//------------------------------// // Brother's Day // Story: My Little Pony: Friendships and Magic [Season 2] // by Alpha Wolf 4500 //------------------------------// The sun was rising right behind the Golden Oak Library, bringing a new day to Ponyville. Bandit was watering his bonsai tree that was on a window seal. He had been taking extra care of it ever since Celestia gifted it to him at the Gala. As the sun shined through the window Chad walked up the stairs and got Bandit’s attention. “Hey Bandit, this has been driving me nuts.” Chad was heard saying, making Bandit turn to look at him. “The bullies that Fluttershy told me about in Cloudsdale tried to say the HyperSonic Rainboom was an old Mare’s tale. Everyone around Equestria saw that happen, so did they forget? Flat out refused to acknowledge it, or am I just making that up?” “They probably just flat out refused to acknowledge the existence of that event.” Bandit told him. “Creatures will purposely forget the accomplishments of someone they don’t like in place of lie as like a….denial phase, or something like that. Why do you ask?” “I don’t know, it was one of those random questions I had in the middle of the night and waited until morning to ask you. That’s not even what I wanted to ask you when I woke up.” Chad answered as he walked over and looked at the bonsai tree. “What did you want to ask?” Bandit asked. “You wanna do something together today? The sisterhooves social yesterday made Spike and I want to do something with you.” Chad answered, that’s when Bandit heard Spike come up the stairs. “Yeah, if the mares have a day where they can hang out with their sisters, it’s only fair we hang out with our brother.” Spike said as he got to the top of the stairs. Bandit thought for a moment before smiling. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea. It can be our very on special event.” Bandit said with a smile. Spike ran over. “Our very own Brother’s day!” Spike said with a smile. Bandit smiled and hugged the two. “Sounds good to me!” Bandit told them. My Little Pony, My Big Changeling too Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh… [Bandit] (My Little Pony) We used to wonder what friendship could be (My Big Changeling too) [Twilight Sparkle] Until you all shared its magic with me [Rainbow Dash] Big adventure [Pinkie Pie] Tons of fun [Rarity] A beautiful heart [Applejack] Faithful and strong [Fluttershy] Sharing kindness! [Lightning Sprint] Motivate the team [Bandit] Heroics makes it all complete You have my little ponies Do you know you're all my very best friends? Bandit was in front of the door of the Library with Chad and Spike on his back, looking at Twilight. “Thanks for agreeing to take care of our pets for us Twilight.” Bandit told her. Twilight smiled and nodded her head. “Don’t mention it Bandit, hopefully your brother’s day goes by smoothly.” Twilight told the group. Klaw sat and waved his paw goodbye, as did Ace, with Achillies waving his wing. Bandit turned around and started walking. As Twilight closed the door, Bandit began walking, looking at the two. “So, what do you guys wanna do for Brother’s day? Buckball, Picnic, our own version of the Sisterhooves games?” Bandit asked the two. “I was thinking we head to Sugarcube corner first. Grab some snacks before we start.” Spike suggested. Chad looked at him with a disapproving look on his face. “Come on Spike, we just left the library. We could’ve packed some food before we left.” Chad told him. “Leftovers and home cooked breakfast never beats the bakery first thing in the morning.” Spike retorted. “Okay, we’ll stop by Sugarcube corner, but next time, we’re eating before we leave. Okay Spike?” Bandit asked, before feeling Spike’s stomach growl. “Aye Aye Captain!” Spike said with a salute. Bandit made his way to sugarcube corner, only to see a really long line outside of it. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” Spike said upon seeing the line. “Looks like you’re not the only one who feels like Leftovers and home cooked breakfast never beats the bakery first thing in the morning.” Bandit said to Spike. Spike pouted as Chad looked at the line. “Brother’s day is gonna be halfway over before we’re even out of this line.” Chad said. Bandit looked back at the library. “We can just go to the library and-” “Psst!” Mrs. Cake was heard calling them. Bandit turned and saw her gesturing them to come to her. Bandit trotted over to the back of the building. “Hey Mrs.