Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

22.1--The Final Countdown

Now that she had chosen the right formula for spell extraction, Twilight could overcome that road block. As she took a deep breath, she concentrated on the blood, and her horn began to glow.

It began to glow and boil yet again. This time, she was drawing this mysterious dark purple haze out of it, which gave out a shrill cry not unlike a banshee, and bubbling in purple, green, and black. Purple bolts crackled from it, and it turned the room cold and dark as it floated higher. The cries of the magic sent chills down everypony's spines, and they could only watch as Twilight's eyes turned red and green in order to fight this magic.

As the magic was separated from the blood, Twilight yelled, "Jar! Now!"

Fluttershy whimpered and grabbed a jar, tossing it to Rarity in a panic. Rarity opened the jar with her magic, wincing from the haze shooting from the air into the jar. Once it was all in, Applejack took the lid and slammed the jar shut, screwing it tight for good measure. Once the magic was contained, the room grew warm and light again.

Applejack backed up, gazing at the jar of weird purple bubbly haze. "Uh... what just happened?"

Twilight sat on the floor, panting. "That was... dark magic..."

Rarity gasped and dropped the jar, regaining her senses just in time to catch it. She still opted to keep her distance from it by putting it on the desk. "Dark magic?! Egads! I shudder to think about what would have happened if we hadn't been so quick!"

Applejack was helping Twilight up. "I dunno for sure, but I reckon we'd turn nasty like a rabid timberwolf."

"Like Cheese Sandwich?" Fluttershy said dolefully.

Twilight rubbed her head. "It explains a whole lot about his recent behavior, though now I need to pin down the specific nature of his corruption." Her eyes widened. "Not only that, we sent Pinkie out to free him from jail, and Tomato and Rainbow to find him! Oh, no, we sent them to play with fire!"

The other three gasped. Applejack in particular stomped a hoof and shouted, "Dagnabbit, I told y'all we shouldn't've let Pinkie go!"

"Maybe I should have gone," Fluttershy said. "I would've kept him in check!"

"Twilight, we must go out and rescue them immediately!" Rarity cried. "I just know Rainbow will get into a fight with him if Pinkie gets hurt."

Twilight nodded. "Right, let's go--"

The door swung open, and they turned to see Rainbow uncomfortably escorting a deflated and tear-stained Pinkie into the room. She watched with sympathy as Pinkie made a leeway for the bed, grabbed a pillow, and proceeded to sob in it, hugging it as tightly as she could. She lingered on Pinkie a few more moments before turning to Twilight with knitted eyebrows.

"So, a certain buttmunch said nasty things about her and implied he hated her," she stated.

Fluttershy and Applejack were by Pinkie's side in an instant, with Applejack holding her and Fluttershy rubbing her back. As Pinkie sniffled, she sputtered out, "H-he said... he said he wanted to forget me! He said I was nosy a-and irresponsible... and a brat..."

"Oh, no, you poor dear!" Fluttershy said, drawing closer for a soft hug. "I'm sorry that he was so harsh to you. It's awful when somepony says such mean things to their friend."

Applejack patted her head. "Oh, sugarcube, his head's not screwed on right. Who would wanna forget you when you put so much effort into making us happy? I'm honored to be your friend, and your cousin. Don't worry, we'll set him back straight and have him see the light again."

Pinkie sniffled, her face buried in the pillow. "Okay..."

Applejack looked up to Twilight. "Twi, can you get to figurin' out this dark magic stuff quick?"

Rainbow blinked. "Wait, dark magic? Uh, what happened when we were gone?"

Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "Funny thing, that extra spell in Cheese's blood has dark magic in it. Crazy, right?" She pointed to the jar of dark magic as proof. She dropped her hoof, and looked at the door. "Uh, Rainbow? Where are Cheese and Tomato?"

"Well, Tomato said that he'd handle Cheese--" Rainbow backed up when Twilight's glare was practically shoved in her face. "...and I'm getting the sense that it was a bad idea."

"Well, yeah!" Twilight snapped. "Between the missing memories and the dark magic, Cheese is highly unstable for the time being! There's no telling what he'll do to Tomato if he loses his temper yet again! Maybe he'll hold back because they're brothers... or maybe he'll maul him like he did with Kazam and those animals!"

"Hey, it was Tomato's idea!"

