it at her brother's face. Her revenge was quickly frustrated when he opened his mouth to swallow it whole, and she prepared to throw the wagon at him before being stopped by her father's glare.

As the filly growled at Bananas, dragging the wagon out of the stairway, another brother that was clearly between their ages led their dainty littlest sister down the stairs and around the pie filling. Glancing at their messy sister, the dark green and dark haired teenage colt said, "Well, Olive, I see he had his payback. That's what happens when you use his trumpet to unclog the toilet."

The blonde, spring green littlest sister wrinkled her nose, and she and the littlest brother crooned in a chorus of, "Ewww."

Olive opened the front door and threw the wagon outside. "I couldn't find the plunger, Ash Tree!"

Ash Tree scoffed. "Really? I saw Amber with it earlier."

"Wait, what?!" Olive slammed the front door and glared at the yellow sister clinging to their father.

The buck-toothed yellow filly sheepishly grinned. "Sorry, was fighting off rabbits from Alfalfa's garden with it. I couldn't find the rake, so I had to use something else. I also couldn't find the shovel, or the hoe, or that spare lead pipe from when we had a problem with flooding, or even the bat! I couldn't just let those critters get away with eating our fruits and vegetables!"

The yellow-green colt, Alfalfa, huffed. "Stupid rabbits, always nibbling at my plants."

March sighed. "Well, I commend you for defending your brother's garden, Amber. Still, wasn't there a stick you could have used?"

Amber pointed to Ash Tree. "He was carving stuff out of them."

Ash Tree raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so this entire thing is my fault? Why not Mom's, as she was letting the neighbors borrow the aforementioned tools at the time?"

Honey looked up, as did the two guests. "Excuse me, but pipe down! I'm trying to work with this Mr. Sandwich and his... uh..."

The red-orange one said, "I'm his brother."

"Yes, brother, thank you."

The small colt on March's head turned and shouted, "Are you Peanut Butter and Jewwy?"

Cheese replied, "No, Peanut Butter's our cousin. We're Cheese and Tomato."

"Hm, Tomato?" Honey muttered. "I wonder if..." She shook her head, and looked back up at her family. "Now kids, don't go pointing hooves over the unfortunate circumstances that led to the trumpet plunger and this pie mess! Bananas, Olive, there are apologies to be made, and I expect you two to get on it!"

Both the named kids sighed and glanced at each other.

Olive crossed her front legs. "Sorry for stealing your trumpet and using it as a plunger."

Bananas hopped onto the couch and said, "Sorry for making you dive into a pie."

March chuckled and stood up. "So, that's what's been happening here today. The same old chaos as always; at least my wife has it covered." He looked up at his youngest son, who still clung to March's red mane. "Get out of there, Kernel, I can't hug you when you're up there!"

Kernel nodded with a chipper, "Okay, Daddy," before sliding down his father's back.

March looked down at his youngest daughter, who was still holding Ash Tree's hoof. Crouching down, he asked, "And how was your day, Willow?"

Willow just stared with wide, brown eyes, with a slight furrow in her brow. "Dad, you're not dead."

"What? Why do you say that?"

"You said your back was killing you." Willow pouted and turned away. "I was worried."

March let go of Amber and Alfalfa and had his front legs wide open for Willow. "Ah, don't worry, I'm not dying anytime soon. I was just using an expression for saying I had a backache."

Willow huffed. "Don't use 'spressions!"

"Fine, fine..." March noticed Kernel hopping into the hug zone. "Come on, join your little brother."

Willow nodded, and walked into the hug zone as she looked at the floor. As March hugged his two youngest, and was promptly dogpiled by the other five, the Sandwiches watched from their spot at the front desk. With a whistle, Tomato said, "Wow, seven kids. You'd think that'd require three or four mothers."

Cheese pulled out the bag of bits he had been given by the ABC gum collector back in Manehattan and gave it to Honey. "Our house doesn't even have enough room for that big of a family. Imagine Mom herding the seven of us into one or two cramped bedrooms."

As Honey finished up the transaction, she said, "Actually, there's eight of them, boys. I don't know what our oldest is doing right now, but I'm sure she'll get to finishing up--"

Tomato's ears perked up as a familiar voice called from upstairs, "I'm coming!"

