Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

15.2--High on the Mountaintop

The next morning, the Flower-Wood family had set the tables in the inn's spacious dining room and prepared their breakfast buffet for the guests. Eggs prepared in various ways, hash browns fried to golden perfection, a variety of fruits and vegetables thanks to Alfalfa, stacks of pancakes and waffles, and a selection of beverages let off an aroma to make ponies' mouths water. Once in the dining room, the guests were quick to sense the scent in their nostrils, and snatched food from the long table in the middle of the room to carry back to the other tables draped in light green tablecloths.

With several other families and couples enjoying the food at the other tables, the Flower-Woods sat down at their table in order to relax and have their own breakfast. Honeysuckle sat at the end of the table, with Kernel directly on her right, and Amber Waves on her left. On Kernel's side, Olive and Willow filled two of the remaining three seats. Amber's side had Alfalfa, Bananas, and Flora occupying the seats on her left. At the end sat Ash Tree, quietly eating his breakfast. The only member who wasn't attending was March, who had already went off to work.

Under the hums and drones of the other ponies' conversations, the family was having their own, mainly directed at the oldest daughter concerning a friend of hers that was visiting. It was much less pleasant for her than one would expect about something involving a dear friend.

"You know, Flora, you're going to have to tell him sometime," Honeysuckle said, glancing between her uncomfortable oldest poking at her hash browns and her youngest's messy pancake consumption.

Flora starting pulling off potato shreds one by one from the hash browns. "I know, I know... I just want to tell Tomato in a more peaceful setting, before we meet up with Aunt Sego Lily and everypony else to prepare Neighton's floats for the parade. Like, say, in a picnic on the mountain I'm planning for lunch today."

Amber held her hooves over her heart and sighed dreamily. "Oh, how romantic!"

Willow bumped her green and red apple slices together, making kissy faces. "Like Princess Cadance and Shining Armor."

"No, it's not romantic, I just want to show him the valley--not to mention, it's my turn to get a picnic in my neck of the woods. Plus, it'll let him process the news, let off some steam, and prepare for the inevitable moment. I don't want him to freak out once they bump into each other."

Olive had been loudly chewing her waffles, spitting out chunks and syrupy drool to the disgust of her siblings, as she said, "Sheeing him freachk outh wood-bee hirariousth!"

Flora glared at her. "No, he'd be angry with me for not telling him sooner."

Ash Tree leaned in his hoof, poking at his orange. "Doesn't he already know we have an aunt and uncle in Manehattan?"

"Yes, but he hasn't bothered to ask me who they are. I just tell him I'm going to visit them and he's like, 'okay, have fun'." Flora paused to scoop up some of the potato shreds with her tongue. "He has asked me why I was lost when I have relatives there."

Amber was keeping the contents of her breakfast burrito from spilling out. "Well, have you told him that they always visited us and we hardly ever have time to visit them and so you're unfamiliar with the city? Or that your train came in a day early so you had to wander to the school all by yourself? And that you kept having trouble catching a cab for when you went to their house to explain the mess? Sheesh, it's a good thing you decided to go for the dorm if you keep having cab troubles."

"I still go to their place every so often to pamper them after a hard week. At least they pay me." Flora sighed and threw a hash brown into her mouth. "It was nice of Tomato to show me around the city when they were too busy to do so. Still, when I found out that they lived in the same neighborhood and that there was a fair bit of tension involved... well, I guess I figured that he wasn't interested in my extended family anyway, so I can be as vague as I want and he wouldn't care."

"And what do you know?" Alfalfa said dryly. "Your secret-keeping is going to bite you in the cutie mark."

"Hey, it's not like I expected this to happen! Do you expect me to meet his cousins in any time of my life?"

Bananas had been chewing on a mouthful of waffles for some time before swallowing the rather large lump whole. "Hey, you were excited about the possibility of him coming over earlier this summer. And only now, when we have a celebration that involves us and our extended family, do you worry about something that you've been hiding from him for a while?" He shook his head. "Should've been a straight shooter in the first place, sis."

Flora slammed her hooves on the table. "Oh, be quiet! Since when were you some wise sage that knew everything about my friendships?! Tomato's been on a bad emotional lockdown ever since I've met him, and he sure doesn't like to open up! I probably know a bit more about his backstory than he'd like. I'm just thankful one of his biggest problems was taken care of, and I'm just hoping that this one won't go horribly wrong like the last one almost did!"

Honeysuckle shook her hoof. "Flora, what did I say about your temper? Calm down before you flip the table!"

Kernel's eyes widened, and he held the remainder of his pancake close to him in order to protect it. Willow followed suit with her apple slices and hard-boiled eggs, and the rest just stared at Flora with worry. The exception was Olive, who just had her front legs crossed and an eyebrow raised.

