Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

15.5--Sugar Apocalypse

And so it was that the parade began. Starting off at the Salt Spires and its gardens, the procession moved forward, with the Salt Lick Police Force making sure that everything was going smoothly. It rolled under Salt Lick's Phoenix Gate--an arch bearing a bronze statue of a phoenix on top--and went east for a block before turning south. Rounding the corner had them being greeted by many of the valley's residents, sitting and standing on both sides of the wide, clean street. Dwarfed by buildings of smooth stones colored light gray and white, the spectators cheered at the site of the first cart.

The cart was small, bearing the Equestrian Flag (light blue with stars that surrounded Princesses Celestia and Luna as they encircled the sun and moon) and the Salt Lick Valley flag (dark blue with the symbol of bees buzzing around a beehive). A little old mare dressed in a plain shawl and bonnet rode in it, smiling a wrinkled smile and waving to the younger generations. Her escort towing the cart, dressed in a broad hat and button shirt, smiled as well, and tossed some saltwater taffy toward the many foals along the road.

After several more carts that bore homemade flags hailing from each town from both the valley and the mountains, the troops hailing from the Neighton EUP Base came marching in. With March Redwood and another officer barking out a chant to keep them in line, the young soldiers' hoofsteps all stomped in time, providing one of the beats for the band playing behind them. Said band had their instrument strapped onto their bodies, and they played out a triumphant tune out of the many brass and percussion instruments attached to the band mates.

After a giant beehive float, along came the covered wagons. Lead by a single stallion in a brown coat, who apparently minded the heat little, the procession of wagons had various ponies popping out to wave at and toss candy to the spectators. Many of the foals in the parade were trotting by the wagons, with fillies' pigtails bouncing and colts throwing their hats around in little games. As they went down the street, they were all singing about how pioneer foals sang as they trotted.

A couple more floats passed by. The first was a model of Salty Lake, driven by the salt harvesters of the towns closest to the lake. A teal mare holding a rake stood at the front, holding a determined scowl, while her husband and teenage son sat behind her and waved to spectators. The second was a model of the snowy mountain resort of Paddock City, towed by a massive, bearded stallion that would certainly fit in a mountain climate--his cutie mark was even a mountain range! His significantly smaller wife and three kids bore ski gear, sitting on the mountain models to toss candy.

The two-wheeled carts were next, and many mares and stallions were pulling small foals in them, whether it be parents towing their children or older brothers and sisters towing their younger siblings. One such cart was being pulled by Flora Peace and Creme Brulee, with Willow in the box waving to the spectators. The little filly bore a bonnet and shawl like the rest of her kin, but hers were decorated in faux jewels and colors that made her look like royalty. Her brother Kernel sat beside her, holding a toy crossbow in order to pretend that he was her honorable bodyguard.

He aimed upward and fired "shots" at the sky. "Away, changeling! Away, vampire! You don't hurt the princess!"

Flora glanced back at them and smiled. "Or any of her subjects."

Some of the other mares, both those pulling carts and those watching the parade, were watching Kernel in his little guard duty and giggled. Some of them even cooed, "Awww..." over his devotion to his sister, as well as the sister herself for being so pretty and patient.

Creme cringed. "Well, he seems to be having fun indulging in violent fantasies."

Flora turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "He's a little boy with an imagination, not to mention he admires Dad a lot. Besides, I think it's sweet that he's more into protecting his sister than killing things. He's just shooing away the vampires and changelings." She turned to her youngest brother. "Right, Kernel?"

Kernel blinked. "I'm shooting garlic at them."

"That's right! That stuff scares vampires... I don't know about changelings, though. Anyway, we don't want Salt Lick City to be invaded, do we?"

"Nope!"

Willow raised her hoof. "If we do get invaded, I know you can beat them up, Flora."

Flora shuddered. "Well, maybe I could if it came to that. But, I don't want to be put in a situation where some army of creatures invades the Salt Lick Valley, or Manehattan during the school year, and I'd have to fight them. Canterlot already had that with Changelings, and there was the recent vampire thing in Las Pegasus. Can't imagine the nightmares those were, though I think Dad can."

Creme looked forward, scanning the tidy blocks straight ahead and the thousands of ponies that lined the streets. "In any case, that's not the nightmare you're going to live soon."