"Doesn't matter whose idea it was, you shouldn't have left them alone!" Twilight turned back to the blood and concentrated on it yet again. A green mist slipped out of the blood easily, and Twilight readily absorbed it into her horn. "At least now I can track Cheese."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her horn created a magic bubble, which expanded outward to phase out of the suite, and kept growing until it covered all of Canterlot. She stood still for a few moments as the others stared, waiting for her answers. Then, after the slow, silent moments had passed, Twilight's face scrunched in confusion, followed by her eyes snapping open.

"I can't sense him!" she cried. "I can't find his magic within the radius! It's like he just disappeared!"

Pinkie looked up from her pillow. "Again?"

"Wait, wait, wait..." Applejack said, hopping off the bed. "Are you tellin' us that he might've hightailed it out of Canterlot?"

"Maybe his magic's too low for you to sense it," Fluttershy said.

"No, no, no, last I checked, Cheese still had his cutie mark, so he should still have enough for me to sense him." Twilight then slammed her face on the desk. "But how did he manage to ditch town so fast?! Why is he ditching town? Does he think I'm going to poke him with a needle again?" She pulled at her ears. "I don't know if Tomato is with him, and I didn't get his magic signature when I had the chance!"

"Perhaps we should ask around Canterlot," Rarity suggested. "Some ponies are bound to have seen what happened."

Applejack nodded. "Agreed. We'll go out and see what we can find, and you find out more about this dark magic that's infecting Cheese. I sure hope it ain't contagious, or we may have ourselves a plague on our hoofs." She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Can you lead us to where you last saw them?"

"Psht, yeah," Rainbow said, beginning to hover. "If we're lucky, they're probably still there arguing."

Fluttershy patted Pinkie on the head, slid off the bed, and muttered, "I might as well go too, in case things get too rough and I have to..." She winced at the thought of it. "You know..."

She turned to Pinkie. "Would you like to come, or are you still..."

Pinkie hugged her pillow, laid on the bed, and turned away. "No... I'll just keep Twilight company."

With one last sad, lingering look at the pepless Pinkie Pie, the party of four accepted this, and bid her and Twilight farewell as they went off into the night. It fell quiet once the door clicked shut, and all that was done was Twilight gathering the notes with her magic and laying them across the desk to read.

Before she did so, she turned to Pinkie. "I'm sorry that he said those things to you. Corrupted or not, I never thought he of all ponies would treat you with such contempt. I don't blame you if you don't want to look for him."

Pinkie squeezed her pillow tighter and hiccuped. "I... I know his mind's all scrambled, but... but... how much of it did he really mean?"

Twilight glanced at the jar of dark magic on her desk, crackling and bubbling as it tried to escape its prison. "I don't know, I can't read his mind, nor can I compare his normal state of mind to his current. Dark magic may amplify traits to negative extremes, but I'm not entirely sure what the select traits are for him, and the missing memories only muddy the water. Still, I know enough that once he's cured, he won't hesitate to try to make it up to you. And the sooner we fix this, the better."

Pinkie sniffled. "I... guess that's good to hear." She shoved her face in the pillow once again. "But, I still need some time."

Twilight sighed and rubbed her eye, turning back to the notes. Wishing she had a book on types of dark magic spells, she had to rely on memory of what she had read before as she scanned through each bullet point, each sentence, and each word. The pieces were in front of her, and now she just needed to solve the puzzle, and use that as a launching point for a cure.

Heightened aggression... short temper... violence when angered... predatory tendencies... She yawned. What time was it? Growing in winter coat in summer... submissive to Fluttershy's Stare... unusual fascination with the moon...

She yawned again. So much excitement that day, from the chase to the trial to investigating the spell Cheese was under. Twilight was tempted to go to bed, though she didn't want to leave the desk before figuring it out, or learning where Cheese and Tomato went.

Though, maybe she could close her eyes for a few minutes...

---

His head cushioned on a bale of hay, and rocked by a rickety boxcar, Cheese Sandwich was wrapped up in a dream.

It had started simple enough, with a party of the caliber that he once held, and ponies smiling and laughing as they had their fun. He had been dancing along with them, relishing being in the hooves of his old self, the old self that was wild and carefree, imaginative and wily, a master of the strange magic of laughter, but most importantly, the old self that was happy. There were no worries, there was only fun.

But, in the midst of his dance, he was pulled out of the dance floor by what he could only see as a magic aura around his hoof. He dug his hooves into the dirt, and tried to break free of the magic, but that only resulted in him just getting dragged across the ground. He tried to yell at the magic, but all that came out was the barking of a dog. The owner of the magic just laughed, and continued pulling him forward.