-” Chad tried to greet. “Shh!” Mrs. Cake quickly said, peeking out to look at the long line. “I’m sorry, but we got a bit packed for this morning. Do you think you can help us?” Bandit looked back at Chad and Spike. “You guys wanna bake for our first activity?” Bandit asked them. “Yeah!” Chad exclaimed. “Sure, don’t see why not.” Spike said. “Activity?” Mrs. Cake asked. “Oh yeah, the Sisterhooves Social yesterday gave us inspiration to have our own sibling event.” Spike answered. “We call it, Brother’s day!” Chad told her. Mrs. Cake giggled at this. “That is so precious, I hope this doesn’t put a damper in it.” Mrs. Cake said. Bandit shook his head. “Nonsense, we love baking.” Bandit said as he walked in. As they did, they saw Mr. Cake taking quite a few orders from ponies, which got Bandit to walk over to look at them. A large amount of the ordered treats were RaspCherry cupcakes, Moon Nights, and baked cookies. Bandit smirked, looked at the Spike and Chad and nodded. The first one to get an apron on was Bandit, followed by Spike and Chad. [Bandit] The three of us We’ve got the day to ourselves A day with no troubles Just you wait and see Bandit placed a mixing bowl on the table. [Chad] Equestria Isn’t always perfect And sometimes it tries to knock us down And won’t let us be Chad and Spike placed down a cupcake pan and cookie tray next to the mixing bowl. [Bandit and Spike] We brothers three Chad began adding the ingredients at a rapid, and energetic pace, with Bandit mixing the ingredients. [Spike] Will have a great day No matter what fate’ll say! The 3 of them began to make the ordered treats at a much faster pace. Making the batter, and the cookie dough, playing them in the trays and baking them in the oven before moving on to make more. It’s our brother’s day It’s a day for us! For Fun and Bonding Just you wait and see! The cupcakes and cookies were backed, and Bandit took the cupcakes out for Chad to spray the frosting on, as Spike took out the cookies. [Chad] And it’s starting great, By helping Mrs. Cake At Sugarcube Corner! Where we’re Surrounded by, Cakes, Pies, Cupcakes and Cookies! Chad sprayed the frosting towards the audience, covering their sight before licking off the frost. [Bandit] The limit goes beyond the sky! Activities all The fun is gonna make time pass right by! The brothers Spike, Chadwick and I- They placed their baked goods on a counter for Mr. Cake to collect and give to the customers who all ordered. [Bandit, Chad and Spike] Are gonna make the best of what we’re given today! Bandit placed down a box of Cupcakes, which Mr. Cake grabbed. Chad placed down a box of Moon Nights, which was grabbed by Mrs. Cake, and finally, Spike put down a plate of cookies, which Mr. Cake came back for. We, Brothers Three! [Bandit] Are gonna have a great day, just you wait and see! They repeated the process. [Bandit, Chad and Spike] We, Brothers Three! [Spike] Have got our entire day clocked out, with Activities! [Bandit, Spike, and Chad] We, Brothers Three [Chad] Are gonna have a great day! (Bandit and Spike: We brothers three!) Are gonna have a great day! Just, Spike, Bandit and Me! They continued to bake and ready the food until the long line finally subsided. That’s when Mrs. Cake came back into the kitchen. “Thank you so much for your help.” Mrs. Cake said to them. “Don’t mention it.” Bandit told her. Mr. Cake came over with a box of cupcakes. “Here, freshly baked. On the house.” Mr. Cake told him. Bandit smiled as he took the box. “Thank you. We’ll see you around.” Bandit told them as he began walking off. Chad waved as he followed, with Spike not too far of. As they walked outside, Bandit looked at the two. “Okay, activity number 1 is complete! What do you guys want to do now?” Bandit asked. Spike and Chad opened their mouths and then closed them. “I’m completely lost.” Spike said. “Yeah, I got nothing.” Chad said with a shrug. “For some reason, I thought the activities would’ve come naturally.” Bandit tapped his chin. “Huh, maybe we should’ve planned this out a little bit more.” Bandit commented before getting an idea. “How about we go bowling?” "Yeah!" Spike exclaimed. “Hop on, I’ll take us there.” Bandit said. Spike and Chad climb on, with Spike carrying the box. “Wait, I just realized. Why was Mrs. Cake whispering to us?” Chad asked as Bandit took flight to the bowling alley. At the bowling alley, Bandit saw that it was closed. "-How could it not be a sore throat?" Spike asked as they approached, not seeing the sign. "She was talking to us normal." Chad told him, referring to the end of them helping. "Bowling Alley is closed?" Bandit asked as he landed with a soft thud on the grass, the two shifting on his back. He felt Spike sag in defeat while Chad hopped down to the ground. The small changeling pranced to the door, nose nearly pressed against the glass as he peered inside. “Closed due to needed maintenance,” Bandit read off of the sign. A second paper was taped underneath. “Will be closed until further notice due to additional illness amongst the staff.” “Dang Spike, you went for those worm muffins again?” Chad