The Party Must Go On

Rainbow Dash walked over to where Soarin was sitting, reading the newspaper. “Hey, Soarin?” She asked.

“Yeah? What’s up?” Soarin asked, turning the page of the newspaper.

“Would you mind watching the twins today?” Rainbow asked.

Soarin looked over the newspaper at Rainbow Dash, his wife, who was staring at him with her large, magenta eyes. “I could never say no to you.” Soarin said sweetly.

“Thanks, Soarin.” Rainbow Dash said. She leaned down and planted a small kiss on his cheek. Soarin stopped her from leaving and pulled her into a make out session. Rainbow Dash finally pulled away from him and waved goodbye as she left the house.

Rainbow Dash trotted from her little house to Fluttershy’s cottage which was across Ponyville. It was somewhat early in the morning, Gala would be leaving for work soon. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash would have the house to themselves for most of the day which was perfect for what they had planned to do.

* * *

Back at Rainbow’s house, Soarin had finished the newspaper and the twins had just woken up. The three of them were eating breakfast together. Chocolate Rain and Skittles were talking to each other about something that had happened when they were hanging out with their friends. Soarin only half listened while he munched on his breakfast.

“Hey, dad?” Chocolate Rain asked Soarin.

“Yeah?” Soarin replied.

“Can we go to Sugarcube Corner today? A few of our friends are going there to hang out and they invited us to go with them.”

“Please?” Skittles added.

Soarin’s eyes widened. “No.”

“But-” They whined in unison.

“No buts. No means no.” Soarin said. He finished his breakfast and got up from the table. “You can go anywhere you like as long as you don’t go to Sugarcube Corner.” He said. He strapped on his saddle bag and left the house.

Chocolate Rain and Skittles finished off their breakfast and then left the house together. “So where do you want to go?” Chocolate Rain asked his brother.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you choose something?” Skittles asked.

“Alright. Then let’s go to Sweet Apple Acres.” Chocolate Rain said. Chocolate Rain was the stronger of the twins, and he was slightly bigger than his brother. He was more rebellious than Skittles and he took more risks.

“But… Rainie, I don’t want to.” Skittles whined. Sweet Apple Acres had stopped functioning years ago, when the twins were little. The barn that had stood on the grounds was old and falling apart. The apple trees that used to grow there were mostly dead; only a few remained.

“I told you not to call me that, and we’re going.” Chocolate hissed at his brother. Skittles flinched and followed his brother as he took off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“But, mom and dad told us we can’t go there.” Skittles protested as he followed his brother.

“Did you hear what dad said just now? He said we can go anywhere except Sugarcube Corner, and we’re not going there.” He chuckled rebelliously.

Skittles sighed and trotted behind his brother. Once Chocolate Rain and Skittles arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, they looked around at the trees and the barn. The trees were covered with old, rotten apples, some had fallen to the ground and splattered. The barn was in similar condition, nearly falling apart.

Chocolate Rain and Skittles heard voices coming from the barn and they trotted over to it. Skittles was reluctant to go inside, but he always followed his brother, so he went in the barn with his brother.

Inside the barn were a bunch of ponies that Chocolate Rain and Skittles knew from school. A few of them were drinking beer, and others were smoking. Chocolate Rain rejected the alcohol and smokes, but he sat next to his friends and talking with them.

Skittles stood in a corner where nopony else was so he wouldn’t be offered anything he didn’t want. He watched Chocolate from a distance, making sure that he didn’t do anything he shouldn’t do.

A young mare walked over to Skittles and sat down next to him on a bale of hay. She was a unicorn with a light blue coat and a bright green mane. Her eyes were a much darker blue than her coat and they seemed to have green mixed in with them. Her mane was long and braided, hanging down each side of her face. Her cutie mark was a white lily on a lilypad.

Skittles stared at her for a minute until she looked at him and he looked away quickly. “Hi, what’s your name?” She asked him.

“Me? Oh, I’m Skittles.” He said awkwardly.

She giggled slightly. “That’s a cute name. I’m called Water Lily.” She said.

Skittles smiled at her shyly. “So what are you doing here?” He asked.