As he was pulled over to a ledge, threatened with a fall down an abyss, a mouth clamped onto his tail, and he was pulled back from the ledge. He looked back, and there she was, that purple-coated, curly-maned mare from visions before. She was trying to drag him back to the party, pleading with him to fight as much as he could and to return to where he belonged. As much as he wanted to listen to her, and go running back to his calling, he found himself frozen and unable to determine his own fate. He was just the rope in this tug-o-war.

Yanked forward and yanked back, and forward again, Cheese kept his eyes on the mare, not wanting to see who the one pulling him forward was. He wanted the mare to win the tug-o-war, to bring him back to safety, and to bring him back home. He wanted for this nightmare to end, so that he could be at peace.

Then, his tail slipped out of the mare's mouth, and he found himself falling through the dark clouds of the abyss, reaching out in vain to the mare. The clouds gave way to red flames, which sang with the screams and the cries of animal and pony alike, calling him a monster. As he fell through the fire, which was shaped like anguished ponies and animals, he looked at his body, where the skin was burning away to reveal something underneath that pony hide--the monster the fire was talking about.

Amid the screams, there was a single bellow of laughter.

The screaming only stopped when he heard, "HEY! What are you doing here, stowaways?!"

His eyes snapping open, he realized that he was face to face with a railroad worker, who did not look too happy. Before he could answer, Cheese was grabbed by the shirt and thrown out of the boxcar, landing face first and with a mouth full of dirt. As he spit the dirt out, a confused Tomato landed right on top of him, and Cheese crumpled under the momentum.

The worker spat in the dirt. "You're lucky you're in the desert, or you'd be in a bigger heap of trouble with the law! You better not have gotten fleas in the hay I'm unloading. Now git!"

Tomato groaned, rubbing his head and grumbling something under his breath, only for his ears to perk up in alarm. He hopped off Cheese and asked, "Wait, did you say 'desert'?"

The worked spat at Tomato's hooves. "I did. And I told you to 'git'!"

Tomato spun around in a circle, looking all around at the barren landscape. Dried up under the morning sun and with few cacti and tumbleweeds as plant life, the landscape did indeed confirm what the worker told him, much to his dismay. "Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! This isn't good! Not good at all!"

Cheese got up and brushed himself off. "Glad to see you're awake."

Tomato spun around to face Cheese and snorted hotly. "Why the hay are we not in Canterlot?!"

Before Cheese could answer, the railroad worker burst into laughter. "You was heading to Canterlot? You done hopped on the wrong train, because this one was heading south, and you just ended up a trot away from Appleloosa." He pointed to the nearby town just a half-mile away. "You poor souls with no sense of direction."

Tomato rubbed his temple. "No, sir, we were already in Canterlot, but--"

The railroad worker raised a hoof. "I don't wanna hear your excuses. I told you to git, and I expect you to git."

Tomato nickered in annoyance. "Fine, then. We'll just have to find a train back." When the worked narrowed his eyes, Tomato hastily added, "I'm going to pay the fare!"

As he and Cheese turned and walked to town, Tomato grumbled, "It was completely by accident... I didn't even want to go freight hopping!" He sighed. "Do I have enough for the train fare? Maybe I was a little too charitable back in Aura Springs..."

Cheese rolled his eyes. "Well, gee, last I remember, we were talking in the park, and then suddenly we're falling off a cliff. Care to explain how that happened?"

Tomato groaned. "There was a weird whistling noise, and you were trying to follow it in a daze. I don't know what it was or why it was attracting you or how that magic even works... but, still, it's why we were falling off that cliff. So, now we need to beware of whistles, which should be valuable info for Twilight... if we were back in Canterlot."

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "A whistle. That's why we ended up here?"

Tomato rubbed his head. "I wish I didn't hit my head, because maybe we could have jumped off that train and climbed back to Canterlot, because, you know, we've got a magic problem that only Princess Twilight could help us with."

Cheese snorted. "Well, you better hope that that stupid tracking spell can reach this far, because I'm not going back."

"Wait, what? Um, I don't know how far that spell can reach... I mean, Equestria's pretty big, so I think that'd take a lot of magic to perform... can we not put a strain on the poor princess and just go back and set you right?"

Cheese snarled in Tomato's face. "Shut up, or I'll bite you."

Tomato backed up. "What's with you and biting?"

Cheese snorted, and sped up his pace. "So what if I go back to Canterlot to get my magic problems fixed? Even if we do manage to find that stupid memory, I sure as Tartarus can't go back to my former glory. Ponies will judge me for what I did at that trial and think I'm too dangerous, so my career is as good as over! And if I can't be a party pony... what's the point? At least you can go finish college to at least become something."

