//------------------------------// // Of All Places to Go // Story: Brother Bothers // by Sketcha-Holic //------------------------------// This party was a success. He could smell it. Literally. The aroma of pizza, fudge, several kinds of fondue, many different flavors of cake and ice cream, and a whole lot of green gelatin hung in the air. The sight of ponies chowing down on them told him a lot. Heck, he was even munching on a slice of pizza, taken from spinning plates, balancing on poles that stayed upright for a long period of time, much to the amazement of other ponies. He could hear foals laughing as they bounced down an inflatable slide and into a multistory bounce house. And he could hear the music from the talent show that had been set up not too far from the tree he leaned against. He nodded in approval at the sight of those ponies smiling. He had finished his pizza as a silver-coated and blue-maned pony trotted up to him. "Wowza, Mr. Sandwich!" the pony exclaimed. "You weren't kidding when you said this party would be--" "Epic?" Cheese Sandwich interrupted. When the other pony nodded, Cheese pulled a cowboy hat out of nowhere and placed it on his head. "Glad to hear it, Mr. Sink." Mr. Sink nudged him. "I told ya to just call me Kitchen!" "Psht, and I told you to just call me Cheese." Cheese walked over to the beverage table to grab himself a glass of water. "Touche, Cheese." Kitchen followed him and got himself a drink of his own. He patted him on the back. "Quite a talent you have here, Cheese. I've never seen this much fun in this town in all my years." "Mm-hm." Cheese started to sip at his water. "Hehe, I bet your family's real proud of ya!" Cheese's eyes shot open and he spat out his water. He coughed and sputtered, and wiped his mouth with a groan. He wanted to glare at Kitchen for saying that, but the other pony didn't know that would happen. After all, he wouldn't expect a random Hayfield resident to know his backstory. Kitchen furrowed his brow. "You okay?" "Eh..." Cheese coughed once again. "It just went down the wrong pipe." "Um... okay. Anyway, are you satisfied with your career choice?" Cheese smiled and nodded. However, the very next moment had his body suddenly quaking. The shivers went from his head to his back hooves, and he could feel his leg muscles stretch, accompanied by accordion notes. And then he shoot up into the air with a whoop and fell back down with a few hearty laughs. When he came back down to earth, he grinned at the confused Kitchen. "My Cheesy Sense just gave me a doozy!" "Er... huh?" "There's a party in need, and it's going to be a good one!" Cheese's eyes twinkled as he looked up at the sky and rubbed his hooves together. "And out of all places, I am happy to say it's Ponyville!" "Uh... okay." Cheese giggled once again, before furrowing his brow and looking around. "Okay, now where did Boneless Two go?" Ponies poured out of the classroom, most of them ignoring any final words that the professor had to say. Some were chatting among themselves, some were hurrying to their next class, and some were heading to lunch. Some paused to stretch their legs, and some were a little sluggish from boredom. They all carried saddlebags full of notes, including those written to remind them of what they were assigned, though it was highly likely that most of the students would procrastinate. The last pony to leave the room was a tall, bespectacled, red-orange stallion, clothed in a brown suit jacket, a white buttoned shirt, and a green necktie. With a final word and a nod to the instructor, he immediately turned and strode down the hallway, heading for the exit at the end of the hall. As he walked, he smoothed down his dark brown mane, only for a large forelock curl to spring up to its place above his muzzle. Once outside, he squinted his green eyes and blinked rapidly to adjust to the sunlight. Once he could see, he adjusted his glasses, looked around, and began to walk again. Since it was noon and he had an hour before his next class, the food court was his next destination, especially since his stomach began to rumble. No sooner did he reach his destination and set his saddlebags on a table did four other ponies suddenly appear. He looked up at them, raising an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know how you ponies achieved supersonic speed?" he asked flatly. A gray pegasus stallion spoke up. "Well, it was the time I ate that super spicy--" The mare of the same color and pony type beside him smacked him on the back of his head and shouted, "Nimbus! Don't remind us of that!" Nimbus glared at her. "Well, excuse me, Cirrus, but that was also the time I did a sonic boom." "Pfft, yeah... right... I swear every time you get indigestion, you exaggerate something..." A green earth pony mare stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Do you really have to go there, you two?" The final pony, a blue unicorn, groaned. "Come on, Tomato didn't even want the question to be answered." Tomato leaned on the table and rolled his eyes. "I especially didn't want to hear the story of the Mega Chili Pepper Bomb again. Now, let's just get food, I'm hungry. Then we can continue talking." The pegasus twins, Cirrus and Nimbus, had gotten themselves a couple of hayburgers and a large tub of fries, and were scarfing them down greedily. The light green mare, Flora Peace, had gotten herself a simple salad. The unicorn, Bluejinx, was feasting on a carrot dog. And Tomato Sandwich had gotten a slice of pizza for himself. The conversation had moved from subject to subject. First, it was complaining about homework; then, it had transformed