The Party Girl

by Godslittleprincess

Chapter 11: Of Reindeers and Younger Brothers

“What do you mean today’s my last day working for you?” Flash cried. His next workday started calmly enough. He got up early to meet with Pinkie Pie and give her a new list of names and addresses that he had, with great effort and difficulty, put together the day before. After talking with her and helping her choose gifts, the two of them emerged from the Party Cave and joined the rest of the Pies for the day’s work. However, he and Pinkie had barely met up with her sisters when Limestone made her announcement.

“You said you wanted to help until Pa’s hip got better,” Limestone explained. “All he needs is another day, and he’ll be up and going again.”

“Wait, does that mean you won’t be coming up to see me anymore?” Pinkie whimpered, her hair deflating a bit.

Flash opened his mouth to reply but couldn’t answer her. He had never felt so torn in his life. On one hand, Flash had always considered himself a dependable person who would never abandon his friends, and Pinkie Pie is his friend. However, he had other friends who he needed to look for, and he’s been leaving them waiting for about three weeks already. A less loyal or more practical person would have considered them as good as dead and given up already. Additionally, while Flash had other friends to think about, he was Pinkie Pie’s ONLY friend. If he stopped coming up to visit her, she’d go back to that lonely, desperate girl he had met on his first day of work.

After much deliberation, Flash explained to her, “Pinkie, I would love to keep coming up here to visit you, but...”

“Oh no!” Pinkie cried. “You said ‘but’! That means you’re about to tell me something I’m not going to like!”

“I really need to earn the money to get me and my brother back to the city,” Flash continued. “My brother and I used to work on a ship, and well, it sank. Now, we need to go into the city to find out if any of our friends made it out alive, but we can’t do that unless I earn the money that we need for the travel expenses.”

“Oooooh,” Pinkie interjected in understanding. “How much do you and your brother need just for the ferry?”

“Ten silvers.”

“TEN SILVERS!” Pinkie cried. “Is the ferryman crazy?!”

“Nope, just cranky,” Flash replied with cheerless laugh, “and greedy.”

Pinkie pursed her lips and scrunched her eyebrows as if she was deep in thought.

“Ugh, if I could just give you the money you need out of my savings I would, but I don’t have anywhere near that much,” Pinkie emphasized. “Besides, I still need my savings for,” she clamped her hands over her mouth, realizing that her oldest sister was in her present company, “well, you know.”

“No, I don’t know. What do you need your savings for, Pinkie?” Limestone replied, eyeing her younger sister suspiciously.

“I’ll tell you later,” Pinkie snapped, trying to dodge Limestone’s suspicion. Then, she gasped, her eyes lighting up as she did so. “IDEEEEEEEEA!”

Before anyone could say another word to her, Pinkie dashed off as quick as a flash and returned just as quickly with a rather strange-looking reindeer. It looked exactly like any other reindeer except its coat was a pinkish gold color and its nose was sparkly red.

“Flash, this is my reindeer Groat, and Groatie, meet my friend Flash,” Pinkie said, introducing Flash and the reindeer to each other.

“Uh, Groat?” Flash asked, thoroughly confused.

“It’s an acronym. It stands for Greatest Reindeer Of All Time!” Pinkie cheered, throwing her arms around the reindeer and nuzzling her face into its neck. “And because we’re friends, I’m going to give him to you.”

“Wait. What?”

“You see, I didn’t just give Groat his name because he’s my reindeer and I love him,” Pinkie explained. “I mean, I totally love him, like a lot, but that’s not why I gave him his name. Groat is actually a really, really amazing reindeer. Like, you know how it takes you hours to get up here? Well, if you ride on Groat, you can shave your travel time down to just maybe five or ten minutes. Now, you can job hunt and work AND still have time to hang out with me. Also, if you take him with you to the mainland, you won’t have to worry about spending money on a horse or a carriage.”

“Oh, Pinkie,” Flash exclaimed, extremely touched by the gesture, “that’s so sweet of you, but I can’t accept this.”

“Oh, sure, you can,” Pinkie insisted. “Think of him as a little parting gift. In fact,” Pinkie pulled a bright yellow ribbon from thin air and tied it into a big, beautiful bow around Groat’s neck, “there. Now, Groat is officially your goodbye present.”

---

“So, let me get this straight,” Twilight deadpanned to Flash as her family and their guests once again broke bread together that night, “Limestone Pie fired you, and her sister gave you that strange reindeer as a parting gift.”

“Pretty much,” Flash replied. “Pinkie wasn’t kidding about that reindeer being able to cut my travel time down. He was moving so fast that it was almost like we were flying, but we never once left the ground.”