Tomato matched his pace. "So, what, are you going to wander into the desert and die?"

"Oh, thanks for the idea, it's not like I have any other option."

"What? Okay, no, my brother is not a cynical coward! You're the pony who fought through crippling shyness to become one of Equestria's greatest entertainers! You're the pony that braves every danger to reach a party that needs your touch! You're the pony who can swallow his pride when he messes up--after all you apologized for the feud before I did! You're supposed to be the bigger pony than I am!"

Cheese stopped and turned to him. "Feud? What feud?"

Tomato blinked, and he exhaled sharply. "The Feud! The one that started after Mom derided your talent and you insulted my cutie mark! We spent years having a cold war that consisted of you avoiding us unless Cheesy Sense told you I needed you and me shunning parties and fun and being miserable and you faking a smile while showing me a trick in order to try to get me to lighten up when I didn't need to be entertained rather I needed you as a friend and d'ooooh!" He stomped hard on the ground, dust billowing from the impact. "What's the point of rambling about this when you can't even remember something that lasted around a decade?! Wow, I thought a memory thief would take the good memories to make you act like this, but apparently, getting rid of some bad ones sure did lessen the impact the good ones had, like how you see Pinkie Pie."

"Again with Pinkie Pie..." Cheese growled. He could feel his fur bristle just hearing that name, as if somepony was about to compare them. "Seriously, why are you defending my biggest rival? I thought you didn't like her, but I guess that's just a front for something else."

"She is not my type, and I'm defending her because she is the reason that you decided to break out of that shell that you apparently forgot that you were ever in! Well, I guess you're now a brat that can't handle negative emotions anymore, and this extra spell in you just makes it worse!" Tomato was clearly misty-eyed. "I don't even know you anymore!"

Cheese shoved him to the ground and pinned him down, eliciting a squeak from the younger brother. Holding Tomato down so that he could barely move, Cheese loomed over him with a growl. "Oh, I'm the brat? Listen, you, you'd be angry too if everything you have ever worked for was falling apart! And you have the gall to consider me the bad guy? Why, I oughta..."

However, he stopped once he saw Tomato's pained eyes and the quivering of his lip. His mind's eye seeing an Applewood teenager or one of the animals of Aura Springs, he mentally hit himself for doing it again--to his brother of all ponies! Looking up at his forelock, which had a noticeable sag to it, he released his hold, and backed up, his ears drooping.

Then, with a bitter tone, he sighed and said, "You know what? I think it's time for you to go home."

Tomato sat up. "What?"

"You heard me," Cheese added with a sharper tone. "Cheesy Sense is dead, so no more parties. Besides... you're safer with Mom."

"But, Cheese, what about--"

"Canterlot? Puh, they're better off not bothering." He helped Tomato up, and continued the walk to Appleloosa. "Don't know when the next train to Manehattan is, so I'll get you something to eat."

Tomato paused for a moment, watching as Cheese plodded forth with a gait that seemed a little off. He tentatively followed, his head hung low. An angry part of him considered just going home, to get away from this killjoy who made Mom look like a saint. Still, the sad part of him just looked up at that curly mane, longing for the party pony that he had traveled with at the journey's start.

---

Down the street of the dusty desert town, Tomato just followed behind Cheese as they searched for a place to eat. Surprisingly, many of the ponies that passed by them and tipped their hats, saying howdy to Cheese Sandwich, and even briefly asking who the pony behind him was. Just like Mane-tua, Cheese apparently frequented this town enough that ponies were familiar with him as a pony rather than a celebrity. Tomato wondered if Cheese found it relaxing to visit towns where that was the case, like Ponyville and Mane-tua.

Regardless, just what would these ponies think when they learned that Cheese was not quite himself?

Then, all of a sudden, a yellow stallion, with a mane of strawberry blonde under a cowboy hat, had caught sight of them from across the road, and immediately dashed to Cheese with a big grin on his face. "Cheese Sandwich! Well, I'll be the son of a biscuit, I haven't seen you since spring!"

Cheese was quickly caught in a hug, followed by two hard thumps on his back. Cheese patted the other stallion's back in return, holding an awkward grin, and replied, "Braeburn! It's nice to see you again..."

"Darn tootin'!" Braeburn practically leapt out of the hug. "I was worried that you weren't goin' to keep your word that you'd visit with that brother of yours..." He glanced at Tomato and pointed at him. "But you remembered! Haha, I'm over the moon that that summer trip you've been planning has a stop in my sweet home Appleloosa! Though, I do wonder why so late..."