Flora panted, and sat back down, picking up another hash brown. "Sorry... I've been holding it in for a while. Sometimes I forget that I can be a bit fiery."

Ash Tree snorted. "A bit?"

Flora still stared at her hash brown, ignoring the snide remark. "Well, best to stop worrying about it and get it over with." She gave a side glance to Olive. "And no, I'm not giving you the pleasure of seeing him freak out on finding out who our cousin is."

Olive pouted. "Aw, come on! Seeing stuffy ponies like that lose their cool is the best!"

"Yeah, we're having a private picnic for a reason."

Amber leaned toward Flora. "Are you sure it's not romantic?"

Before Flora could answer, they heard the door swing open. Turning to the entrance of the dining room, they watched as a grumbling Tomato Sandwich, clad in only his white button shirt with sleeves burned up to his knee, walked in. He strode across the room and wove through the tables to reach the buffet table. From there, he took a plate and started to choose his breakfast items.

Bananas leaned back in his chair. "You'd think his brother would be with him."

Tomato was quick to select his food, and then was at the table with the Flower-Wood family in an instant. Sitting across from Flora, who was fiddling with the pink beads of her necklace, and by Willow, who took to staring at the stallion's forelock, Tomato threw a waffle into his mouth and chewed, leaning his head in his hoof.

Bananas swung forward and leaned on the table. "Hey, where's your bro? I've been wanting to talk party stuff with him."

Tomato swallowed. "Still asleep. I've been trying to wake him for hours, but I only succeeded in having his rubber chicken vomit confetti on me. You'd expect it to be the other way around."

Bananas blinked. Then, a large, mischievous smile crept up on his face, growing until it was ear to ear. Sliding down under the table, he said, "Well, well, I guess I'll have to sing him the merry sunshine song. That's always fun to sing."

The yellow stallion disappeared under the table, and Ash Tree lifted the tablecloth to check if he was still under there. With a sigh, he dropped the cloth and muttered, "How does he do that?"

"Eh, as long as Cheese is awake to get to the actual preparation for the celebration, I don't care what Bananas does," Tomato said.

Honeysuckle nodded. "Well, I hope he succeeds. We're meeting my oldest sister and her family this afternoon to work on floats and wagons for the Frontier Festival Parade in Salt Lick City. With another party pony involved, I think this year's festival will be extra fun!"

She glanced at the seat beside her, and discovered that Kernel had ditched the table. "Ugh, where did that rascal go now?" She stood up and walked away from the table, beginning with looking around the buffet table. "Gotta find that boy and clean the syrup off of him..."

Tomato watched Honeysuckle in her search before turning back to his food and chomping on some apple slices.

With a big smile, Amber leaned toward him and asked, "So, on a scale of one to ten, how much would you like to go on a romantic mountaintop picnic with Flora before we get to the parade preparation thing?"

The remaining siblings snickered as Flora facehoofed. "Amber, it's not romantic!"

Tomato looked up with a jerk, blinking. "Wait, picnic?"

---

One moment, Cheese Sandwich was being chased.

He didn't know what was chasing him through this jungle, all he knew is that it was covered in shadows and snarling at him. The echoing laughter of foals accompanied the monster, as if they were mocking him in an endless cycle. He felt the heat rising in him as he ran, and he could feel his brow dampening. His legs were in a limbo between aching and numbness, even when he had a moment of having his foreleg sink in some thick mud, causing him to pause until he yanked it out and kept on going, feeling the monster snap at his tail.

The next moment, as he was swinging on a vine over a ravine, he suddenly heard, "Good morning, Merry Sunshine! How did you come so soon?"

He slipped off the vine and plummeted into the ravine, only to slam face first into a carpet.

His head throbbing and ears ringing, his shaky front legs boosted him up to a more comfortable position. Smacking his lips to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth, he opened his eyes to find that he was still in the room that he and Tomato stayed in the night before. Rubbing his head, he idly grabbed Boneless Two beside him, and turned to his bed. The fact that Bananas was directly under it and had lifted the entire thing with his two front hooves gave him an idea on how he fell out of the bed.

Bananas bobbed his head and chanted, "You chased away the stars and you scared away the moon!"

Cheese rolled over until he was sitting on his rump, and then stretched. "Gee, you made Celestia sound like a jerk."

Bananas stepped to the side, slipping the bed back on the floor. Now back on all fours, Bananas said, "I didn't make it up. I think it must be some kind of nursery rhyme that my dad sang to me while bouncing my bed to wake me up. You'll have to contend with the author of the rhyme."

Cheese rolled back over, and stood up, hearing his legs practically creak. He threw his rubber chicken on the bed, the resulting squeak echoing in his head. Despite the gnawing at his brain, he was unable to stop swinging it as he walked to the nightstand and grabbed his medicine bottle. In gazing at it, he realized for the first time that the labeling was smudged.