joked, Spike opened the box and threw a cupcake at him, only for Chad to catch and eat it. Bandit rolled his eyes and used his magic to close the cupcake box. “At least they are all at home resting. But that means bowling is out of the question. So what now?” Chad sat on the ground, hoof tapping his chin in thought while Bandit looked around them. A couple of suggestions went through his mind, a walk around Ponyville, Comic shopping, maybe even the arcade. However, Spike had a bit of a different idea. “We could go camping? Maybe build a fire together!” Spike said. “That’s a great idea!” Chad agreed, considering he and Bandit did it yesterday and he enjoyed it. They both looked at Bandit and he smiled at the idea. “It sounds great! Let’s head over to the forest and see if we can find a good spot to build a campfire.” He readied himself for the two to climb back on his back when Chad jumped up from the ground, his little wings buzzing as he dashed away from them towards the woods. “Last one there has to gather the sticks!” Chad shouted over his shoulder. Spike hopped off and ran after Chad, laughing wildly as Bandit used his magic to carry the box before chasing after them. He thought about flying but he decided to make it somewhat fair as he closed the gap between the other two. Chad crossed into the treeline first with Bandit close behind as the bigger changeling had overtaken Spike. Spike was faster than Chad, but Chad’s better stamina made him hard to catch once he had a head start. The three of them were panting with wide smiles as Spike trudged across the imaginary finish line. He dropped down to his hands and knees as he struggled to catch his breath. “Go and find a spot,” Spike gasped. “I’ll meet up with you with the sticks.” Chad laughed, patting Spike on the back before running off further into the trees of the Everfree forest. Bandit walked towards Spike to help him off of the ground. “I’m fine,” Spike said while taking Bandit’s offered hoof. “You don’t have to stay here with me.” “Too bad. besides, if there’s two of us then we can get twice as many twigs and twice as fast.” Spike wrapped his arms around Bandit’s leg in a hug before hurrying down the path that Chad went, gathering sticks in the process. Bandit followed after him, piling the wood into one front leg as he walked on three hooves, his horn still preoccupied with the box of cupcakes. They eventually came across Chad in a small clearing where he was rolling stones into a rough circle in the dirt. His eyes lit up as he saw Spike and bandit with their armfuls of fuel for their campfire. Chad galloped over to Spike and took half of the sticks from him and they started to build the beginning of the campfire. Bandit dropped his own next to them and circled around the duo. They quickly got half of the wood inside the stone circle and came to stand beside Bandit, looking at their creation with pride. “Light it up, Spike!” Chad cheered. Spike moved his head like a lighter before he breathed a small flame onto the dry wood and it immediately caught. Soon, large flames rose in front of them, the heat warming them as they all sighed, sitting back on their haunches. “Well I guess it’s time to dig into these cupcakes!” Spike said as Bandit set them down between the three of them. Spike opened the paper lid as it stopped glowing from Bandit’s magic as Chad reached into his hoodie to pull out a few napkins. Spike was already snacking on some. “Hey Spike, can you pass me one with the purple icing?” Chad asked as he stuffed a napkin into his hoodie to keep crumbs and icing off. Spike looked at him with purple icing on his face. “Uh…” “Did you eat all three of them?!” Chad asked. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking as I grabbed them.” Spike responded. “Ugh, you’re the worst.” Chad said. Bandit passed him the red ones before he ate some of the blue ones. After eating the rest of the cupcakes, Bandit scooped up three green sticks beside them as he popped a bag of marshmallows from their kitchen at home into his hoof. “Cupcakes aren’t the only snacks for today. There’s s’more in store! It’ll be great to do over the fire that you both worked so hard on.” Bandit told them. Chad and Spike did a fist/hoof pump in celebration. “Yes!” They both shouted. Bandit helped them push some marshmallows onto the end of their sticks as they settled close to one another. Spike sniffling at Bandit’s side caught their attention and they watched as the little dragon started to breathe deeper with every inhale as his eyes rolled up. Right as he saw the eyes roll, Spike let out the sneeze. His own fire breath added to the flames, their sticks set ablaze at the ends with charred gooeyness at the tips, as well as Bandit’s face. Spike wiped his nose with the back of his arm as