The Party Must Go On

Gala had asked Discord not to take her to work in the mornings. She said that she needed the exercise anyway and she would get used to the walk after taking it a few times. That morning, she left Fluttershy’s cottage a little later than she had the previous day and made her way to Sugarcube Corner.

She trotted most of the way, watching the sun come up as she did. She didn’t want to make the mistake of bumping into somepony again so she continued looking ahead of her so she didn’t bump into anypony. She made it to Sugarcube Corner a little earlier than she had yesterday, even though she had left later, and she saw Pound Cake cleaning off the tables inside.

She smiled and waved at him. He waved back and trotted over to the door and opened it for her. “Good morning.” Gala said sweetly to Pound Cake.

“Good morning, Gala.” Pound said back to her as she walked past him through the open door and into the shop. Pound closed the door behind her, making sure the sign stayed closed, and continued cleaning the shop.

Gala trotted into the kitchen where Pumpkin had already started baking a batch of cupcakes. They said their hello’s and Gala started her own batch of cupcakes. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had gone out to collect more ingredients that they would need and said they would be back before opening time.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake came back right before Pound switched the open/closed sign to open and Gala and Pumpkin had each baked two batches of cupcakes. Mrs. Cake went into the kitchen to help the girls bake and Mr. Cake helped Pound with the customers. Mr. and Mrs. Cake switched occasionally so when one of them was in the kitchen, the other was taking orders.

Gala took her break around noon and she sat at a table and ate a cupcake that she had made earlier and was taking small bites of it as she waited for her break to pass by. Pound took his break a little while after she did and sat down at the table with her. She finished of her cupcake and Pound ate a slice of cake that was left over from Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s delivery yesterday.

“How’s it going?” Pound asked, taking a medium sized bite of his piece of cake.

“Good.” Gala said, playing with the crumbs on the table that had fallen from her cupcake.

“Are you ok?” Pound asked, looking at Gala with a worried look on his face after he had swallowed his bite of cake.

Gala was caught off guard by his question and looked up at him. “What? Yeah, I’m fine.” She looked back down at the table and continued playing with the tiny crumbs of cupcake. Pound noticed that her mane was extremely straight and it even seemed darker than it normally was. Gala got up and went into the kitchen to continue baking. Pound watched her as she left the table and continued to eat his piece of cake.

When Gala got back to the kitchen, Pumpkin hopped out and sat down at the table Pound was sitting at and munched on a cupcake. “Do you know what’s wrong with Gala?” She asked him.

“I was going to ask you that.” Pound answered.

“Oh.” Pumpkin said, taking a small bite out of her cupcake. She looked at the kitchen and then leaned towards Pound and whispered, “I think she likes you.”

Pound’s face grew red with embarrassment and he buried his face in his slice of cake. Pumpkin giggled wildly and continued eating her cupcake. Pound finished of his cake slowly and when he finished he got up, “I’ve gotta get back to work…” He said in a grim voice.

Pumpkin watched him walk away, “I wonder if I made him mad…” She said to herself, taking another bite of her cupcake.

The work day went on by slowly like it always did, and when it was over, Mr. and Mrs. Cake left the cleaning to Pound and Gala. Pumpkin had gotten off a little while ago so she could go see a movie with her friend. Gala was cleaning up the kitchen and Pound was cleaning of tables as usual. He finished before Gala and went into the kitchen to help her.

He began wiping some flour of the counter and into a trash can. “Hey, are you alright? I noticed you were in a pretty bad mood this morning.”

“I’m fine.” Gala said as she wiped of baking trays. Pound was on the opposite side of the kitchen from Gala and he kept glancing over at her, seeing her face covered by her mane. As he cleaned he tried to get closer, and they eventually bumped into each other. Gala looked at him for a minute and Pound stared back at her.

Gala looked past him and saw two uneaten cupcakes sitting on the counter. “Ummm… Pound Cake?” She said, taking her eyes off the cupcakes and looking back into his eyes.

“Yeah?” He asked.

“There are two cupcakes left.” She said, lifting her hoof and pointing at them.

Pound turned around and saw the cupcakes sitting on the counter. “So there are.” He said.

Gala walked over to them and picked one of them up. “Do you ummm…. Do you want to share them?” She asked. She was blushing slightly, but Pound didn’t notice due to her mane covering half of her face, and the darkness in the kitchen. The only light was coming from the doorway.

“Gala….” Pound said, taking a few small steps towards her. “Put down that cupcake…. You’re sweet enough already.” He regretted saying it the second it left his mouth, and his face grew red.

Gala stared at him, her face getting red as well. She giggled softly and put the cupcake down on the counter. Her mane poofed up slightly, and made her blush more visible to Pound Cake, who was still staring at her.

“Gala….” Pound said.

“Yeah?” Gala replied, staring intently into his eyes. “Does he like me?” She thought excitedly.

“Gala… Would you ummm…..” Pound started.

“Yes??” Gala asked, taking a step closer to him, still staring into his big brown eyes.

Pound stared back into Gala’s bright green eyes. “Would you…” He paused and took a deep breath, he scrunched his eyes closed, “Would you like to go out with me?” He asked quickly.

He didn’t get an answer as quickly as he would have hoped, so he slowly opened one of his eyes and then the other and he looked down at Gala whose mane had popped up into a huge afro. She was wearing the biggest smile Pound had ever seen on her. Gala still didn’t answer him, instead she tackled him into a hug.

Pound wrapped his forelegs around her slowly. “Umm…... Is that a yes?” He asked her.

Gala still couldn’t answer, she just nodded her head, her puffed up mane rubbing against Pound’s chest as they hugged. Gala let go of him and wiped away of a few tears that had fallen down her face in joy. The two of them discussed what they would do as they finished cleaning the kitchen.

They shared the last two cupcakes and Gala then left the kitchen, Pound following after her. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” He asked.

“Of course.” Gala said with a smile. Pound walked over to her and kissed her cheek softly. Gala blushed again and left the shop without another word. Gala half skipped, half trotted the rest of the way home to Fluttershy’s cottage. She ran into her room and hugged her favorite pillow, whom she had named Mr. Snuggles, and squealed into him. Even though screaming into the pillow had muffled the scream, Fluttershy still heard it and ran into Gala’s room.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, peeking through the door to see Gala curled up in her bed with a pillow over her face.

Gala jumped out of her bed and ran over to Fluttershy, giving her a big hug. “Guess what, guess what, guess what!!!” She squealed.

Fluttershy noticed that her mane was the puffiest it had ever been and that Gala was finally in a good mood again. “What?” She asked.

“Pound Cake asked me out on a date!” She grabbed Mr. Snuggles and squealed into him again.

Fluttershy smiled. “Gala, that’s wonderful-”

“I know!” She squealed again. Fluttershy dropped her ears back.

“Gala, please calm down, Discord is asleep.” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, right, sorry.” Gala apologized. Gala suddenly remembered that he had kissed her and she brought her hoof up to her cheek. She squealed once more into her pillow, this one louder than the other two, and Fluttershy folded her ears back and left the room.

“Sorry, Fluttershy.” Gala said awkwardly.

Fluttershy opened the door and smiled at Gala, “It’s alright, just go to sleep now, will you?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, I’m sorry.” Gala said once more. She crawled into her bed was she was far too restless and excited to sleep. She ended up staying awake for most of the night.