Blaze the Pony Tale
Chapter 371: 357. Bite of the Family Sandwich - Part 1
Previous Chapter Next ChapterThe blank paper set in the typewriter mocked him as Tomato Sandwich groaned, burdened with self-doubt, enchained by uncertainty, as a nasty case of writer's block stonewalled his creativity. Sure, he had until the end of the week, but with every moment his eyes wandered over that mocking blankness, the more he thought, I'll never have this speech ready for the conference!
It'd been months since the incident of the attempted coup of Buck Cheap, the former Duke of Business and Commerce, to usurp the Triarchy, only for the villain's schemes to be undone by the Knights of Harmony. Buck Cheap had gotten his, and the Aristocratic Council was abolished to make way for the upcoming Equestrian Council, where its members would be elected by democratic vote. At Prince Sombra's suggestion, Tomato Sandwich was now running for the seat of Councilor of Business and Commerce.
He was perhaps the youngest candidate running for the seat, but his part in helping stop the so-named Coup of Avarice had been noted in the news, so he'd gotten some support from grateful admirers and even from Manehatten University, where he'd graduated with a degree in business. While there were other candidates for the seat of Business and Commerce in different cities of Equestria, this part of the election was sort of like a preliminary round. Every major city and town had an initial round of elections that would determine who among them would run for the various seats on the upcoming council.
While Tomato had rival candidates for Business and Commerce in other cities to eventually run against, at the moment he was only concerned with the three rivals he had here in Manehatten. Two of them didn't truly concern him; it was the third that was getting his goat.
Walker Trotrun was the owner and head of a wealthy and successful company, and though he was charming, handsome, and had donated millions of Equestrian Bits to various charities and fund-raisers, Tomato had had the displeasure of seeing him back in his university days, where he got a glimpse at the real Walker Trotrun underneath all that generous and wholesome baloney.
To put it lightly, Trotrun was a greedy slimeball who only did something for someone if he got something in return.
As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, during a press conference where all the candidates had been introduced to the Manehatten public, Tomato had been formally introduced to Walker Trotrun and he had... offered Tomato an exorbitant amount of money to... "rethink his priorities" about running for Councilor of Business and Commerce, saying Tomato just didn't have the experience to run for such responsibility and commitment to Equestria. That Tomato would be better off stepping aside so that somepony better prepared and experienced, namely Trotrun, would assume the office.
Tomato was young, but he wasn't stupid and was both appalled and insulted that Trotrun would have the nerve to try and bribe him and condescend to his abilities and determination. He'd "thanked" Trotrun for his offer and advice, but then told the older stallion that after he was Councilor of Business and Commerce he'd be making proposals to screen the business practices of all major companies in Equestria, to be sure nothing illegal was going. Walker Trotrun appeared to take it in stride but Tomato had seen a malevolent glint in that stallion's eyes after they'd spoken.
Since then, Tomato, with the help of his friends and supporters, had been setting up his campaign for the initial election. If Tomato won, he'd be one step closer to being elected Councilor of Business and Commerce! Unfortunately, things just didn't seem to be going his way. The merchandise he'd ordered had come out wrong or been delivered to the wrong city, some rumors had gone around saying Tomato was not emotionally stable, and if that weren't enough just last week Tomato and his friends had arrived at their campaign headquarters (an unused classroom generously lent to Tomato by his old dean) where their posters, paperwork, and everything else had been ransacked and ruined!
As much as Tomato wanted to find out why these awful things were happening, and having a sneaking suspicion that Trotrun was behind it all, he just didn't have the time!
This weekend, he had to give a speech alongside the remaining candidates for Business and Commerce in order to garner more votes from the public and if he didn't come up with something inspiring, moving, or even something to attract more voters he'd be dropped out of the polls!
"Hey Tomato!"
Tomato looked up and saw his best friend, Bluejinx, coming over, levitating a stack of papers, "Those posters we ordered finally came in and these ones are good. I've already got Cirrus and Nimbus out there spreading them across the city."
Bluejinx was a Faustsend in many ways to Tomato Sandwich, because not only was the blue unicorn his best friend he'd also volunteered himself to be Tomato's campaign manager while rallying their friends to help Tomato in this election. Bluejinx had a pleasantly soft blue coat with a cloud white mane, friendly brown eyes and his cutie-mark was a folded newspaper, representing his talent for spreading information through writing, which complemented his work as a journalist.
