Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

19.1--Just Grin and Bear It

With his mouth opened wide, Cheese's eyes scanned his teeth in the bathroom mirror. His tongue ran across the edges of his incisors, feeling as sleek and smooth as ever, save for the rough patches of plaque that he quickly brushed away with a toothbrush. Opening wider to look at his molars and run his tongue over them, they were as flat with minor bumps as normal, though a few of the bumps felt a little sharp. The useless, annoying nubs known as canines between the molars and incisors were ground down as they usually were. He scrubbed at that as well to remove gunk, and as far as he could tell through the toothpaste slime, it all seemed normal.

By that bit of evidence, Cheese couldn't have been the one to maul those gangsters, and it was a large dog like the police said. Either that, or the local hospital was too stupid to tell the difference between injuries from dog teeth and pony teeth.

And yet, any attempt at denial had those teens' faces thrown back at him, and the taste of their blood staining his tongue, no matter how hard he brushed. Any thought of "I didn't do it" was overpowered by the stronger, conflicting thoughts of "How could I do that to kids?" and "They attacked me first, they had it coming."

After the spit and rinse, he checked his teeth to see how clean they are, both front and back. A jolt of fright hit him as the mirror revealed that his normal pony teeth had suddenly grown sharper, with his canines--normally out of the way--having become longer and more prominent. They were perfect for ripping apart anypony that dared to cross a monster.

He cringed and looked away, his stomach churning at the sight. His tongue feeling his teeth yet again, he told himself that there was no way that was real and that his mind was playing tricks on him. Hopefully it was a temporary thing, and Tomato wouldn't nag him about taking that dumb medicine. Peeking from the comfort of behind his front leg, he checked his teeth once again, and sure enough, they were normal pony teeth. Even the canines were back to the nubs they had been.

"Cheese! What's taking so long?!" Peanut Butter called from downstairs. "You want to go to Whinnyland or what?"

"Uh... yeah, I'll be right down!" Cheese leaned forward on the sink, and sighed. Regardless of whether or not he was responsible for the attack on the gang, perhaps he had been a little too angry lately. And if a party pony like him had one job, it was spreading joy. There was the question of why he was throwing parties for countless ungrateful and shallow ponies in the first place, but nevertheless, he was an agent of joy, not anger.

He face slowly but surely broke into a crooked smile. Unlike all the other times he smiled, it was physically painful.

---

He managed to get through that day of Whinnyland without incident, though he did have to calm Peanut down whenever he got hopped up over somepony being a changeling. Even if there were changelings around, he said, they weren't causing any trouble, so calm down, this is Tomato's first time in the famed amusement park. He just wanted his little brother to have fun, and put aside any troubles for the time being.

Of course, Cheese was sure that Cheesy Sense would be a-calling soon, so the brothers packed their things, ready to venture back out into the wild. They at least took some time to say their goodbyes to the newlyweds getting ready for their honeymoon and to the other family members and friends gearing up to go back home.

"Thanks for helping make the wedding something great, Cheese," Acorn said. "I don't think we'd have gotten the fruit-flavored fireworks idea on our own, and those spares you're taking will make for a great party surprise! Eh... as long as you use the mini-launcher correctly. Heh, you really weaved everyone's ideas together into something amazing!"

Cheese waved a hoof. "Oh, it was nothing. I mean, I only stayed up... all night..."

The other four co-planners stood by, rolling their eyes and grumbling admissions that it probably wouldn't have been as good as it was without him. Still, the soft glares from Pearl, Lightning, and Vic were as plain as day to Cheese, while Cherry just looked like a disappointed mother. His first thought was that of snipping at them for being babies who couldn't handle criticism, but he instead forced a smile at them in an effort to show good will. Remember, Cheese, they're sour because you're too angry; be nice...

Was Pearl going to notice something wrong with his teeth? Because they felt different, and Pearl the dentist would surely notice that his teeth are not normal. They were fine last time he checked, but still!

