Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

20.6--No More Mr. Nice Guy

When he had made it to town, Fallow had to swim through a crowd to get into city hall. He saw the usual signs about peace and coexistence from one side, and heard complaints about stolen items from the other. He could see the town's few police officers breaking up fights, with at least a couple of the ponies involved having bloody noses. Some even dared to notice him, and attempted to accost him, only for him to keep pressing forward. Still, he heard the complaints, and could tell who was on what side by their complaints. One side accused him of selling out; the other brought up stolen food, documents, and other things like a crossbow collection.

He made it to the door, and quickly slipped in. He cantered his way to the mayor's office through a city hall that looked as much like a cabin lodge on the inside as it did out, and ended his journey through another door. He entered the room to find Summer Wind hovering and showing the mayor various books on wildlife and natural wonders.

Summer looked up. "Hey, Mr. Track! I'm just giving our lovely mayor a bit of education about what your park has to offer!"

"Oh, is that so?" Fallow waltzed forward and sat in one of the comfy chairs before the desk. "I could have brought her along and shown her myself, but I guess a little budding teacher like you needs a little practice."

The mayor rubbed her temples. "I let you keep the thing, and yet you ponies still won't let it go. I swear, it's Oatley all over again..." She leaned forward on her desk and narrowed her eyes. "Where's Mr. Rich?"

Fallow looked at the other chair and rubbed the back of his head. "I gave him and Tomato a headstart for city hall while I sorted out the extra bits from the fundraiser. I thought I'd meet them here, but I guess they might have tried to find a detour to avoid the crowd outside."

Summer flew to the window and looked outside. "Yeesh, I wouldn't blame them. They'd have lynched Tomato!"

The mayor had a hoof on her brow and shook her head. "Fallow, don't tell me that you convinced Mr. Rich to make your park part of the resort? In case you haven't noticed, just because you and an animal-talking friend managed to sweet talk those animals yesterday doesn't mean that they'll keep behaving when she leaves. As long as your son keeps perpetuating his mother's ridiculous claims of how no pony and no animal needs any rules or laws to live in harmony, the little beasts are going to take advantage of that!"

"I'm going to talk to Tree Hugger, as she can get through to Grapevine," Fallow said. "Maybe if he hears it from her, he can get it through his thick head that not every law is inherently oppressive, not every creature is inherently nice, and that nature has the ever cruel law of 'survival of the fittest'. It's why I have rules on ponies and animals keeping a safe, respectful distance from each other."

"Do you even care about the safety of the townsponies? Because this town would be better off without the little monsters."

Summer whistled and shoved a book in the mayor's face. "Hey, just so you know, nature does have a delicate balance, and removing species entirely will disrupt that balance, like an overgrowth of flora or an infestation of bugs. You can't just expect to have an extermination order without both natural... and political consequences."

The mayor pushed the book out of her face. "Well, I know some immediate political consequences being those blasted flowerponies getting in everyone's way and preaching 'tolerance' every time somepony decides to retaliate and scare the things off." She turned back to Fallow and narrowed her eyes. "Bottom line is, irresponsibility is not just on their parts, Fallow, it's on yours as well. If you truly had been responsible, you would have abandoned that park when your daughter nearly got killed by predators. How long will it be until somepony actually does get killed?"

Fallow's gut twisted within him. No matter how much he argued for the wilderness he loved, there was always going to be a danger of an animal attacking a pony. Lemon Zest was one such victim, and it was only Fallow's timing and the existence of the healing pools that just barely averted tragedy, and even then, though there were no physical scars, there were still mental scars. Even he himself was not immune, he reminded himself as he looked at the scars from youth underneath his shirt. He could preach to ponies all the time about not provoking the animals, but that wouldn't account for the bad eggs of the animal kingdom.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Fallow's two daughters, Fluttershy, and Tree Hugger came dashing in. Lemon and Toola Roola were clamoring incoherently while the other two were rather silent. Fluttershy was still clearly concerned, and while Tree Hugger's expression was still far more relaxed than the other girls', she still held a frown that indicated that something was wrong.

"Whoa, whoa, girls!" he exclaimed. "Calm down, and speak slower. What's wrong?"

Tree Hugger was the first to speak. "I received an invite to an animal rally about celebrating the end of the Mare's tyranny, and I got ugly vibes from the venom of the message."

