Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

21.3--Heart to Harsh

Later that evening, Tomato was with Twilight and her friends in the Princess' Canterlot suite. Twilight had set up a little mini lab in order to examine Cheese's blood sample, with the vial containing the sample, extra jars for anything else she might find, paper to take notes on, and a whole lot of books making up the entire thing. Tomato would have said that she was overprepared for just reading a magic signature, but it didn't take long for him to realize that Twilight was thinking there was something more that was going on.

Of course, she still needed one more thing: Cheese himself, who wasn't present for an unfortunate reason. As such, she had to write a royal pardon to free him from custody. She opted to stay behind to do as much work as possible, so she asked if anypony would take it and go get him. Despite Applejack's and Rainbow's protests, Pinkie Pie was the one to volunteer.

"Are you sure it's wise to send Pinkie out to fetch him?" Applejack asked.

Twilight leaned on her desk, pursing her lips until she sighed. "She did volunteer, and she is the closest to him out of the rest of us, save arguably Tomato. She does have a knack for appealing to his better nature when he's... upset, to say the least."

"He bit her earlier! That's our problem!" Rainbow shouted. "And if he's so close to Tomato, why didn't you send him?"

"Because Tomato can answer questions about Cheese's behavior over the past several weeks," Twilight said, jotting some things down in her notes. "So far, we have what we have observed today, and what Fluttershy observed the past few days, but I'm sure Tomato has seen more."

Tomato shifted on his stool. "Well, when you're the only constant in his life all summer, you pick up on a few things."

"All right, at least you're cooperating... Cheese is making this more frustrating than it needs to be," Twilight grumbled, setting her quill down. "I hope Pinkie doesn't have any trouble bringing him here. In the meantime, before I ask you anything, I might as well draw his magic signature out. The sooner we can locate the memories, the better."

Tomato crossed his front legs. "Be my guest."

Twilight pulled the cork out of the vial and then began to concentrate. Her aura surrounded the blood within, and it sparkled and popped as she stirred it. The blood bubbled, fighting the beckon of her magic, before humming and glowing under the spell. The others leaned forward, as if the blood were a lava lamp, and they waited for the magic mist that Twilight would draw from it.

Suddenly, a purple bolt shot out of the blood and hit her horn, causing Twilight to cease the spell when she tumbled back with a yell. The blood sloshed back in the vial, and it returned to its dark red color.

"Twilight!" The girls shouted, rushing to her aid. The four of them picked her up off the floor, and she wobbled before she regained her balance and assured them that she was okay. Tomato just watched the scene, glancing between Twilight and the blood and hoping for an answer to what had transpired before them.

"Twilight, whatever just happened?" Rarity asked.

"You look like you got shocked," Fluttershy said.

Twilight glared at the blood. "Well, it just decided that it doesn't want me to read its magic signature!"

"What do you mean by that?" Applejack asked. "Blood ain't exactly alive, yanno."

Tomato shrugged. "Maybe because party pony magic doesn't follow conventional rules?"

Twilight walked toward it, and scratched her chin as she stared at it. "I don't think so. I didn't have any trouble drawing Pinkie's magic signature out of her hair." She levitated a book, and flipped through the pages. "Maybe it's because magic drawn from blood has more power than magic drawn from hair, and is more likely to fight back. I think there's a different approach to the extraction..."

She shut the book, put it aside, and concentrated on the blood again. "Let's see if this one works."

---

It wasn't Cheese Sandwich's first time in a jail cell.

Typically, he was in a cell for an overnight stay, usually for disturbing the peace. It was always frustrating, but in most cases, Cheese would just pass the time with a tune on the harmonica. Sometimes he'd end up coming up with a song, and would write it down as soon as he could, from the notes to the lyrics, and would play it at the next party. It was a way of turning lemons into lemonade.