"Well, at least something's going right around here," Tomato grumbled as he gazed contemptuously back at the black paper in the typewriter. "I'm never gonna write a good speech before the weekend conference!"
"Well, you gotta write something, buddy," Bluejinx looked at the newspaper, "According to this, Trotrun's the most favorite to win the preliminary election for Business and Commerce."
"You think I don't know that, Blue?" Tomato griped, "Every time I see that smarmy smirk of his, I just wanna throttle something!"
"Well, maybe if you had some kind of gimmick," suggested Bluejinx as he mused the idea, "something to... you know, attract potential voters so you can show everypony that you're the stallion for the job, and not that two-faced tightwad."
"Like what?" moaned Tomato, "So far, it's just been my role in stopping Buck Cheap's coup along with Prince Sombra's support that's been carrying me through all of this, but all that can only take me so far! I'm still working on my priorities and goals for becoming Councilor of Business and Commerce, and lately things have been going wrong, for which I'm all but certain that aforementioned two-faced tightwad is responsible!
"What could I possibly do to attract the voters when I've got so little to offer...?"
"Then it's a good thing I'm here, Tommy boy..." said a grim and gritty voice that cut through the pessimism and the two stallions looked to see a pony, wearing a zarape and fedora leaning in the doorway as he blew on a noisemaker.
At first, Tomato had no idea who this sudden appearance was, but then he got a familiar vibe and softly groaned to himself, "Oh no..."
"Who're you, stranger?" asked Bluejinx.
"Name's... Cheese Sandwich," answered the pony as he lifted his fedora'd head and revealed his face to be the spitting image of Tomato (albeit without glasses and having a more positive disposition), "I plan parties."
"...Cheese Sandwich?!" Bluejinx echoed with a dumbfounded look as he started looking back and forth between Cheese and Tomato for a few long and awkward moments before he asked, "Is he...?"
"My long-lost twin brother, it turns out," Tomato confirmed with a lack of enthusiasm-
"Talk about stranger than fiction!"
"I know, right?!"
The voices came from behind Cheese, who looked and smiled as three ponies appeared behind him.
Two were pegasus twins, both light gray in coats, with manes striped blue and yellow, the mare's mane being dominantly yellow and the stallion's dominantly blue. Their cutie-marks were similar but different, hers being a blue Tragedy Mask and his a yellow Mask of Comedy, they had the same bright sunset orange eyes although she had light freckles on her cheeks. The third pony was an earth pony mare with a spring green coat, her mane was honey blonde held back by a purple bandana, her eyes blue like the morning sky, and her cutie-mark was a five-petaled flower that was purple with pink edges and a yellow and orange swirly pattern in the center, and she wore a necklace of magenta beads.
These were more of Tomato's friends from their university days, as well as the team helping him and Bluejinx with his campaign, the twins Cirrus and Nimbus and the earth pony being Flora Peace.
"Wowza, Tommy! We had no idea you had a twin brother!" Nimbus exclaimed with a happy look on his face.
"Yeah, we ran into Cheese while we were out putting up your campaign posters," Cirrus added.
"And after we got over how you guys look so much alike," explained Flora, "we introduced ourselves and Cheese confirmed it - Why didn't you ever tell us about Cheese? We just had to bring him here to see you!"
"Well, uh..." Tomato wasn't sure what to say or where to start, so he asked, "Er- Cheese! Heheh, uh, what brings you to Manehatten, huh?"
"Well, it's a long and complicated story..." answered Cheese with a foreboding tone while gazing off into infinity.
Seven Hours Ago
“P-Pinkie…I don’t…I don’t know how much longer I can last!”
“Come on, Cheese! Just hold out a little longer!”
“I-I-I can’t... hold it! Aaaahhh!”
“Wow! That was awesome! It sprayed everywhere!”
“But it sure did make a mess. I mean look at you, you’re covered in it.”
"You too, and so's the room."
The Party Pony Pair gazed in awe of the results of their party-making love as confetti and glitter fell off their forms, thin brightly-colored streamers trailing off their manes and tails as they looked upon their latest party-cannon, the Carni-Volley. Set upon a collapsible tri-pod, it sported a triple-barrel cannon to launch cake, decorations like the aforementioned glitter, confetti, and streamers, and the third was designed to shoot bouncy balls, water balloons, and joke items, like whoopee cushions and bubbles that burst into super-slippy slick-uid ("Patent pending"). Unfortunately, their little trial shot had resulted in the experimental party-cannon breaking and getting a mess into its inner workings.