"Honestly, we're glad that both of you could come," Peanut said, holding Jelly close. "I really appreciate you guys coming over to support us, and it's nice to see our favorite little ketchup squirt all grown up."

Tomato's eye twitched and he looked away, biting his lip. "Please don't call me that, worse implications come with that nickname in adulthood than in colthood."

"Hey, what do you mean by--oh." Peanut paused for a moment to let it sink in, and than laughed. "Oh! I get it, that humor's not your style."

Jelly pouted. "I don't get it."

Creamy cringed. "I do."

Cheese glanced at him curiously, and Tomato said, "Hey, I never thought you'd listen to your little party pooper of a brother if I complained about the nickname. At least you stopped calling me that."

"And 'baby bro', even though it's harmless," Cheese huffed.

Cocoa then stepped forward. "You guys can come and visit us whenever you want. Auntie Cocoa Butter likes seeing her two crazy nephews, you know. I mean... just because I can't get along with your folks doesn't mean I don't want you as a part of my life."

She then turned to Tomato, who was rubbing his leg. "And I know that you're still confused about how your parents treated you. It's hard to tell if it was something you did or just their issues controlling them. But, it's not your job to take their heat. Just because they're miserable doesn't mean you deserve misery too."

Tomato only glanced at her for a brief moment. "I'll, uh... try to keep that in mind."

Cheese blinked. He wasn't sure what Aunt Cocoa was talking about, with that speech on how miserable his parents were and how they loaded that onto Tomato. From what he could recall, it was just Tomato being a moody teenager that was too good for parties, and their parents... their parents... gah, he had a headache trying to think about it. Still, if they were miserable, why didn't Cheese, who was their firstborn, feel any of it?

Creamy then piped up. "Also, drop by the farm and we can have some nice dairy treats!"

The brothers laughed, and made their final wave goodbye as they started to make their way out of Applewood. Even among that bit of confusion, Cheese at least felt lifted spirits, a sense of excitement at the next party, and relief over how his overblown anger was dying down. He was optimistic that the rest of the summer could go smoothly.

---

That optimism died rather quickly.

The bouts of worry began when Tomato asked, "So, yeah... do you know where the next party is?"

Cheese sighed in reply, "No, Cheesy Sense hasn't given me anything yet."

That was putting it nicely. It had been a couple of days, and he couldn't pick up any signal, and anything he felt on his flank was just an itch, with no town name popping up in mind. True, sometimes the Sense took a couple days to kick; however, there was this strange deadness he was feeling, and a malaise that had him dragging his hooves at times. For some reason, a nagging thought in the back of his mind told him that he wasn't going to get a signal at all.

It was silly, the front of his mind thought--it was likely just a party dry spell, common this time of year thanks to summer burnout slowing parties down. Still, he could normally pick up the hints of any individual birthday parties, or weddings, or the beginning stages of a last hurrah of summer. Was there another town day? Did any individual provinces have their own holidays in August? He didn't know.

But there was also the fact that Cheesy Sense was his compass, and he and Tomato were in the middle of some forest. All he knew was that they had gone north, through grassland and desert brush, and poked their way into a forest after getting tired of the sun beating down on them. From there, his sense of direction somehow disappeared.

Weaving around conifers and deciduous plants they did, some of which towered as high as a skyscraper, which Tomato did not miss and stared at for some time. The calls of birds and the rushing of a nearby river rang through the woods, accompanied by the sticks and pine needles crunching under the brothers' hooves. Though it still was warm, cool breezes did waft their way, spreading the mist of a local waterfall and the pine scent through the air.

"Okay, Cheese..." Tomato said. "Where are we?"

Cheese scratched his chin. "Uh... my guess would have to be the Coltifornian Forest, or something... but where exactly in this forest, or what town we're closest to, I'm not really sure."

Tomato sighed. "Cheesy Sense say anything? Because, you know, it'd be nice to lead to civilization. It did save us from that forest fire."

Cheese glared at his cutie mark, and hit it a few times. "Ugh, no, I don't have anything--August tends to be sort of a dry spell." He straightened up, forced a smile, and continued trotting forward. Best not give Tomato the wrong idea about his weird dead feeling. "But, don't worry, I'm sure we'll get to a town with a party in need."