"What the hay does that mean?" the mayor said.

"I got some clarification from the peaceful animals," Fluttershy said. "They told me that the Porcupine Mafia had captured two agents of The Mare with stolen crossbows, and carried them off into the forest. And since the mayor's right there..."

Lemon Zest then screamed, "The animals are going to kill Tomato and Filthy Rich!"

Summer dropped her books. "What?!"

Fallow was swiftly on his hooves. "What?! How?! Why are they going along with the porcupines? Fluttershy, how did you miss them? And lastly, does Grapevine know? Or how about Cheese? Where the heck are those stallions?"

"If they invited Tree Hugger, they might have invited Grapevine," Toola Roola said. "I don't know if he knows what it really is."

Fluttershy twiddled her hooves. "Cheese and I split up to cover more ground; last I saw him, he was tracking them like a dog would. I was just so much in a hurry to find you that I neglected to find him too."

The mayor slammed her hooves on the desk, her face now having turned red and steam coming out of her ears. "Fallow Track! You best stop that execution of those innocent ponies! If those animals slay those two I'm going back on my promise and taking that park away from you! After everything that's happened, I don't care what happens to the forest as long as those stupid animals don't harass my little ponies anymore!"

Fallow backed up at the sheer volume of her voice. Turning to Lemon, the daughter that he nearly lost, he felt a heavy heart at history repeating itself; however, he was unsure if he was going to make it in time. He stroked her hair, he told her, "You stay in town and look for Cheese; he couldn't have gone far. The rest of us will look for the animal party and hopefully stop them from doing anything to Tomato and Mr. Rich."

Lemon nodded. "'Kay, Dad." She leaned over to look at her sister. "Just make sure they don't hurt Rools."

Summer was punching her hoof. "Count me in! I'll wrestle a bear if it means saving Tommy!"

Fluttershy turned to glare at the mayor. "I'll have a word with you after we save the businessponies."

Fallow was already galloping to the front door. "Well, come on, gang, let's go! Not a moment to lose!"

---

"When I wondered what it'd be like to get tangled with a mafia, porcupines were not part of the equation," Tomato grumbled.

"Did you imagine these other animals?" Filthy Rich deadpanned.

Being dangled from an elk's antler was not either pony's definition of fun, but here they were, attached to said antler as the elk marched in a parade with other animals. Led by the Porcupine Mafia, there was dancing and cheering as they marched through the forest. From the smallest chipmunk to the largest bear, there were a variety of critters celebrating the capture of those two businessponies and showing off their trophy to any other critter that watched. The leaders were clearly saying something, but unfortunately, there were no bats in the procession, and those were the only animals that Tomato could understand.

They stopped at a ledge, and the two stallions could see the geyser field in view. Between staring at the field, and noticing a bear and a couple of beavers in the process of felling a tree, they started to piece together what the animals were planning to do.

"I thought they were going to cook us and eat us!" Filthy Rich exclaimed.

"How is that any better than what they do have planned?" Tomato asked.

"Ever heard the tale of the pony who dissolved in a hot spring?" Filthy shuddered. "I'd at least like to have remains for my family to bury, even if they're just bones."

Tomato grimaced. "I'm surprised that they're doing this instead of just mauling us like, you know, the animals they are."

There was a boom, and they looked at the tree that once stood tall, now reduced by bear and beaver to an incomplete bridge over hot water. Before they could even process it, the elk strode forward and dumped the tied-up pair onto the log, with the animals chanting some sort of tribal chant. The bear pinned the log down so that it wouldn't tip, and the leader of the porcupines, who donned a fedora, hopped onto the log with them, and pulled one of his quills off his back.

"You know... I think I'm starting to get it," Filthy Rich said. "They're doing a 'walk the plank' kind of deal like pirates. Not something I'd associate with the mafia, but this isn't Manehattan, so I guess they're making do with what they have here." He glanced at the steaming vents, one of which puffed out an extra burst of steam, and gulped.

"There's got to be some way to get out of this pickle..." Tomato mumbled. He looked around, hoping for some kind of tool or distraction to help them escape, or at least some way to untie the ropes so that he could reach into his secret compartment for one.