This time, he couldn't summon a harmonica, and he couldn't come up with any tune or a poem to be turned into a song. All he could think about was how unfair it was that he was thrown in here when that rat Kazam had deserved his thrashing. He just paced backed and forth in front of the bars, glaring and snarling at anypony who walked by. Other ponies taken into custody drew back out of fear, while the guards just glared back at him in a "don't you try anything funny" manner.

He stopped pacing when a guard arrived, with Pinkie Pie by his side, and opened the cell door. "This mare has arrived with a pardon from Princess Twilight, Cheese Sandwich. You're free to go, and hopefully you'll act like a responsible citizen from now on."

Cheese huffed, and he trotted out the cell without a word. He faced Pinkie Pie, who flashed an awkward grin at him as they were lead out of the holding area.

"So... jail time." Pinkie forced a giggle, snort and all. "I guess we can call you a hardened criminal now, eh, Cheese?"

Cheese just rolled his eyes and snorted.

Pinkie pursed her lips, and then said, "If you're wondering, they found Kazam guilty. He's spending a loooooooong time in Alcatrot. You know, that one prison full of really nasty ponies on an island in the middle of a freezing cold bay--so cold that I'd be a Pinkiesicle if I swam in it! It's not Tartarus, but aren't I glad that neither me or you will ever go there."

When Cheese didn't answer, she asked, "So, I didn't get to ask you what kind of crazy adventures you and Tommy had since I last saw you. What'd you do in Manehattan? Or in Salt Lick City? Or wherever else you went to after that? I bet you two had a lot of fun with the parties you planned!"

Cheese still didn't answer, and Pinkie bit her lip, searching her mind for what else to ask him. Even as they went out onto the Canterlot street, waltzing under the glow of the city's lanterns, she still racked her brains until she asked, "Have you guys made any new friends? Or visit family? Oh! Did you find that Aunt Honeydew of yours? Because I tried to see if she lived in Ponyville, but we don't have a Honeydew, so I asked my Aunt Seddie, who's been all over Equestria, if she's ever met a Honeydew. She did, but it was years ago, so she doesn't know where--"

"Honeydew's dead," Cheese stated.

Pinkie blinked. "Oh... uh, how did you find out?"

"We met her husband and offspring, and they confirmed it for us."

"Aw, that's sad... I'm really sorry. On the bright side, you met a new uncle and cousins!"

"Yippee."

The gruff tone that Cheese said that in made Pinkie's heart sink, after that little hope spot of getting Cheese to respond. She thought that Cheese would be happy to tell her all about those cousins that he and Tomato had found, in spite of the downer that was their deceased aunt, but he didn't seem to want to talk much. Heck, he didn't seem to want to listen to her talk this time, unlike their previous meetings.

She glanced down at her foreleg, feeling the bite from earlier that day, and thought of the moment that landed Cheese in jail. However, she pushed those thoughts aside, knowing that her party pony buddy was still in there. And she was aiming to push the right buttons to draw that party pony out.

"So, remember our dance at Ponyacci's anniversary? That was fun, wasn't it?"

Cheese huffed again, and Pinkie growled in frustration. He wasn't as easy to talk to as usual, but that didn't mean she couldn't still try. "Well, I sure thought it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun planning that big anniversary party for Equestria's greatest clown, and hearing stories about him and you and his grandkids..."

She paused when she noticed Cheese wandering in another direction, and used her tail to pull him back. "No, no, no, Twilight's place is this way." She dragged him further the direction of said suite. "She wants us back as soon as possible so she can work on making you better. I promise there aren't any more needles."

Cheese shook his head in some attempt to clear it of something, and rubbed his brow like he had a headache. "Will you stop dragging me? I can walk!"

"All righty!" She released him. "Anyway, I thought Zucchini was a great guy and..."

---

Several more attempts at magical extraction were made, and much to everyone's frustration, none of them had worked. Twilight had checked the book for the different formulas for extraction, but each was in vain, and thus, she had to check the next one on the list. All the while, she grumbled under her breath about how it was just her luck that the spell wasn't working properly.