"--right now." Honey giggled and shut her workbook. Giving them the key to their room, she added, "You want to meet her too? After seeing the rest of us in action, it'd be unfair to leave Flora out."

Tomato jumped and spun around. "Flora?!"

Honey blinked. "Uh, are you okay?"

Cheese snickered. "If your daughter's the Flora he's thinking of, then Tomato's just fine."

Honey scratched her head, narrowing her eyes. "Wait a minute..."

Before Honey could say anything more, the eldest daughter emerged from the stairway. Tomato's jaw dropped further at the sight of the spring green coat, strawberry blonde mane with a purple bandanna tied in, and the soft, blue eyes. Pink beads hung around her neck, and on her flank was a flower matching the colors of her accessories. There was no doubt in his mind that that was his dear friend Flora Peace.

She didn't even seem to notice the Sandwiches at first, instead opting to hug her father after the others broke out of the group hug. "Hi, Daddy! Sorry I took so long, but I had to scrub some spilled lotion out of the carpet before it set."

"Hey, better late than never for my big girl," March replied, patting her back. "Shame you had to miss the whole pie fiasco."

Flora broke the hug and looked at the oldest of her younger siblings, who sat upside down on the couch. "Oh, yeah, Bananas was planning a prank because he was mad about his trumpet..."

"Sticking pie on the wall with some gum while she does her usual wagon stunt was genius," Bananas said, relishing in Olive's scowl.

Honey raised an eyebrow. "And you still have to clean it up, young stallion. I don't appreciate cream on my carpet and gum on my walls."

The entire family had turned to the mother as she spoke. When Flora spotted the Sandwiches standing there in the lobby, she gasped. "Oh, my gosh! Tomato, you and Cheese are here, in my home?!"

"Eh... surprise?" Tomato said, grinning sheepishly. He was punctuated by Cheese blowing a noisemaker behind him.

Flora hopped over the shorter of her siblings and threw herself in a hug with him. While Tomato blinked in surprise at first, and looked at Flroa's family as they stared in astonishment, he gladly returned the hug. After a sour discussion with his mother and being caught in a forest fire, hugging her was just the relief that he welcomed. He didn't care that Cheese likely had a gleeful smirk on him, he was happy to see a good friend again.

Honey smiled and looked at the rest of the family, walking over to join them on the other side of the room. "Ah, I was wondering if that stallion was Flora's friend Tomato Sandwich. Didn't want to jump to conclusions until she came down."

When they broke the hug, Flora asked, "Uh, why are you wetter than my dad?"

Cheese answered the question for Tomato. "Oh, we were in the river."

"Uh, why?"

"It was the fastest way to escape the forest fire in the mountains."

Flora's eyes widened. "Wait, what?!" She turned to her father. "Did you know about any forest fire, Dad? None of us did, or the news would've spread all through the inn."

March nodded. "I saw some weatherponies goofing up with some lightning. They just put it out."

Flora blew some hair out of their face. "Gotta love pony error." She turned back to Tomato and grinned. "I'm so, so, so happy you're here! Are you two here to help with the Frontier Festival in the valley?"

Both brothers nodded, with Cheese saying, "That we are, little filly."

Suddenly, Bananas exclaimed, "Ha! Ash Tree, you owe me five bits!"

Flora cleared her throat. "Okay, anyway, anyway..." She turned to her family and presented Tomato like he was a science fair project. "Guys, this is Tomato Sandwich, one of my friends from college, and his older brother, super duper party pony Cheese Sandwich." She turned to the Sandwiches. "Cheese, Tomato, these are my parents and all seven of my younger siblings."

Tomato raised a curious eyebrow. "Well, I suppose a proper greeting is sufficient after that comedy sketch we got."

Flora leaned against the wall to let her family have their official meeting with her friend and his brother. March and Honey were the first to come forward. The former held out a hoof to Tomato. "Name's March Redwood, and the innkeeper's my wife, Honeysuckle. Nice to meet one of Flora's Manehattan friends; she talks about you guys a lot. "

Tomato shook March's hoof, followed by Honeysuckle's. "Oh, she does? Well, I hear about you folks a lot too."