The porcupine made a lunge, to which the ponies instinctively shuffled back. The porcupine made another, the ponies backed up more. More and more the rodent made moves to stab, sending them back further and further over the geyser field. It would be easy for them to lose their balance, and only Tomato's tail kept them from falling into literal hot water.

At the end of the log, the porcupine stuck his quill in the bark, and then swiftly pulled other quills out to make a barrier, and create spikes all along the length of the fallen tree. It did this under the other animals' cheers, and much to the dismay of the businessponies. All that was standing between life and death was that bear holding the tree, and it was clear whose side he was on.

The lead porcupine held his paw up, and started announcing something. Granted, noises akin to a high-pitched honk didn't make for easy understanding of details, but Tomato could guess just what the speech was about. Looking between the animals and the sweating Filthy Rich he was tied to, all he could think was, Good job, Grapevine. Your lack of discipline is going to get us killed.

Naturally, after the speech was finished, several birds arrived with a curious Grapevine. He was fairly calm, with his usual chill expression, and seemed to be happy just following the birds wherever they led him. However, that expression changed once he saw Tomato and Filthy on the log, and he just stared in disbelief at the lead porcupine after that.

"Wait, this was the party you invited me to?" he asked. "Why are you doing this?"

After hearing some chatter from the porcupine, Grapevine replied, "What? No! Just because I dislike them doesn't mean I want them dead. All I want for them is to see the light and rethink their life choices."

"I'm certainly rethinking my plans to expand my business here," Filthy grumbled.

Tomato sighed. "Figures."

The porcupine chattered some more, and Grapevine responded, "Well, I didn't count on my cuz being so stubborn, but, man... this is just cruel. I just want us all to live in peace and harmony, and for us to be free from the oppression of The Mare. Surely you can find it in your hearts to treat them as kindly as I've been treating you, and perhaps their hearts will be changed."

The animals all looked at each other and chattered a bit. For a moment, it seemed like that they were reconsidering their plans; but it was just for a moment, and the animals, glaring at Grapevine for his 'betrayal', started their rallying cry. The lead porcupine snapped his claws, and the bear let the log go. Tomato and Filthy felt a sharp drop and a frightened cry burst out of their mouths.

Grapevine gasped, jumped forward, and managed to grab the tilting log just in time. With all his strength, Grapevine managed to boost the log up, with the businessponies still staying on thanks to Tomato's tail. He could only go as far as making it level with the ledge, however, and with many porcupine quills in the way and a tail too occupied to remove them, the two were still reluctant to cross back to land.

"Holy cow, you're strong!" Tomato exclaimed.

"It runs in the family!" Grapevine replied.

The animals were stunned by Grapevine's brazen action, and many of them narrowed their eyes and growled at him. However, as they started to make a move to gang up on him, with the bristled porcupines in front, a stone suddenly flew out of nowhere and nailed the bear on the head. Hearing the bear's roar, the animals turned to see the perpetrator, who was none other than Cheese Sandwich.

"I thought I smelled something fishy when I smelled Tomato's scent and porcupine scent together." He stepped forward and swept his eyes across the crowd of angry animals. Seeing Grapevine, he said, "I hope you realize that this is a direct consequence of you looking the other way when they're being bad."

Grapevine shot back, "I don't want to abuse my powers and control them to be lifeless squares! It's the same way my mom raised me!"

As he said that, the animals all jumped after Cheese, and the party pony was forced to pick up a nearby stick and bat the smaller critters away, while he continually dodged the larger animals and made them hit each other. Looking down at the accordion strapped around his shoulder, he was clearly considering trying the "music soothes the savage beast" trick. But, he still didn't have enough time to unstrap the instrument and had to continue dodging, batting, and throwing rocks.

Tomato scoffed. "I know she was more lenient than my mom, but surely she understands that there are basic boundaries for her kids to follow."

Filthy Rich nodded. "Yes, like bedtimes, eating nutritiously, taking baths..." Filthy looked down and cringed. "Not in scalding hot water like the springs we need to be saved from, mind you, so can Cheese Sandwich hurry up so he can get those quills out of our way?"

Cheese snapped from a distance, "You try fending off a bunch of animals!"