As she figured out the spell, the others took to questioning Tomato about Cheese's behavior. They asked him questions about anything that Cheese had forgotten, whether it be recent or long ago; any angry episodes from just being snippy to outright violence; and any changes to his party-throwing ability.

Part of Tomato was glad that Cheese wasn't there, because there was no doubt that in his condition, Cheese would lash out to just about every answer Tomato gave. The callousness over breaking somepony's wings, angry outbursts, a tendency to bite and growl, the muddled up explanations of things that happened in the past, hunting animals and wanting to eat them, and showing less of a regard for life than normal were among the things that he told them.

"He's also taken to staring at the moon at lot," he added, scratching his head. " I mean, the moon's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but he just seems hypnotized by it."

"Mm, not that I blame him, I myself have drawn designs for new lines based on the night," Rarity said. "I'm sure Princess Luna does appreciate that we give more attention to her beautiful nights than our ancestors did."

"Yeah, but I don't think he means 'staring' like he's taking in the sight of a gal he fancies," Applejack said.

Tomato shook his head. "Nope. His moon staring is actually pretty creepy. It's like he's drugged or something."

Fluttershy had the notes in her hooves, looking at what they had written down so far. "So... do we add the moon thing to the list?"

"I say we should; Twi did say to put down anything that's unusual for Cheese Sandwich, and as weird as he is, there are some lines he's crossin'," Applejack said. She looked back at the alicorn at the desk. "Have you figured out anything yet, sugarcube?"

Twilight glared at the blood, scratching her chin. "I think the block might actually be in the blood. I've read that certain kinds of spells can block the proper extraction of a magic signature. I just need to extract that spell first, and then I can get the magic signature."

"Geez, talk about complicated!" Rainbow complained. "Didn't Cheese have a memory removed?"

"I think it might be more than one, based on how Tomato described Cheese recounting things that had nothing to do with Las Pegasus," Twilight replied. "Also, memory removal is not one of the spells, so... there really is something else going on with him, and we're going to find out what." Just as Twilight turned and started to concentrate, there was a knock at the door. She groaned briefly, but then looked back at the door and, figuring that it must've been Pinkie and Cheese, shouted, "Come in!"

The one who opened the door was not Pinkie; it was Princess Celestia. "Well, well, Twilight, what kind of project are you working on?"

Twilight spun around in her seat, while the others took to the floor and bowed. "Celestia! I was just... figuring out how to extract magic from a blood sample."

Celestia curiously looked at the vial on the desk. "And who's blood is that?"

Twilight grinned nervously. "It's... Cheese Sandwich's. Eheheh... it's a wild story of how I got it from him, but I assure you he's still alive!"

Celestia frowned. "I know. I heard about what happened at Kazam's trial. It seems unlike him to try to tear another pony apart like that."

Tomato stood up. "He's, uh... not been himself lately, Your Highness. See, he's had memories stolen, and it's making him act off. And I mean, really off. He's been having a worse temper than usual, sometimes to the point where he makes me look like the life of the party." He rubbed his leg. "Do you think Princess Luna saw anything? She does go into dreams after all, and she did go into Cheese's back during Summer Sun..."

"Luna has been pretty busy soothing the dreams of the many victims and witnesses of Las Pegasus, so it's likely Cheese didn't get the attention that he needed," Celestia answered. She then asked, "But stolen memories, you say? That's quite an old spell that very few still use today. Are you sure it's not a mind wipe?"

"Well, both Pinkie and Tomato have reported his symptoms, and they line up with memory removal," Twilight answered. "Not only that, but there's an extra spell that's making it difficult to read Cheese's magic signature. I'm hoping that if I can locate the memories, we'll find the one who did this."

"I'm still convinced that Kazam found a lackey to do it!" Tomato snapped.

Twilight shook her head. "Afraid not, Tomato... Kazam was genuinely confused over the accusation. I think he knows that it's impractical to remove the memories of every important witness to the crime, since you all went different directions, and it is a dangerous spell."