"Hmm, looks like the Carni-Volley's still needs some tweaking, Pinks," Cheese mused as he gave the contraption a closer look.
"Welp, y'know what they say, Cheesie! Try, try and try until you just can't try no more," Pinkie said sagely, "and if that didn't work, well then you just wasted your time trying to do something you just couldn't do!"
"Who said that?" Cheese gave his girlfriend a 'are you for real' rise of his brow.
"Nopony! Because it's hooey," Pinkie said with a positive yet firm nod of her head. "We'll get this new party-cannon ready, and it'll make our next big party a capitol-B BLAST!"
Cheese chuckled and went over to give his Pinkie Pie a loving hug, which she warmly reciprocated... before they looked into each other's eyes and it seemed the colors of the world around them seemed dull compared to the eyes of the pony each was gazing into. Cheese could recall that fateful day he wandered into Ponyville as if by chance, only to stumble into such a happy celebration where this amazing pony before him was the life of the party. Every time he gazed into those bright blue eyes, always cheerful, always looking on the bright side, always ready and excited to make somepony smile, he always saw the best of himself looking back, for without the inspiration Pinkie Pie had given him, he didn't know nor care to think where or how or even who he would be today.
Pinkie Pie likewise never tired of looking into those beautiful green eyes, full of exuberance, full of harmony, bright with the wish to turn everyone's frown upside-down, something which she could intimately relate to. It was actually humbling to her that she had been the one to help Cheese find the party pony within himself, even if she hadn't known it at the time it happened. Looking back on Rainbow's Birth-iversary, when she had officially made Cheese's acquaintance, Pinkie still felt a twinge of regret for how she'd acted towards Cheese and especially on one of her best friends' big days, making it about her when it was supposed to be about Dashie. Which was why every time she looked into Cheesie's eyes, she'd see herself and remember to love and support him just as much as he loved and supported her.
As the distance between their lips shortened, their eyes slowly closed as they puckered up and...
"Whoa!" Cheese felt a shivering in his flanks, similar to but not quite like his Cheesie Sense, and he heard Pinkie gasp!
"Cheesie! Your cutie-mark!" Pinkie pointed to Cheese's flank and they saw his cutie-mark was glowing!
Present Moment
"See, in the Castle of Friendship, there's this magical map of all Equestria that lets us know when there's either a friendship problem that needs our help," Cheese explained, "or there's some kind of problem the Knights of Harmony have to look into! The Map told me I was needed in Manehatten, and, well, here I am!"
Then Cheese wore a look of sudden realization, "Huh, I guess it wasn't long or complicated."
Despite the near-misunderstood opening, the haphazard middle, and the end, for some reason only one thing in Cheese's story stuck in Tomato's mind.
"Knights of...?!" Tomato yiped to see Cheese conjure a sword in his hooves, the blade a bright orange like melted cheese while the handle was colored a soft brown that gave off a yellow-green highlight.
Cheese held the blade downwards as he grasped the handle and declared with an exaggerated air of official-ness, "Sir Cheese Sandwich, at your service!"
"...Whoa!" said Nimbus in hushed awe while his sister Cirrus took a look at Cheese's sword and Flora giggled yet couldn't hide her own awe.
"Uh..." words failed Tomato when Bluejinx pulled him aside. "Blue?! What're you-"
"Tommy, this could work!" Bluejinx whispered while hiding himself and Tomato behind a posterboard, which didn't go unnoticed by Flora.
"What?!" Tomato gaped at him.
"Look, the Knights of Harmony were the ones who took down Buck Cheap," Bluejinx pointed out, "Having one of them openly show his support to you is sure to bolster your campaign and sway voters to your side!"
"Well, maybe, but..." Tomato hesitated, "I... I want to win this election on my own merit. Besides, he's my brother! Isn't that, I dunno... biased?"
"So what?! Family supports family, and that can still help you here," Bluejinx waved off the concern, "And you never know! Having Cheese around to support your campaign, you could... get to know him!"
"Get to know him," Tomato echoed dryly as he and Bluejinx peered around the posterboard to look at Cheese.
He was presently wearing silly nose-glasses with the pop-out slinky eyes, Nimbus and Cirrus smiling as Cheese appeared to be finishing a joke, "...and I said, 'So whatever you do, don't sell that goat'!"