Once March and Honey moved off to the side, Bananas bounced on the couch and then dive bombed to their place, splatting on the floor. Popping back up, he proclaimed, "I am Bananas! Second-born of the family and the town of Neighton's local party pony." He cartwheeled over to Cheese and grinned. "Heh, I always thought that me and Aunt Daffidazey were the only ponies of our kind--then Flora mentioned you and some other one named... uh... Pie? I know there was Pie in the name... is it Peachy Pie? Pepper Pie? Pumpkin Pie? Party Pie? Uh... Nacho Pie?"

"I think you mean Pinkie Pie," Cheese corrected. With a grin, he added, "There are also a couple of other party ponies out there--did you know Ponyacci was one?" He smirked on hearing Bananas' gasp, and swung his front leg over the yellow colt's withers. "And you may not have heard of them, but there's also party ponies like Comedy Gold and Party Favor."

Bananas had both hooves covering his mouth and stars in his green eyes. "More party ponies? I want to meet them; I want to meet them all. It's wonderful knowing I'm not alone in the world!"

The awkwardly lanky teenager with long, dark brown hair named Ash Tree was next to approach Tomato. There was a dull grumpiness about him that seemed to fit his dark hues, down to his brown eyes. "Call me Ash Tree. I do art."

The red-headed Olive jumped on Ash Tree, a wild look in her yellow eyes, and hollered, "And I'm Olive! The most daring and dangerous filly in this side of Equestria! That wagon I rode down the stairway only scratches the surface of all my epic radical nature!"

Flora scoffed. "She's a radical nuisance, all right."

Olive turned to her and snorted. "Ah, who asked you?"

"The same pony that gave you permission to jump on me," Ash Tree growled. "His name is Nopony."

"Well, you two seem to be balls of sunshine," Tomato remarked dryly.

After Olive had climbed off Ash Tree, Amber was pushing a quiet Alfalfa to the forefront, and poking him. "Okay, bro, just tell him your name and maybe show him your cutie mark, and then you're done!"

Alfalfa swatted Amber's hoof away, and then looked up at Tomato with fearful yellow eyes. With his face frozen like that, he turned to show the stallion the alfalfa leaves that made up his cutie mark, mumbled his name, and then backed up to give his sister the spotlight. The filly gleefully leaped forward and did a little tippy-toe dance as she bore a wide grin that felt a little off, thanks to her overbite.

"So... my name is Amber Waves! I am eight years, nine months, two weeks, and two days old! I'm turning nine in October, and I'm planning to have an awesome Nightmare Night themed party for my birthday. I haven't earned my cutie mark yet, but I hope it's soon." She started to bounce around him, her green eyes gleaming. "Anyway, I'm so happy to meet one of those Manehattan friends that Flora likes to talk about, and hot dog, am I glad that you're even more handsome in person than you are in that photo Flora has of you and her other friends in her room!" She hopped onto Tomato's back, and leaned on his head. "So tell me, do you, that unicorn, and that pegasus fight over the beautiful beauty that is my big sister? Because seriously, you'd have to be crazy not to fall in--"

Flora grabbed Amber and covered her mouth. "Amber, no! We talked about this, I'm not interested in dating any of them." She grinned at Tomato. "Excuse this sister, she's a chatterbox."

"I noticed," Tomato said.

Amber peeled Flora's hoof off her mouth and sang, "Somepony's in denial... somepony's in denial..."

Flora huffed. "No, I'm not."

"Aw, come on, all your friends agreed that the tall and sharp-dressed one was the cutest!"

Tomato's face flushed, and it only intensified when it became clear that Cheese, as well as Flora's other siblings, had overheard that and started laughing. Shooting a glare at him, Tomato snapped, "Hey! It doesn't mean anything if her friends think I'm cute."

Cheese ignored him and called to Amber, "Hey, welcome to the club, kid! I'm glad you agree that those crazy ponies would be perfect for each other and are just too pigheaded to see the obvious."

Tomato scowled. "Cheese, stop it! Unless you want me to bring up your whole deal with Pinkie?"