“My older sister wanted to come and so I came with her.” She pointed at an older mare, also a unicorn who was taking a drink of beer. Her color scheme was the opposite of Water Lily’s, and her mane was curly and short. She had her ears pierced and she seemed much more rebellious than Chocolate Rain was. “Why are you here?”

“I came with my twin brother.” He said, pointing at Chocolate Rain. “He insisted we come here, so I came with him.” Water Lily looked over at Chocolate Rain and nodded. Skittles stared at Water Lily a bit longer. He noticed that she was about the same age as him and his brother, and she was really, really pretty.

“I was supposed to go out with my boyfriend tonight, but my sister dragged me here instead.” Water Lily said sadly.

“B-boyfriend?” Skittles asked.

“Yeah.” She said, turning to look at Skittles who was looking back at her. He quickly looked away to hide his sad expression.

“That’s nice.” Skittles said. He watched his brother for a moment before looking back at Water Lily. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

“Hey! Skittles! Get over here!” Chocolate Rain called from across the room. Skittles jumped on the bale of hay he had been sitting on and turned to Water Lily.

“I’ve gotta go.” He said before turning and trotting over to his brother.

“Hey, Skittles, we’re going now.” Chocolate said.

“But, Rainie….” Skittles started.

“Don’t call me that.” He hissed sternly. “Now let’s go.”

Skittles didn’t ask him why they were leaving, but as they walked out of the barn door, Skittles looked back at Water Lily and noticed that she had been staring at him.

“Rainie, where are we going?” Skittles asked.

“Damn it, I told you not to call me that.” Chocolate Rain yelled at his brother. He stomped his front hooves on the ground hard and Skittles flinched. “We’re going to the lake to wash up before we go back home.” He said calmly.

“Ok..…” Skittles said softly, making some distance before following after his brother. Chocolate Rain and Skittles hurried to the lake. They both hopped in and swam around for a little bit until they were sure that the smell of cigarettes and alcohol was off of them. They sat out in the sun for a few minutes to dry off before they started heading back home.

When they got back to their house, they realized that neither their mom or dad had come back yet. Chocolate Rain sighed and collapsed on the couch in the living room. Skittles went into their bedroom, they shared one, and he sat down at their desk. They mostly used it for homework, and other things when they needed to.

He pulled out his sketchbook and pulled a pencil out of the desk drawer. He opened the sketchbook to the first blank page and stared at it, holding the pencil in his mouth. As he was thinking, he unconsciously tapped the tip of the pencil against the paper. He jumped up when his brother walked into the room, startling him.

The pencil drew a dark line across the page, and Skittles erased it quickly. He tried his hardest to ignore his brother’s annoying fiddling as he started to draw. He carefully dragged the pencil across the page. The end result was a sketch of Water Lily smiling. He smiled at the drawing and touched it up a little by sharpening the lines and erasing the mistakes he had made.

Skittles closed his sketchbook and placed it it’s hiding place. He put the pencil back in the drawer after sharpening it and then left the desk to sit down on his bed. He couldn’t take his mind off Water Lily; she was so nice and so pretty. He sighed which caused his brother to look at him.

“Why did you sigh?” Chocolate Rain asked.

“What?” Skittles asked, having not heard what he said. “I was lost in thought and didn’t hear what you said.” He explained.

“Why did you sigh?” He asked again.

“No reason.” Skittles said, looking away from his brother.

“Hmmm….. Ok…” Chocolate Rain said, looking at the guilty look on Skittles face. “Have you ever wondered why mom and dad won’t let us go to Sugarcube Corner?” He asked.

Skittles was surprised by the question. “No, I haven’t. Why?”

“I don’t know. I’ve just heard that it’s such a nice place and the ponies who work there are nice, and the cupcakes are amazing, but mom and dad never let us go. Every time we bring it up, they get this look on their faces and just say no. It makes me wonder….” He said, mostly to himself than to his brother.

“I guess I never really thought of it like that.” Skittles said. “Have you thought of a reason?”

“I think maybe one or both of them had some kind of traumatic experience there.” Chocolate Rain said.