"I sure hope so," Tomato mumbled. "We always run into trouble in forests."

---

Evening had them finding a hollowed out tree for shelter, and starting a fire for dinner. Being the guy who knew what was edible and what wasn't, Cheese jumped in and out of the campsite to fetch plants for a soup Tomato was making with some leftover nopal and nacho cheese. Wild alfalfa and some variety of wildflowers were added to the soup, and it was smelling pretty good in that pot.

But then Cheese brought something else back to camp.

Tomato looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Cheese, that's a duck."

It was a miracle that the thing was still alive and quacking, but Cheese's right front leg had a tight grip on it so that it didn't fly away. Cheese looked at the bird, wondering if he was a little too merciful, and should have crunched its neck before bringing it back to camp. He simply answered, "Well... I thought we'd add a little duck to our dinner."

Tomato blinked, and cringed. "I really hope you mean as a guest and not as an entree. Remember, we're vegetarians."

Cheese pursed his lips. He had nary a clue why pony society doesn't expand its dietary horizons, as he had tried that pet food--or rather, devoured it--and it turned out that meat tasted pretty good. He and Tomato were alone, so nopony else could judge them. That stupid little ketchup squirt was being nothing but a picky, snobbish little--

He stopped his thoughts there, reminding himself that it wasn't that big a deal, and he shouldn't lose his temper over it. If Tomato didn't want duck added to the soup, then perhaps Cheese should respect his wishes. "All right, I'll let it go."

He loosened his grip on it, only for it to jump him, biting at him and screeching out maniacal quacks. Between the flapping of suddenly razor sharp feathers and the attempted murder by bill, Cheese swatted and flapped his own hooves, yelling in frustration as he tried to shake it off. A few bites of his own at the air missed, and the duck continued its furious attack.

Thankfully, Tomato picked up a stick and batted the duck off, though he hit Cheese on the head in the process. Flapping its wings to soften its landing, the duck continued its quacking rant, but chose to waddle away rather than deal with the pony with the stick.

Tomato sighed, and looked at his frazzled brother. "You okay?"

Rubbing his head and swaying, Cheese grumpily slurred, "I want a new duck."

"No."

---

Tomato had to repeat his assertion of "We're vegetarian" a few times more when Cheese decided to go hunting for animals for the soup, bringing back animals such as a rabbit trying to kick him, a squirrel trying to bite him, and a quail that scurried away once Cheese listened to Tomato's order to drop it. And when Cheese spotted a deer, Tomato did not hesitate to hold him back from trying to attack it, reciting once again that not only are they vegetarian, he's not a predator.

The worst part was that Cheese was annoyed with him, as if he actually thought that meat was an acceptable part of pony diet. Tomato couldn't help but scratch his head at that, considering that this is the same guy who threw up three times when going into a butcher shop.

Feeling like he needed to sit a fair distance away from Cheese, Tomato was smelling more of magical foul play, and that favorite suspect popped up in his mind. Breaking sticks and feeding them to the fire, he thought over how he was going to confront Rooney if they bumped into him again, but what would stop the unicorn from doing the same to him, or even killing him for knowing too much, despite not knowing what exactly was going on? He was already feeling powerless with searching for the missing memory (or memories, he started to wonder); how would he deal with this?

He swatted some flies away with his tail. The sooner they meet Twilight again, the better.

Despite all difficulty, the cheese and herb soup was finished, and the duo had their dinner. Tomato poured soup in his mouth at intervals, the creamy cheese swirling on his tongue and the bits of cactus adding some crunch. Cheese, on the other hoof, had stuck his muzzle in the bowl and slurped it up rather quickly, and did that with his seconds, and then his thirds.

"You... sure are hungry today," Tomato said.

Cheese licked his lips. "Hey, the soup's pretty good, and it's making for a happy Cheese. Where'd you learn to cook?"