Cheese rubbed the back of his head. "Cheesy Sense isn't exactly predictable, so I wasn't sure."

Braeburn nodded, and then turned to Tomato. "And I am mighty honored to meet you, Tomato Sandwich. Cheese has been talkin' 'bout you his last couple of visits, and meeting the kin of a friend makes me as happy as a pig in the mud."

Tomato blinked. "You sure caught on quickly that we're related."

Braeburn waved a hoof and pointed to various areas of Tomato's head as he explained, "Easy to tell that you're kin--you two have the same muzzle, same eyes, same forelock, and you're both tall. But, enough of that, I'm fixin' to show you around!"

Cheese got in between them. "Eeyeah, we're just here for a bite to eat, and then I'm sending Tomato back to Manehattan."

Braeburn's smile fell. "What? You just got here! And with the anniversary of the peace treaty between us Applelossans and the buffalo tribe tonight... I thought for sure you'd be jumpin' right in to plan the hoedown."

Tomato winced at Braeburn's tone. If Braeburn's attitude up until that point was any indication, he and Cheese must have been pretty good friends, and it hurt to see him suddenly so disappointed like that. However, with the mention of a party that night, he suddenly got an idea. Perhaps in getting Braeburn what he wanted, Tomato could get him to help with their situation and alert Twilight of their location--or Cheese's last location, depending on how long it'd take for Twilight and friends to arrive.

"Sorry, Braeburn," Cheese began. "But I haven't--"

"Did you say 'hoedown'?" Tomato interrupted. "Because what kind of party pony would my big brother be if he refused to help you folks celebrate a special occasion?"

Cheese slapped a hoof over Tomato's mouth. "Tomato, no, you know I--"

Tomato pulled the hoof off his mouth. "Now, now, Cheese, even if your magic's not up to par, you still can organize the event with what the Appleloosans have on hoof. It's what we did back in Aura Springs with the fundraiser, and that turned out well, no?"

Braeburn blinked. "Wait, what's wrong with your magic?"

Cheese sighed. "It's gone kaput. So I can't really do anything fancy."

"Oh, uh, we don't need nothing fancy. Even if you can't do much, we'd appreciate the help."

Tomato waggled his eyebrows. "And it wouldn't be fitting to end our vacation without one last hurrah, one last party, and a night to wind down and relax and have fun before it all comes to an end, and I have to go back to school. Not to mention how happy Braeburn would be to get to know his pal's brother. So..."

Cheese stiffened, biting his lip as he desperately tried to search for a reply against it. Not helping was the double-whammy of puppy-dog eyes from both Braeburn and Tomato. After a few moments of sifting through his thoughts, Cheese groaned. "Fine, one last party, and then Tomato goes home."

Braeburn cheered and threw his hat into the air, while Tomato just smirked in satisfaction. Even with a spell screwing him up, there was still a little bit of Cheese's party pony instinct in there. Now, all he had to do was get Braeburn in on his scheme without Cheese knowing. Hopefully, he could find an opening for that soon.

And then his stomach rumbled loudly, and Tomato blushed.

Braeburn laughed. "Well, somepony needs to fill up his bread basket."

---

One messy meal of apple pie at Braeburn's house later--mostly done by Cheese gobbling his slices--Cheese was off to discuss the party with Sheriff Silverstar, and Tomato thanked the heavens that a opening presented itself while he helped Braeburn clean up the mess.

"Didn't expect him to throw slop around like confetti," Braeburn said as he mopped. "I know apple pie's a slice of heaven, but he didn't need to compete with pigs for messiest critter."

"Mm-hm," Tomato said, watching from the window as Cheese walked further off. "He's been gobbling his food like that for the past month."

"And he was bein' all ornery when I told him to slow down," Braeburn said. "Come to think of it, his trot's lost all his skip and he looks like he's grinning at spear point. I'm gettin' the sense that he ain't all that healthy."

Figuring that Cheese was now out of earshot, Tomato walked away from the window and faced Braeburn. "He's not. This is going to sound crazy, but some of his memories have been stolen and he's also under another spell. It's messing with his mind and magic to the point that he's not exactly Cheese anymore."

"He what now?" Braeburn blinked, and took a moment to let it sink in. "Wait, wait, wait, he's under a spell? Land sakes... that's awful! What kind of spell is he under?"

Tomato sighed. "That's the thing, I don't know. All I know is that it's there and it's making him act weird. What you saw is just scratching the surface."

"All right, uh..." Braeburn scratched his head. "What do you expect me to do? I ain't a unicorn."