"What's that?" Bananas asked.

"Headache medicine," Cheese mumbled. "River ruined the label."

"Oh, okay. Geez, looks like the mints a cousin of mine likes to carry around. Speaking of which, once you're done with that, then we can get to preparing for the parade tomorrow!" Bananas said, hopping on the bed and leaning back. "We're meeting up with friends and family today to work on our floats, and I've got a few ideas to make it fun, like candy cannons on one of the floats or putting apricot trees on another, sticking popcorn balls on the branches like they grew them."

Cheese had gone into the bathroom and was already dumping a pill into his hoof, listening to Bananas just a room away. "So... you'll make it look like there's popcorn popping on the apricot tree? Cool."

"Hey, are you always this groggy in the mornings?"

It never really occurred to Cheese that this was unusual until now. Before, he was always the first one up and scaring Tomato awake, ready to seize the day and make every day a party, whether it be a big celebration or a mini party just between him and his brother. But for some reason, now he was just feeling more and more tired. After taking his medicine and downing a glass of water, Cheese pulled down at his eyelid in some attempt to see what was wrong.

In doing so, he noticed the bandage still around his foreleg, having been changed the night before after a careful shower. Thinking that his burn should be healed by now, he unwrapped it, finally answering Bananas with, "Oh, uh, I just had an eventful night last night, and I was worn out from the running and the fire and the--aaahh!"

Cheese nearly staggered back at seeing that his burn had not healed. It was still a harsh red color, rimmed by fur that was singed brown. Out in the open, it still stung more than ever, making Cheese imagine it still on fire, with a vivid flame that cackled at him with the utmost mockery.

Bananas popped his head in. "Hey, what was that--" His eyes landed on the burn and he cringed. "Oooh..."

Cheese rubbed his forehead, his mind blank. "But... but... my injuries never lasted this long... heck, my burns have never been this red..." He spun around to face Bananas and shouted, "Why do I have an unfunny injury?!"

Bananas shrugged with a sheepish grin. "I don't know. I'm not a doctor... you want to check with a real doctor?"

Cheese backed up and shook his head. "Oh, no, no." He looked at his burn and grimaced. "I've got plenty of burn ointment--gotta carry a first aid kit around in my travels in case an unfunny injury like this one comes along!" He pulled said first aid kit out from behind his back and dropped it on the floor, the impact forcing the lid open. Rummaging through the kit, he grumbled, "But it's rare for me and I don't like it when it happens."

"Uh, you need help with that? I could go get Flora, as she has changed my bandages in the days after my accident and has been gentle since."

Cheese pulled out the ointment. "Accident, huh? What happened to you?"

Bananas' eyes widened, and he sped out of the room, shouting, "Oh, uh, it's a long story! I'll just go get her, as I'm not as gentle with delicate burns as she is! Here's hoping I catch her before she goes taking your brother on a hike!"

Cheese blinked. "Uh... I'm sorry?"

---

Once finished with breakfast and changing Cheese's bandages, Flora was grateful that her mother and sister Amber had prepared their lunch for them while she had done so. With the picnic basket all set, she was ready to lead Tomato up the nearest hiking trail. While the front of the inn provided a fair view of the town of Neighton and the neighboring EUP base, Flora wanted to climb higher up the mountain in order to give him a good look at the valley she called home.

Tomato simply went along with it, offering to carry the basket with his tail. He didn't want to disappoint his friend, though he was frankly annoyed by her siblings and Cheese giggling over them. Letting them know they'll meet them in the town square later that afternoon, they started their hike up.

The dusty trail began with a loop into the neighboring canyon, providing them with their first view of the very river that Tomato and his brother fell into the night before. Feeling the canyon breeze give them a cool break from the hot sun beating down on them, the lanky stallion described the great plunge that he and Cheese had taken in order to escape the fire. He even pointed out a cliff and drew a line to explain just how high the jump was.

"I thought we were screwed either way, so Cheese convinced me to take the route that would have a chance of our bodies being recovered and identified more easily," Tomato rambled. "And because the universe likes to spite us, it rained right after we jumped."

"And you two survived that?" Flora shook her head. "There's no way."

"You seem to be forgetting Cheese's near invincibility..." Tomato rubbed the back of his head. "Admittedly, I forgot about that too."

"More like fickle invincibility, given that burn of his," Flora corrected.

Tomato's mind flashed back to Cheese's fall in Las Pegasus. Given how high in the sky that Tomato had climbed and how unfunny the situation had been, there had been little chance of him surviving that. "Well, thanks for coming up with a good way to put it."

Tomato's foreleg swung to the side, and hit a flat and fleshy pad that bore tiny spikes. The sudden stabbing in his pastern had him leaping into the air with a pained whinny. Once he landed, dropping the basket with a thud, he cradled the stinging foreleg and glared at the offending plant--a prickly pear cactus.

