It's Far Too Early to Be Awake
The moon had shone brightly through the window and right on the face of a small, red-orange colt. He found himself unable to shut his eyes for long, and he laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. He blinked rapidly, in hopes that the tiredness within him would disappear. A small yawn escaped his mouth, and he began to squirm under his covers. The moon was too bright; it was like a second sun!
A surge of energy rushed through him, and he shot out from under his blanket and bounced on his bed. With a giggle, his eyes swept around the messy room before stopping on the second bed in the room. He gazed intently at the lump under the bedsheets, and a mischievous smirk formed on his face.
The colt crouched down, and then sprang from his bed to the other, landing on the lump.
“Oof! Ow!” the lump cried. “Tommy, get off!”
Tommy somersaulted off the lump and onto the mattress. He watched as the lump stirred and sank as another colt crawled out of it. A messy, curly brown mane slid out first, followed by a body of bright orange. The other colt turned to glare at Tommy, who only laughed.
“Yeah, really funny,” the colt groaned, snatching a pair of glasses from the nightstand. “What was that for?”
Tommy rocked back and forth. “Are you ready for school, Cheese?”
Cheese put his glasses on and allowed himself a few moments for his eyes to adjust. He glanced at the clock and sighed. “It’s three in the morning.”
“Yeah?”
“School doesn’t start for a few more hours.”
Tommy fell forward on his face. “Aww! Why?”
“Because it’s still dark? We’re supposed to be asleep.”
Tommy snorted and pounded on Cheese’s bed. “But I can’t go back to sleep! The moon’s too bright, so I can’t close my eyes, which means I’m not tired anymore! There’s only one thing to do, Cheesy! We have to play!”
Cheese sighed and shook his head. He didn’t even bother to remove his glasses when he laid his head on his pillow, curled into a ball, and squeezed his eyes shut. He even went as far to fake loud snoring to dissuade his brother.
Tommy was not to be stopped, however. He crawled on top of Cheese and began to bounce on him. The fake snores were disrupted, and each bounce brought “oofs” and “ows” from the colt trying to sleep. As he bounced, Tommy hissed, “Wake! Up! Cheese! Sandwich! And! Play! With! Me!”
Cheese responded in turn, “Get! Off! Tomato! Sandwich! And! Go! Back! To! Sleep!”
With that, Cheese rose up and pushed Tommy off his bed. The red-orange colt yelped as he fell into a pile of building blocks with a loud clatter, which startled Cheese into realizing what he just did. He winced at the teary eyes that Tommy looked up at him with, and bit his lip. He expected a loud wail to erupt, which would inevitably summon their parents and get him in trouble.
However, Tommy remained quiet as he clutched his head and hiccupped. Cheese jumped off of his bed, and pulled his brother into an embrace. Immediately he was pushed away.
“Hey… I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Yes, you did!” Tommy whined.
“No, I didn’t!” Cheese combed through his brother’s dark mane, searching for a mark of Tommy’s fall. “Huh, I don’t see a bump. Maybe that’s why you didn’t cry as loud as I thought you would.”
Tommy sniffed, but glared at him. “I’m a big colt. Big colts don’t cry.”
Cheese inwardly winced at that phrase. That was a phrase that he heard all the time at school every time he was pushed down by a bigger foal. Of course, it was usually followed by “crybaby”, even when he had a very good reason to cry, such as a skinned knee. Looking at Tommy, he dreaded the predators that would prey upon the little colt once he started school.
“I’m hungry…” Tommy whimpered.
Cheese sighed and ran a hoof through his thick mane. “If I feed you, will you go back to bed?”
Tommy nodded ecstatically, all trace of his tears disappearing. The younger colt sprang to his hooves and sped to the door. He galloped out once the door was thrown open, with Cheese plodding out behind him, hanging his head in defeat.
The two curly-maned, green-eyed colts had pulled out the leftover cheese-and-tomato pizza from dinner the night before, and already Tommy was scarfing down whole slices before Cheese had nibbled halfway through his slice. Part of the reason Cheese was eating so slow was because he was amazed at the sheer speed that his brother had eaten more than a foal his age should. Imagining him as a big, fat stallion, he smacked Tommy’s hoof as he reached for another slice.
“Save some for me. I don’t want to go back to sauerkraut.”
Tommy crossed his front legs and stuck his tongue out. “You didn’t even eat all of that piece!”