Grapevine cringed at Cheese swatting critters away. "Don't hit them too hard!" He felt the log tip, and pushed it level again, his front legss starting to tremble from the exertion. He looked up at the other two. "Mom always told me that rules are a form of abuse. They're just made by The Mare to oppress us and keep us from being our true selves."

Filthy gave him an odd look. "Do you mean all rules? I know some pretty unfair ones, but..."

Tomato's face went from red-orange to crimson. "Are you saying that your mother just let you do whatever you want and didn't set any standards?!"

"Hey, I turned out just fine. Sure, Mom and Dad argued about it, but obviously rules are just there to control ponies, anyway."

Cheese yelped, and the conversation paused to see that Cheese had been on the receiving end of a few quills shot by crossbow, and just barely made it behind a tree as a skunk started to spray. That didn't protect him from angry squirrels and chipmunks making it rain acorns and pine cones on top of him.

Tomato still glared at Grapevine. "Do you realize that you sound like a criminal when you say that? Ugh, I can't believe your mom is the opposite of mine in the most dangerous way possible! You turned out 'fine' because you're clearly the mellow one of the family! Well, what about Lemon Zest? How'd your mom's policy work for her, huh?"

"Hey, it's not Mom's fault that Lemon was a wild child." The log tipped again, and Grapevine righted it again.

Tomato did not like that bounce, as he nearly lost his balance. "No, but it pays to teach a four-year-old self-control, because they don't automatically gain it when they're older. With those animals, the sheer amount of cliffs, and this geyser field below us, I'm guessing the only reason Lemon's even alive is because of her father!"

Grapevine blinked, and then looked away. "And... the healing pools."

Behind Grapevine, Cheese managed to get some space between him and all of the animals, and he had his accordion slung out to the front and ready to play. He soon noticed that he had little time before a charging deer came into contact.

"Okay, time for my signature accordion attack!" He then attempted to throw one end of the accordion to hit the deer. Sadly, it didn't even go two feet; instead, the bellows hung limp, playing sad notes as the keyboard dangled above the ground. Staring at it in disbelief, Cheese threw his hooves up and complained, "Really?!"

Then he found himself having to catch the deer by the antlers and having to wrestle it away. It was then that he noticed an elk charging, and thus, had to muster enough strength to swing the deer around and smack it in the face.

Grapevine watched the scene and turned back to the other two. "I don't want the animals to hurt anypony. But punishing them just sounds so... not groovy, man, and might turn me into an oppressive killjoy."

"Grapevine, take it from me, my mother is an oppressive killjoy," Tomato said. "I do get where your mother got the idea that rules are inherently unfair and oppressive, because she had to deal with my mom as a sister. I wasn't always this 'square' you see, I was once a hyperactive social butterfly that was all smiles. Long story short, grandparents died, Mom got harder on Cheese, Cheese ran away, Mom got harder on me to the point where I was reduced to an emotionally repressed prisoner of guilt and anger that had trouble making friends. College was my first taste of freedom, and this summer is the most freedom that I've ever had in my entire life! I've learned so much about the world and myself in such a short time!

"But as much as I needed freedom, that doesn't mean that your mother was right in going to the other extreme. Heck, in copying her style, you are responsible for all of the damages in property and livelihood in town, and have put the animals in a lot of danger of getting poisoned, getting hurt, getting removed from their habitat, or even dying! If the animals were ponies, they'd be considered criminals and thrown into jail! I've known classmates back in Manehattan with lax parents, and quite a few of them were bullies who eventually became criminals.

"You are the nature talker, so it's your job to take care of them--and that includes discipline, so that long term damage can be prevented. Sometimes, you need to be a little mean in order to truly be kind."

Grapevine pursed his lips and thought for a moment. He looked at Cheese fighting the animals, who had turned on him the moment he decided to save the enemy, and then looked back to the pair of tied-up businessponies, who were only perched on that log over the geyser field because of said animals. With a sigh, he said, "That's a lot like what Fluttershy was telling me yesterday."

Filthy Rich grinned nervously. "That's real nice to hear, Mr. Grape. Now, uh, how long until we are rescued?"

Tomato tilted his head. "Well, Cheese is playing his accordion now, so maybe music will soothe the savage beast."

"Hey, they dig it when I play music, so I think it'll work," Grapevine said. "Then again, they hate Lemon's music."

The bear stood up and roared.