into tales of stupid things that had happened in their classes. The twins talked about the fire alarm that went off in the Theater Hall; Flora kept on giggling about 'monster geese' that had inexplicably come through the window of her art class; Bluejinx talked about the chalkboard falling down in his writing class; and Tomato talked about the student who brought a frog to help with his math quiz. Soon enough, their meals were finished, and Tomato had ten minutes until his next class. He grabbed his napkin with his tail, and wiped his face with it. If he noticed his friends staring at him, he made no indication of it. He stood up, and started to put on his saddlebags. "Well, this was an interesting conversation," he said. "But my next class awaits." Bluejinx shrugged. "All right... oh, I just remembered! My cousin, Royal Pin, has invited me to a Fall Festival in Ponyville this weekend." "Good for you, Blue." Tomato tightened the strap. "I'm sure your cousin will be thrilled to have you there." Cirrus chuckled. "Is this cousin of yours a royal pain?" Bluejinx shot her a brief glare, and then turned back to Tomato. "Well, you see, he told me that I could bring friends. So, I figure that I could invite you guys to join me." Flora beamed. "What kind of things will there be?" "Oh, food, games, arts and crafts, things to look at, Running of the Leaves... yeah, I hear they're planning to make it a ton of fun." Nimbus shot out of his seat and hovered. "Oh! Oh! Will there be karaoke? I love me some karaoke!" "Uh... maybe?" "If there is, could we get him to sing?" Cirrus asked, pointing at Tomato. The red-orange stallion scowled. "Oh, for goodness' sake, Cirrus, why do you always bug me about singing?" "'Cause you're good." "Psht, I'm not meant for entertainment. Just take a look at my cutie mark." He turned and gestured to said mark, a tomato which was shaped to resemble a money bag; the dollar sign in the middle helped establish that. "You don't have to sing if you don't want to, Tommy," Bluejinx said. "But it would be nice if you came along. You really need to relax and get away from this place a bit--and away from letters from your mother." "What's wrong with his mother?" Flora asked. "Nothing!" Tomato growled. He sighed. "Blue, I appreciate the offer, but is it really a good idea to bring me to a festival? I'd hate to spoil your fun." "Aw, come on!" Bluejinx jumped out of his seat. "You don't have to be a party animal to enjoy it. Given that you don't... ever go to parties... uh, well, I promise it's not a wild college party that keeps you up all night." A cheesy and nervous grin spread across his face, and he looked back at the other three to gauge their reaction. Tomato rolled his eyes. "I have my own special reason for avoiding them." "Oh, come on! You won't get hurt!" Cirrus snapped. "I am so tired of your stuffy little party pooper attitude! You obviously need some fresh country air, and this Ponyville Fall Festival thing is perfect!" "Do you really need to be abrasive?" Flora asked. With a sigh, she asked Tomato, "So... you're going to refuse your colthood friend's invitation?" Tomato put a hoof to his face. "Flora... don't guilt trip me." "Am I?" "Yes, I can see where it's going." "Well... darn. Still, just saying you should take this chance to stretch your muscles and relax a little bit, give your brain some rest from the stresses of college life. Who knows, you might actually end up having fun!" Tomato twirled his large forelock curl in his hoof. "Had too much of that when I was a colt, ended in disaster." Bluejinx chuckled nervously. "Well, I promise that this won't end in disaster. The past is in the past, and I assure you that we'll take every precaution to make this as fun and safe as can be. Besides, nopony but us will know who you are, so you don't have anything to worry about. Think about it, okay?" Tomato blinked, glanced away for a brief moment, and then nodded. Bluejinx clapped him on the back, and let him go to class. As Tomato walked away, he thought about what had been said to him. Though he had been outwardly denying interest, there still was a part of him that really yearned to go. Still, he was afraid to open an old wound, even if the one involved in said wound wasn't there. Cheese Sandwich's steps brought up a small billow of dust as he walked, the rubber chicken on his back bounced, and the sun was beating down on him. He ignored his sweat and his thirst, instead grinning at the prospect of returning to the place that had started his career. He replayed that wonderful memory in his head. The moment where he stumbled into the party. The moment where ponies noticed him and encouraged him to join in on the fun. The smiles he saw, the music he heard, the laughs and squeals of delight that had permeated into his soul, and most importantly... her. He was forever grateful to Pinkie Pie. Seeing how she had set off all that joy, he made the decision to turn his life around. No more of that shy, awkward colt; Cheese Sandwich was a party pony. His cutie mark had sealed it. He frowned and stopped, looking at the ground. His family didn't understand. Even when he tried to explain it, there was the dismissal, and the scolding, and the attempted guilt trips. The comparisons were where he had snapped, and ruined any chance he had of at least getting a begrudging respect from any of them. He looked at Boneless 2 and sighed. "Sorry for getting down again. A bad memory just shoved the good one aside." He started walking again, the memory not leaving his mind. "I just wish things had gone differently that day." He snorted. "Never mind that now, on to Ponyville."