"Don't worry, you don't have to do anything magical. See, uh..." Tomato wasn't quite sure if Braeburn would believe the next part. "We were initially in Canterlot, to have Princess Twilight find out what the spell is, but I'm sure that somebody sabotaged us by tricking us onto a train out of the city. Whoever it is doesn't want Twilight to fix Cheese, and even worse, Cheese is convinced that there's no point in going back if his life's falling apart, since he did... not-so-good things. So, I was thinking that we could lead Twilight here, and since she probably knows what it is by now, she can come and one, two, three, she'll break the spell!"

Braeburn furrowed his brow. "Eh... I'm not sure if I follow... I know you said something about Princess Twilight breaking the spell?"

Tomato blew on his forelock. "I get it, it sounds crazy, how do we even know a--"

"Oh, no, I believe that part! My cousin Applejack is one of her friends, and I know Cheese knows Pinkie Pie! It don't take a lot of horse smarts to figure it out." He pursed his lips in thought and rubbed his chin. "So... what's my part again?"

Tomato sighed in relief. "I just need you to cover for me while I send her a message. Cheese would probably kill me if he caught me doing it, but Twilight is our only option to get him back to normal."

Braeburn grimaced. "I dunno... I'm not one for going behind ponies' backs... it ain't honest."

"I know it isn't!" Tomato snapped. "But at this point, I don't care, I just want my brother back!

Tomato could see that Braeburn had flinched at that, and then he saighed. "Not only that, if any of your neighbors end up setting off that temper he's got, he will get violent. I don't think you want your neighbors getting hurt or for Cheese to show himself a monster. So, please... just help me out with this."

Braeburn stared at him for a good ten seconds, his face creasing with growing concern. Then, with a sigh, he said, "Well, if it's the way to get him grinnin' again, then all right, I'll help out." His face brightened with an idea. "And I have the perfect cover!"

---

When Braeburn said that he had the perfect cover, being pushed around town and given the grand tour was not what Tomato had in mind. He felt his ribs being nearly crushed by the cowboy's head, and he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out in pain. Still, in passing Cheese, who just glanced at them and rolled his eyes in a "here he goes again" manner, the performance was at least convincing. Of course, the tour was indeed genuine.

"This here's the Salt Block!" Braeburn chirped, showing him a saloon. "You ever need a drink or a salt lick, you can just drop by here."

"Salt's fine, but I'm not a fan of liquor," Tomato replied.

"That's all right, it serves soda and ice cream, too!"

Braeburn pushed him to the next attraction. "This here's our clock tower!" And then to the next. "This here's our stage for our hoedowns and concerts, which will definitely be used tonight at our talent show. Can you sing?"

"It runs in the family," Tomato replied.

Braeburn pushed him yet again, this time bumping into the mustached sheriff of the town. When all parties gave each other their space, Braeburn continued, "Tomato, meet Sheriff Silverstar, and Sheriff, meet Cheese Sandwich's brother, Tomato Sandwich."

Sheriff Silverstar tipped his hat. "Howdy, Mr. Sandwich. Are you going to help set up this hoedown for tonight like your brother?"

"Uh... after Braeburn finishes up the tour, sir," Tomato said.

"Well, with his energy, you should be done faster than a hungry jackrabbit sprintin' for a carrot field." He walked off to the main street. "Now, I oughta make sure that everypony's ready for any coyotes sneakin' in to catch chickens. We've been having problems with those varmints for months."

Braeburn lifted one of his forelegs and moved it around. "Yup, I injured one of my forelegs fightin' one of those things. Had to miss out on our local rodeo." He smiled. "Speakin' of rodeos..."

Tomato was suddenly pushed to another part of town, this time to an arena where various ponies, from the little midget to the enormous Clydesdale, were practicing various kinds of circus tricks. Juggling, jumping through hoops, and stacking themselves into a tower were among the things that they did.

"And here's our arena! Where we have our rodeos, sports, and occasional circus," Braeburn explained. "Those folks are the rodeo clowns."

Tomato felt his blood run cold. "C-clowns?"

"Hey, they don't bite. They ain't even in--LOOK OUT!"

Braeburn shoved Tomato out of the way of a falling tower of barrels. Some of them popped some boards out of the fence; some bounced out of bounds and all the way to the hoedown area, scattering some ponies. As the two stallions looked up from where they had stumbled to, they could see a mountain of barrels where they had once stood.

The Clydesdale ambled forth to see the mess and sighed. "Not again."