They laughed uproariously as Flora came over to Tomato and Bluejinx, "Tomato! Your brother is so charming!"
Tomato chuckled nervously as he waved a little at Flora, thankful that his orange-red coat hid his blush, when Bluejinx pulled him back behind the posterboard, "Look, Tomato, I say this with the greatest respect and as your best friend: You can be kind of a stick in the mud."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Tomato furrowed his brows.
"It's just... Look, in those interviews you've done, you were... tense, monotone, not very intriguing," Bluejinx explained, "You're not making much of an impression with the public, and that's hurting your campaign. Maybe if you hang out with Cheese and rub off on him a bit, you can loosen up, absorb some of his zeal! Present a more confident, exuberant side that will show Equestria that you're the pony to be Councilor of Business and Commerce!"
"Okay, so maybe I've been a little too... rigid since I'm basically running for one of the most prestigious ranks in Equestrian politics," sniped Tomato, "but what does Cheese have to do-"
"Oh Tomato, listen to what your friends are telling you," Flora piped in with a gentle tone, surprising the two stallions as Flora joined them behind the posterboard. "You know, you're not the only one with a party pony for a brother. Remember Bananas?"
"How could I forget...?" Tomato recalled that day with a shuddering sense of weirdness. "I'll never feel safe around banana peels again, thanks to him!"
"Okay, maybe not the best example, but Cheese is your brother, Tomato!" Flora responded with a gentle firmness, "Take the time to bond with him! Which you can do for the rest of the day and tomorrow, I suggest you hang out with Cheese! Get to know him, let him get to know you, learn from each other! You never know, you just might be surprised!"
Seeing Bluejinx nod just a tad too exuberantly in agreement with Flora, Tomato sighed as he looked at Cheese again and saw the orange stallion balancing office supplies on his snoot like a circus seal with a ball as Nimbus and Cirrus both laughed.
"...That's what I'm afraid of."
Taking Bluejinx and Flora's advice, Tomato decided to invite Cheese to a nice walk through Central Park. Not because it would mean less ponies seeing the two of them together in public, not at all! The taxi-wagon ride there was quick but a little awkward as the brothers weren't really sure what to talk about now that it was just them. Arriving at their destination, Cheese decided to break the ice just as they entered the park.
"So, my little brother's running to become a bigshot, eh? I bet your folks are proud as can be!" Cheese smiled as they walked together.
"Little brother? As far as I know, we were left together at the orphanage as infants with no clue as to who was born first," Tomato raised his brow.
"Oh I dunno, I just used to think about what it'd be like to have a little brother," Cheese shrugged, "Hanging out, having fun together, sharing good times and secrets and all the things brothers share! It's just whenever I imagined having a brother, I couldn't help but imagine having a little brother. That... and I think maybe I'm just a little taller than you."
"It's that curly mane of yours!" Tomato debated, "mine's slicked back so I just look shorter than you."
"Nah, I'm pretty sure I'm taller," Cheese teased in a no-hard-feelings kind of way as he playfully nudged Tomato's shoulder with his own. "Comes from years of being a traveling party pony!"
"Anyway... what have you been up to since we met in Canterlot?" asked Tomato before quickly adding, "Besides parties."
"Oh, just enjoying my life in Ponyville," Cheese shrugged, "Got the most awesome friends, a great job working at a pizzeria, and uh, heh... the sweetest fillyfriend I could have ever asked for."
"Oh! You have a fillyfriend? What's her name?" asked Tomato, genuinely interested.
"You met her along with me back in Canterlot, Pinkie Pie," Cheese answered, "She's the reason I became a party pony in the first place!"
Cheese told Tomato the backstory of himself he'd shared with Pinkie, that he'd felt unnoticed and unwanted in the orphanage and wound up running away. That he'd somehow stumbled into Ponyville, where he found a party going on and how everypony there had been having a good time, and it was there he first saw Pinkie Pie making all those ponies laugh and smile. Seeing Pinkie inspire laughter and cheer in her friends and neighbors had resonated with Cheese so that he was inspired to become a party pony himself! He wound up going back to the orphanage in Manehatten, where he was adopted by a loving couple and became a wandering party pony once he was old enough to be on his own. He'd returned to Ponyville many years later, hoping to show Pinkie what a great party pony he was, only to unintentionally make her feel insecure. Once they'd cleared the whole misunderstanding, the two of them had organized the birthday and anniversary of Rainbow Dash together, and one thing led to another that caused Cheese to agree to stay in Ponyville. He'd gotten a job at a pizzeria, Pepper Pony's, and though he lived in Ponyville he'd leave every so often to help plan a party in the works thanks to his Cheesy sense.