“You keep eating and you’ll get fat!”
“No I won’t!”
“Yes, you will! And I’ll sing about it!”
“Why?”
“To pick on you.”
“Cheesy, you big dummy!”
“You’re the little dummy. That’s worse.”
Tommy puffed out his chest. “I’m no dummy! I can’t go to school if I’m a dummy! They don’t let in dummies! You’re the only dummy there ‘cause you play that… thingy…” He made a pumping motion with his hooves.
Cheese rolled his eyes. “Accordion.”
“Yeah, the acker-dee-dum.”
Nobody at school knew Cheese could even play an instrument. Why would he let them know when Mom dismissed it as a frivolous hobby that would get him ridiculed? He was already picked on enough for his poofy hair and his glasses, and given insulting nicknames because the name “Cheese Sandwich” was weird in itself, so he was always reluctant to reveal it. Revealing his instrument of choice might make things worse. Only Tommy was under the illusion that the accordion was any cool.
Plus, “dummy” kind of hurt due to their parents getting on Cheese’s case about his grades, even when school was out.
Cheese noticed that Tommy was slumped against the wall, his eyelids heavy and struggling to stay open. He shook his head, knowing that the colt had a habit of falling asleep after eating. Cheese stood up and set himself to put the pizza away when Tommy yawned and mumbled something.
“Uh, what was that?” Cheese asked.
Tommy groaned and repeated, “I said I can’t wait to meet all your friends.”
“Heheh… yeah… friends…”
“You’re the coolest pony ever, Cheesy… and the bestest brother ever… those ponies are lucky to have you as a friend…”
Cheese frowned. I wish.
Tommy was out like a light when the pizza was put away, and Cheese had to carry him back to their room. All the while, a heavy pit had formed in his stomach at the thought of returning back to that dreadful place. He was either alone or surrounded by bullies. With each new foal that came along, he always hung back, worrying about the awkward impression he’d make.
And yet, he had lied to his brother about his social life. That lie was going to be exposed in the morning.
Cheese walked into their room and shut the door behind him. It finally hit him that he and Tommy had managed to get a snack early in the morning without waking their parents up. He put Tommy in bed before slipping into his own, still astonished that they had gotten away with it.
Cheese removed his glasses and put them on the nightstand, completely ignoring the case that laid there. As he rested his head onto his pillow, he gazed at the dark red blob on the other bed, despite his fuzzy vision, and smiled.
He was not going to be alone this year. Even if Tommy was upset about Cheese’s fib, he could easily forgive him. They were still going to be best buddies. Little Tomato Sandwich was going to be by his brother’s side, no matter what. Having the little firecracker on his side would surely brighten up his days.
For once, Cheese was excited for the first day of school.
Cheese shook his head, willing the memory back to the dark depths of his mind. He hated it when somepony asked him about his family or assumed that they were proud; it usually brought forth the disappointed voices of his parents or the silly memories of his brother before that fateful first day of school. What should have been a happy memory was far too painful, especially after what happened the morning after.
Cheese Sandwich was left alone once again, only this time, he felt abandoned by his own brother. Tommy had made friends quickly and easily, and seemed to have forgotten the brother he looked up to. Even worse was that Tommy had gotten better grades, and was continually showered with praises by nearly everypony, while Cheese was either ignored or reprimanded. Cheese didn’t want to admit it, but he had been really jealous.
Now a full grown stallion, Cheese had found his own path. It had been an unprecedented course for a colt so shy. A party pony he had become; his cutie mark had sealed it.
He fed the fire that was burning before him. He held his rubber chicken close, and kept staring into the flickering flames. Unfortunately, more memories of the silly colt that his brother had once been manifested, and he could see the stupid situations that Cheese had to save Tommy’s flank from.
Oh, right, he didn’t like to be called “Tommy” anymore. Cheese snorted at the thought of what kind of stallion Tomato grew into—a snide and sarcastic jerk, who dismissed the very things he once thought were cool about Cheese. Just what did that fancy school do to him?
Cheese sighed and said to the rubber chicken, “Aw, what do I care? I should have known better than to trust Tommy to remain by the side of a timid dork. You’re a far better friend to me than he is, Boneless 2.”
Boneless 2. Recalling the day he gave the original Boneless to the sweet pink mare of Ponyville, his face lifted into a warm smile, and he dreamily gazed up at the stars.
“And so is she.”