"I'm self-taught." Tomato checked how much was left in the pot. It was enough for Cheese to have a fourth, which was quickly taken; Tomato didn't feel like having seconds. "Got sick of Mom's bland meals, and Old Mare Lavender's bland meals... so, I might have snuck the latter some sleeping pills when she came over to babysit, and I cooked for myself."

"You naughty colt!"

Tomato shrugged. "I was a little desperate for a little freedom. Mom's all talk of 'responsibility', and yet I can sense that she still doesn't fully trust me." He downed the last of his soup and wiped his mouth. "Sorry if I couldn't be a perfectly sensible adult before I turned eighteen."

Cheese tilted his head and furrowed his brow. "Uh... wasn't she a kid once? Because she really must know better than you say she did."

Tomato scoffed. "Well, she must have forgot! Seriously, I wonder what it would have been like if Dad had married Aunt Honeydew instead. Hmph, maybe she would have been a better mom--Grandma and Grandpa did always say she was the sweetest thing."

Cheese scratched his chin. "I don't know, Mom did complain about her being a spoiled crybaby."

Tomato looked at his dirty bowl. "I'm sure that's just jealousy talking. Anyway, can you point me the direction to the river?" He looked up. "We need to clean this before--yikes!"

The word "yikes" was an understatement compared to the near heart attack of seeing Cheese standing on one hind leg, with the front hoof holding his bowl of soup as high as he could, and his other hind leg holding back a little bear cub of all things. The cub scratched at Cheese's leg, whining its little cub cries as it eyed Cheese's bowl. Cheese himself looked equal parts annoyed, pained, and fearful over the cub, and he looked at Tomato with a "help me" expression.

Biting his lip, Tomato glanced at Cheese's bowl, and then said, "Uh... should I throw the soup off a cliff?"

Cheese blinked and snapped, "What? No! I still want to eat it!"

"Cheese, you already had three bowls! Besides, eating's not really a good idea with that little guy around."

"Find some other way to distract it before mama bear comes!"

"With what? Boneless 2? Your snorkel? My tail? Those are nothing compared to food!"

"Well, I'm not letting it have my soup; feeding wildlife is bad, you know."

Tomato threw his hooves up in the air, and then marched to Cheese. "Well, do you have any better ideas? Are you gonna play your accordion for them? Or are you going to scare the bears off with your party tank? I sure hope that you can summon it this time!"

Cheese growled at him, shoving the soup at his muzzle to scold, "Hey, it's your fault for making good soup! You cooked it and served us both long enough for this thing to smell it! If only you had been a good boy and didn't pull the sleeping pill stunt."

Tomato then swatted it away as hard as he could. "How was I supposed to know this situation would occur several years down the line?"

A splat was heard, followed by a growl. Eyes widening, they slowly turned their heads to the brush, where a big, burly bear with a face full of cheese stood. Teeth were bared as she looked at the two stallions, one looking as if he had kicked her precious little cub in the gut. Her growls grew louder and her eyes seemed to flash red as her baby wailed louder and scurried to her, leaving the two stallions at the mercy of the beast.

Tomato chuckled nervously. "Okay... that one was my fault."

Cheese huffed. "You little dummy."

The bear roared, and started to charge them. The jolt of fright sent both of them into different directions, with Cheese rolling a bit before jumping back on his hooves, while Tomato skidded to a shuddering stop. Panting, they watched the bear as it looked between them, deciding just which pony to attack first. Ultimately, it decided on Tomato, the smaller pony by just a mere inch.

Tomato backed up as the bear lumbered toward him, his mind drawing a blank as to any options there were. All he knew was that a set of sharp teeth and claws were heading his way, and he was likely dinner for both mother and cub.

Cheese wasn't having that, and jumped forward for a well-placed bite on the bear's hind foot. After a roar, the bear turned, and took the bait to try to swipe Cheese with a strong paw. Ducking, Cheese hopped to the other side to nip at, and bounced back out before the bear could strike. Hopping in and out, and nipping like a dog, Cheese was certainly keeping the bear busy.