Before Flora could reply, a little soapbox cart zipped through the two-wheeled carts, bringing on surprised shouts from the other cart-pullers. When the cart used the Paddock City float as a ramp, prompting the family to jump forward onto lower parts of the float, Flora could catch the form of a red-headed, olive-coated teenager inside the cart. As the filly had rang out her maniacal laughter, Flora's face turned red.

"Olive! You're supposed to stay in your segment of the parade!" she screamed.

She could tell that Olive blatantly ignored her, though the family on the mountain float didn't. That older son with his black mane covering half his blue-gray face was giving her a sharp glare, while his brother, sister, and mother just stared at her in concern.

Bananas rushed by on a unicycle. "Don't worry, guys, I'm gonna catch her!"

With that family--and now certainly many others-- still staring at her, Flora just wanted to melt into a puddle.

---

Further back in the parade, groups of Filly Guides and Colt Scouts were marching along, carrying the flags for both programs. Alfalfa marched among the scouts, bearing the merit badges on his sash with pride. Though he was quiet as usual, the rest of the scouts around him sang the Salt Lick anthem along with the Filly Guides.

Behind the scouts and guides, Cheese Sandwich was riding around on a unicycle, letting Boneless Two ride in his mane and playing along with the foals' song, though he was annoyed that his partner in crime had to go fetch his younger sister, who got a little too excited to be in her soapbox cart and decided to show off in other parts of the parade. Behind him, the Flower-Wood family's float carried Honeysuckle, Ash Tree, Amber Waves, and Tomato Sandwich. In addition to the pioneer mural running through the center of the float, the flowers lining the edges, and the candy cannons sitting on the corners, the float also bore stacks of books. Three of the four ponies on the float waved some of the books and shouted at ponies to read, as it'll take them to a brand new world.

"One fine way to appreciate the pioneers is reading all about their struggles!" Honeysuckle shouted, holding up a copy of a book called Two Wheels. "A good historical novel is a window into the past!"

Ash Tree held up an art book. "You can learn from these things. This thing helped me improve my artwork."

Amber juggled several books with a grin. "Do you like adventure novels like Daring Do? Or how about a mystery novel like Shadow Spade? Or maybe a romance novel like The Mage and the Jester? Whatever your genre, there's a book out there for you!"

Tomato was sitting on top of the mural, reading a book of his own. Having picked a book at random from the stacks, he simply took to sitting against the flagpole, and looking up every so often to see the city and the crowds. He'd jump at the sound of the candy cannons shooting the various candies at the crowd, or at a formation of pegasi zooming above him, but for the most part, the noise didn't bother him much. Every so often, he'd wave to some ponies, point at his book, and grin and nod.

Cheese, on the other hoof, was bearing a huge grin to cover up a massive headache. The boom of the candy cannons behind him made it feel like that somepony stabbed his head with a screwdriver, and the cheering spectators sounded like a swarm of bees. He didn't know if anypony could hear the goof ups in his song, but he couldn't help but hear them and cursed his increasingly jelly-like limbs. Even worse, his vision seemed to warp between being blurry, clear, and multiplying the ponies around him.

Still, the show must go on, and he was not about to disappoint these ponies. Besides, he had felt worse, and a headache was nothing compared to that time he had food poisoning. Of course, the memory of that one time was now bringing on nausea.

Bananas unicycled back to position, holding Olive and her soapbox cart over his head. "...and lastly, Olive, this parade is not about you. Sheesh, you almost mowed down the Filly Guides and left skid marks on a few floats! Would it kill you to have a little self control?"

Olive had her front legs crossed. "Would it kill you not to choke me with the cane gag?"

Bananas set her down gently. "Now, I don't want you speeding off again. Pull that stunt one more time and you can kiss that cart goodbye and be stuck playing the violin like every other year!"

Olive huffed, and then spurred her little cart forward. Now that that crisis was over, Bananas wiped his entire face with one sweep of the hoof; that very action had led to a quick transformation into clown makeup, right down to a colorful collar. Seeing the spectators gape at the sudden change in face, he stood on the unicycle, pulling out pies from behind his back in order to juggle them. He grinned at the laughing crowd, who had already started to clap.