Braeburn helped Tomato up, and they could see an angry Sheriff Silverstar and an angry Cheese Sandwich galloping forth. The former did not hesitate to shout, "D'oh, Trouble Shoes! How many times have I told you to be careful? Now you have to clean up this mess again!"

Trouble Shoes lowered his head. "I apologize, Sheriff. I'll get to cleanin--"

Cheese grabbed him by the nose and yelled in his face, "My good friend and my brother could have gotten killed, you clumsy moron! I've heard a lot about your and your rodeo ruining ways, and I'm surprised that nopony ever thought of giving you the death sentence so that you couldn't cause any more trouble!"

Sheriff Silverstar pulled him away. "Easy, now! The death penalty didn't fit his crimes, he just needs to work on his coordination. Honestly, I'm surprised at your temper, Cheese Sandwich, and I don't want you getting violent, you hear?"

Cheese huffed. "I hear."

As he walked away, he turned to Braeburn and Tomato, who fumbled over each other's words in telling them that they're both all right, and that Braeburn was about to show Tommy the apple orchard. Cheese nodded in satisfaction, and he left.

Both breathed a sigh of relief. Braeburn turned to Trouble Shoes and said, "Aw, don't worry, pardner, I ain't mad."

Trouble Shoes rubbed his nose. "I know you ain't. I best get to picking up them barrels."

When Trouble Shoes left, Braeburn turned to Tomato. "I admit, I had a lick of doubt about the magic spell thing, but now... I mean, I know Cheese can get mad--everypony does. But practically wishing death on somepony for an accident? That ain't right. Sorry for gettin' carried away with the tour."

Tomato sighed. "Well... if you can sneak me to the post office as soon as possible, it's fine."

---

After showing him the apple orchard and telling him the story of the conflict they had with the buffalo over it, Braeburn snuck Tomato around the hill and back to town, leading him to the post office. It only took a few minutes of Braeburn standing watch and Tomato writing on some stationery, but it felt like hours. Braeburn expected Cheese to pop out of nowhere, asking him where Tomato was. He had a cover story of "Outhouse", but he wasn't sure if Cheese would believe it.

Thankfully, Cheese was too busy with the party to notice any of it, and Tomato walked out. They trotted down the street to the square where the party was to take place, so that they could finally pitch in. They could see a pegasus taking off for Canterlot from the corner of their eyes, and Tomato said, "I gave them instructions to try Ponyville if she's not in her suite."

Braeburn nodded, and then frowned. "I dunno... all this secrecy bothers me. Are you sure he'd whup you for trying to cure him?"

"He's been pretty stubborn about this," Tomato said. "He implied that he wanted to be left alone earlier, and he just expected me to just go home, no questions asked. But if he is left alone, this mystery mage will nab him, and... and... I don't know, but I know it'd be bad."

Braeburn pursed his lips before letting them pull up into a sad smile. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he don't go anywhere. And if I know him, tonight's party will have him smilin' and laughin' like his old self!"

---

Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, a good night's sleep lead to clearer minds, especially on the part of Twilight Sparkle. A clearer mind brought better analysis, and better analysis led to solving the puzzle that much more quickly. The bullet list, some back and forth with Pinkie--having already cried enough and now providing some of what she witnessed--and searching through a few of her books on Equestrian history all suggested what Cheese's symptoms were pointing to. The answer was less than pretty.

Twilight and Pinkie went out onto the streets to gather their friends. Now with newfound information telling them that there was a time limit, it was a good thing that Twilight could track them through their magic signatures. As it turned out, after hours of searching, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had rested at the park, while Applejack and Rarity did so at Canterlot Carousel.

"Hey, I don't blame you all for falling asleep in the middle of a crucial search, I mean, yesterday was pretty exciting," Pinkie said once the rest were all gathered in the square. She looked at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. "Was the tree comfy?"

"I've slept in trees before, Pinkie," Rainbow said.

"It actually was kind of comfy," Fluttershy mumbled.

Rarity stepped forward. "I'm terribly sorry, Twilight, we did try our best to find some witnesses, but everypony just had to retire early! I know beauty sleep is so very important, as I do try to keep a consistent sleep schedule for optimum health and fabulousness." She swung her head to let her violet ringlets fly and bounce back into perfection. Then she scowled. "Still, a little help for finding a corrupted party pony would be appreciated!"

"Anyway..." Applejack said. "I'm guessing that you found something. At least somepony's making progress."