"Why the hay are cacti here?" he grumbled.

"Because we're technically in a desert." Flora took Tomato's hoof and examined it. "At least it didn't draw blood. You should be okay."

"Okay..." Tomato turned to the basket. "But what about our lunch?"

---

The trail looped and zigzagged up the grassy mountain, in order to make it just a mite bit easier to fight gravity. Even so, gravity still fought Flora and Tomato as they trod up the path, kicking reddish-brown sand down behind them. While the sun was still warm on their backs, the air was steadily growing chillier as they ascended.

The final steps of the path were rocky, and Flora hopped on each one with ease. Tomato saw no need to jump, as his long legs could climb over them easily. Besides, he was carrying the basket, and he didn't want to cause any more damage to their food. Despite their aching legs and their sore feet, they ambled onward, seeing the peak just yards away.

Flora leapt onto a boulder and turned to look at the neighboring mountain. She grimaced at the charred backside of the landmark. "Yeowch. Looks like that fire did a lot of damage before the weather team was able to put it out."

Tomato glanced at the mountain and saw black on it. "Cheese and I were almost part of that damage, but I already told you plenty."

"Yeah, I think you told me the whole story." Flora spun around to talk down to him. "By the way, you're doing pretty good for somepony who hasn't grown up in the mountains."

Tomato caught up to the boulder and leaned on it, mild pants breezing in and out of him. "This vacation I'm on is essentially a trial by fire. Compared to some of the nonsense I've been through so far, this is easy."

Flora giggled. "Well, good for you, tough guy. Anyway, we're almost there."

She leapt off the rock, accidentally kicking the boulder into rolling down the mountain. A startled Tomato jumped back, and watched as the boulder rolled and bounced down the mountain, until it landed in a grove of conifers. Upon the thunderous crash, dozens of birds zoomed upward in order to escape the monster making that booming noise.

Flora paused and flinched at the sound. "Oops."

Tomato clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Flora, I thought you'd be more careful with boulders."

"Well, let's be thankful it didn't start rolling while I was still on it, or that it didn't roll toward you." Flora bounded up a few more steps, and then she stopped on the peak. "Now, are you coming or what?"

Tomato trotted up on the rocks, nearly slipping on some pebbles on the way up. Holding the basket steady, he climbed forward until he pushed himself up on the last step. Finally stepping on grass, he exhaled and wiped his brow, striding forward to the middle of the patch to put the basket down. Then, he looked forward at the valley.

The valley stretched far to the north and far to the south, and stretched forward to the west until it reached a great lake. The lake shone like a mirror under the light of the sun, bordered with sands of white and holding a large island with many different specks--birds or pegasi, he didn't know--flying around it. The grass of the valley ranged in hues of yellow and green, speckled with the occasional deep green tree or grove that hung around the valley's many irrigation ditches and the nearby river. Several towns occupied the valley, and he could see various farms and orchards hanging around the less populated parts. To the south, Tomato could barely make out a city.

Tomato whistled as his eyes continued to sweep the landscape. So this is what Flora talked about when she mentioned the view from the mountains! He could scarcely believe how much he was seeing in one fell swoop. "Wow, what a view."

Flora smiled at him. "Yep, this valley here is where I grew up. From Bridle City to Provero, I've got friends and family spread out across this valley. The only family of mine that doesn't live here are my Aunt Jasmine, Aunt Violet, and their families. They visit us on occasions like this festival, or Hearth's Warming, or Grandma's birthday."

Tomato nodded. "I see. Most of them are just a quick train ride away, and you apparently visit your cousins more than I visit mine... which is pretty much never. Dad's sister lives in Seaddle, and Mom's sister... psht, who knows where she went? I don't even know if I have any cousins from her."

Flora cocked her head. "Wait, she never told anypony where she was going?"

Tomato shook his head. "Thanks to Mom scaring her off, Aunt Honeydew has never contacted her family after leaving. Just another lovely feature of the Sandwich family drama--you get your kids running away, down to the age of eleven!"

Flora grimaced. "Eleven?"

Tomato sighed and started to pluck at the grass. "That's how old Cheese was when he left. It absolutely crushed me, especially since I suddenly had so much weight on my shoulders. I had to be strong for my parents as they worried over their lost son, I felt pressure to be happy for all the foals at school that expected me to be the class clown, I felt alone as nopony dared to cry with me when I was struggling to keep it together, and I carried all the blame for my missing brother, because if I had just been a good colt that behaved and obeyed exactly how Mom wanted, then maybe he could have stayed!"

Tomato turned to stare at the town below them. "My family's a mess, Flora. No matter what I do, I feel like I do nothing but break it even further. Me, the lovable class clown... the straight-A student... the faithful brother on a mission to defeat big bro's shyness... and of course, the perfect son. No matter what persona I take, I'll screw it up and get ponies to hate me somehow. I always do."