“So, if you’re not going to be able to see Miss Pinkie as often, does that mean that the two of you aren’t going to be able to, you know, keep sending children gifts?” Night Light asked, trying and failing to hide the disappointment in his voice. Everyone else at the table didn’t seem too happy about that idea either.

“With Groat’s help, I think we can work something out,” Flash replied. “I think those toy deliveries might be one of the reasons why Pinkie gave me her reindeer.”

“By the way,” Shining Armor brought up, “First Base went into town with Father and I today.”

“Oh. How was he? Was he a big help?”

“He,” Shining Armor paused and bit his lip, “was helpful enough. He kept stopping to talk to and play with the kids in town, but Father and I let him. We figured that you guys haven’t had a chance to be just kids in a while.”

Flash looked at his brother with a mixture of sternness and bewilderment. Base knew better than to play when he should be helping, but Shining Armor was right about the two of them.

“You’re right; we haven’t,” Flash replied to Shining Armor, his face softening. “He knows better than to slack off, but as long as he was of some help, I don’t mind letting him stop to play.”

“Goodness,” Twilight thought to herself, “sometimes it’s like he’s First Base’s father instead of his older brother.”

“So, how are you going to find another job?” Twilight asked Flash. “Are you going to be working with Father and Shining Armor again?”

Flash frowned at Twilight’s question. The whole point of him getting a job with the Pies was so that he could earn the money he and his brother needed without further burdening Night Light and his family. He had never considered what he would need to do if his employment was ever cut short. Flash hated the idea of employing himself to his hosts again, but he didn’t have too many options.

“I, I don’t know,” Flash answered nervously before forcing a hopeful smile. “I’m going to check out the town first to see if anything’s changed. Maybe I’ll be able to find a decent job this time around.”

Twilight frowned, knowing full well that Flash was giving himself false hope. She thought about shattering that hope with a biting and sarcastic remark, but she held back. What was happening to her? Why did the very idea of saddening those two brothers pain her so much when three weeks ago, she honestly wouldn’t have cared either way?

---

The next morning started quietly enough. After waking up and getting dressed, everyone gathered for a quick breakfast before they were all to go their separate ways. The only difference was that Flash was there to join them that morning. Twilight and her family have been having that same quiet, unassuming breakfast together for the last five years with Flash and Base being the only change to that routine in all that time. They had no idea just how much their routine was going to change that morning, and it all began with a knock on the door.

“Now, who could that be?” Velvet remarked, as she got up to open the front door. When she opened it, two girls were standing behind it. They both seemed to be about First Base’s age, give or take a year. One girl was wearing a red jacket while the other wore a green one, and the two of them seemed to be trying to keep their distance from each other. The girl in red had pale yellow skin with long, red hair. The girl in green had pink skin and wavy, lavender hair striped with a single band of white.

“Hello, ma’am,” greeted the girl in red. “My name is Apple Bloom.”

“And I’m Diamond Tiara,” the girl in green interrupted to her accompaniment’s annoyance.

“We’re here to see the schoolteacher,” Apple Bloom continued.

“Yes?” Cadance replied, getting up from the table and making her way to the door.

“Hello, miss. We’re here because yesterday a boy told us that he knew who’s been sending us toys and offered to write us letters to say thank you for three coppers a letter,” Apple Bloom explained.

“He also told us that if we came and had you teach us how to write our names, he’d take one copper off his fee, so a whole bunch of us are waiting for you at the schoolhouse,” Diamond Tiara cut in.

“So, can you please teach us?” the two of them said simultaneously before glaring at each other.

Meanwhile inside the cottage, everyone slowly turned to First Base and stared while he nonchalantly stuffed a buttered biscuit into his mouth. His older brother in particular looked at him with a thoroughly incredulous expression.

“Could you excuse us, please?” Flash asked his hosts, forcing a sheepish grin on his face. He grabbed his brother by the arm, dragged him into Shining Armor and Cadance’s room, which was the room they had been resting in when the two of them were first rescued, and shut the door behind them.

“What did you do?!” he exclaimed to Base.

Base giggled nervously and replied, “Uh, exactly what those girls said I did.”

Flash groaned exasperatedly and slapped his hand over his face.

He slid his hand off his face to look at his brother again and sputtered, “But why?”

“Because I overheard you talking to Twilight,” First Base replied, emphatically, “and you’re right. Finding a way to make those people’s lives just a bit better is exactly what our family would have done if they were still here. Twilight wasn’t going to help you, so I thought I’d try to do something.”

“And you’re charging kids money for your services because?”

