//------------------------------//
// Sibling Rivalry 
// Story: Brother Bothers 
// by Sketcha-Holic 
//------------------------------//

It was difficult to surprise Cheese Sandwich, who had learned over the years to expected the unexpected, while being a pony of many surprises himself. It was also difficult to anger him, and it was especially hard to push him into the legendary type of terrifying rage that only party ponies could unleash. Hardly ever was Cheese in a sour mood. Being a party pony with an even temper ensured that very few things could surprise him, and that only a select few things could get his mane bristling. 

His brother managed to do both in the span of five seconds. 

Around the both of them, Pinkie and her friends, Tomato's group, and several Ponyville residents were uncomfortably, yet curiously watching the scene. Most of the ponies were completely unsure about what was going on or why these two ponies knew each other. Bluejinx, on the other hoof, held a face of dread. 

"Well?" Tomato asked impatiently. 

Cheese remembered the question that they had both shouted, and answered, "I was helping plan this festival. Because, you know, party planning's my shtick, remember?"

Tomato rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Pfft, I totally surprised you, admit it!" Cheese sped forward and was soon in Tomato's face. "Now what's your reason for being here?"

Tomato pushed him away. "Simple. Bluejinx has a cousin living here who invited him to this festival, and in turn, Blue invited us."

Cheese gave him a mocking grin and aggressively rubbed his hoof on Tomato's head. "Aww, how cute that the little ketchup squirt is not a party pooper after all!"

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Tomato hissed, trying to swat Cheese's hoof away. "Gee, you got more aggressive, didn't you?"

Cheese stopped the noogie and stared at him coolly. "And I see you're still trying to grow up too fast."

"At least I did grow up."

"Pfft, ha! You're just faking all that 'mature, serious adult' stuff so ponies don't laugh at you!"

"And you're just faking that happy, grinning clown act so ponies don't pity your little sob story!"

"Gee, and you wonder why I think you're a party pooper."

"Oh, no, I just wonder why you bother to visit at all when you don't like me."

"My Cheesy Sense drags me to Manehattan sometimes. I just feel obligated to drop by and let you spoilsports know that I'm alive and well. Nothing more."

"You've been on the news. That tells me all I need to know."

"Oh, really? Well, thanks for letting me know so I can avoid you more often!"

Pinkie suddenly popped up between them. "Hold up! You two know each other?"

"Um, duh," Tomato deadpanned, smoothing down his hair.

Cheese sighed. "Pinkie Pie, this crankypants here is my brother, Tomato Sandwich."

Pinkie's eyes bugged out. "Brother? You have a brother? You mean there's another super duper Sandwich in the world?" She paused for a moment while Cheese gave a reluctant nod, and then her face broke out into a wide grin. She blasted off like a rocket while she gave a drawn-out whoop. 

Looking up at the ecstatic mare, Bluejinx asked Royal, "Is that mare always like this?"

Royal nodded. "That's Ponyville's local party pony for you."

Pinkie came crashing back down to earth, and she didn't hesitate to give Tomato a tight squeeze. "OMIGOSH! This is just amazing! I can't believe my friend Cheese has a brother!" She turned to Cheese and beamed at him. "Why didn't you tell me about him earlier?"

Nimbus was by Tomato's side quickly, giving him a stink eye. "And why didn't you tell us that the party planner Cheese Sandwich is your brother?"

"Do I have to spoonfeed it to you both because you apparently missed our exchange?" Tomato deadpanned as Pinkie released him. 

Cheese huffed. "Pinkie, we don't see eye to eye. It's why Tommy never ever mentioned his absurdly epic party-planning brother to his friends apparently."

"And also why I was obviously kept a secret from your girlfriend here."

Cheese jumped. "Ahahaha, what? No, no, you've got it wrong there." He leaned forward and poked Tomato in the chest repeatedly, glaring at him. "Making assumptions again, aren't ya? Pinkie and I are just friends."

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Right..."

"Right!" Pinkie chirped. Her face fell into a frown, and she took note of the grumpiness that both of them were having. It was especially weird for her friend Cheese of all ponies to exhibit such a state of mind. "But wait, why don't you see eye to eye? Why aren't you happy to see each other?  Shouldn't brothers be the bestest of buddies that do..." She tilted her head at an unnatural angle as she drew out the "do", before allowing it to pop back up. "--brother things?"

Twilight stepped forward. "Pinkie, not every set of siblings gets along. There are... cases where a pair of siblings have a fallout and don't make up."

"What?!" Pinkie was now getting into Twilight's face. "You can't be serious, Twilight! After all, isn't Shining Armor your B.B.B.F.F? You two had a fallout at his wedding, but made up after the whole Changeling invasion happened!"

"Well, yes, but that's beside the--"

Pinkie curled into a ball and rolled toward Applejack. When she uncurled, she was sitting on the ground below the orange mare's muzzle, and she looked up. "Applejack, you love your family! Especially big brother Big Mac and little sister Apple Bloom, am I right?"

Applejack looked a little uncomfortable. "Well, yeah, I do, but Twilight's sayin'--"

Pinkie recurled into her ball and rolled to Rarity. She leapt out of her ball this time, and put a foreleg around the unicorn's shoulders. "And how would you describe your relationship with Sweetie Belle?"