Cheese rolled his eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Amber slipped out of Flora's grasp and galloped to Cheese, giving him a high hoof as they both cheered. Tomato and Flora looked at the sight and then at each other with a sense of embarrassment and frustration. With a sigh in defeat, Tomato turned to the final two siblings that had come to greet him.

Willow just stared at him, while Kernel was bouncing in place. With an uncertain pout, Tomato said, "Uh, hi?"

The moment their eyes met, Willow turned away as if Tomato was going to melt her eyes with heat vision. On the other hoof, Kernel squealed and chirped, "Hi!" as he jumped forward to grab his leg and pull at the half-burnt sleeve there.

Tomato glanced at Flora. "I think your youngest brother likes me and your youngest sister doesn't."

Flora walked around to Willow in order to pat her on the head and fix her pink bow. "Nah, Willow's just skittish about eye contact. She'll stare at you until you look directly at her; it tends to make her really uncomfortable, especially when she's meeting somepony new. So, don't worry, she hasn't formed enough of an opinion of you to like you or not."

Tomato pursed his lips. "Um, okay."

Kernel had climbed his way to Tomato's head, and was busy twanging the forelock for his amusement. Raising an eyebrow, Tomato asked, "Hey, shouldn't you have told me your name before you started playing with my mane?"

"I'm Kernel Gwin!" Kernel grabbed Tomato's forelock. "I wike your hair woopy, mister."

"Uh, careful, Kernel, don't pull--"

Kernel yanked the forelock, and the sudden eruption of Tomato's natural curls launched the tot into the air, which got March dashing to catch him. Kernel landed right in his father's hooves, his normally cowlicked white and light green mane a mess. Blinking his big, blue eyes in shock of what had just happened, it was a moment before he laughed and clapped.

Tomato bit his lip. "--it."

Honeysuckle blinked. "Well, I've never seen hair do that."

Cheese waved a hoof. "Crazy hair is a family thing. I'm just surprised it's dry enough to do that."

Cradling his youngest, March said, "Well, that's everyone. We've all had our fun, but it's late, and we should all get to bed."

Kernel groaned. "Daddy! I wanna pway with the funny hair some more!"

Honey took him out of March's hooves. "Oh, no, young stallion. It's way past your bedtime, and you need lots of sleep to keep being a little sunbeam." She pointed to Willow, who was rubbing her eyes and starting to head upstairs. "Your sister's got the right idea."

Kernel kept pointing at Tomato and whined, "But the funny hair! I wanna pway with the funny hair!"

Honey headed to the stairway, and then started going up. "The funny hair will still be here tomorrow. For now, bed." Honey paused and turned to Bananas, sternly ordering, "And you still have to clean up the pie! It better be gone by the time I wake up tomorrow."

The last thing they heard from Kernel was the beginnings of a tantrum, and Bananas headed up as well, grumbling, "Gotta get the cleaning supplies or Mom's gonna bite my head off tomorrow."

March yawned and started ascending too. "Had a long day today... I'm heading to bed too."

The others left one by one, muttering about how Flora's friend had to arrive late at night. Olive punched them on the shoulders, Ash Tree just rolled his eyes, and Alfalfa just hurried up the stairs. On reaching the stairwell, they stepped around the pie filling, looking at the pie tin stuck to the wall. It was amazing how the gum was holding so well--but, then again, Bananas had his ways. Amber waved backed at the Sandwiches, chirping, "See you tomorrow!", while Willow paused to stare at them before scurrying upstairs.

Finally, it was just Flora left with the Sandwiches. She turned to them and said, "So... want me to help you settle in?"

---

While the room was one of the two that was next to the lobby door, Flora still led them there and gave a mock tour of the room. It was only a simple bedroom, with two beds baring old-fashioned quilts of soft blues, whites, and pinks, a couple of nightstands that held simple lamps, and a small bathroom which contained the essential toilet, sink, and shower.

Cheese went into the shower first, citing his reason as wanting to give Tomato and Flora some "alone time". And so, they were having it, whether they liked it or not, and Flora spent some time making the beds and making sure Boneless Two was comfortable while she was in there.