"Well, what would some random pony want with my brother's memories?!" Tomato yelled, his mane bristling. "Does he or she get a kick out of seeing him have headaches? Or blab about some nonsense about how our mother wasn't that bad or imply that we never had a feud? Or watching as Cheese sabotages his own career by acting less like a party pony and more like a monster? And why Cheese?! What did he do to deserve it?!"

The others winced, and Rarity mumbled, "Well, it's certainly not going to reflect well on him once word of the assault comes out."

"I'm sorry, Tomato, but I don't have all the answers yet!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'm trying all I can to find out who convinced him to--"

Tomato stamped a hoof. "No! I refuse to believe that Cheese consented to have his memory removed! He should know that something that alters his mind like that would be completely stupid!"

Twilight's horn sparked, and there was lightning in her eyes. "Well, maybe he couldn't think straight because he was still traumatized from fighting vampires and almost losing you to a nutcase!"

Celestia walked in between them and pushed them apart with her wings. "Enough! I understand you're both stressed, but arguing is going to get you nowhere."

She folded her wings and sighed, and then looked at Tomato. "Look, Tomato... I know exactly how hard it is to watch someone you love fall to darkness." She looked out the window at the rising moon, just one night away from the month's first full moon. "Especially a sibling. When a pony who is meant to be a lifetime friend becomes your enemy, it is one of the worst pains to grasp your heart."

Tomato's ears drooped, and he looked at the floor. "Do you think we can cure him before... well..."

Celestia nodded. "I have faith that Twilight can find a way. She's succeeded in much tougher tasks."

Twilight smiled up at her. "Aw, it always means so much that you believe in me!" She looked at Tomato. "And don't worry, I promise that I'll do all I can to turn Cheese back into your super duper party pony brother. It'd be so wrong for a party pony to be so... dark."

"Oh, I don't know, I'd say that Gallow Humor was a dark party pony," Celestia said with a chuckle. With a wistful sigh, she said, "But, in all seriousness, Cheese Sandwich is not the first party pony to lose their light. Jamberry Rune was the best jester that I ever had in my court, but all it took was the death of her brother and for her husband to commit horrific deeds for her to lose her light."

"What kind of horrific deeds?" Applejack asked.

"Wayer Rune was an observer of jester magic and a pioneer of memory magic, but it's sad that he'll forever be infamously tied to the creation of the werewolf and the plague that claimed many lives. Jamberry was a witness to all of that, and she was in so much devastation and denial that she lost her magic. After their son exposed the source of the bloodshed and I had to send Wayer to Tartarus, all that was left was for Jamberry's broken heart to claim her life."

"Aww..." Fluttershy said. "That's so sad. I'd hate for it to happen to Pinkie."

"Any of those fates is something I do not wish on anypony," Celestia said. "Though, what's strange is that Wayer Rune did use his memory magic in his tactics. This mystery pony might view him as an inspiration much like Kazam did..."

Twilight rubbed her chin. "That does sound likely. Hm, maybe it's just a case of Cheese upstaging the wrong pony, and said pony just found an opportunity to sabotage him recently. Maybe a descendant of Wayer that's too proud of their heritage and is not Kazam. Wayer and Jamberry did have five foals that went on to have their own descendants."

Celestia smiled. "Well, I better leave you to your work. It was nice visiting with you."

She turned and walked out the door, shutting it behind her. The group stared at the door for a moment before Rainbow Dash piped up, "I bet it's Starlight Glimmer!"

"And why's that?" Rarity asked.

"Well, she removed cutie marks! I bet she can remove memories too!"

"Oh, dear!" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Unless Cheese did something to her, I don't think it's Starlight," Twilight said. "Now, where are Pinkie and Cheese? They should be here by now! What the hay are they doing?"

Tomato looked at the door and started to walk toward it. "I think you girls asked me all that I needed to, so I'll go find them."

Rainbow zipped to him, flapping her wings and pointing to them. "Oh, I'm sure I could find them faster."