"Something tells me that they don't like polka either," Tomato said.

Cheese was lucky that he went just the right direction so that the bear tripped over one of the porcupines, leaving it with quilled knees. But, he made the mistake of pausing to laugh at the bear's knee pain, and a raccoon snatched his accordion right out of his hooves.

"Hey!" Cheese snapped.

As the critters angrily chattered and cheered over removing Cheese's "weapon", the raccoon tossed it to the deer, who batted it away with his antlers, and the accordion soared through the air, straight to where Grapevine was holding the tree in place.

Grapevine did what any sane pony would do when a hard object was flying his way: he instinctively jumped out of the way, letting the accordion hit the log. But, in consequence, the log fell off the ledge before he could catch it, and the tied-up businessponies down with it. Both ponies screamed as they fell into the field, and they and the log bounced and rolled through it, bouncing in between trickles and streams of hot water flowing from springs and geysers. They rolled to a stop just before one of the colorful springs, and they laid there on that crust, moaning in their dirty soreness.

Tomato glanced all around him. The hot spring right there, that geyser over there, another in that direction, a bubbling mud pit not too far away... and the steam billowing from where they had just came. Staying put was dangerous, but so was moving. Fallow was not kidding when he said that the geyser field was difficult to navigate.

---

Cheese dashed to the ledge, looking over the geyser field and hoping to see how far they had rolled. The cracks from where they had bounced had burst out hot steam, concealing his view of the businessponies, and there was no way of knowing where it was safe to step. He couldn't just gallop over there and fetch them without getting hurt, and, as much as he didn't want to admit it, his party pony magic couldn't protect him now. He couldn't save Tomato and Filthy Rich.

To add salt to the wound, at the bottom of the cliff, his accordion was in pieces.

He was on his knees, numb to the quills in his back, numb to the cheers of the animals behind him, and numb to Grapevine putting a hoof on his shoulder in an attempt at comfort. He couldn't see them; for all he knew they could be dead, boiling away in some hot spring. The uncertainty gnawed at his heart, and the weight of failure was going to crush him.

"I'm sorry," Grapevine said. "If I could have gotten them off that log, I would have."

He turned to glare at the animals laughing behind them. "Hey! That was his brother... like, he was both his blood brother and his soul brother! This is not the harmony that I've been preaching, man! Can't both ponies and animals just coexist peacefully?"

The lead porcupine shook his head and chattered, and Grapevine replied in disbelief, "Dude, you didn't have to make this a downer with cold-blooded murder. I don't dig their lifestyle, but taking them out is just way out of line."

As Grapevine argued with the animals, Cheese could feel his numbness evaporate as he heard those animals chatter, squeak, and roar. A fire had been sparked; a fire that manifested in his bristling fur, tight and shaky muscles, and growls rumbling from deep in his throat. Any will to resist this feral rage within him was gone, and he was ready to release a sudden burst of energy. If they thought they won just by taking out a so-called "symbol of oppression", then Cheese was going to make them think twice. He was going to make them pay with their blood.

Before Grapevine could even blink, Cheese turned around and pounced on the very raccoon that had taken his accordion in the first place, and with an predatory snarl, chomped down on the critter's neck and thrashed it about. It wasn't even ten seconds until he threw the limp critter into a tree, and sped off to catch another of the scattering critters.

"Whoa!" Grapevine exclaimed. "What are you doing, man?!"

Cheese's next bite broke the skin of a beaver, and he looked up with his mouth covered in blood and his eyes dark. He barked viciously before tossing the beaver into a deer's face, sending it stumbling onto it's side. It was just getting up when Cheese jumped it, and found it's neck caught in his death grip, rolling it to the ground and twisting its neck further than was comfortable.

Grapevine jumped forward and pulled at Cheese's tail. "Stop, stop! This isn't even, like, pony behavior!"

Cheese released his grip, hopped to his feet, and grabbed Grapevine by the vest. "You wanted no rules, cousin. Well, who are you to stop me?"

He lifted the green stallion, and tossed him just far enough for him to stumble back over the ledge. Now with nopony to stop him, he now turned his attention to the porcupines preparing their crossbows. Using the deer as a shield as they shot their quills from those crossbows, he took a nearby long, sharp stick, and had his eyes on the fedora-wearing leader.