Tomato was a little confused and disturbed over his current fighting style, enough that Cheese remembering that he was a horse and actually bucking the bear was some weird sort of comfort. Nevertheless, he just stood there and stared, until Cheese skidded to a stop in front of him, and yelled, "Hey! I'm buying you time, get out of here!"

Tomato shook himself out of the daze. "But, Cheese, what if the bear kills you?"

Cheese snorted. "I've fought monsters and wild animals before, and a bear's not the worst I've faced. All I gotta do is confuse it with random distractions until it's wor--AUGH!"

The bear had taken advantage of Cheese's pause and slashed his back with a force to knock him aside and send a few party implements flying from his mane and tail. The sight was enough for the bear cub to laugh, but for Tomato to gasp at the damage. His face in the dust and his back starting to bleed, Cheese was slow to get back up, and his groans of pain sent the message loud and clear.

Seeing the bear walk toward Cheese, Tomato frantically searched the party implements that could deter the bear from killing him. He didn't know how to use the accordion, Boneless 2 was nothing but a chew toy, what use were streamers and confetti, a pie in the face might make things worse (and why didn't Cheese bring that out for dinner?), Cheese could probably make silly string work but not Tomato, what was he supposed to do with the spare fruit fire--wait, is that a mini launcher?

Just as the bear pinned Cheese down and prepared to bite his head, she got hit on the side of its own head with a cream pie. The bear gave a confused snort, followed by annoyance when attacked with silly string and slapped by a rubber chicken. Turning to the perpetrator, who mocked her by blowing a raspberry, she roared at him and started a charge.

Tomato cocked the mini-firework launcher, aimed it at her feet, and shot a ball there so that it'd burst in front of her. She skidded to a halt in shock, and had little time to process it before another one exploded next to her, and to the other side, and in her face once again. Now in a state of panic, a fifth explosion spurred her to take off, her cub following her. Tomato chuckled, and blew at the end of the launcher with a sense of pride.

Of course, there was no time to really celebrate, so Tomato picked up all of Cheese's party items, and opted to hold them in his own 'secret compartment' for the time being. He helped Cheese up, and took off his own jacket to fold and hold over Cheese's back, slowing down the bleeding. All the while, he couldn't help but think how strange it was, Cheese having a bad wound that party magic apparently refused to heal. The bear wasn't a funny situation, but normally Cheese could make it funny by fighting like, well, a party pony. But he didn't fight like a party pony.

He looked down at the burn, the bandages having been ripped off and showing that while it had healed in the past couple weeks, it still looked raw. It could be his own worry preventing Cheese from healing, like what happened with Comedy Gold and her worrywart brother, but even when their minds were off it, that burn still took its sweet time.

Tomato lead him out of the campsite, thinking that it wasn't a good idea to stay in that camp for long. They'd have to find some other shelter, and fast. It was starting to rain.

---

The first dead end had to be a cliff, which was graced with a waterfall. Making Cheese sit under a tree, Tomato looked over the edge, hoping to find some kind of path down, but there was none. He looked over to the river, realizing that a river crossing was not a good idea this close to a waterfall. With a groan, he kicked a rock over the edge, and watched it tumble to the river below. He wasn't sure if he and Cheese could survive that drop like that one in the Salt Lick mountains, and he definitely didn't want to find out.

Cheese stood up, teeth gritted from the pain, and then ambled out from under the tree into the rain. Looking out at the forest before them, he said, "You gotta admit, it's a lovely view."

Tomato nodded. "Yeah."

Cheese kicked a rock over the edge, and growled. "I can't believe I couldn't defeat that bear! I've outsmarted hydras, chimeras, Ursa Majors, Timberwolves... but a dumb regular bear? I embarrassed one of those by dressing it up for the circus! And now..." He picked up another rock and chucked it pretty far.

"Well, you seem to be losing your sense of humor."

Cheese's head snapped around, a roll of thunder accompanying the movement. "What?"