"I'm sure you can, but right now, I think I can appeal to his equinity more," Tomato said, opening it. "Unless Fluttershy wants to use The Stare on him again."

Fluttershy drew back into the corner and shuddered. "I really don't."

"Ahem." Twilight flashed a magic bubble from her horn, which went on to expand all the way to the city limits. With a nod, she said, "Okay, I can detect that at least Pinkie's still in town, and I'm sure Cheese is still with her. They're on Restaurant Row... for some reason." Twilight groaned and grumbled, "Pinkie, now's not the time to grab a bite to eat."

She cleared her throat. "Okay, one of you go fetch them, and get them here within the next ten minutes."

Rainbow saluted and then zipped out the door, and a surprised Tomato shouted, "Hey!" and gave chase, yelling that he volunteered first.

Twilight stared at the door, muttering, "I said one of you, but I guess you can watch each other's backs..." She turned back to the blood in the vial, looked in her book again, and said, "All right, let's take this extra spell out, and then getting the magic signature should be a piece of cake."

---

Pinkie sheepishly pulled Cheese away from the table were a glaring pony and her small dog sat, shouting, "Sorry!"

Turning both herself and Cheese around, pulling him by the shirt collar and dragging him the direction they needed to go, she started wondering if it was a good idea to grab a bite to eat. It was the only thing she said that actually made Cheese perk up, and she thought she had him--only for him to start stealing others' orders, even gourmet kibble from dog dishes! And much to her disgust, the kibble gave Cheese bad breath, which she could definitely smell when he burped.

She could hear Cheese shouting for her to let go of him, but didn't listen this time. In fact, she considered getting a leash, because if she let him go, he'd randomly wander off somewhere in a trance again, eyes glazed until she quite literally yanked him out of it. Or he'd get distracted by a random smell. Or even hear something she didn't hear.

Out of Restaurant Row and around the corner, now she was making sure that there were no detours, no distractions, no--

She felt teeth clamp down on her foreleg like a steel trap. "Yowch!"

She let go of Cheese's collar and yanked her foreleg out of his mouth. She panted and looked at the leg, which thankfully wasn't bleeding, and then up to the bristled stallion that glared at her. With a snort, she shouted, "What was that for?!"

"I wanted you to let go of me," Cheese replied. "I told you I don't need to be dragged!"

"Well, sor-ry! I didn't want you to wander off like you've been doing this whole walk!"

Cheese turned his back to her. "Oh, now you're trying to be the responsible one."

Pinkie wanted to shout that she had a really good reason, but her anger was swallowed up by the gloom of knowing that she wasn't talking to the Cheese that she knew and loved. Cheese would rarely hurt anypony on purpose; this guy she was looking at had bitten her twice and sent somepony to the hospital in that day alone, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know what he had done before then. Pinkie would have preferred Cheese's attitude at the Fall Festival to be the worst she had ever seen him over this.

She sighed. "Cheese... can we be real? I mean, really real?" She walked around so that she could see him face to face. "I'm really, really worried about you. You're not being you, and I just want to help you be you again."

"Oh, you're serious?" Cheese spat.

Pinkie nodded. "You know I can be serious, Cheese. Remember, when we first met at the Birthversary, when I realized that Rainbow wasn't having fun during our Goof-Off? Or the Fall Festival, when I wanted to know why you and Tommy were mad at each other? I'm very serious when it comes to making sure that all of my friends are happy, and right now, you're not happy! It makes me sad that somepony is messing up your mind, and now you don't know who you are anymore!"

Cheese lurched at her, and Pinkie staggered back in a brief panic. Growling, Cheese retorted, "I know perfectly well who I am! And I know who you are, too... a spoiled, nosy little baby who thinks she owns a monopoly on partying and throws a fit when another party pony dares to exist! After all, I remember how you tried to run me out of town when I was just doing my job!"

"Wait, what?!" Pinkie blinked in disbelief. "No, it was just a misunderstanding! We settled that, remember?"