Flora reached forward and put on hoof on Tomato's shoulder. "Tomato, that's a lot of grief that you've been dealing with. Even as an eight-year-old, you've had too much of it for it to be healthy. Tell me, was it always like that for you, or did you have moments where you were free from it?"

Tomato took a deep breath. "Well... there were a few times where I didn't feel crummy. The fundraiser where I earned my cutie mark just came naturally to me, and I'll admit, I took a lot of joy out of it that I haven't felt since. Shame that life had to suck the joy out of my mark in several different ways."

"Hey, try not to lapse into the negative when talking about the good times. Let's count those blessings."

Tomato groaned. "Uh... tutoring, being a math tutor. I mostly felt frustrated with ponies not getting it, but I have almost made friends with some ponies like that... and made an actual friend in you way back in our early college days." He smiled and winked at her, eliciting a giggle from her. "There's also my study times with Bluejinx. It was unfortunate that he was busy with newspaper stuff, but I was happy when we got to hang out. I'm not gonna lie, I like his mom more than my own."

"I can see why. I remember the time she came over and gave us cookies." Flora licked her lips and rubbed her belly. "Yeah, those were some good cookies."

Tomato chuckled. "I also had a job working at a bookstore. It was a little one, with only three of us working at it. My boss, Madame Bookshelf, was a nice old mare, and I couldn't help but compare her to my grandmother. My co-worker, Summer Wind, was a bit annoying with how much she pestered me, but she had a strange curious charm to her and a love of books that rivaled mine. She made me wonder if that was what it was like to have a sister."

"I can guarantee that sisters can be annoying," Flora said, rolling her eyes. "And also bratty cousins."

Tomato blinked, wondering where that cousins line came from. "Anyway, that bookstore felt more like home than my own house did. I just wish it could've lasted forever, or that I at least got to know where Summer moved to." He tapped his chin. "I've also had a crush on somepony, but that was a mistake, you do not want to hear how that ended."

Tomato looked up at the blue sky with a sigh. "And... that's all I can think of. The negatives outweighed the positives for quite a while, though I had to keep my mouth shut about it. Mom doesn't like it when I'm ungrateful, and Cheese seemed to think life was perfect for Mom's 'perfect son', so he didn't understand why I was so unhappy, especially with him. My life just plain sucked until..."

He let that last word trail off, not sure if he wanted to finish that sentence. He needed to think of something that had less of a punch to it, as he didn't want to give her the wrong idea about how he viewed their relationship. After all, he could easily cite the day he met Flora as the day his life started to get brighter. While it wouldn't be truly noticeable until his relationship with Cheese had started getting fixed, there had still been the little things like how she always brought a sense of peace with her everywhere she went.

"Until...?" Flora asked.

Tomato turned to her and cleared his throat. He could have sworn that he could see the light in her eyes, and that her mane was woven out of sunshine. Awed by that glow she was emitting, he briefly wondered if Cheese saw Pinkie Pie like this before reminding himself that the party ponies' relationship was completely different from his and Flora's friendship. This was obviously a trick of the light in his case.

Finally, he came up with something. "...until I started college. I mean, I was expecting it to be just empty... and pointless... much like my life thus far. But, really, I've found more meaning in my life since meeting you, Cirrus, and Nimbus. I know I was just some emotionally repressed jerk at the start and wondered why you stuck with me, but, you know, I've been getting better since then..."

Flora smiled. "Especially with a certain big leap involving a certain brother of yours..."

"Yep. I've admittedly been having a lot of fun this summer." Tomato sighed. "I just wish Mom could see that Cheese is not doing any harm."

"I'll be frank. Your family's clearly dysfunctional, and at her age, it'll be difficult to convince her that she's been doing things all wrong." Flora crossed her front legs. "Meeting your parents had me spotting a power imbalance between them, and between Cheese's runaway status, the difference between the happy colt picture and first meeting you, and the fact that you reset every school year... yeah, staying with them is not good for you."

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Tomato leaned in his hooves. "Cheese thinks I should move not just out of their house, but out of Manehattan altogether. I always imagined myself just changing neighborhoods, but out of the city? Where else do I go?"

"Try this valley, we have room," Flora said with a wry grin. She pointed to the city in the south, nestled on the mountain in the distance. "Aside from Neighton, there's Salt Lick City, and further south there's Provero." She switched to pointing north. "Up there we've got Bridle City and Oxdun." She pointed toward the lake. "Or maybe a bit more west, closer to Salty Lake, like Hayfield. Or maybe--"

"Tempting, but I'm not sure if it's the right place for me."

Flora sighed. "Darn, I want to be able to visit you more easily in the future. College won't last forever, you know." She took a deep breath and smile. "But, wherever you go, I hope you'll be happy, living out your life and your special talent to the fullest! Let's just hope we write each other better than we have been so far."