Tomato winced and pursed his lips, letting out a sigh. "Well, I, uh... noticed that you were fighting more like an animal than Cheese Sandwich. It was weird, I'd think the first thing you'd do was throw a pie at it, or maybe hit it with your accordion, or have Boneless 2 attack. Then, maybe you'd run it over with a unicycle, or tie it up in silly string, or scare it with the fruit-flavored fireworks. Then shoo it off somehow, I can't think of anything besides the fireworks."

Cheese had tight lips, and his eyes started to grow dark. "Oh... I wasn't funny enough for you?"

"No, no, see, you weren't funny enough for yourself!" That sounded stupid. That sounded really stupid. "I mean, I don't think trying to herd a bear like a dog herds sheep was a good idea, because you know how strong bears are, a-and--"

Cheese was in his face, his eyes almost completely black. "Oh? You want to talk about bad ideas? How about your apparent idea of standing there like an idiot when I was fighting so you could escape? Or how about the switch with Snapdragon Apple that could have caused a scandal? Or drinking coffee when you know what that does to you? Jumping on a bandit? Leaving a trio of fillies alone to fight a lot of bats? And every time you put yourself in danger as a colt because you couldn't control your impulses! And you have the gall to go all 'whine whine whine' and 'complain complain complain' when things go wrong! I'm starting to think that taking you on this stupid road trip was a bad idea!"

A thunderclap accompanied Tomato's own outburst of, "Hey! It's not like you were free of bad ideas! Who was the guy who wandered around Applewood instead of doing his job? Who was the one who threw his brother in some random, mysterious spring which could have killed him? Dragging me into a duet battle even though I'm no entertainer? Making me shave with whipped cream which attracted Bighoof of all ponies?! Or how about your oh-so brilliant idea of treating me like I'm just some other grouch who needs to see the light with a party instead of a colt who needs his brother to be his friend?! Heck, how do I know that you still put more stock in your stupid career of partying than your own brother as a pony?!"

"Oh, that's just hilarious, coming from a pony whose talent is the definition of caring more for profit over ponies." Cheese rubbed Tomato's cheeks mockingly. "It's a real shame that you can't change your cutie mark, because at least you're not like the rest of them."

Tomato swatted his hooves away. "Oh, are you saying that everypony with the same talent as me have the same personality? What, did somepony make assumptions about you based on party pony stereotypes, like how you can't feel any emotion besides hyperactive happiness? But don't worry, you're not like the rest of them--instead of being annoying, you're a jerk!"

"I'm not the jerk, you are!"

"Ha! I find that hard to believe these days! I'm not the one who brushed off breaking pegasus wings because they 'deserved it'! I didn't bite the troll, and I didn't call any co-party planners idiots and refuse to apologize!" Tomato's glare wavered, and he asked, "Seriously, Cheese... what's wrong with you?"

Cheese bristled, the lightning reflecting in his unusually dark eyes. He swiftly grabbed Tomato by the collar, and dangled him over the edge of the cliff. "Nothing's wrong with me! I'm still the Super Duper Party Pony, and no Party Favor, no Comedy Gold, no Bananas, and definitely no Pinkie Pie is gonna change that!"

Tomato gasped, and daring to look down at the rocky base of the cliff hundreds, maybe even thousands, of feet below started to make his world spin. He could feel wings itching to fly, but he knew they weren't there. He looked back up at Cheese, who seemed to actually want to kill him. If he didn't know any better, he'd call it revenge for the Las Pegasus incident--but that still didn't comfort him, as Cheese's eyes were not the soft, loving green they usually were; they were a hateful black void.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just drop you," Cheese growled.

Tomato's heart was sinking deeper than he thought possible. "So... now you're willing to kill your family?"

Cheese held that glare for a few seconds more, but the black in his eyes brightened back to their normal chartreuse, and his expression softened, anger replaced with horror. His jaw slack, he brought Tomato back to land, and set him down gently. Stepping back, he held his head, shaking it and mumbling, "I can't do that to my brother."

Tomato breathed a sigh of relief, and stood up. "Cheese?"