Bandit conjured a tissue for him. The dragon blew his nose into it while Bandit patted his back reassuringly. “Good thing Chad and I are fireproof.” Bandit said. Then Chad tapped his side, getting his attention. “The trees aren’t.” Chad pointed behind them both and Bandit’s eyes widened as turned and saw two trees on fire with more starting to light. Bandit jumped up and popped five buckets of water into existence, holding them aloft with this lit horn and quickly doused the flames in water, quickly snuffing the flames before they could continue their destructive path. He surveyed the damage of the trees and found that two of them were completely burned while two more were only singed in some places. He used his horn to get rid of the buckets, bringing one backfilled with water again to put out their campfire before making it disappear once more. The three of them surround the blackened wood inside the stone circle to see the bag of marshmallows black and melted now soaked with water. “Well, I guess no s’mores,” Bandit said. Chad and Spike flopped to the ground with a groan. Chad’s ears folded back as he began to draw in the dirt with this hoof. “Hey, hey, hey. There’s no reason to look so upset! We can find something else to do! Maybe less likely to burn down the forest but just as fun. Any ideas?” Bandit asked. Chad rolled onto his back with his hooves in the air. “I have no idea! Anything we do is just going to fail again,” Chad whined. “Yeah, there’s no point,” Spike agreed. Bandit settled down between the two boys. “You don’t know that! Spike, mine and your ideas didn’t work out but we haven’t tried any of Chad’s ideas yet. Do you have any?” Chad hummed in thought before shrugging his shoulders the best he could while lying on his back still. “I don’t know, a scavenger hunt? But what would we even look for?” “How about we each come up with one thing and then we race each other to find them and whoever can get all of them first wins,” Bandit suggested. Chad and Spike perked up at that and they all started thinking about what they could hunt for. “Oh! I got one!” Chad shouted, popping up from the ground. “A piece of fluff from Angel’s tail.” Bandit tried not to cringe. “Are you sure, Chad? I don’t think Angel will let you get that close let alone take some of his tail.” “That’s what makes it so challenging!” Chad grinned evilly. “Also, Angel nabbed my strawberries last week so revenge was planned.” “Okay…Spike?” Bandit turned to Spike. “I’m still thinking. You go first,” Spike responded. Bandit hummed and tapped the ground with a hoof. “The biggest apple in Ponyville,” He said. “What?! How is that any easier than my idea?” Chad shouted in disbelief. Bandit laughed and stood up to ruffle the top of the changeling's head. “Not having to snatch fluff from a living creature. Have you thought of anything yet, Spike?” “Yes! The shiniest green gem! Oh, I can already taste it,” Spike said, rubbing his belly. “You would think about your stomach for this.” Chad rolled his eyes. “So how’s this work? We all find the item we suggested and race back?” Bandit scooped the two together with his hooves into a hug. “I got something better: We each get a piece of Angel’s tail, we share the biggest apple, and whoever can get the shiniest gem wins the game. Deal?” Spike and Chad thought for a moment before agreeing. “Great. Ready? Go!” Bandit shouted and flew in the way of Fluttershy’s house. He played fair during the treeline race, but this time, he was in it to win it. For now at least. Fluttershy’s cottage came into view and he lowered himself to the ground. He spotted the yellow pegasus tending to the flowers outside her house, talking softly to the bees that rested on the petals. “Hey, Fluttershy,” Bandit called out to her. She let out a startled squeak, spinning to face him as she backed into the shrubs. The bees buzzed angrily before leaving out of fear of seeing Bandit. She looked up and nearly collapsed with relief when she saw who it was. “Oh, Bandit, you scared me,” She whispered. “Heh, sorry, Fluttershy.” Bandit laughed awkwardly. Fluttershy pulled herself out of the bushes, leaves and twigs sticking out of her pink tail and mane. “What can I do for you today?” “Spike, Chad and I are having a Brother’s day and we are on a scavenger hunt. Do you know where Angel is?” Bandit explained. “Brother’s day?” Fluttershy asked as she raised a brow. Bandit looked around for the small bunny. He could hear Chad and Spike (mostly Chad) closing in. “Yeah, cause the Sisterhooves Social was yesterday so we are doing something similar. Angel. Have you seen him?” Bandit asked Fluttershy. She nodded and happily escorted him to the side of the house where Angel was sitting on a plush cushion in the warm sun. Fluttershy picked up a brush and started to