The Party Must Go On

The work day at Sugarcube Corner went by rather quickly that day. Before Gala knew it, they were closing up shop. She remembered that she had told Pound that she would tell him what had happened after work, and work was over so she would have to tell him soon. She anxiously cleaned up the kitchen, trying to clean slower than usual just to postpone telling him about what happened.

Pound walked into the kitchen to see Gala slowly and nervously scrubbing the counter. “Gala, are you ok?” He asked. She didn’t answer, she just continued to scrub the counter silently.

Pound walked over to her and wrapped his foreleg around her. This elicited a reaction from Gala and she gasped and turned to look at him. Pound noticed that there were tears in her eyes and that she was shaking. Pound’s face was immediately filled with worry.

“A-are you ok?” He asked again. He looked into her eyes and wrapped his foreleg tighter around her, but not so tight it would hurt her.

“Oh, Pound.” She whimpered, and he noticed that her voice was shaking along with her body. “Pound, it’s awful.” She cried. She rested her head in his chest and began crying. Pound gently placed his hoof on the back of her head and stroked it to try to comfort her. He didn’t understand why she was crying or what was wrong, but he didn’t want to ask her in case it made her feel worse. He just hugged her and let her cry into him.

Once he thought she had calmed down, he decided to ask her what was wrong. “Gala, what’s wrong?” He asked. She looked up at him and then around the kitchen.

“I… I can’t tell you here.” She said. She sniffed a few times and wiped away her tears with her foreleg. “Come on.” She waved her hoof at him to follow; she left the kitchen and Pound followed her out. She grabbed her saddlebag and then pushed down on the floorboard that opened the basement.

The secret door slowly creaked itself open. She and Pound stood silently as they waited for it to open wide enough for them to walk through. When it opened, she and Pound walked down the staircase to the basement so they could talk privately.

Gala flicked on the light switch and turned to face Pound Cake. “I’ll tell you what happened.” She said. She paused, gulped nervously and took a slow, deep breath.

“Wh-what it is?” Pound asked. He wasn’t sure he should ask her, he didn’t want to force her to tell him.

“I….. I showed Discord the letter we found in here the first time we came here, and he showed me what happened to my parents.” Gala said. She stared right into Pound’s eyes, tears streaming down her face.

“Showed you?” Pound asked, a little confused.

“Yeah. He used some kind of magic to literally show me.” Gala explained.

“So….. What happened?” Pound asked hesitantly.

Gala told Pound everything. Including the part where Celestia and Luna killed her father. By the end of the story, they were both in tears. Gala picked the knife up off the floor and put it in her saddle bag.

“Aren’t you afraid that you’ll get caught with that?” Pound asked, wiping away the tears that had accumulated on his cheeks.

“No, Fluttershy hardly ever goes into my room, and if Discord found it, he would know why I had it, and he won’t get me in trouble.” Gala said. She walked past Pound and was about to start up the stairs. She turned around to face him. “You ready?” She asked.

“Huh? Yeah, sorry. Let’s go.” He flicked the light switch so the lights turned off and followed Gala up the stairs. They embraced quickly at the top of the stairs and then Gala left the shop and headed back home.

The long walk wasn’t necessarily hard, but she didn’t enjoy it. She was trying not to cry, and she was being extremely careful with the knife in her saddlebag, she didn’t want to get caught with that, especially since it was still covered with dried blood.

Gala passed some ponies as she was walking home. A few of them gave her friendly smiles, and others didn’t acknowledge her at all. When she was more into the country area of Ponyville, she let out a sigh of relief and allowed herself to relax a little.

She finally made her way back home and she went inside to her room. She put away her saddle bag after taking the knife out. She hid the knife somewhere that she knew neither Fluttershy nor Discord would find it.

It took her a minute to make sure it was perfect, and when she was sure it was, she hopped into her bed and tried to get herself to fall asleep. She had had a long hard day, and she was extremely tired, so she was able to fall asleep easily.

During the night, she dreamt about all the things Discord had showed her in his vision. She spent the whole night tossing and turning. A few times she woke up in the dead of night, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, on the brink of crying and screaming.

At one point, she woke up and the sun had already risen. She decided she would stay in today, she was in no condition to go to work. Gala laid back down and tried her hardest to get back to sleep, but a few minutes later, she heard a knock on the door downstairs.