"Cheesy Sense?" Tomato echoed, not understanding.
"It's this weird sense I get whenever there's a party being planned somewhere in Equestria that could use my help," Cheese explained, "It lets me know when and where it's gonna happen so I can get there in time to lend a hoof. Why, do you have some special kind of sense, Tommy?"
"Uh..." Tomato hesitated to answer when they both heard crying, and looked down the path to see a little earth pony filly standing away from a playground, upset because she'd dropped her ice cream cone into the dirt.
"What, ho? A foal in tears? Not on my watch..." Cheese got all exaggerated-serious as he kapwing'd away, to Tomato's confusion, and suddenly came back, with tubs of ice cream strapped to his barrel, wearing an ice-cream pony work outfit, complete with the little hat, and started calling out, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!"
The filly heard Cheese, as did several other colts and fillies, all got wide-eyed as Cheese Sandwich came over, asking, "Who wants, Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate, Mint Chip, Cookie Dough, Butterscotch, or any combination of the six? Only 1 Bit for a cone!"
"YAY" ICE CREAM!" Can I have Vanilla and Butterscotch, mister?" "I want Chocolate and Mint Chip please!" "Strawberry!"
Cheese laughed as he started serving the foals ice cream, even if they didn't have Bits at all, which Tomato was perplexed by. Sure, it was nice of Cheese to give ice cream for free, but the business-side of the orange-red stallion was just slightly disapproving. Once all the foals were happily licking away on their ice cream cones, including the filly who'd dropped hers earlier, Cheese span `round so fast that he was a blur and when he came to a dizzying stop, he was no longer wearing his ice cream pony clothes or had the tubs of ice cream on him.
As Cheese staggered over to Tomato, Tomato asked, "What happened to...?"
"Huh? I- What?" Cheese was too loopy to answer Tomato's bewilderment as he held his head and his eyes stopped spinning around in their sockets.
"Never mind," Tomato sighed before asking, "But Cheese, why suddenly go to the trouble of serving these foals ice cream? Especially when it was only one Bit for a cone. Seems to me you lost more than you made."
"Oh that wasn't about making money, Tommy," Cheese chuckled, waving off Tomato's business concerns. "That lil' filly was sad, and as a party pony, it's my job to turn frowns upside-down. So, I served ice cream to her, as well as the other foals on the playground so nopony would feel left out. I only 'charged' for money because their moms and dads might have felt uncomfortable if a stallion was giving ice cream to their kids for free."
Then Cheese felt a tapping on his hind leg and he looked to see it was the filly from earlier, looking up happily at Cheese as she said, "Thank you so much, mister!"
"You're welcome, little filly," Cheese replied with his 'pony with no name' voice before reverting to his happy voice, "As long as I can make everypony smile, that's all the thanks I need."
"Really?" asked the bewildered filly as the other foals took notice and gathered around Cheese with similar expressions. "I've never heard of something like that. "What's your name, mister?"
"I'll tell you..." Cheese said with a prankster-ish look before declaring, "in song form!"
"Oh no..." Tomato uttered dismally as a jaunty tune seemed to start up.
Cheese Sandwich is my name, and sure I may be goony
But just because I'm happy does not mean that I'm a loony
Cheese was trotting merrily, the foals following with upbeat looks as Cheese continued to sing.
Oh, when they call me crazy, it can be a real pain
Cheese nearly walked into a cinderblock wall but pulled out a large zipper from his mane and used it to literally unzip an opening through the wall!
But if you guys need ketchup, I'll give you ketchup rain!
Cheese whipped out a bottle of ketchup and squirted it skyward. The globs and drops of ketchup, instead of falling everywhere and making a mess, fell exactly where they were needed. Like a hapless stallion staring at his plain hayburger until a good dollop of ketchup fell on it, and a filly who had a plate of hayfries but were to salty without ketchup until they were covered with a succulent drizzle of the red stuff.