groom the little bunny who rolled onto his stomach. Bandit locked his sight on the fluffy tail wiggling in the air. “Hey Angel, I’m gonna nab a bit of your tail fluff.” Bandit warned. Angel went wide-eyed but was helpless as Bandit's horn lit up. He grabbed the smallest piece of the fluff and pulled it off. It didn’t hurt, but Angel let out a squeak of protest, shaking his paw at Bandit as Fluttershy gasped. “Bandit! Why did you do that?” Fluttershy whisper-shouted in the way that only Fluttershy could. “Free bell peppers for a week on me.” He said to Angel. Angel made a face that could only say, ‘I’ll allow it’. Bandit galloped away just as Spike and Chad rounded the corner. Immediately, Chad came to Angel with negotiation for his tail fluff, offering Radish tops. Spike was offering Bok Choy. Angel began pointing between them like an auctioneer, going to the highest bidder. Bandit laughed at the fight that ensued before turning back to focus on his run to Sweet Apple Acres. It was the only place in Ponyville that could possibly have the biggest apple in the whole town. Apple trees soon covered his vision as he slowed to a trot on the dirt road. He spotted Applejack amongst the trees, bucking the fruit out of the branches and into a barrel. Bandit headed in her direction and noticed the beads of sweat rolling down her face. She paused to wipe it out of her way when her eyes landed on him. “Well howdy there, Bandit!” Applejack called. “What brings you out all this way to the farm?” “Hey, Applejack! Chad, Spike, and I are doing a Brother’s day since the Sisterhooves Social was yesterday and we are doing a scavenger hunt. What is the biggest apple that you have here?” Bandit asked as he leaned to the side to peer down the dirt road. “Biggest apple, huh?” Applejack took her hat off to scratch at her head. Bandit sniffed the air and made him look up. “You know Rainbow, you really gotta be more discreet when you hide up there.” Bandit told her. “How long have you been up there?” Rainbow Dash flew out of the tree to hover above them. “The whole time! I hear you’re doing a race. Mind if I join?” she asked. “Sorry, but it’s kind of a brother thing. Do you know where I could find the biggest apple?” Bandit said. “Nope! No clue. How about you, Applejack?” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m not sure but if you want to look through some of the apples we already harvested, knock yourself out.” She pointed a hoof towards the barn. “Thanks, Applejack! Bye, Dash!” Bandit said as he dashed over, sliding one of the barn doors open. His jaw dropped as he saw the mountain of apple barrels filling the space. He snapped his mouth closed as his horn glowed and popped in a measuring tape. “Time to get to work,” he said to himself as he settled next to the nearest barrel and pulled out the first apple, wrapping the tape around it and taking note of the size before moving on to the next one. It wasn’t long before Chad and Spike rushed in and had the same reaction he did. “How are we going to find the biggest apple in all of this?!” Chad shouted. Bandit could see Spike’s glaze over as the dragon mumbled, “So many apples…” Chad placed a hoof on either of Spike’s shoulders and shook him. “Snap out of it, Spike! We have to beat Bandit!” Spike shook his head and furrowed his brow. “Right! He beat us in getting the first item but not this time!” They shared a war cry before diving into the middle of the pile of apples, eyeing each one before tossing it to the side in favor of one that may have looked the slightest bit bigger. Bandit was in the middle of his third barrel when he heard hoofsteps at the front of the barn. He looked to see Big Mac staring at them questioningly. Bandit’s ears perked up as he looked at his friend. “Big Mac! Are you doing well?” “Eeyup,” “You don’t happen to know of the largest apple in Ponyville, do you?” Spike shouted from the top of the mountain. Big Mac thought for a moment before shaking his head. “Eenope.” The three of them sighed, drooping at the fact that this event may be a bust as well. Bandit’s head shot up when he heard Chad gasp, rushing down the apples and jumping onto Big Mac’s back, pointing to his cutie mark. Big Macintosh looked at him confused. “Look!” Chad shouted, holding an apple next to Big Mac’s cutie mark. “Big Mac is the biggest apple! His cutie mark is a giant apple and he actually is the largest Apple out of the Apple family!” Spike gasped. “You’re right, Chad! Great job, little brother” Spike said as he bumped hooves with Chad. Chad looked at him unamused. “Relax with the little brother title. You’re only a nanosecond older than I am.” Chad told him as Big Mac stared at Bandit for an explanation. “We’re on a scavenger hunt for our Brother’s day and you just became our second