Skittles placed his hoof on his chin in thought and then nodded. “That seems legit.”

“I still don’t think it’s fair not to let us go just for a stupid reason like that.”

“That can’t be it, because they’ve brought us sweets from there on multiple occasions. There has to be another reason.” Skittles argued.

“Ugh.” Chocolate Rain growled. He rolled over in his bed and stuffed his face in his pillow and growled again. He turned on to his side to face Skittles and continued talking. “Thinking is hard, I give up.” He stuffed his face back into his pillow and soon fell asleep.

Skittles stared at him for a few minutes. He laughed as quietly as he could manage. He couldn’t believe that his brother had fallen asleep in the middle of the day. He heard a noise coming from the living room and he left their bedroom to check it out.

“Hello?” He called. He had remembered that he hadn’t locked the door when he and Chocolate had come back from Sweet Apple Acres and that the person in their house could be anyone, not just his mom or dad.

“Skittles? Is that you?” A voice called from the kitchen.

Skittles trotted into the kitchen to see his dad putting groceries away. “Yeah, hi dad.” He said happily.

“What did you two do this morning?” Soarin asked.

“We mostly stayed home. I’m not sure what Rainie did, but I drew some pictures in my sketchbook.” He explained. “We also went on a short walk around town.”

Soarin nodded happily. “Has your mother come back yet?” He asked.

“No, not yet.” Skittles said. “Do you know where she went?”

“She told me she was going to see a friend, I’m not sure who though. I’m guessing she went to see Fluttershy, they’ve been friends since they were fillies.” Soarin said. He had finished putting away all the groceries and was sitting down at the table.

Skittles nodded. “Well, I’m going to go back to my room now.” He said, turning to leave.

“Wait, where’s your brother?” Soarin asked.

“Oh, Rainie fell asleep.” Skittles said.

Soarin grunted and waved Skittles off. Skittles took one last look at his dad, his mane and tail had a bunch of gray streaks in them, and he had dark circles under his eyes. Skittles frowned and then trotted off to his bedroom.

* * *

Rainbow Dash had just gotten to Fluttershy’s cottage and she knocked on the door. Fluttershy opened it and Rainbow hurried inside. “Come on, let’s go to my bedroom.” Fluttershy said quietly. Rainbow Dash nodded and followed her into her bedroom.

Fluttershy sat down on her bed and Rainbow sat next to her. The two embraced in a tight hug. They let go of each other and looked into each other’s eyes. “So what’s our first order of business?” Fluttershy asked.

“I think the twins are old enough to know about Pinkie Pie and Gala.” Rainbow said.

“Oh, that’s wonderful.” Fluttershy said. “Gala’s been pestering Discord about it for almost a year. She wants to know who her real parents are.”

“The twins are the same way.” Rainbow said.

“So when are we going to tell them?” Fluttershy asked. “Gala works at Sugarcube Corner every single day, she almost never takes a day off.”

“Saturday should be fine, Soarin and I can bring the twins over here to have dinner and you and I can tell them about their mom and dad.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Saturday is perfect. I know Gala can’t make it on Friday because she has a date with Pound Cake, but Saturday is good.” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow Dash giggled. “Gala and Pound Cake?” She asked.

Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “He walked her home the other day, he’s a real sweetie. He seems to make Gala happy, so I’m happy for her.”

“I should go now, but I really don’t want to, taking care of the twins is so exhausting, even with Soaring to help me.” She said.

“You can stay longer, if you want to.” Fluttershy said.

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash said. She and Fluttershy chatted about their lives and husbands and children and such. They reminisced about some of the things they had done with their other friends before they had died. Rainbow Dash finally left a few hours before the sun would go down. She decided to fly so she wouldn’t run into Gala on her way back home.

Of course, Rainbow Dash and Gala had met before, but Rainbow didn’t want Gala to see her coming from Fluttershy’s house. She looked down as she flew, just in case she saw Gala. She passed over her, and saw a young pegasus stallion walking next to her. “That must be Pound Cake.” She said to herself. She heard them laughing from underneath her and smiled as she continued flying home.