Throwing the deer proved an effective distraction, making the porcupines scurry, and he swiftly blocked the leader's path. A whack with the stick sent it on its back, and before it could use the crossbow, Cheese plunged the stick into the critter's chest. It was satisfying to see the stick sink through, the blood oozing out of the wound. As the porcupine went still, he lifted it on his spike, and smiled wickedly. "I do wonder what porcupine on a stick tastes like."

He noticed a elk charging him, and proceeded to use the porcupine as a club.

Meanwhile, Grapevine had grabbed a root to keep from falling all the way down, and was helpless as he listened to Cheese continue his slaughter of the animals, with both the wiliness of pony and the ferocity of beast. All he could think about was the possibility of how he could have prevented it.

---

In the geyser field, Tomato was never more grateful for his tail.

It kept him and Filthy above the fragile crust of the field, not even wobbling under the weight. He considered bouncing across the field with it, as maybe it could keep him safe, but he was unsure if it could keep up with that for a long time. Not to mention he had never tried it before, and he was worried about cracking open more steam vents, or splashing hot water onto himself or Filthy. Or worst of all, with limited visibility, he could end up stumbling into a hot spring.

"Okay, so maybe if we just stay here until the steam lifts, we might just get rescued," Tomato said.

"This place is a sauna that's a little too... strong..." Filthy held back a retch. "...and it smells so much like rotten eggs."

"Hm, yeah, the rotten egg smell might indicate something... bad." But what else was he supposed to do? Any step or bounce he could take was potential danger. He managed to get himself and Filthy away from that one hot spring, but he couldn't see any other dangers. Sweating from the heat and his stomach churning from the smell, he wished he could fly like...

"Summer!" Tomato perked up. "She's a pegasus! And hey, there's Fluttershy too! I can give Cheese a holler and he'll fetch one of them!"

"Glad to see that you have useful connections," Filthy said. "Pays to make good friends."

"Do you mean that casually or professionally?"

Filthy didn't even bother to answer it. "Just holler."

---

A party of five galloped through the forest, hoping to reach the party of animals before they executed the businessponies. Fallow, Fluttershy, Toola Roola, Tree Hugger, and Summer Wind went as fast as their legs--or wings--carried them. Periodically, Fluttershy and Summer flew up to check the surroundings, to find any sign of a disturbance in the forest. So far, their scouting brought up practically nothing--except awesome views of the surrounding landscape, to which Toola Roola bemoaned not being able to fly.

Going up for another scouting flight, Summer asked, "So, you think you can talk sense into the Porcupine Mafia? They're nasty pieces of work, they extort ponies for pie and have tried stealing books from the library. Do animals even read?"

"Oh, they can learn if they're taught," Fluttershy answered. "Besides, I'd like to find out why they're doing this, and remind them that it's more healthy for them to eat their natural diet instead of sugary pony foods. If they're doing it just because they're mean, well, I'll have to use The Stare on them."

"The Stare?"

"It's sort of a superpower that gets the rowdiest of animals to listen. I prefer to save it for emergen--" Her ears twitched, and her eyes fell onto one patch of forest just by the geyser field. "I'm hearing something coming from over there!"

"Really? What?"

"It sounds like... cries for help! Oh, no, some poor animals are being attacked!"

Summer punched an open hoof again. "I bet it's the Porcupine Mafia and their cronies, terrorizing the animals that don't want to ransack town! If those little gangsters are there, then so is Tomato!"

The two pegasi swooped down to meet their earth pony friends, and Fluttershy darted the direction she heard the cries. "This way! There's a commotion over here and it might be the animals that kidnapped Tomato and Mr. Rich!"

"That's the direction of the geyser field!" Fallow exclaimed.

"And here I thought they were just going to eat them," Toola Roola murmured. "Talk about a complicated murder plan."

Tree Hugger shivered. "I trust Fluttershy's judgement, but I'm feeling a dark aura over there..."

The others followed Fluttershy's lead, weaving between the trees and jumping over rocks to reach their destination. They startled many peaceful animals along the way, and all three nature talkers could only say a quick "sorry" before pressing on. They couldn't afford to waste any more time. There was a chance that it was a false lead, but there was also a chance that they'd find the ponies they were looking for. In either case, they were profusely hoping that they weren't too late.