item.” Bandit said with a shrug. “Is that okay?” Big Mac shrugged as well with a laugh. “Eeyup.” “Awesome! Now, on to the last one.” Spike said walking past them. Chad jumped off of the large pony as Bandit gave him a nod before trotting after the two. “Where are we going to find the shiniest gem?” Bandit wondered out loud. “Green Gem.” Chad corrected before looking at Spike. We don’t have to go to the crystal caves do we?” “Nope!” Spike shouted as he sprinted away with no further explanation. Bandit and Chad shared a confused glance before chasing after the dragon, who miraculously had the stamina to speed off to the point where they lost him as they entered Ponyville, the bustling ponies hiding the small dragon. The two sniffed the air to look for him, but too many scents masked Spike’s. “Where could he have gone that was in Ponyville?!” Chad cried. Bandit picked up Chad with his magic and placed him on his back as he flew over the dense crowd. A pony passed with a pearl necklace and fancy hat to keep the sun out of their eyes and a certain pony came to his mind. “Rarity!” He figured out. A light bulb went off over Chad’s head. “I should’ve known! His crush on Rarity 100% motivated that run.” He grabbed the bulb and placed it in his hoodie. “Hold on!” Bandit said to Chad before flying over the crowd, feeling his small hooves wrap around his neck. He hit his head on the doorframe and shook his head as Chad saw Rarity proudly showing Spike her extensive collection of glittering gems. Time slowed as Spike reached out to the large emerald in the middle while Chad launched himself off of Bandit’s back towards Spike. The small changeling fell onto Spike’s back, sending them both crashing into the case sending gems flying. Bandit dove inside and used his magic to catch the gems into the case. Though they were in the wrong slots, which he began to correct, with Rarity guiding them to the right areas. However, they both noticed one of the gems missing. They both looked up and saw Spike and Chad fight over the emerald. “Boys, what is the meaning of this?!” Rarity shouted. “Brother’s day scavenger hunt!” They both shouted at the same time. “What?” she rounded on Bandit looking for an explanation. “We decided to have a Brother’s day since the Sisterhooves Social was yesterday.” Bandit explained simply. “I can see that! Boys, this is quite unbecoming of brothers. Could you please stop?” Rarity tried to reason with them. “No!” Chad and Spike shouted. “The first one to have the shiniest gem wins,” Spike said, straining to keep his grip on the jewel. “And I touched it first,” Chad said through a mouthful of the emerald. They resumed their tug-of-war. Bandit walked forward. “Okay, guys. Dial it back a bit.” Bandit told them. They didn’t even pass him a glance. “Boys!” Bandit raised his voice and stomped forward but the result was the same. His horn shone as he used his magic to pull the gem towards himself much to the dismay of the other two. “Just call it a tie, it’s not that serious of a game!” Bandit told them. They said nothing as they all strained against one another. The clear crack echoed in their ears but they were too slow to loosen their grips as the emerald shattered. They all let go and watched in stunned silence as the broken pieces rained on the ground between them. Bandit and Chad cringed from Rarity’s devastated shriek as she shoved Bandit out of the way. She threw herself to the ground, gathering the shards together as tears rolled down her cheeks, smearing her makeup. “Rarity, I-,” Spike tried to say before she interrupted. “Get out! Oh, my poor baby! Just get out!” She wailed. Bandit picked the two of them up and placed them out the door. “Stay here, I’ll be back.” Bandit said as he closed the door. After some time, Bandit came back out and saw that it was dark. The sun had set, ending their day, and not one of their times together played out the way that they wanted to. “That emerald was complicated to put back together. Next time I’ll just replace it.” Bandit said with a chuckle. He looked down at his brothers to see Chad and Spike looking utterly dejected. “Hey…don’t look so sad. We can still turn this day around.” Bandit said. He pulled them into a hug and they looked up at him with wide eyes. “What else can we do?” Chad asked. Bandit hummed in thought as his eyes roamed the night sky. “Oh! Constellation making!” “What’s that?” Spike said. “It’s something mother and I used to do whenever I was down. C’mon let’s go to on a cloud and I can show you.” Bandit got low to the ground and let his brothers climb onto his back. He flew slowly through the quiet town as he left it all behind in favor of a cloud not too far from the trees Spike nearly burned down. He sat back on his haunches to let Chad slide down to the cloud as