The Party Must Go On

Discord was busy this morning, so he couldn’t take Gala to work. She worked at Sugarcube Corner now. Five years have passed since she first met the cakes, and now she was 16 and she worked with them. She was good friends with Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake both really liked her.

Even though Gala was mostly happy during the time she worked with the Cakes, her mane remained straight because she had a dark secret deep inside. When she was at home, she was almost always depressed. Her work was the only thing that kept her happy.

Gala left Fluttershy’s cottage earlier than she usually left with Discord. She would be in for a somewhat long walk. Discord had told her the night before that he wouldn’t be able to take her there this morning, so she had prepared to walk there by herself.

When she left, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. Gala really wanted to get to work as soon as she could, so she broke into a slow trot. She turned her head to watch as the sun came up. She didn’t think she would need to watch where she was going because almost nopony was out at this time of day.

She bumped into something, or somepony, and fell backwards. “Oh! I’m sorry, I should have been watching where I was going.” She said nervously.

“Gala?” A familiar voice asked.

“Yeah?” Gala said, blowing her mane out of her face and seeing Pound Cake standing over her. She smiled slightly and he smiled back at her, reaching his hoof down to help her up off the ground.

“I remembered you saying something about Discord not being able to bring you to Sugarcube Corner this morning, so I thought I’d walk with you.” He said after he had helped Gala up off the ground.

“Oh, thank you.” She said. The two of them stood together in the early morning light, occasionally glancing at each other nervously. Gala mostly stared at the sun as it was coming up, and Pound mostly stared at Gala. Once the sun had come all the way up, Gala looked at Pound, “Should we go?” She asked.

“What? Oh… Yeah, I’m sorry.” He said.

Gala giggled slightly, “It’s fine.” They both started walking towards Sugarcube Corner which was about another seven minutes away. Gala’s mane and tail had gone from completely straight to slightly wavy, like it always did when she was around Pound Cake. When she was around him, all her worries disappeared and all that was left was happiness.

Even though Gala didn’t remember ever meeting her parents, she was positive that this is how her mom felt around her dad. She just knew deep down inside that her parents loved each other very much.

Gala and Pound Cake walked through the seemingly desolate Ponyville to Sugarcube Corner. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were still sleeping, and Pumpkin had spent the night at a friend’s house the night before, so Gala and Pound Cake were all alone until Mr. and Mrs. Cake woke up.

“Looks like it’s not quite time for opening yet.” Pound said.

Gala had walked into the kitchen and started a batch of cupcakes. Pound followed her into the kitchen and started his own batch of cupcakes. Both Pumpkin and Pound Cake weren’t jealous of Gala’s baking skill because their parents had told them that she was the daughter of the best baker in Ponyville.

Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Cake had made the twins Pinkie Promise not to tell Gala anything about her mother. Pound always felt bad about not telling her, and on multiple occasions, he almost let it slip. Pumpkin on the other hoof, had forgotten about it and never mentioned it again.

By the time Gala pulled her batch of cupcakes out of the oven, Mr. and Mrs. Cake had woken up and made their way down stairs. They walked into the kitchen, both of them were damp, probably from taking a shower, and they each released a small yawn.

“Oh! Gala, Pound Cake, good morning.” Mrs. Cake said when she saw them baking in the kitchen.

“Hello Mr. Cake. Good morning Mrs. Cake.” Gala said politely as she iced her batch of cupcakes.

“Morning mom and dad.” Pound said nonchalantly as he waited for his batch of cupcakes to be ready to pull out of the oven.

“We have to make a very important delivery to Canterlot today for a very important customer. Will you two be alright running the shop by yourselves today?” Mr. Cake asked.

“What about Pumpkin?” Gala asked, looking over at them.

“Today is her day off.” Mrs. Cake said as she prepared ingredients to make a cake.

“I’m sure we can run the shop by ourselves, mom.” Pound said, pulling his batch of cupcakes out of the oven and waiting for them to cool down before icing them.