She waited a minute, but she didn’t hear Fluttershy nor Discord go to answer it. They were either still asleep, or they had already left the house for the day. She sighed and got out of bed. she walked down the stairs and into the living room to answer the door herself.

She opened it, “Hell… Oh… Hi.” She said, seeing Pound Cake standing in the doorway.

“Gala!” He exclaimed. He jumped onto her, hugging her tightly. There were tears in his eyes and he was shaking.

“Pound, wh-what’s wrong?” She asked. She was surprised to see him here, and she was surprised to see him crying. She didn’t know why he was crying, but she hugged him back to try and comfort him.

“I…. I was so worried about you.” Pound sniffed.

“But, Pound, I’m just fine, you don’t have to worry.” Gala whispered sweetly into his ear. Pound didn’t respond, he just continued to sob into her. Gala sighed and rubbed his back for a moment.

Pound pushing himself up so he was standing over her. There were still a few tears in his eyes and running down his cheeks. They dripped down off his face and onto Gala. He leaned down and kissed her. Gala blushed profusely and kissed him back, wrapping her hooves around him.

She suddenly pushed him off of her and jumped up, looking around. “Gala, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“I live here. With Fluttershy. And Discord.” Gala said, she continued looking around to make sure they were nowhere to be seen. Pound stared at her. “I’ll be right back.” She said.

“But-”

“Don’t move.” She ran up the stairs to her room, leaving Pound standing where he was feeling foolish. She ran into her room and brushed her mane and tail as quickly as she could. She leaned into Fluttershy and Discord’s for just a moment, they were still sleeping. She released a quick sigh of relief and rushed back down stairs.

Pound had closed the front door and was standing awkwardly, looking around the room. “Come on.” Gala practically dragged him out the door.

“What? Where are we going?” He asked, following her half-heartedly.

“To work.” She said.

“But…” Pound started.

“But what?” Gala asked. She stopped walking and turned to face him.

“Sugarcube Corner is closed today.” Pound said.

Gala’s face grew red with embarrassment. “Then we’ll just go out.” She said. “Come on.” She began trotting away and Pound had to gallop to catch up to her.

Pound Cake and Gala Amour walked around Ponyville that day. As they were walking, Gala gasped and startled Pound.

“What? What is it?” He asked, still a little shocked by her loud gasp. Her mane had suddenly poofed up and she was wearing a large smile.

She looked around to make sure nopony was listening to their conversation and she leaned in closer to Pound and whispered. “We should go to Sweet Apple Acres.”

“What? Are you crazy?” Pound asked.

“Oh come on.” She whined. “Can we please go?” She begged.

Pound scrunched his face up in thought. He glanced at Gala and when he saw the look on her face, he just couldn’t say no. He sighed and tried to look away. “Fine.” He breathed out shamefully.

“Yay!!” Gala’s mane and tail became even poofier and she hugged Pound. “Come on, let’s go right now!” She began skipping towards Sweet Apple Acres and Pound followed her slowly, not quite as eager to get there as Gala was.

Gala stopped skipping so Pound could catch up with her. “Are you ok?” She asked him once they were side by side.

“I just really really don’t want to go. Mom and dad always told me never to go there.” He said, giving Gala a pleading look, begging her to go back with his eyes.

“We don’t have to go if you really don’t want to.” Gala said reassuringly.

Pound sighed happily and a smile appeared on his face. “Thank you.” He said sincerely. They turned around and started walking back.

Gala looked up at the sky. “Its’ actually getting kind of late, maybe we should go home now.” She said.

“Alright.” Pound said, he looked up as well, and searched around for the sun. “Sweet Celestia….” He breathed. “Gala, we need to get going now, it’s almost sundown.”

“What’s wrong with nighttime?” She asked, following Pound as he began trotting back to Fluttershy’s house.

“My parents don’t like it when I stay out too late, so if I show up  late, they’ll worry about me, and they’ll probably ground me.” Gala nodded and they continued trotting back to Fluttershy’s cottage.

When they finally arrived, the sun had just gone down. Gala went inside and waved Pound inside as well.

“Welcome back Gala… And… Pound Cake…..” She said, slightly confused as to why Pound was standing in her living room after dark.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, we lost track of time while we were walking around Ponyville, and now it’s really late and…..” Gala trailed off in her explanation.

