Tranquil walked into Sugarcube Corner and was stunned into silence at the sight before him. The place was full of energy as he watched everyone running about. He raised a hoof and effectively stopped ms Pumpkin Cake.
 
“What?!” She snapped, glowering down at the Pegasus. Tranquil flinched, an apology just barely leaving his lips. While she was only a few years older than them, she had instilled a deep fear of her anger into the stallion.
 
“I-I’m looking for Chocolate Cheesecake, ma’am!” He shouted, standing ramrod straight. She said nothing, scowling deeply before opening her mouth.
 
“Choco, get in here. Now!” She shouted, ignoring Tranquil’s flinched as she moved past him, barking orders to the other employee’s. Tranquil backed away, wanting to get out of Ms Pumpkin’s sight. She was super scary. And then he nearly got run over by the galloping giant that was his best friend.
 
“Gyah!” Tranquil hit the deck, using his wings to cover his head. Chocolate skidded to a stop, staring down at Tranquil with a blank expression though the Pegasus saw the confusion there.
 
“Spring? What are you doing here?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. Tranquil scowled.
 
“You called me over!” He complained, standing back up with a scowl. “Did you forget?”
 
“Probably.” He answered, deadpan. Just then, a voice called out.
 
“Choco!” Ms Pinkie Pie shouted from the kitchen.”I need that sugar for my triple stacked cookie cake.”
 
“Coming, mom!” He shouted back. “Spring, mom needs me to help hold down the fort here, so can you take Parfait to the Nightmare Night party?”
 
“What? Me? Why?” He asked, rolling his eyes. “You know I don’t like going to par-…” He stopped before he said the forbidden phrase. “I don’t want to go, Chocolate.”
 
“Well, I can’t and there’s no way I’m letting Parfait go alone.” He stated, giving Tranquil his You’re-doing-what-I-want look. It was a look he always gave Parfait that got the wild child to obey even on his highest sugar rush.
 
“Fine, but I better get some of that cookie cake later.” He sighed, walking past everyone to the bedrooms upstairs.
 
 
*****
 
Tranquil walked down the hall, looking around for Parfait’s bedroom. The doors were the same color as the walls so finding the room was a bit difficult. Luckily, Parfait was not a quiet stallion.
 
“Sugar sticks!” A shout sounded from behind one of the wall colored doors. Tranquil sighed, walking over to knock on the door. “Hm? Bro, is that you? I’m not don’t getting dressed yet, give me a few more minutes.”
 
“It’s me.” Tranquil answered, rolling his eyes at parfait’s weirdness. He was weirdly concerned about clothes despite being a stallion. Granted it was Nightmare Night but still, there was no need to get all worked up over what you’re wearing.
 
“Oh, great! Bro sent the tranquilizer.” He groaned from behind the door. Tranquil scowled at that. Parfait still called him that?
 
Back when they were younger, Chocolate was too busy helping his mom with to watch his very spirited and annoying baby brother. Sweets was… not a mare who liked foals so Tranquil was the only one of them patient enough to deal with the him. But apparently his talks of the literary aspects of Daring Doo and advanced mathematics was enough to put the foal to sleep in minutes. Since then, Parfait continued to call him by that stupid name.
 
“Someone has to watch you.” He answered, sitting down outside the door. “If it wasn’t me, who’d watch after you?”
 
“I can watch over myself! I’m not a foal anymore.” He shouted, probably pouting just then.
 
“If you weren’t, Chocolate wouldn’t have called me over.”
 
Bro is awesome but such a worrywart.” He sighed. “But maybe you can be of some use to me, Tranquilizer. I need somepony that isn’t mom or bro to tell me if they think this costume looks good on me.”
 
“Oh boy, just I always wanted.” He deadpanned. “To be you designated companion.”
 
“Just get in here and stop whining, you sugarfree addled egghead!” He snapped, again the pout on his face clear in Tranquil’s mind. As he opened to door, his thoughts were on Parfaits weird ability to come up with strange insults and swears. How did he come up with tho-.
 
Tranquil’s jaw dropped at the sight before him. Parfait stood on his hind legs with his back toward him. His costume was a negligee and a thong that hugged his flanks in ways that Tranquil was not all that comfortable with thinking about. Not with a stallion as the object of such attention. Heck, especially when the stallion was his best friends little brother.
 
“So…How do I look, Tranqy?” Parfait asked, showing himself off as he ogled himself.
 
“… You look like I’d be arrested just for talking to you.” He said, wiping the drool from his chin. Parfait smiled at his reflection, swaying his hips in a way that made Tranquil very nervous.
 
“Good! Just the look I wanted then.”
 

 
Parfait is on his way to his first Nightmare Night party alone and has dressed to impress (really, he intends to soak up all the attention from the mares by showing off). Unfortunately, his least favorite former foalsitter, Tranquil, is coming with him. But that doesn’t mean the snooty smartypants can’t be useful and comment on his costume.
 
Tranquil, before this point, saw Parfait as his best friends annoying baby brother and the colt who always fell asleep when he was trying to explain all the cool things he’d learned from his classes. It is only now that he noticed that Parfait has grown up and that makes him super uncomfortable.
 
At this point, Parfait is either 16 or 17 while Tranquil is 20 or 21, which is the same age as Chocolate. This is also where Tranquil’s denial at being into stallion begins, though it has been hinted at before this.