“Golly, I miss Pinkie Pie.” Mrs. Cake said. The kitchen went silent and Mr. Cake and Pound stared at Mrs. Cake, shaking their heads slightly.

“Who’s Pinkie Pie?” Gala asked, continuing to ice the cupcakes.

“Umm… She’s uhh… She’s just somepony that used to work here.” Mr. Cake said, stuttering slightly.

“Oh, ok.” Gala said as she continued icing the cupcakes, completely oblivious to what had just happened.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were very careful the rest of the time they were at Sugarcube Corner. They made the cake and then left the shop for the delivery. Pound and Gala had opened the shop and Gala stayed in the kitchen baking cupcakes and other treats while Pound tended to the customers.

This system worked very well because Gala was the better baker, and Pound was more of a social pony than Gala was. The day went on slowly and uneventful. When closing time came around, it was the same as it usually was, boring. Although, Mr. and Mrs. Cake still hadn’t come back from their delivery, and Pumpkin must still be at a friend’s house or something.

There were a few cupcakes left over from business that day. Gala thought she would ask Mr. and Mrs. Cake if it was alright if she took them home for Fluttershy and Discord, but she remembered that they weren’t back yet.

“Hey, Pound?” She called from the door of the kitchen.

“Yeah?” He asked. He was wiping off one of the tables.

“There’s a few cupcakes left, do you think it would be alright with Mr. and Mrs. Cake if I took them home for Fluttershy and Discord?” She asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Pound said as he continued cleaning of the table.

“Thanks!” Gala said happily, her mane puffing up slightly more. She went back into the kitchen and put the remaining cupcakes in a box and cleaned up the kitchen. Once Pound had finished cleaning off the tables he went into the kitchen to help Gala finish cleaning it. Once the kitchen was all clean, Gala left the kitchen and was about to leave.

“Gala! Wait!” Pound called. He brought her the box of the remaining cupcakes that she had left in the kitchen.

“Oh! Thank you, I’m sorry.” Gala said, taking them from him.

“It’s fine.” Pound said, a small blush creeping up on his face. Gala smiled at him once more before leaving. She walked out of Sugarcube Corner with her box of cupcakes and started walking home. She figured that since Discord couldn’t take her to work, he couldn’t pick her up either. Luckily, the walk wasn’t too long, so the cupcakes wouldn’t get messed up or anything.

Gala made it home with the cupcakes still intact, and she gave one of them to Fluttershy and the other to Discord.

“Wow! Gala, these are incredible. Almost as good as-” Fluttershy stopped herself from continuing.

“Almost as good as what, Fluttershy?” Gala asked.

“Almost as good as my friend, The Smooze’s sweets. Then again, he uses out of this world ingredients.” Discord said, finishing for Fluttershy. Fluttershy let out a small sigh of relief and took another bite out of the cupcake she was holding. Discord finished his off in one bite and licked his lips and patted his stomach. “That was very good, Gala. I’ll have to stop by and buy some more another time.”

Gala smiled and waited for Fluttershy to finish her cupcake before she went off to bed. Before Gala went to bed, she remembered something the Cakes had said back at the shop earlier that day. “Fluttershy, Discord.” She said.

“Yes?” They replied in unison.

“Who is Pinkie Pie?” She asked.

Fluttershy and Discord glanced at each other nervously. “Gala…. Sweetie….” Fluttershy started.

“The Cakes told me that she used to work at Sugarcube Corner.” Gala said.

Fluttershy look at Discord and he shook his head slightly. “That’s right. She did used to work there, and I was kind of friends with her too, but she’s nopony important.” Fluttershy said, doing her best to lie, which was something she wasn’t good at.

“Ok!” Gala chimed happily. She trotted up the stairs to her bedroom and crawled into her bed. “I still think that they’re hiding something from me. I get the feeling that this Pinkie Pie is somepony very important.” Gala thought to herself as she tried to get to sleep.