"Eeyeah, I did," Twilight said, shifting on her hooves. "Looking through all the behavioral changes suggests that the nature of the spell is making Cheese devolve into animalistic behaviors--hence why Fluttershy's Stare worked on him. A shift in diet, such as Pinkie's account of him eating dog kibble, or Tomato's account of him trying to hunt, suggest a carnivore. The aggression is more or less a corruption of that, with Cheese's mental state compounding it. But it could have lead to anything... if it wasn't for the fact that one key factor means that we have a time limit to find him before--"

"Get on with it!" Rainbow shouted. "What's wrong with him?"

And so, with a sigh, Twilight said, "He's a werewolf."

Pinkie was the only one who didn't gasp, having heard Twilight's conclusion before. Still, hearing it again made her sick to her stomach, and the subject just left her not Pinkie enough to clamor along with her friends like she usually would.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow shouted. "First his brother's a vampire, and now he's a werewolf?"

"Oh, Fluttershy, you dummy!" Fluttershy said with a facepalm. "I brushed off his scent tracking, his lapping up water, and even his gait as just... a party pony being a party pony." She turned to Pinkie. "Uh... no offense."

"None taken," Pinkie replied.

Applejack was next to turn to her. "Er, Pinkie? Didn't Cheese bite you?"

Pinkie looked at her foreleg. "Yeah, but Twilight says not to worry, it's only contagious if the bite bleeds, so no Pinkiewolf."

"But there is going to be Cheesewolf," Rarity said. "Tonight's the full moon!"

"Well, technically it's still a gibbous, but it's close enough for it to look full and have just enough power for Cheese to transform... so, yeah, three straight nights of Cheesewolf," Twilight said, desperately trying to keep her voice level and her eye from twitching. She cleared her voice. "It's more urgent than we thought--innocents are in danger, and tonight's the night that his symptoms are coming to a head! It's imperative that we locate him as soon as possible."

"How far can your tracking spell reach?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight said. "I can only get it to cover an area the size of Manehattan. Sure, that's big, but it's only a small fraction of all of Equestria, and somehow, he must have escaped that radius and galloped off to who-knows-where!"

"Maybe the Map could track them," Applejack suggested.

"Maybe... but I don't want to tamper with it and end up breaking it, and I don't know if it would detect a werewolf as a friendship problem!" Twilight paced back and forth. "Could Celestia cover a wider range? Can we convince Luna to not raise the moon? Or do we have to wait until he or Tomato sends a letter that says, 'We're in so-and-so town, come cure Cheese before he bites anypony!'" She plopped down onto her rump. "Ugh..."

Pinkie patted her back. "Hey, don't panic, Twilight! My Pinkie Sense is telling me that we'll find out soon."

She looked up at the clear blue sky with a serious expression, imagining the full moon when it was in place that night. "I hope we find out before tonight."

Author's Note:

Hey, I planned on Appleloosa, and I'm going to write Appleloosa! Braeburn is simultaneously fun and frustrating to write. Poor guy, he has to see his friend Cheese when the latter is... not quite himself.

Oh, and in other news, Twilight found out what's wrong. I did debate with myself on where I wanted to reveal it (in most cases, the obvious choice would be the transformation, but no matter how I sliced it, leaving Twilight figuring it out out was just awkward for me). Of course, by this point, I'd be surprised if you didn't figure it out--my subtlety wasn't at its best in this tale.

Anyway, next chapter, the moment we've all been waiting for...

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Wow. Great chapter. At last they now know what we knew. I hope they find where Cheese is soon. Pinkie you better hope your tail is ready. Also nice touch with the dark magic. That actually makes a lot of sense as to why Twilight was having issues with that before.

[ChaoticKindness]

Ah, I really enjoyed seeing Braeburn here XD I really like him

[redmar]

After they manage to cure Cheese they still need to catch Wayer Rune. It is fortunate that a pegasus courier is already underway.

[Goldfinch142]

Oh man, the transformation is so close...the anticipation is real.

Maybe it's too optimistic of me to hope that Cheese somehow gets through one night (let alone two or three) without biting or outright maiming anypony, but by Gouda, I'll do it anyway!

I'm pretty sure that even if the world ends, Braeburn will still be giving those overenthusiastic, rib-crushing tours of Appleloosa.

[Dashie04]

It only took a few minutes of Braeburn standing watch and Tomato writing on some stationary, but it felt like hours.

There are two types of the word stationary, there’s stationary, which means still, and stationery, which is paper. You want the latter, here you have typed the first one. Just figured you should know.

[Sketcha-Holic]

9391455
Huh, I did not know that. Fixed.

[Godslittleprincess]

Wait, didn't Kazam, those animals, and those Applewood teenagers bleed? Oh my.