Fluttershy just smiled at them. “Pound, why don’t you stay here tonight? When you go back tomorrow, you can tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake that you stayed the night at a friend’s house.”

“Thank you Mrs. Fluttershy, but….” He looked at Gala and she was blushing and had a shy smile on her face. He looked back at Fluttershy.

“But what?” She asked.

“Nothing… Nevermind.” He said. “Thank you very much for letting me stay here tonight.” He said politely like he was addressing a customer at Sugarcube Corner. He bowed his head slightly.

“Gala, there’s an extra bed in your room, right?” Fluttershy asked.

Gala’s face grew redder. “Ummm, there’s actually two extra beds…” She said.

“Perfect!” Fluttershy said with a smile. “Pound Cake, you can choose one of those to sleep in. You two are both very responsible, and I trust you to sleep in the same room. You have work tomorrow, right?” She asked.

“Yes ma’am.” Pound said with a nod. Gala stared at him and noticed that he was blushing slightly as well.

Fluttershy smiled at them once more. “You two should go on to bed now and get some sleep.” She said.

Gala went up to her room and Pound Cake followed her. She pointed at her bed, “I sleep in this bed, you can choose one of the other two.” Pound nodded and sat down on the bed that was closest to hers. Gala walked over to her bed and crawled up into it. She shook her head to get her mane out of her face, and she realized how dirty it was.

She got out of her bed, “Umm, Pound, I need to take a shower.” She said.

“Ok.” He said. “Have fun.” A slight smile appeared on his lips and Gala blushed and hurried off to the bathroom. She took a quick shower and then rushed back to her room.

Pound Cake was lying spread eagled on his stomach on the bed he had first sat on. Gala smiled. His breathing was steady and even, he had obviously already fallen asleep. Seeing him sleeping, Gala yawned. She climbed into her own bed and quickly fell asleep.

Gala woke up because she felt something on her forehead. She opened her eyes to see Pound standing over her. What she felt on her forehead must have been a kiss from him. She stared at him for a moment and he pulled his head back and she sat up in bed. He was standing next to her bed looking at her.

“You’re cute when you’re sleeping.” He said with an adorable smile. Gala blushed and looked up at him. His eyes darted from her eyes to her mane and then he looked down at her tail. He brought his hoof to his mouth to stifle a small giggle.

“What?” Gala asked. “What is it?” She got up and looked at herself in the mirror. She squeaked when she saw how bad her bedhead was. Her face grew red and she tried her best to smooth it down with her hooves.

Pound giggled a little more and picked up her brush in his mouth. He walked over to her and began brushing her mane. Once her mane was brushed, he moved on to brush her tail.

“P-pound… I… I can do my tail myself.” Gala stuttered nervously.

“Don’t worry, I got it.” He said, doing his best to talk around the brush handle in his mouth. Gala blushed as Pound ran the brush through her tail slowly and gently.

“Pound, today is your birthday, right?” Gala asked.

“Mmmphh hmmph mmmph.” He mumbled over the handle of the brush.

“What?” She asked. He finished brushing her tail and then he set the brush down.

“I said, it’s actually tomorrow.”

“Oh, right. Well happy early birthday.” She said with a smile. Pound smiled back at her, but it was half hearted. “Is something wrong?” She asked.

“No, I’m fine.” He said, smiling again, trying to make it more genuine.

“Pound, you know you can tell me anything, right?” Gala said to him with a very soft tone, she sounded very worried.

“Really, it’s just nothing. It’s just a little hard having to share a birthday with your sister.” He said with a small laugh. Gala gave a small sigh of relief, happy that her little Pound Cake didn’t have some kind of serious problem.

“Are you ready to go to work then?” She asked.

Pound nodded and they left her room and the house and started walking to Sugarcube Corner. They got there and Mr. and Mrs. Cake asked where Pound had been and he told them he had stayed the night at a friend’s house. They didn’t get him in trouble and they all just started working as usual.

Pumpkin Cake had gotten over her little sickness and she was working today. The work day went by quickly without anything significant happening. Gala and Pound cleaned the kitchen together as usual and they hugged and kissed before she had to get back home.

The walk back to the cottage was uneventful and she collapsed in bed as soon as she got into her room. She fell asleep quickly without telling Fluttershy or Discord that she had come back home, they would figure it out when they checked on her.