He turned to Cheese. "Hey, you should get the clown look going too! I think you'd look great with greasepaint on."

Cheese winced, glanced back at Tomato still sitting on the float, and said, "No thanks... Tomato's allergic to mint."

Bananas laughed. "What? That answer doesn't make sense, but it does explain the bubblegum toothpaste."

Cheese paused in his accordion playing to slap himself. "Sorry, I meant Tomato's afraid of clowns. He's working on it, but I don't want to surprise him like that when I'm not sure if he's ready for me wearing the greasepaint."

"Ah, that's okay." Bananas wiped off the makeup. "We can still throw pies at each other just for laughs!" And with that, he launched one of the pies he juggled straight onto Cheese's face, hard enough to knock him off the unicycle and onto the street. The spectators laughed when several items burst out of his mane, including Boneless Two, his wallet, and the pill bottle.

Bananas laughed as well. "Oops! We better pick those up before the parade float runs them over." He pulled out a fishing rod with a suction cup as its hook from behind his back, and unreeled it to pick up the pill bottle first.

Cheese crawled around for a bit before he found his other things. He stuffed his wallet into his tail and nestled his rubber chicken back in his mane. "Okay, pal, you got me." His tongue shot out and licked the entirety of his face clean before looking up at Bananas with a mischievous grin. "I am going to have to--"

Cheese interrupted himself with a quick gasp. His eyes widened and the color drained from his face. In staring ahead, Cheese scrambled to his hooves, and started to back away from Bananas, looking like that he was about to hyperventilate any moment. He paid no heed to the parade float behind them drawing ever closer, nor to the chatter of ponies around them. He just seemed to be staring at something around Bananas, if not the yellow stallion himself.

Bananas instinctively wiped his face, thinking that Cheese was staring at something that was there. However, he noticed Cheese's eyes moving away from him, and going slowly upward, up until the gold-brown stallion was staring straight up at the sky, trembling at the sheer horror of... a bird? A leaf? Was it mere anticipation of another pegasus air show? Whatever it was, it had some of the spectators curious, as they looked up as well, trying to find what Cheese was looking at.

"Whatcha looking at?" Bananas asked, looking up as well.

Suddenly, Cheese grabbed him, yanked him off his unicycle, and shook him violently. "What kind of stupid question is that? Can't you see the little dragons snarling at us?!"

Bananas blinked. "Wait, what?"

Cheese squeezed him tighter. "I don't know why they teamed up with changelings and apparently vampire batponies, but I think they might be here to devour the ponies of this city." Cheese's face came a little too close for comfort for Bananas. "Come on, we've gotta stop them!"

Bananas flapped his front legs. "What are you talking about? I don't see anything!"

Cheese narrowed his eyes and threw him down on the ground. "Don't play games with me! We're surrounded by all these monsters, and you're pretending that they don't exist? I wouldn't be surprised if you were a changeling who replaced Bananas!"

The spot where Bananas now sat was uncomfortably pebbly, but it was nothing compared to trying to comprehend Cheese's statements and feeling a twist in his gut telling him that something was wrong. As much as he wanted to tell himself that Cheese was just playing a game, the other party pony just seemed a little too serious about what he thought was going on. In fact, he seemed outright ready to kill somepony. With that thought in mind, Bananas hugged his fishing rod for comfort.

The parade float caught up and stopped. The four ponies that were on the float crawled forward to see what was going on. Amber Waves shouted, "Hey! What are you two doing? The Filly Guides and Colt Scouts are way ahead of you now!"

Ash Tree added, "Not to mention Olive might try something again."

Tomato looked between them, and noticed the positions that both of the party ponies were in. "Um, Cheese? Did he say something to offend you, because you're looking a little... intense."

Cheese glanced at him, and then yanked the candy cannon off the nearest corner of the float. "Well, when the city is being invaded by monsters, you can't help but feel intense!"

Tomato blinked. "Wait, what?"

Cheese hopped to the next corner of the float and yanked off the candy cannon there, and then to the next one, and then on to the final one. He strapped two of them on his front legs, one on his tail, and the other on his head, with Boneless 2 holding it. He opened one of the float's hatches to pull out the extra candy ammo, taped it to his back, and then attached tubes to the mix. When he was done, he was wearing what was essentially a candy cannon suit that was ready for action. He turned up the dials on all four of the cannons for maximum firepower.