Fluttershy suddenly stopped, and gasped. The first thing she saw was an elk stumbling forward, covered in porcupine quills on its face and side, but bizarrely, also bore bloody scratches and bites from a larger predator. Did the Porcupine Mafia have an attack dog?

Fallow stopped behind her, and muttered, "Sweet Celestia, what happened?"

The elk bugled weakly, kneeling down and taking a breath. It took a quick look back, expecting it's attacker to return to finish the job, and then weakly bugled some more.

"What? No, that's crazy talk..." Fallow murmured.

Fluttershy stared in horror. "That can't be right. He was nothing but nice every time I've met him..."

"Uh, who are you talking about?" Toola Roola asked.

Neither of them answered, pressing forward while the others followed. Slowly, but surely, other animals appeared in sight, many of them lying still, bleeding from wounds made from this creature. Some of the injuries were clearly made by a hoofed creature; others had the distinct bites of a predator. And then there were the animals that were clearly dead, the most horrifying being the porcupine, impaled with a stick and plucked of all its quills. Fallow swiftly covered Toola Roola's eyes when they passed that one.

Finally, they came across the least injured of the animals, a bear with porcupine quills in its knee. Above it stood Cheese Sandwich, with bristled, blood-stained fur, unusually dark eyes, and a feral snarl, holding up a large rock and preparing to drop it on its head.

Fluttershy's shock turned into anger, and she shouted, "Cheese Sandwich!"

That caught the party pony's attention, and he blinked in confusion at the glare that the yellow pegasus gave him.

"Put. The rock. Down."

Realizing that finding a loophole in that statement would only make her angrier, Cheese threw the rock aside, but not without a glare of his own. He set himself back down on all four hooves, not taking his eyes off her, and crept a few steps toward her. The others looked away at the cold, icy stare, and they scattered a little to try to tend to any of the injured critters with what little they had.

Tree Hugger heard Grapevine say, "Is that Fluttershy? Did you make Cheese stop?", and quickly excused herself to go help him.

Fluttershy marched forward. "I didn't want to believe the elk. I really didn't! But, here you are, caught right in the act of attempting to kill this poor bear! I've seen the trail of the bloodied and battered animals that you left, and I see you covered in their blood! What do you have to say for yourself, mister?"

Cheese snarled. "Listen, you little softie, those little monsters started it by kidnapping my brother, and throwing him into the geyser field! They weren't showing mercy to ponies, so why should I show mercy to them? I'm only giving them what they deserve, and I don't need you excusing them just because you're a little animal lover like that stupid hypocrite Grapevine!"

Fallow looked up from plucking quills from a deer, and his eyes widened. "We are too late."

Toola Roola, busying slowing bleeding from a beaver, gasped, while Summer, examining a bobcat's broken leg, froze in shock.

Tree Hugger had managed to pull Grapevine back up to the ledge. "But that violence, and the red painting the forest... I fear you might have some chakras blocked."

"Oh, did you want me to cry in the hopes that the animals would feel sorry for me?" Cheese scoffed. "Well, no tears are going to bring my brother back."

The moment was interrupted by a whistle from the steaming geyser field, and a shout of, "Hey! Hey! Cheese? Are you still there?"

Cheese turned to the geyser field and blinked. "Tommy?"

Summer snapped out of her frozen state and grinned. "Oh, my goodness! He's still alive!"

"Well, I'll be..." Fallow scratched his head. "How did he not fall in one of the springs? Is Mr. Rich still with him?"

"We're okay!" Tomato shouted, answering Fallow's question. "But, could you get a pegasus over here to fetch us? I have no idea where it's safe to step and I'm afraid to risk it."

Summer took off her glasses, and gave them to Toola Roola. "Hold these, I don't want them to get foggy." Then she took to the air, and shouted back, "Hey! We're here! Just keep talking so I'll follow your voice!"

As she went into the steam, Fluttershy and Cheese were face to face yet again, and the former did not even soften her glare. "Well, your brother's alive. Do you regret causing so much carnage now?"

Cheese huffed. "After what they put the town through, they still deserved it."