Spike slipped onto Chad’s back. They looked up at the night sky. Bandit scanned the sky for a moment before pointing with a hoof to a string of stars. “There.” Bandit said, outlining the group of stars. “Do you see it?” Chad and Spike squinted up to where he was pointing. “No?” Chad said. “Right there. It looks like a wizard hat sitting on a bunny’s head. I’ll call it Magician's Angel. After Fluttershy’s bunny.” Bandit said. Spike giggled. “Really? I see a donkey eating a flower. Lazy Dazy?” “Looks more like a Capital F, lowercase A and Capital M to me.” Chad said while tilting his head to either side. They all shared a laugh as they settled back into silence. “Today really sucked,” Chad whispered. “Yeah…” Spike agreed. Bandit looked between the two of them. “Hey, it wasn’t all bad. We still had a good time before and after things went downhill.” “I guess, but we didn’t really hang out, though. Every time we tried something went wrong and kept us from being together. Maybe a Brother’s day doesn’t exist for a reason,” Spike said. “Actually. Turns out, it actually does exist.” Chad said. Spike and Bandit looked at him. “May 24th.” “Huh. Maybe that’d be less of a disaster than today.” Spike said. Bandit looked at Spike now “Hey, don’t say that, Spike.” Bandit softly told him. “I actually had a really good time today. We got to see some of our friends and I got to spend the whole day with my brothers even if the day didn’t go entirely to plan. Did you really have a bad time?” Both of them shook their heads having taken the time to think about it. Despite the day not going as planned, they still had some fun time, even if they all equally owed Angel some food. “I guess it wasn’t all bad,” Chad confessed. “But it wasn't all that good either. But, the good outweighs the bad, right?” Bandit ruffled the top of their heads. “You’re very right Chad. The race to the forest was a lot of fun and it was pretty funny Spike gooify the marshmellows. Seeing that powerful sneeze catch the trees on fire was very impressive, Spike.” Spike chuckled as the two continued to listen. “And doing the scavenger hunt was great! Seeing Angel’s auction as you both negotiate for fluff was funnier than it should’ve been! Good thing we’re able to hold up our ends of the bargain. Right?” Bandit asked, leaning with an eyebrow raise. The two nodded to Bandit’s words with a giggle. “Don’t forget the mountain of apples in that barn! And how Big Mac walked in while we were measuring apples. Only to be the apple we were looking for.” Spike and Chad were giggling a bit more now. Bandit smiled down at his two little brothers. He noticed Chad yawn with Spike following soon after. He stood and used his magic to lift them onto his back. Bandit started flying home as he kept talking. “Spike, I have to say, when you lost us in the crowd I was very impressed. Maybe even a little worried but it was very smart of you to hide like that.” Bandit said. “Well I knew if my smell was masked by other ponies, you wouldn’t have found me easily.” Spike said tiredly but Bandit could hear the smile in his voice. Bandit chuckled. “Smart move Spike. Real smart move. But, you know, we don’t have to make our Brother’s day like the Sisterhooves Social. Maybe we can start doing it monthly or even weekly! I think spending a whole day with just us is what makes it a Brother’s day, regardless of what happens.” Bandit did not hear a response as he opened the door to the dark library. He looked at them and saw that they were both asleep. Bandit smirked and walked to put them both in their beds. Putting the blankets over them before he went to the kitchen to grab a snack as well as write a letter. "Dear My loving Mother, Today, we made a special day of our own to celebrate together. Brother's Day. After seeing all the fun everyone had at the Sisterhooves Social, we wanted to try it out ourselves. And Things didn't go according to plan..... like at all. But that's OK at the end of the day, we still got to spend a lot of time with one another. Some things went wrong, other things went…more wrong, but each bit of negativity given, there was good that made it worth it. This brother’s day was a first, but it was far from bad. And We’re looking forward to doing this again. Your loving son, Bandit." Bandit wrote before he sent the letter. After doing so, he walked to the freezer and opened it, taking out some ice cream. When he closed it, Twilight was standing there with a bowl already ready. Bandit looked at her and smirked. “The pets gave you that much trouble?” Bandit asked her. “You have no idea.” She answered. Soon, the two of them were eating some ice cream on the counter before Twilight looked at Bandit. “So how was brother’s day?” Twilight asked him. “Fun. Eventful, but rather fun.” Bandit answered.