Honeysuckle furrowed her brow. "What the hay do you think you're doing? We were using those!"

Cheese growled. "I swear, you ponies are all blind! You'll thank me for this!"

He aimed a cannon at the sky and blasted it, causing everypony in the area to jump and duck. Uneasy spectators started to back away from the street, slinking into alleyways or into the nearest park or building to escape what they felt was soon going to be a disaster.

Cheese stomped a hoof. "Ah, Stilton, I missed!"

Tomato uncovered his ears. "Cheese, what the heck are you doing?! You're going to hurt somepony!"

Somepony in the distance cried, "There's taffy in my mane!"

Ash Tree pouted curiously. "Or make them all messy."

Cheese stepped away from the float and ordered, "You guys get somewhere safe, I don't want any of you burned or bruised or bitten! I'll scare off our vicious, flying invaders! And Bananas, you better have something to fight these things off, like that fishing rod you've got!"

Bananas grimaced. "But Cheese, I don't see--"

Cheese didn't listen, and he sped off despite any protests from his fellow party pony, his brother, or any of the other three. They all watched as he galloped away, beginning to shoot the candy cannons in random directions, frightening the spectators ahead into filing into the nearest buildings or just escaping that street, and scattering the Filly Guide and Colt Scout formation. In the latter case, Olive in her cart took notice and drove around to grab foals and drop them off at safe places before going back to the family float with Alfalfa.

Olive let Alfalfa climb out, and asked Tomato, "Hey, what's going on with Cheese Sandwich? Why's he now some sort of candy cannon commando?"

Tomato shrugged. "I don't know! He was just goofing around with Bananas and then after a pie to the face, Cheese started seeing monsters and is now trying to fight them off." Tomato glared at Bananas. "Okay, what's in those pies?"

Bananas' ears drooped, and his fishing rod released the pill bottle, spilling the contents on the street. "Whipped cream, banana slices, banana pudding... uh, pie crust? The usual ingredients for banana cream pie. Why, does he have a weird trigger food for extreme hyperactivity like you do with coffee? Because I didn't know!"

Tomato looked at the pills on the ground and sighed. "No, not really." He jumped off the float and crouched down to clean them up. "And even if he forgot to take these pills here, the worst that'll happen is that an extreme headache would make him extremely sensitive. Back in the Crystal Empire, he got knocked out by something he normally would've shrugged off. I don't know what's wrong with him."

Alfalfa and Amber Waves joined Tomato in the cleanup, while Ash Tree and Olive watched, and Honeysuckle went back to explain what was going on to the floats behind her. Bananas held the pill bottle as the group brushed each pill off and slid it in, even though Tomato had remarked that since they were dirty, they'd have to get new medication at a nearby hospital.

In picking some up, Amber curiously smelled them, and then blinked. "Hey... why do these smell so minty?"

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Minty?" He lifted one up to his nose to check, and not only did it in fact smell minty, but it also irritated his nostrils to the point he was making faces trying to control the twitching of his muzzle. "Yep, minty alright. Mint allergy acting up a bit."

Bananas took one of the pills, and popped it in his mouth.

Alfalfa cringed. "Bananas! You'll get sick taking somepony else's medicine!"

"I don't know, the mintiness is suspicious," Ash Tree said.

"Well, yeah it is!" Bananas exclaimed. "I've taken medication before, and it always tasted bland, never minty! In fact, this tastes just like..."

Bananas eyes widened as something clicked. Standing up with a knitted brow and tight lips, he stuffed the bottle into his mane, stormed forward, and crawled under the parade float. When Ash Tree peeked under there, he discovered that his older brother had once again disappeared.

"How the hay do you do that?" Ash grumbled.

---

"Hi, ponies!" Kernel hollered, waving at spectators who gladly waved back. He pointed to Willow. "Lookit my princess sister! She's pretty!"

Willow blushed and just waved a hoof, while their eldest sister giggled in front of them. Creme tried to keep herself from smiling, as she felt a little embarrassed for finding the munchkins cute. By all means, she shouldn't find any of them cute, since small foals were generally loud, gross, and hyper, but she was surprised at how much she could stand them. She would have shrugged it off with Kernel being a little sunbeam while Willow was quiet, if it wasn't for seeing several other foals running around, happily eating any candy that came their way, and waving at everypony. She swore that those little ponies would make her lose her dignity.