Cheese scoffed. "Yeah, sure, you took it like an adult after being a crybaby all day. I also remember how you just had to butt in when I was simply trying to have a good time with my brother. Thanks to you, Tomato suffered a broken leg, and everypony's day at the festival was ruined! Puh, for someone who claims to make others happy, you sure are bad at it."

Pinkie stomped a hoof. "What are you talking about?! You and Tomato were fighting the whole time! I admit, forcing you two to spend time together was a mistake, but Tomato broke his leg because you lost your temper! And we all apologized to each other after that! Did the memory thief steal that part, too?"

Cheese scoffed. "Right now, I wish they had stolen all of my memories of you."

Pinkie gasped, and that stab to her heart was enough for a lump to form in her throat. "W-What...? Did you hear what you just said?" She shook her head, and stepped forward. "Cheese, if you forget about me, you'll forget why you became a party pony in the first place! I... I inspired you, remember?"

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "You're crazy, you had absolutely nothing to do with my career. I always had that party magic since I was little, made my little brother happy, and I learned the art of laughter from Ponyacci to share my talent outside my house. All you are is just some other party pony that I know a little too much for my liking, where it wouldn't make any major difference in my life if you didn't even exist!"

"No, there would be a difference!" Pinkie yelled, misty-eyed. "You said so yourself, you were shy and bullied and jealous of your brother and yelled at by your mom and really sad and scared of yourself... but you saw me. You saw me as what you could be! I gave you hope!"

Cheese laughed, but it wasn't his usual joyful laugh--it was one of scorn, one that mocked the very thing that Pinkie plead to him. "You have to be joking, you really have to, because you sure sound full of yourself! How do you know I wasn't lying because I pitied you? Well, that was a mistake, because now you're spewing hot air." He marched forward with a predatory creep, making Pinkie back up out of instinct. "What makes you so special that you have to stick your nose in everypony's business? What gives you the right to just flail and screech like a maniac when nopony wants it? Why is it that an irresponsible brat like you gets to keep her magic when a hardened stallion like me, who has been through Tartarus this whole summer, can barely throw confetti?!"

Pinkie was so sure that he was about to bite her again, but all he did was shove her onto the ground, glare at her through the shadows on his face, and growled, "Let me put in a way that your simple mind can understand. I don't ever want to hear your voice again. I'm better off forgetting all about you and your dumb little parties."

So many questions ran through Pinkie's mind so quickly. Why was he being so mean, why he thought she was spoiled, why he didn't get her anymore, why he wanted to forget her... all of which led to the question of why he suddenly hated her. The questions all overwhelmed her to the point where she couldn't ask, and the knife in her heart had been twisted to utter agony. The fact that her party pony pal--heck, a pal that made her heart go all aflutter--was spitting in her face and turning his back, made her want to cry.

And so she did. She got to her hooves and darted down the street, tears flying from her eyes and a wail erupting from her throat. She barely noticed any other ponies on the street, familiar or not, and she just galloped on.

---

Tomato couldn't believe what he had just seen.

He and Rainbow had only arrived at the tail-end of it, but the utter fact that Cheese told Pinkie right to her face that he wanted to forget her left him frozen in shock. Rainbow Dash hovered beside him, with a slack jaw as well. When Pinkie ran past them crying, that was when Tomato had to unfreeze to keep Rainbow from killing Cheese, who had noticed them and was giving them an odd look.

"Hey!" Rainbow yelled to Cheese. "What makes you think that you can make my friend cry like that?!"

"Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow!" The message came through Tomato's mouthful of rainbow tail, despite a muffled delivery and the stallion dragged several feet. When Rainbow stopped tugging, he spat out the tail and said, "Rainbow, I'll handle Cheese, you should go take care of Pinkie."

Rainbow crossed her front legs. "All right, but let me know if he bites you."

When she dashed off, Tomato was left facing his brother. His angry, grizzled brother under a spell, but still his brother. Stepping forward cobblestone by cobblestone, his stomach churned with the thought that if Pinkie wasn't spared from his wrath, what chance did Tomato himself have? Pinkie Pie had been a sacred cow, while he had been the subject of Cheese's scorn for years until the previous autumn, and even then wasn't exempt from any mean words that Cheese had for him.