Rarity looked away and idly bounced the carefully-curled end of her mane. "Well, as much as I love her, our relationship can get a little... tumultuous at times. Still, Pinkie, don't you think that--"

Pinkie sped toward the other group, and grabbed Nimbus and Cirrus. "You two are twins, right?"

Both pegasi looked uncomfortably at each other. "Yeah..."

"Do you love each other?"

Cirrus rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but Nimbus can be a ding-dong at times."

Nimbus glared at her. "Hey!"

Pinkie released them, and went to Bluejinx. "Do you have siblings?" He shook his head, so Pinkie turned to Flora and asked, "How about you?"

Flora nodded. "Seven of them."

"Wow! What a big family! You must have bucketloads of love for all of them, am I right?"

"Well, uh, yes, I do, but I will admit that Bananas and Olive get on my--"

Before Flora could finish, Pinkie launched herself back in between the Sandwich brothers. She looked between them, and while both had been watching her ask the others about their siblings, both seemed unfazed by any of the examples she gave. So, she added, "And I have three sisters--Maud, Marble, and Limestone! They're all so great, and I love them so much! I could chatter on and on about the things we did when we were itty-bitty little Pies!" She stretched her front legs and dragged both Cheese and Tomato into a double hug. "And I bet you two had lots of fun when you were itty-bitty little Sandwiches!"

Cheese looked at her worriedly. "Pinkie, please don't."

Tomato huffed. "Her behavior is embarrassingly familiar."

Cheese glared at him. "You mean that as an insult to Pinkie, don't you?"

"You'd rather I insult you? Okay, do you want me to be blunt or sarcastic? Go on, take your pick."

"Here's my pick: how about you be nice for once?"

"Oh, you've given me plenty of reason not to be nice to you."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Pinkie scolded, dropping the both of them. "That arguing you did there is a no-no! I want both of you to be nice! After all, nopony can have fun if you're both being meany meanypants."

Both of them pointed to each other and said in unison, "He started it."

Fluttershy stepped forward. "Now, now, you two, you should at least be trying to get along during this festival. Perhaps you should just talk it out so that you understand each other's point of view."

Cheese and Tomato looked at each other, and there appeared a glimmer in the eyes of both as they pondered Fluttershy's words. However, it wasn't long before they scowled and turned away. "Nah."

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash hovered and landed in a spot between the brothers. "Just what is the deal with you two?! I don't know Tomato, so I can't say anything about him--but Cheese Sandwich? Hey, you, guy that planned my birthaversary with Pinkie, I thought you'd be the type of pony to get along with, well, anypony! And all of a sudden, you start pouting because your bro's in town. Big whoop, he's not hurting anypony."

Cirrus landed beside Rainbow. "I'm going to have to agree with Rainbow Hair here."

Rainbow gave her a funny look. "It's Rainbow Dash."

"Whatever. As for you, Tomato--come on, really? We came here to have a good time, and you're just going to let the fact that your brother's here ruin it? Nuh-uh, not on my watch, we're going to have fun, you're going to smile, and we're going to have pictures of all of us doing stupid stuff!"

Tomato groaned. "Why did I agree to come?"

Bluejinx shrugged. "No turning back now. At this point, you're just going to have to live with it."

"You don't find Cheese embarrassing, do you?" Royal Pin asked. "I mean, that's the only reason I can guess that you'd be a little... sour."

Tomato glared at him. "Has it ever occurred to you that I don't want to talk about it?"

Flora winced. "Yeah... let's stop with the uncomfortable questions, especially since you seemed to have forgotten that Cheese is just over there and can hear us. Let's just... uh... go somewhere else, let both of them cool down, see if we can have a little fun--"

"Oooor we could give them some good ol' brotherly bonding time!" Pinkie exclaimed, going into Flora's face. She did a backflip, and then grabbed both brothers once again, much to their chagrin. "We all agree that they're both acting silly, so, I shall take it upon myself to help form the tightest bond between these two Sandwiches!"

"Er, Pinkie," Applejack stated. "I'll be blunt about this; that's a bad idea. You can't just fix a feud between brothers like that!"

Pinkie turned to her with a wide smile, still holding both Cheese and Tomato tightly. "Why not? Cheesy's my friend, and I'd like for Tomato to be my friend as well. Plus, they're family--and family loves each other, am I right? And brotherhood's one of the things we're promoting in this festival! Besides, I have a really good feeling about this."

For once, Cheese was unsure about a plan of Pinkie's. He chuckled nervously and asked, "...good feeling?"

Tomato looked at her funny. "Are you sure it's not just gas?"

Pinkie giggled. "Silly Tommy, that's not a good feeling--until you burp, that is."

"Hey, you didn't earn the right to call me 'Tommy'."

"I thought the nickname fit. Now, hold on to your hooves, I'm going to initiate the Sandwich Brother Bonding Time! For all your brotherly bonding needs." With that, she threw the both of them up, nabbed both of their tails with her mouth, and then zoomed off to somewhere else, with two unwilling stallions in tow. 

Both groups stared blankly at the direction that they went. Bluejinx in particular groaned and fell onto his haunches, shaking his head. They all looked at him, with the same thought in their minds. 

He vocalized the thought: "This is not going to end well."