Although Tomato had been initially put off by Cheese's out-of-nowhere musical number, he couldn't deny these ponies looked pretty happy with the ketchup apparently coming right in the moment they needed it. He was a little surprised when a little ketchup fell onto the tip of his snoot, and, looking left and right, he hesitantly licked it off and smiled a little too when he noticed Cheese wasn't done.
Oh let's all play some dodgeball and throw with all your might!
Cheese spun `round, a bunch of red dodgeballs springing out of his tail and mane, which were quickly picked up by the colts and fillies...
Ponies keep your head low, they're coming left and right!
...and the dodgeballs flew, the colts and fillies laughing and screaming and dodging and throwing. Then Cheese picked up three dodgeballs, gave them a skillful juggle before he three them one by one into the air. When they came down, they bounced around but miraculously stacked upon each other as Cheese took a running start before jumping through the air, bouncing on top of those stacked dodgeballs, which sent him straight up, where he did a mid-air twirl and when he came down, he stuck his landing while holding his forelegs out, catching a dodgeball in each hoof while the third landed softly onto his voluminous curly brown mane as Cheese made his big finish!
Oh good eve-uh-ning, frieeeeeeeeeennnnddsss!!!
After watching Cheese's performance and because everypony had a good time, all the ponies in he park happily applauded as Cheese made some hammy bows and blew kisses to everyone, much to Tomato's light embarrassment of his brother's behavior in public. But he quickly noticed the smiles and laughter upon the parkgoers faces and the smile Cheese wore, expressing his own joy of making these ponies laugh.
Normally, Tomato wouldn't hang around ponies who act so publicly immature, at least in his opinion, but seeing the positive atmosphere over this whole situation and these ponies, Tomato thought, Maybe Cheese can help me with this election. After all, he... he is my brother.
And for the first time that day, Tomato felt a real smile on his face as he joined in the applause of Cheese, who was touched to notice Tomato showing his support, even if it wasn't as exuberant as everyone else's. What nopony noticed however was a sleazy-looking pony slip away from the park.
This pony made his way through the streets until he came to an alleyway and approached a backdoor. After knocking a precise sequence of knocks, it opened and in he went to speak to a secretary, who'd been instructed to let in anypony who said, "Avarice sent me."
The pony was directed down another hallway to an isolated room, where he waited patiently. Finally, the door opened and in walked a tall and handsome amber-brown stallion who had a paunchy barrel yet a powerful chest and forelegs below his winning smile and had his graying blonde mane in a loosely formal style. He wore an expensive suit with a solid gold stickpin on his lapel, with his initials, W. T., embroidered on the other lapel. His pants concealed his cutie-mark.
"Street Rat..." the stallion said in a welcoming manner although there was just a subtle edge in his voice, "I hope this is worth both our valuable times, as I'm due to entertain some rather influential socialites and perhaps encourage them to show me their support in the upcoming election...?"
"Oh you're gonna love this, Mr. Trotrun," assured the sleazy pony called Street Rat, "That Tomato Sandwich guy who's running against you? I just found out he has a brother!"
"And...?" Walker Trotrun responded dryly with a raised brow.
"And it just so happens that his brother is the party pony Cheese Sandwich!" Street Rat exclaimed.
"Cheese Sandwich, you say..." Walker Trotrun hmmm'd as he recalled Cheese Sandwich is indeed a famous party pony, as well as one of the Knights of Harmony who played a part in the downfall of Buck Cheap and his House Avarice after Cheap's failed attempt to overthrow the alicorn royalty.
"That could be a problem...Cheese Sandwich is a recognized hero of Equestria, and his support of his brother could sway more voters to Tomato's side."
"I'd like to mention, Mr. Trotrun," spoke up Street Rat, "that those brothers don't exactly seem to click."
"What do you mean by that?" Walker gave him another raised brow.
"Well, I saw them in Central Park," Street Rat explained, "Cheese Sandwich is wacky, he was all over the place. Tomato Sandwich on the other hoof? Looked embarrassed to be seen in public with him."
"Really?" Now Walker was even more interested. He'd had the... pleasure of formally meeting his young political rival and from what he'd gathered, although Tomato was a political idealist he was also uptight and introverted. His brother was obviously the opposite, And perhaps I can use that... drive a wedge between them and take advantage!
Nodding approval, Walker Trotrun chuckled, "Alrighty then Street Rat, continue to... observe the competition and report back to me at the end of the day unless something especially interesting develops. Before this week is over, I'm gonna separate those Sandwiches and watch them fall apart."