Flora watched those same foals, admiring their endless energy and enthusiasm. "Every time I hear Kernel or Willow speak, or when I see those strangers' kids, it makes me wonder what my own future foals would be like."

Creme raised an eyebrow. "Of course. I wouldn't be surprised if you have names planned."

"Well, uh..." Flora rubbed the back of her head. "Technically, I do. Things like Marigold or Nature Walk for a girl, and Snapdragon or Forest March for a boy. Of course, if my future husband has any good ideas, I'll consider them."

Suddenly, some taffy splatted into the cart between Kernel and Willow, causing both the little foals and their draft horses to jump. While Willow scooted away in caution, Kernel simply peeled it off the wood and stuffed it into his mouth. "Mmm... watermelon!"

Flora furrowed her brow. "What the...?"

Taffy then splatted onto the street, followed by splats by other candies such as bubblegum, chocolate, and gummy candy that oozed sticky juice. Alongside the soft candy rained the lollipops, jawbreakers, and peppermint candies that shattered upon impact of the gray bricks of the street. The splattering and shattering sweets not only rained upon the road, but also onto buildings, lampposts, the parade floats, and the carts and wagons. The raining candy could not be unnoticed, and both spectators and participants shouted and started to take cover.

A lemon drop hit Flora's forehead. "Ouch! What is going on?!"

Creme dove under the cart, with Kernel and Willow following. "A sugar apocalypse, that's what!"

Flora squeezed under with the three, and was thankful that Kernel and Willow were still small so that she could fit. She could hear the sporadic patters of the candy rain filling up the box above her, and she watched as the street was continuously littered with small candy shards and globs of taffy, gum, and chocolate splattered on the buildings. It was a peculiar sight, and she wondered what the heck is causing it.

She got her answer when Cheese Sandwich landed atop the mountain of the float in front of them, with Bananas' candy cannons strapped to his forelegs, head, and tail. He lifted a foreleg and fired in the air, sending pieces of candy flying ahead to rain on the parade. Heaving and rubbing his head, Cheese shouted, "Hey! Stop taunting me, you fangfaces! Leave this city alone!"

Flora furrowed her brow. "Cheese?"

Creme blinked. "What is he doing?"

Seeing that the candy rain had ceased for the time being, Kernel partially crawled from under the cart, snagged some candy pieces and popped them into his mouth, looking up at Cheese with a smile. "Hi Cheese! Whatcha doing?"

Cheese spun around to face them. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good! You weren't captured by changelings, or eaten by dragons, or bitten by vampires and turned into them! I hear Las Pegasus had a problem with that last one and it wasn't pretty."

Flora popped her head out from under the cart. "Uh, no, we haven't. We didn't see any of those things."

Cheese facehoofed. "You've gotta be kidding me! Can't you see them flying around the city? I'm the only one doing anything to scare them off, and I'm having problems doing it on my own!" His ear twitched, and he shot a glare at a cloud. "Be quiet! Don't you dare bring the legitimacy of my party pony-ness into question!"

He fired both cannons on his forelegs, and candy went flying down the street. Flora could hear shouts of pain and dismay from the ponies ahead, and the cracks and splats she heard indicated the increasing mess that was being made. Looking up at Cheese--who was cradling his still-burnt foreleg after the blast caused some friction--she wondered if he had eaten something bad the night before, was under hypnosis, or was coming down with something that was causing him to see things. Whatever it was, it made her feel an awful pit in her stomach.

Cheese cocked a cannon, and said in a low voice. "Take cover, little fillies. It's too dangerous out here."

Kernel stomped a hoof. "I'm a colt!"

Flora dragged herself out from under the cart. "Cheese, wait--"

She didn't get to say much before Cheese bolted off, shooting more candy at his imaginary attackers. After staring at the scene that he continued to cause with trying to fight off monsters that weren't there, she stomped a hoof and yelled, "At least wait until I'm done talking before you take off like that!"

Creme crawled out after Flora. "So, uh... why's he going crazy?"

Suddenly, a voice behind her growled, "I don't know, Creme. You tell me."