Tomato wanted to jump off the mountain at the mention of that. He wouldn't ever forgive himself for not asking her just which Neighton she lived in, and would be forever miffed at uncreative town namers. At least he knew now.

Flora turned to look at the burnt mountain. "Anyway, let's think of you as that mountain. You've been scorched by a terrible fire."

"That's true even if I wasn't the mountain," Tomato deadpanned.

She ignored him. "Fires of emotional abuse from many fronts, enough for it to burn away the life in you. Stray plants here and there still remain, but everything else is charred to the point that it's nearly unrecognizable. You're still standing, but you still lost a lot. With a charred and barren landscape, it appears that you'd never be back to your former glory.

"However... gosh, I wish that I could fly you there for a visual reference, but fires often end up making plants release their seeds, bringing forth the new generation of mountain flora. With the right weather, the mountain will once again be blooming with new life." She turned and smiled at Tomato. "Just like with the right ponies in your life, you'll bloom into somepony better."

Tomato rubbed his leg. "You really think so?"

"Tomato, you said so yourself that your life started getting better when you met your silly college friends. And you bloomed even better when your relationship with your brother had been restored. Trust me, you're blooming right now."

Tomato felt his cheeks heat up, and Flora was glowing once again. He let out an "Uh..." before he felt his stomach gnawing at itself, begging for nourishment. It even expressed it's hunger with a loud rumble. "Oh, hey! A little friend of mine is telling me that now's the time for lunch!"

---

After eating their lunch and descending down the mountain, Flora led Tomato to Neighton’s town square. With red brick roads and brick and stucco buildings, the large plaza had dozens upon dozens of ponies gathered there, all busy building wagons, two-wheeled carts, and parade floats. Many of them were simultaneously engrossed in hearty conversation, laughing at whatever joke or story their contemporaries told. A lot of foals—seeming more of them than adult ponies—were running around, playing games with each other, or helping parents and big siblings with their respective projects.

“So… where are we supposed to meet your family?” Tomato asked.

Flora was standing on tiptoes, shielding her eyes from the sun as she scanned the square. “I think my mom said that we’re working with our aunt and cousins near town hall.” She pointed to a tan building that was taller than the rest, shaped like a carousel and bearing a little bell tower on top. “Now, let’s start swimming through this crowd and hope nopony stops us for conversation.”

The two started weaving through the crowd, and it wasn’t long before some of the ponies turned and saw Flora and her friend. Smiling, they took a moment to greet her.

“Hello, Flora!” an old stallion, clearly a farmer, said.

Flora waved back. “Hey, Mr. Bountiful.”

Mr. Bountiful’s wife chirped, “Flora! Is that a new friend of yours?”

“Well, not new, Valley Bloom, he’s one of my Manehattan friends.”

Valley clapped. “Splendid! He sure looks like a nice young stallion.”

“Uh, thanks?” Tomato muttered.

The pair kept on pressing forward through the crowd, bumping into just about every pony that Flora knew in town and was promptly greeted by them. While Flora didn’t mind this, as these ponies were prone to greet her when they spotted her, she could tell that Tomato was a little uncomfortable with all this attention.

“Hi Flora!” Another mare said.

Flora waved. “Hey, Swelling Joy!”

“Flora! What’s up?” a stallion around her age greeted, holding up a hoof.

Flora high-hoofed him. “Just finding my family, Iron Rod. That’s all.”

“Flora! I hear one of your Manehattan friends is here!”

“Indeed he is, All-Is-Well!”

“Hiya, Flora! Is that your boyfriend from Manehattan?”

“He’s not my boyfriend, Little Stream.”

“Forgive Streamy for being forward like that… still, your friend looks like a swell fellow.”

“It’s all right, Sweetwater. And yes, Tomato is a swell guy.”

It seemed to take forever before they made to town hall, with just about everypony greeting Flora and asking a little about Tomato on their way. Flora had to hurry along for Tomato’s sake, as it seemed like he was about ready to explode from all that attention they received, however brief from anypony they passed.

When standing in front of the hall, they spotted Ash Tree on the lawn on the side of the building, busy carving some tent stakes into what almost looked like chess pieces. Wiping her brow, Flora said, “Well, we made it. Now, time to—”

A yellow unicorn pranced right up to Flora. “Oh, hi, Flora! I was wondering where you were!”

Tomato threw his hooves up. “Oh, for goodness’ sake!”

Flora turned and pointed at him. “Hey, don’t make a scene. Just go to my family, and let them know I’ll catch up in a bit. Okay?”

Tomato exhaled and muttered, “Okay… I just need a little room to breathe…” He turned to that lawn and trotted over to the family, mumbling questions about what they were doing and if Cheese was preparing some weird surprises with Bananas.