Cheese just stared at him. "What?"

Tomato sighed. "Cheese... what the hay was that? Did you just make Pinkie cry?"

Cheese huffed and looked away. "What do you care?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really, except it was Pinkie Pie. You know, the mare who inspired you to become a party pony? That friend you always gush about to me whenever she's brought up? The freakin' love of your life?!"

Cheese scoffed and poked Tomato in the chest. "Oh, so now you are going to peddle those stupid lies to my face? That's not how I remember it! I didn't need any inspiration from a filly like that, I have my own intuition. I made you happy when we were little, remember?"

Tomato swiped the hoof away. "I remember that, Cheese. I also remember how terrified you were of my friends when I tried to show them how amazing you were, to the point where you locked yourself in our room. I remember all those bruises and scratches and black eyes that you claimed were from a door, which now I believe were from bullies. And I remember the accordion incident."

Cheese gave him a confused look. "What accordion incident?"

"The one where me and my friends broke your accordion and you got angry and you ran away because you couldn't take the bullies and Mom's nagging and me being better anymore and which put you on the road to Pinkie Pie and your party pony-ness! That accordion incident!" Tomato heaved after that rapid-fire yelling, having wasted so much breath in that line. Looking up with a glare, he shouted again, "How many memories did that jerk steal from you to make you scorn her?!"

Cheese blinked, and then growled at him. "What makes you think stolen memories made me say that?"

Tomato backed up, but started to stare him down. "Oh-ho-ho, I have plenty of accounts of you lighting up whenever you see her, or talk about her, or think about getting her a present, or baking that apology cake for her, or planning a party with her, or perhaps that one dance at Ponyacci's anniversary that you--"

He stopped when a shrill whistle rang in his ears, and it sent a chill through his body. He covered his ears, and looked around for the source of the noise, grumbling, "Dang it, who would be blowing a whistle at this time? It's not exactly time for track practice right now!"

He turned to speak to Cheese, but the party pony was walking away. "Hey! I'm not done!"

He caught up quickly and tackled him, to which Cheese snapped, "Hey, get off!"

Tomato hopped off. "Don't ditch me when I'm talking!" He watched as Cheese got up and rubbed his chin. "Now, Cheese, I was saying that I have plenty of evidence that you don't actually hate her, but that you are really in--"

There it was again. He shuddered at the whistle, cursed under his breath, and looked to Cheese, who was walking away yet again. At first, he was angry that he was just walking off again, this time to the park; but then he thought it was weird that he was only doing that during that weird whistling. So, he galloped to Cheese, skidded to a stop in front of him, and looked in his eyes. Once he saw that they were glazed, Tomato's eyes widened and there was a tightness in his gut. So, without thinking, he slapped Cheese.

Cheese, with his eyes back to normal, barked, "Hey!"

Tomato bit his lip, and grabbed Cheese by the hoof, dragging him across the grass. "Sorry about that, but I'm having a really bad feeling about that weird whistle and how you keep walking off and we really need to get back to Twilight right now!"

Cheese blinked. "What whistle?"

Tomato groaned. "Well, how do I explain this, it's high-pitched, shrill, long--" He was interrupted by that very noise ringing through his ears. "That whistle!"

Just as he said that, Cheese slipped out of his grasp. Tomato spun around to see Cheese galloping away this time. With a gasp, Tomato yelled, "Cheese!" and gave chase.

They galloped through the park, weaving through the trees and bushes until they were out on the other street. They galloped down that street, curving through neighborhoods that were unfamiliar to Tomato. They looked like suburbs, as far as he could tell under an almost-full moon, and the few ponies walking about were startled at the scene of the chase. There were hills that he didn't expect, and bridges that Cheese leapt off of that Tomato simply went around.