Cheese shot a softer glare toward him. "Just drop it. I don't want to be angry again."

Tomato rubbed his leg, and asked, "Uh... how's your back?"

Cheese looked at his back, and attempted to lift off the jacket, only to wince and yelp like a puppy. "Your jacket's sticking to it. I kind of wish my first aid kit fell out so you could have used it."

"Well..." Tomato stepped forward, only for Cheese to step back in fear. "Really? You can stand a little pain, you know."

"Well, excuse me if I don't like--" Cheese's ears perked up in response to a stick breaking. "Wait, did you hear that?"

Tomato nodded and groaned. "I hope it's not another bear."

A rustling from the bushes, and Cheese grit his teeth in hurrying behind Tomato. "You might want to get the firework launcher out, just in case." The bushes rustled again, and Cheese snipped, "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Luckily, instead of a bear or some other predator, it was a pony with a lantern and umbrella that came out. The big, brown stallion nearly staggered back at the sight of two frazzled, rain-drenched ponies, and he rubbed the red and purple whiskers on his chin. "Say... what are two young ponies like you doing here? This isn't a camping area!"

Cheese and Tomato looked at each other. "We didn't know that, sir."

"Aw, don't call me 'sir', that's a knight thing," he joked, gesturing to his gray work shirt and green vest. He walked closer to them. "I'm Fallow Track, I work in this nature park."

Cheese blinked. "I had no idea we were in a park."

"Well, you are, and you're in bear territory. Hope you didn't have any--" He took one look at the blood-stained jacket on Cheese's back and winced. "Sweet Celestia, you did. I'm amazed that it's not worse."

"Party implements work wonders," Tomato deadpanned.

Fallow pursed his lips. "Ooo-kay. Anyway, luckily I know just the place to treat that nasty wound."

"Oh, great, another hospital," Cheese groaned.

Fallow laughed. "Oh, it's no hospital, I'll tell you that. Follow me boys, and if Mr. Bleeding Back there has any problems, he can hitch a ride on my back. I'm a strong guy, and a slim pony is nothing compared to a full grown grizzly."

Tomato blinked. "Wait, why were you carrying a bear?"

"That's a long story." As he led the two to the mysterious healing place, he asked, "So, boys, what are your names?"

Author's Note:

Dang it, I took too long again.

Hey, have you ever heard of horse canines? Well, they exist (and are more prevalent in stallions)! Take a lookie here:

Neat, huh? I think the articles about them I read said that they were for fighting.

Anyway, there wasn't originally a bear attack planned for this chapter, it was just the two getting frustrated over being lost, but, you know, sometimes random ideas creep into these stories. I also ended up watching silly bear videos, like how they sometimes hang out in swimming pools. That led to an elephant drinking from a swimming pool, then silly elephant videos, and all of a sudden I'm watching a documentary about how terrifying hippos are. Stupid YouTube.

I hope I never encounter a bear in the wild--I'd probably die. Don't take advice from this chapter, these two are outliers in bear attack survival and should not be considered for multiple reasons.

Comments

[redmar]

I really hope that they find a way to help Cheese soon because he is getting worse by the day. This story had a lot more humor before Wayer Runes started to mess with Cheese's mind.

[Goldfinch142]

Huh, I had no idea horses had canines. You learn something new every day.

"So... now you're willing to kill your family?"

Dang...that got heavy. Good thing Cheese didn't go through with it.

On a lighter note, at least now Cheese and Tomato are in a prime position to learn more about their other aunt. And if I'm right about where they're going, they might even run into a certain old coworker of Tomato's...

(Also, regarding your blog post, you could probably use both the Comedy and Dark tags--at this point, the story definitely has some of both.)

[Chromio]

I'm getting pretty excited for the vampire vs werewolf battle that I'm expecting to come one day

[ChaoticKindness]

.....holy crap.....

Also, the chapter's name is very punny XD I appreciate that

[Godslittleprincess]

Okay, if I were Tommy, I'd tie Cheese up and force him on the next train to Ponyville.