The unicorn blinked. “Uh, what did I do?”

Flora turned to her. “Sorry about that, Kindly Light. Getting greeted by neighbor after neighbor freaked him out. They don’t exactly do that in Manehattan.”

Kindly lit up. “Oh! He’s the grumpy, tall friend from that photo you showed me! I have to say, he’s cuter in real life than he is in the photo! Uh… what was his name again?”

“Tomato Sandwich.”

Kindly clapped. “That’s a yummy name! I’m happy that I could finally meet one of your friends from that school! What does he think of your family? Did he only meet your siblings, or did he get to meet your cousins too? And, uh, what about that cousin from Manehattan? Do they know each other?”

"Don't be silly, Manehattan's too big for everypony to know everypony. It's not like--" Flora’s eyes widened, and she clutched her head. “Wait a minute, they're from the same neighborhood! Aw, fetch! I forgot to tell him about—”

Two simultaneous screams, one from Tomato and the other from a mare, came from the side of the building, followed by, “What are you doing here?!” The screams were loud enough for ponies to pause and look uncomfortably at the place where the screams came from.

Kindly winced. “So… I take it they don’t like each other?”

Flora groaned. "It's biting me in the butt now." She trotted toward the area where her family was working on their things. "Biting me so hard..."

She made it to the side of the building, where her mother, aunt, siblings, and cousins were standing, staring confusedly at the scene before them. On one side, Tomato was hiding behind Cheese, blinking for prolonged periods of time in order to try to wake up from what he wanted to be just a nightmare. On the other, a figure hid under a covered wagon, glaring at the stallion standing there.

Cheese looked up, and spotted Flora standing there. "Oh, hey, Flora! Say, uh, was there any point in your friendship where you mentioned just who your aunt and uncle were to Tommy?"

Flora bit her lip and shook her head.

"Oh, okay. How about mentioning Tommy to said aunt and uncle and finding about a little grudge they have against him?"

She smiled sheepishly and nodded.

"You know, I'm surprised you still like him after learning about their point of view of a humiliating disaster involving him."

Flora snorted. "Hey! I've known that my cousin has been a habitual liar for years, so I just went and formed my own opinion of Tomato!"

The pony under the wagon snarled, "What?! Flora, you can't seriously be friends with this guy!"

Tomato popped out from behind Cheese. "And you can't seriously be cousins with Creme Brulee of all ponies!"

Flora trotted to the wagon, reached under it, and pulled out her petite, creamy-yellow cousin, whose light brown locks were in messed up curls rather than her usual waves, and whose orange eyes bore a viciousness held by many a shallow mare. Her makeup was unfortunately messed up, though her lavender finery remained intact. Flora remained stoic as she said, "I seriously can be both, guys."

Creme slapped Flora's hoof away. "I can't believe you! Keeping this a secret from me even after what my parents said?"

Tomato rubbed his temples. "You know, you could have mentioned this earlier!"

Honeysuckle glared at Flora. "I thought you were going to tell him during the picnic."

"Eh... I forgot..." Flora said, rubbing her leg and blushing. "And what about--"

Bananas popped out of the wagon. "Creme doesn't listen, remember? Heck, not even Cheese being here alerted her."

Creme threw her hooves up. "I forgot that the creep had a brother!"

Both Sandwiches glowered at her, and the rest of the siblings and cousins murmured about this twist in events. Some muttered about how this was making things uncomfortable, others grumbled about how Creme was going to start drama again. Olive snickered to a cousin about how much fun this mess was going to be, only to be hit on the shoulder by Flora.

Even Honeysuckle grumbled, "Oh, Flora, we could have avoided this if you had just proved to Custard and Jasmine that Tomato was a good kid like you said you would."

Then, Flora's aunt, a white, bespectacled mare with yellow and tan hair and green eyes, stepped in and said, "All right, all right, it seems we've got a bit of a jumble here. I'd expect better from Honeysuckle's eldest than keeping a friendship behind Jasmine's back, even after her mother advised her to come clean. And it seems Creme hasn't learned her lesson in listening to news."

"Hey, it's not my fault I don't hear anything interesting around here, Aunt Sego Lily," Creme complained.

Sego Lily raised an eyebrow. "Stop shifting the blame, you have the responsibility to listen for any news, lest it be something important. Anyway, it seems this Mr. Tomato Sandwich is part of a controversy."

Tomato slumped over his brother's back. "Story of my life."

"Well, we'll all see for ourselves if he's worthwhile like Flora says, or if he's scum like Creme says. In the meantime, let's keep those two away from each other and keep any conflict to a minimum. I don't want anypony getting hurt, and I want my town's floats and wagons done and unscathed by the parade tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?"

Everypony nodded. "Yes, Mayor."

Honeysuckle stepped beside her sister. "Now, let's get back to work! We should be finished and shipping these things off to Salt Lick City tonight!"