The lantern lights were gone, and Tomato was thankful that the moon was a bright gibbous. with just a sliver of blue keeping it from fullness. Regardless, he should keep his sights on Cheese, who was ditching the city, and bounding into the wilderness. If he could just get in a good tackle, then Cheese should snap out of it.

Through the trees and bushes, and down hills leading down the mountainside, Tomato was amazed that he could keep up this long--but also at how Cheese just kept going. All the while, he was looking for the source of that stupid whistle, figuring that whoever it was was following them, and didn't want them to get back to Twilight.

Finally, it seemed like Cheese was slowing down, and Tomato had one last burst of energy to tackle him. And sure enough, he did--only to realize that they were now tumbling down a steep mountainside, with little hope of stopping the momentum.

Down they bounced, Tomato's life flashing before his eyes. They were going to fall off a cliff, all because of a stupid hypnotizing whistle that only got Cheese for some reason. Tomato would have questioned when Cheese had been that weak-minded, but it was clear that it was the moment of the first stolen memory. He could only scream in his mind over the sequence of events that led up to this moment, where maybe this time they'd die--or worse, fall into the clutches of this mysterious villain.

As he thought, they rolled off a cliff; however, that tumbling got Cheese back to his senses, and quick as a whip, he managed to grab a long, stray root, and swing on it like a vine. There was some relief on Tomato's part when that happened, as there was still some Cheese left in there; on the other hoof, how were they supposed to get back up?!

He got his answer soon enough; the cliff was over a railroad, and there was a train. The last thing he thought was the hope that it was going up the mountain, and the last thing he saw was rock, metal, and a flash of light in the corner of his eye.

And then he landed headfirst atop the train, and blacked out.

Meanwhile, as he landed on the train, Cheese shook his head and rubbed it, wondering what had happened. With a deep breath, Cheese just sat on his rump, and glanced back at his unconscious brother, a little too close to slipping off the edge of the boxcar.

At first, he thought about just leaving him, so that Tomato would fall off, and thus, no more nagging brother to bother him. Who was he to tell him what to do? It was crazy how he was scolding him about he he treated Pinkie Pie--maybe Tomato was the one with the crazy crush instead of him. Odd, he didn't take Pinkie for Tomato's type.

On the other hoof, he felt sick just leaving him to certain death. No matter what, that was his brother, his family, and no matter what, he didn't want his family to die. It was strange, it was like Tomato was his last link to sanity. He couldn't drop him off that cliff, and he sure couldn't let him slip off a moving train. So, he grabbed Tomato's tail, and pulled him close. Once Tomato was in his grasp, he hugged him tight, and felt a lump in his throat, almost like he was going to cry over this nightmare.

He looked up, the wind blowing through his mane. It was soon clear that the train was chugging away from the mountain, and away from Canterlot, which gleamed under the silver moon. Where it was going, he was not sure. His sense of direction died along with his Cheesy Sense, and for all he knew, it could be to the middle of nowhere.

It was just as well. Ponies were not a fan of how he was handling things. They wouldn't want Cheese Sandwich anymore.

At least his tail still worked. Otherwise he'd have more trouble getting into the boxcar.

Author's Note:

Hey, look, over 500,000 words now. I think I have a problem.

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Wow. That is serious. I wonder will they find out what is wrong with Cheese. And where is Cheese going?

[redmar]

Cheese is really making this unnecessarily difficult for everyone including himself. When Twilight extracts Cheese's magic signature she'ss be able to track him.

[Goldfinch142]

Well, at least Cheese still has some semblance of sanity and empathy...though I'm not sure how long that will last.

And getting separated from civilization, where Wayer Rune could much more easily do something, isn't a very good thing either. And with the full moon only one night away, it's an inevitability. Still, maybe getting on the train will help put some distance between them and Wayer Rune, and buy some time for Twilight to extract the signature.

[ChaoticKindness]

Aw, Cheese still cares about Tommy

[Godslittleprincess]

Okay, the yelling part was worse than how TVTropes made it sound.