Tomato sat on a stool the entire time, not wanting to dirty either of the beds with his filth from the forest fire and trip down the river. "You know, hearing about your family and actually meeting them are two entirely different things. Though, I'm still undecided over if they're more insane or less insane than what you told me."

"Eh, I got so used to it that I can't really tell either." Flora sat on the bed. "I couldn't imagine life without them until I started school in Manehattan. It's so weird not dealing with the noise that comes with seven siblings. How did you stand it?"

Tomato twiddled his hooves. "Truth be told, I think I might have been mentally unstable as a teenager, and I don't think being alone as often as I was wasn't helping anything. If you want a different perspective from a sane pony with a small family, talk to Bluejinx."

"I have asked him what it's like to be an only foal," Flora said. "Speaking of him, he wrote me about how you and Cheese were in Nickerlite and about how you guys fought Roanie's gang. I heard they're vicious, so I'm glad you guys escaped with your lives, and even got those crooks arrested; poor Bluejinx for getting injured, though."

Tomato looked down at the beige carpet. "I still feel bad for letting him get hurt like that. Say, did he mention if he's getting better? I've been all over the place, so he wouldn't know where to send me letters."

"Well, last I've heard, he's back to walking all over Nickerlite."

"Okay, good." Tomato stretched his forelegs and yawned. "And have the twins told you about--"

"The whole Shining Vocals fiasco? Yeah, they have, especially the part where you ended up tied to a chair and starting a brawl. I was surprised that they bumped into you, but I was even more surprised when they bumped into an old classmate of mine."

"Old classmate?"

"Yeah, Herald Angel?"

"Oh, the guy who had his uncle cheating for him."

Flora snorted. "I feel sorry for Herald being used like that, he was always so sweet. I never liked seeing Windswept Goldenmane on any ads and posters at all, nor did I like his music; it always made me want to punch him. I knew there was something fishy about his big, arrogant, fake smile..."

"Psht, he couldn't stand being a has-been. Be thankful he's behind bars." Tomato leaned back, his tail supporting the weight of him and the stool. "And now, I can check you off the list of friends that I bumped into on this crazy road trip."

"Seems just like yesterday we had our goodbye at that station," Flora said, laying back on the bed. "And now, over halfway through the summer we meet again--this time on my turf! It's not all that flashy, but, we in this valley don't need 'flashy' to be happy. I wish a cousin of mine would get that."

Her hooves on her chest, she asked, "So, make any new friends, Tomato?"

"Oh, yeah, I've made a few over the summer so far. Would you like to hear about them? I think we have until whenever Cheese comes out and tells me it's my turn for a shower."

Flora rolled over on the bed until she was on her belly, facing Tomato with her face in her hooves. "Go on."

Author's Note:

We've been waiting for this moment for a long time.

We have finally seen Flora again, and we've met the Flower-Wood family!

As you know, writing a lot of characters in one scene is tough. The scene in the inn's lobby has twelve characters in it, and each of them has to have at least a couple lines and a presence in the scene, and I had to give some indication of each of their overall personalities. Ooh, boy.

Anyway, I'm happy to finally have a chance to write this family.

Comments

[Applejack224]

Do I sense a potential ship....

[redmar]

It's nice to see Flora again. I wasn't expecting it at all.

[howard035]

I agree with Amber Waves 110%. I hope she works her shipping magic this summer!

[Goldfinch142]

It's a good thing both Sandwiches are a party pony or close enough that they can both survive and heal from something that would maim or kill another pony very quickly. I imagine it's quite useful for Cheese when he runs into danger on the road.

"Now kids, don't go pointing fingers over the unfortunate circumstances that led to the trumpet plunger and this pie mess!

"Pointing fingers" is an bit of an odd expression for fingerless ponies to use.

And Flora finally appears! What adventure shall she be part of?

I'm also looking forward to meeting Flora's family in greater depth.

[SageBrony07]

Nice chapter. It was great. I can't wait to read about the salt lick valley. I live there.

[Dashie04]

I don’t know if somone’s said this, but Cheese getting his bad memories removed seems to have taken a toll on his Party Pony magic, because if Tomato appears to have more, something’s off.

[Godslittleprincess]

You know, considering how much you focus on party ponies and their lore, I want to see if Bananas has any further involvement in the story.