“Hey, it’s only a few coppers, and one of them is going towards postage. Besides, you said our family believed in taking care of the people we love, but ever since they died, you’ve been doing all the work taking care of me. When’s it going to be my turn to take care of you?”

Flash opened his mouth to continue scolding First Base, but his words evaporated along with his indignation. Flash could feel his expression softening under the pure, innocent brotherly love radiating from his younger brother’s eyes. He sighed and knelt so that the two of them were eye level with each other.

“Base, I know you meant well, and I can’t fault you for that,” Flash began gently, “but you do realize that you disrupted Ms. Cadance’s plans for the day, right? And possibly everyone else’s, too?”

“I know,” Base reluctantly conceded. “I know I should have asked first, but I was worried that you or someone else would say no.”

“When we leave this room, I want you to apologize to Ms. Cadance and everyone else and do whatever they need you to do to fix this. Understand?”

First Base bit his lip and nodded. Satisfied, Flash stood up and opened the door. The two of them returned to the dining table where their hosts were looking at them expectantly. Cadance and Ms. Velvet had sent the two girls back to the schoolhouse to wait with the other children and returned to the table.

“Everyone,” Flash began, “my brother has something to say to all of you.”

First Base stepped forward and opened his mouth to talk when Twilight interrupted him, saying, “Save it. We heard everything the two of you said to each other through the door.”

Surprised by Twilight’s interruption, Base looked to Flash, unsure how to continue.

Flash came forward and addressed everyone, “Even so, I think apologies are in order. We’re very sorry for any trouble we have caused you.”

“Sorry? Sorry?” Shining Armor shouted, the stern expression on his face terrifying the two brothers somewhat. Then, his expression softened, and he smiled, saying, “This is the nicest thing anyone has done for us ever since we moved here.”

“What?!” Twilight, Flash, and First Base exclaimed.

“I know the bar is set pretty low in that regard, but Cadance and Father have been waiting for a chance like this for so long, and we were losing hope that it was ever going to come, but you boys made it happen,” Shining Armor continued. “Thank you so much.”

“Wait, what do you mean you were losing hope?” Twilight cried out, staring at her older brother disbelievingly. “You mean you still believed that Cadance and Father could actually do the jobs that they signed up for here in this God-forsaken piece of Tartarus?”

“Twilight, we know it’s foolish, but as terrible as this place and the people who live in it are, we just weren’t ready to call it quits,” Cadance explained. “The only reason we were getting ready to leave was because growing up here was starting to affect you badly.”

“Wait,” Flash cut in, “so you’re not mad that we totally messed up your plans for the day and inconvenienced you?”

“Oh, don’t get us wrong; you two are still going to have to make up for that,” Shining replied with a smirk.

“And you can start by helping us clean up the schoolhouse,” Cadance added. “It’s not in any condition for me to be teaching in at the moment.”

“When you boys are done with that, you can help me clean up the post office,” Night Light cut in. “I’m going to need it in better shape if I’m going to process their letters to Miss Pinkie.”

“You’re actually going to be taking four hours out of your day just to deliver mail between the children and that girl?!” Twilight exclaimed, even more incredulous than she was earlier. “How are you going to find time to cut and sell firewood?”

“He could borrow my reindeer,” Flash offered before addressing Mr. Light, “I know Pinkie gave him to me as a parting gift, but I don’t think she’d mind if I let you use him, especially once you let her know why I lent him to you.”

“I suppose I could,” Night Light accepted hesitantly, “but there’s still the matter of who is going to take over cutting and selling the firewood.”

“Flash could do it,” First Base volunteered. “He needs a new job anyways. Maybe that could be it.”

“That’s a splendid idea,” Ms. Velvet agreed. “With all the help you boys have been, it’s only right that we give you a job.”

“Is she serious right now?!” Twilight thought to herself, resisting the urge to slam her face on the table.

“I, I,” Flash stuttered, “I suppose I could take the job if you’re offering and if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, really,” Ms. Velvet insisted.

Flash smiled and nodded at Ms. Velvet before turning to his brother with smirk.

“I’ll take the job on one condition,” Flash replied. “This kid has to go to school with the other children.’

“Yeah, I had a feeling you’d say that,” Base uttered with a roll of his eyes, “and I will, really.”

Comments

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Looks like Flash and First Base just made a world of difference for Twilight’s family.

[Ro994]

Aww, but that was such a sweet present from Pinkie's part. And it's so nice seeing how Base and Flash are having such a positive impact on the family, even if Twilight is still trying to resist it.

P.S: Sorry it took me a while to return to this fic I might not read it every day, but I intent to at least finish it before the actual holidays arrive, so let's see how I do.