Creme spun around to face Bananas, who sat in the cart full of candy, tipping the two-wheeled vehicle forward. Front legs crossed, Bananas had a scowl that pulled at every corner of his face, and his glare cowed Creme into backing up. When Flora turned to see Bananas' face, she nearly flinched at it as well, and wondered what happened to get her brother so angry.

Creme bit her lip. "Erm..."

Bananas pulled out a pill bottle from his mane. "So, tell me what Cheese ever did to you."

"Wait... what?" Creme looked at the bottle, with its smudged, illegible label wrapping around transparent orange plastic. "Wait a minute, are those Cheese Sandwich's pills?"

Bananas opened the bottle. "They were. But for some reason, it smells like mint in there."

Flora's eyes widened for a moment as the implications hit her, and then narrowed into a glare as her blood began to boil. When Creme backed up into her, she didn't hesitate to sharply inquire, "What did you do?!"

Creme looked between them, and then down to Willow and Kernel, who appeared confused as to what was going on. Caught between the piercing glares of both the oldest two Flower-Woods and the innocent gleams of the youngest two Flower-Woods, she wavered and said, "Well, when I was making the beds this morning, I may have accidentally knocked over that med bottle into the toilet and lost the pills inside, so I panicked and put my lookalike mints in it. I mean, that's why the label's all smudged and stuff."

Bananas snorted. "No, that's not why the label's smudged--Cheese told me that it was the river that did it. But, I wouldn't be surprised if you thought they were Tomato's thanks to that."

"Well, truth be told, I did think that when I saw it. After all, how else could he control his hyperactivity to the point of becoming dull?"

With a red face, Flora exploded, "Knowing you, you probably did it on purpose just to screw Tomato over!"

Willow and Kernel jumped and hid behind Bananas, who softened up in order to comfort them by handing them some of the candy they sat in. He flinched at the sheer volume of Flora's voice, and he could see Creme cower under the cousin that looked as if she was about to breathe fire. He sure didn't need to yell if Flora was going to cover the entire spectrum of anger anyway, to the point that other ponies were staring and flinching at the sight.

"Well... so? It's not like he's important to Equestria or something."

Flora grabbed Creme by the purple necklace. "Maybe, maybe not, but he's one of my best friends, so he's important to me! But there are other reasons why what you did was stupid! First off, Creme, tampering with medication is illegal. Second, even if the meds were Tomato's, you wouldn't have gotten the hyperactive nutcase because he'd be too busy dealing with an allergic reaction, because he's allergic to mint!"

Creme's eyes widened. "Wait, he's allergic? He mentioned the coffee thing and not that?"

Flora pulled her close enough for the yellow mare to see the fire in her eyes. "Listen, I don't care one iota for how much you found Tomato annoying as a foal, or were creeped out by his crush, or your stupid social class difference that makes you think you're better than him. As a matter of fact, he is better than you for the simple fact that he is far more capable of selflessness than you will ever be! At least he wouldn't put other ponies, including innocent foals, in danger just because he wanted to ruin the life of somepony he didn't like! The world doesn't revolve around you, so stop being such a stupid, selfish brat!"

After seeing some police officers gallop by, Flora threw her on the ground. She didn't soften at the anguish that was creeping up on Creme's face, even as the yellow mare looked at Kernel and Willow, who seemed to understand enough to be disappointed in her. Bananas still sat there, shaking his head. In looking around at some of the other foals situated around them, Creme simply laid down and curled up into a ball.

Flora breathed heavily. "Not going to fight it? Good, because I don't have the patience to contend with you right now."

The next second had Olive driving up and stopping her soapbox cart among the two-wheeled carts, carrying passengers like her remaining siblings, her mother, Creme's parents, and Tomato. All tumbled off of the cart, and Olive threw her head up to take a deep breath once free from the pile of ponies. Her eyes swept the group and she asked, "Okay, which one of you farted? I'd like to know what you ate last night."

Honeysuckle got to her hooves, and then caught Flora in a hug. "Oh, thank goodness, you're all right! I was worried that Cheese would've seen you as a monster and shot at you!"

Flora smiled, and was released in a moment. "I'm fine, and so are the others."