Fluttershy stomped her hoof. "I cannot believe you! I could have persuaded even the infamous Porcupine Mafia to reconsider their actions and realize that it'll only hurt them in the long run! I could have just talked to them and the town's animal troubles would be over! But, no, you had to employ senseless violence, all because you couldn't handle your grief differently and control your temper! Tomato and Mr. Rich are alive, we can put the injured animals in the healing pool, but we can't bring back the ones you killed! What would Pinkie Pie think if she saw you like this?"

Cheese huffed. "Why would I care what she thinks?"

"She's your friend! And she would not want to see her friend just killing willy nilly like a monster!"

Cheese's muzzle wrinkled up in a snarl, and he prowled like a predator. "I've had enough of your pretentious preachiness."

There was a brief startle as Fluttershy saw Cheese's posture. It was clearly not pony, and whatever Twilight and Pinkie had been concerned about was clearly worse than they thought.

But, then, she glowered with a magical force unlike any other, and it stopped Cheese in his tracks. He couldn't look away from those eyes, for they had an iron grip on him and forbade him from crossing their owner. His snarl faded and his ears drooped, and all he could do was back up away from her, only for her to follow. He was backed into a tree, and he could only look up at this new and terrifying overlord with the magic eyes.

"You have absolutely no excuse to stoop this low! I don't want to see this callousness from you ever again!"

Cheese whimpered. "Don't hurt me..."

Fallow blinked. "Okay, that's odd..." He looked around at the others. "While she's got him distracted, we should get to work on getting these guys to the healing pools."

It was just then that a sweating and somewhat burned Summer returned from the geyser field, carrying two tied up businessponies--one who was looking a little green, and the other who was just annoyed at his mane's frizziness, but who were otherwise all right. She set them down, and quickly ripped the rope apart. Once free, the two stallions were happy to stretch their legs after tied for so long, and they breathed sighs of relief over their rescue.

"Thanks, Summer," Tomato said. "I don't know what I'd do without a flying friend around."

"Ah, shucks. Blame genetics for these things," Summer said, winking and waving at him with one wing.

Tomato laughed, but quickly went dead silent on noticing the dead and wounded animals scattered everywhere. "What happened?!"

Filthy Rich glanced over to the sitting Grapevine, who looked heartbroken and was being comforted by Tree Hugger. "Mr. Grape? Could you explain what was going on while we were down there?"

Grapevine could only look at them with tired eyes, and muttered, "He snapped."

Tomato's eyes widened, and he turned to stare at Cheese, who was under Fluttershy's mercy. He could feel his heart hurt on seeing the damage, all of which was far from the hilarious that the Cheese everyone knew and loved would employ. Instead, the bloodbath alternated between mindless predator and a mindful sadist. He would have liked to just blame it on some random animal jumping out of the forest and causing havoc, but he had seen enough of Cheese's newfound aggression that he couldn't really deny it.

It couldn't be just a lost memory causing this. It just couldn't be. Whatever it was, they needed to see Twilight, and fast.

Tree Hugger stared at the scene between Fluttershy and Cheese Sandwich. "I had no idea she could use The Stare on ponies."

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Wow. Cheese has snapped. And with Fluttershy there, there is almost no way for this not to be brought to Twlight. Good chapter. I enjoyed it.

[ChaoticKindness]

Man, this was intense! I think something like this really needed to happen, though, to get everyone to take Cheese's problems seriously and make sure he gets help. It's a good thing he didn't do any of this to another pony. I can't help but think how broken up Cheese is going to be when he gets back to his normal mind and finds out all of the things he did

[redmar]

There's absolutely no way for Cheese not to come to Ponvyville to be examined by Twilight since if he were to disagree it would only prove he needs it all the more. Being stern to prevent long time harm is something Fluttershy learned with the Breezies and it seems that Grapevine is finally starting to understand it as well.

[Goldfinch142]

Well. Looks like something if finally going to be done about Cheese--this is something that can't be ignored. Between this, those teenagers back in Applewood, and that time he threatened to drop Tomato off a cliff, Cheese has to realize he can't keep going on like this. Still, I feel like Wayer Rune will probably try to get in the way again at some point.

But on the plus side, maybe Grapevine will listen to reason now.

[Godslittleprincess]

Tree Hugger stared at the scene between Fluttershy and Cheese Sandwich. "I had no idea she could use The Stare on ponies."

I don't think she normally can.