As everypony scrambled to get back to what they were doing--whether it be fixing wheels, sewing the wagon cover, or decorating the parade float, Creme Brulee just smiled and patted Flora's cheek. "I have to say, I'm impressed with how well you kept up your little charade. Not such a little goody two-shoes now, are you?"

Flora pursed her lips. "Hey, at least I have no intention of ruining ponies when they rub me the wrong way."

"Hm, true, but I think you still hurt your little friend." Creme Brulee gestured to a scowling Tomato. "I have to say, it might have stung him just a little bit. Now, I better run along and stay away from him like Aunt Sego Lily asked."

As Creme pranced off, Tomato ambled toward Flora. Waiting until the yellow mare was out of earshot, he finally said, "Okay, what were you hoping to accomplish from that lie? Because, as you may have noticed, we don't exactly have the best history with each other."

Flora sat and twiddled her hooves. "Well... when I told my aunt and uncle about my helpful new friend that's been showing me around, they weren't very happy. They told me the story about that party where you went crazy and said that you're a ticking time bomb. After all, Creme told them you attacked her. Now, knowing her and her liar attitude, I was doubtful of the story, and decided to see if you really could go randomly crazy. So far, you haven't done anything like that, so I suppose that if it was real, you got it under control."

Tomato's glare didn't soften. "It was coffee. Coffee makes me go berserk. I let it slip to her, and she took advantage of it."

Cheese popped up next to him. "Can confirm. Saw a coffee incident with my own two eyes in one town. Unfortunately, I was too sick to stop him at the time."

Tomato nodded. "Now, Flora... why did keep that detail a secret from me?"

Flora looked into his eyes for a moment, and sighed as she looked at the ground. "I guess I was afraid of upsetting you and losing your friendship by revealing my relation to her. It wasn't my place to bring up that sensitive issue with you."

"Yeah, and here I thought you weren't afraid of me, and that your so-called honesty with me was a breath of fresh air after so much of my life was filled with liars and backstabbers! Maybe I would be shocked and upset at first, but I would have recognized that you and her are not the same, that just because you're related doesn't mean you both are manipulative liars--but wow, you both can sure set up a good lie!"

"I'm sorry, Tomato. I shouldn't have let myself get carried away."

Cheese sighed. "Welcome to the club."

Tomato snorted. "Right now, I need a bit of space." He walked off, going into a field beyond the town square. "I'll go find something to count."

Flora and Cheese watched as he disappeared into the tall, yellow grass. Once he was gone, Flora let out a sigh and smacked her forehead. "Oh, fetching fetcher, I'm so stupid."

Cheese patted her back. "Hey, no worries. If I know my brother, he's not prone to holding grudges unless he's been seriously insulted--like, say, if there was an insult against his cutie mark. He's pouted after I've pushed him into our blocks, or took his cookie, or even lied to him about the tooth fairy, but all was good after about a half-hour."

"Are you sure keeping a secret about being related to somepony who contributed to his abuse isn't a serious insult?" Flora said in a low voice.

Cheese rubbed the back of his head. "Well... if he's still upset, I'll talk to him, see if I'll get him to have his own talk with you." He grinned as he elbowed her. "I won't let him throw a good friendship away just because you messed up."

Flora smiled weakly. "Well... thanks."

Author's Note:

That moment when you hesitate to write a chapter because of a certain twist. I got that idea a while ago, because I just wanted to bug Tomato with his favorite mare and his least favorite being related.

While Flora does have a bunch of cousins, we're not focusing on them. Just her, her siblings, her parents, and the awful cousin, Creme Brulee! And maybe the occasional pop-up of Aunt Sego Lily, mayor of Neighton. Here's hoping I write any and all scenes with the Flower-Woods as good as I can.

Comments

[redmar]

That was awkward. I still hope that Cheese and Tomato's aunt will appear at some point in the story.

[Applejack224]

ohh, do I sense a little romance

[SageBrony07]

Great chapter. I think I know what is going to happen when Tom shows he is a reliable and hard working stallion.Creme will slip him coffee.

[Goldfinch142]

Awed by that glow she was emitting, he briefly wondered if Cheese saw Pinkie Pie like this before reminding himself that the party ponies' relationship was completely different from his and Flora's friendship. This was obviously a trick of the light in his case.

Yes, obviously.

Oh, boy. Of course Flora ends up being related to Creme Brulee. Hopefully Tomato can prove his trustworthiness and avoid any incidents at the Festival.

As for Flora, she'd better figure out how to fix this. She messed up big time.

[superfun]

I hope that if Creme is planning something with coffee that Flora is able to catch her and stop her before she can enact said plan.

[StarrySnails]

Flora high-hoofed him. “Just finding my family, Iron Rod. That’s all.”

Pfff. I get the reference.