Kernel and Willow jumped out of the cart, crying out for their Mommy, who didn't hesitate to catch them and give them nuzzles and kisses. "Oh, my little babies! I'm sorry you had to see a funny pony in a state of distress, but I'm so happy that you're not hurt."

Tomato trotted up to Flora and noticed Creme on the ground, who was having her parents attend to her. "Well... she seems a bit traumatized by what just happened."

"Nah, I just yelled at her because she replaced Cheese's meds with mints."

Tomato blinked, and then scowled. "What did he ever do to--"

"She thought they were yours. She was hoping you'd pull a Coffee-geddon to make the city hate you."

"But I'd only have an allergic reaction."

"Yeah, I told her that."

Tomato sighed. "So... any ideas on how to stop Cheese?"

Flora scratched her chin. "Well, we need to draw him away from the crowd and to a safe space where I can try to talk him down. Maybe I can figure out why he's hallucinating, or maybe convince him to go to the hospital to see what's wrong. And hopefully we can talk to the law enforcement I saw earlier and make sure they don't arrest him."

Honeysuckle looked up. "And maybe talk to my husband too--March doesn't take very kindly to sudden violence."

Bananas jumped out of the two-wheeled cart and by his sister. "Can I help? I feel bad for making him hit his head and start the mess."

"And maybe I can help talk some sense into him," Tomato said.

Ash Tree, Alfalfa, and Amber Waves looked at each other and the ponies around them, the oldest of the three saying, "We'll just stay here and tell everyone what's going on, and get some ponies to safety. I don't think we'd be much help in calming Cheese down."

Flora nodded. "All right. I think everypony's got a thing to do, so let's roll. Olive, you're our ride."

Olive grinned. "Sweet!"

As Flora, Bananas, and Tomato climbed onto Olive's cart, Honeysuckle shouted, "Be careful! I don't want any of you getting hurt."

Bananas waved. "Don't worry, Mom! I'm sure a party pony could handle another party pony!"

Olive saluted at the group left behind, and drove off ahead toward the front of the parade with her passengers in tow. Their mother and siblings watched them speed off, while Aunt Jasmine and Uncle Custard got their daughter up to sitting position.

Jasmine stroked Creme's hair. "There, there, we'll go to a safe place until this disaster is over."

"I dare say, both Sandwiches are crazy!" Rich Custard complained. "Whoever told me that Cheese Sandwich was a stellar example of a party pony was lying to me! I'm willing to bet that he scared you because you dared to speak out against his brother."

Creme shook her head. "No, it's not that at all."

Author's Note:

Before any of you ask about the Las Pegasus mention...
Yeah, wasn't that a fun mistake.

Anyhoozles, we now have Cheese having... issues. And in party pony fashion taking it to absurd levels.

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

... Flora calling out Creme was enough to break her to the point she would (apparently) not go with the flow when her parents approached her like that? No clinging to her perception of herself or of Tommy? Or even an admission that she doesn't care about the right thing unless it helps her?

... Has she really never had this pointed out to her or recognized it herself?

Regardless, I am surprised! There might be hope for her after all.

And, yeah, Cheese is taking a real big turn for the worst. Maybe after its done the Sandwiches will actually talk about things without trying to pretend it's okay?

[Princess rosa]

In this situation cheese kind of reminds me of Mina loveberry.

[SageBrony07]

I feel sorry for Cheese. After he calms down then he is going to feel very guilty.

[Goldfinch142]

Yikes. This isn't going to end well. Luckily the others found out what's going on with Cheese so he isn't wrongly blamed and punished.

Although, Flora's outburst was quite satisfying and utterly deserved. It's about time Creme got knocked down a peg or ten.

Creme shook her head. "No, it's not that at all."

Wait...is Creme going to tell the truth? That's great! She may actually be maturing!
...Or she could tell a lie that somehow puts the Sandwiches in an even more unflattering light. But let's hope it's the former.

[redmar]

7528459 Creme might actually be intelligent enough to realize that her parents are going to hear the truth anyway and that lying to them would only make it worse. It's still surprising though.

[Goldfinch142]

7529108
That's probably part of it, though it'd be nice if she's also doing it out of regret for her actions. I do like me some positive character development.

[Godslittleprincess]

Flora getting angry with Creme Brulee feels so satisfying for some reason.