Today was a very big day for one Twilight Sparkle, the most talented unicorn in Equestria. Most talented as far as magic was concerned anyway. Having magic as a special talent and being the Element of Magic certainly helped in that department. Today was a day that only came around once a year for the purple mare; today was the ostentatious anniversary of her emergence into the wide world of Equestria.
Or to put it another way, it was her birthday.
When she was younger birthdays didn’t mean too much to her. She didn’t have many friends beyond Spike, her draconian number one assistant, and Princess Cadance, possessor of the Crystal Heart and ruler of the Crystal Empire. Though at the time she was merely a foalsitter who had the hots for Twilight’s older brother. Said brother, Prince Shining Armor, was now her husband and co-ruler of the Crystal Empire. Or so he liked to claim. He was definitely a Prince though, and Twilight’s older brother. Though nopony had any doubts about who was really in charge in that relationship.
Thanks to Twilight’s introversion her birthday’s were usually a solitary affair. It was mostly a small celebration held within the family and with Cadance tagging along. Princess Celestia would give her a present and wish her a happy birthday, but she couldn’t do much more out of fear that ponies would begin to question the nature of the relationship between her and her most precious and faithful student. You get caught in one situation that could look terrible when taken out of context (and it was taken very out of context) and all of a sudden you earn a reputation and a nickname that can’t be committed to the printed word, lest Celestia hear of it and banish you to the moon. Although at the time her sister Luna may have appreciated the company on the moon. She was now free from both the physical prison of the moon, and even the mental prison of Nightmare Moon however. This was partly in thanks to Twilight Sparkle and her five friends, who represented the other Elements of Harmony.
It is thanks to these five friends too that now Twilight’s birthday was a much more magical affair and a much bigger deal. The year prior they had even celebrated vicariously in the palace itself. They even got to meet some new friends that Rarity, Element of Generosity, had made.
Twilight was a very curious pony at heart and so she had spent a lot of the days before wondering what her friends might do this year. There were no plans set in stone. None that she knew of anyway. This made her suspect they would throw her a surprise party. Her friend Pinkie Pie was a master of throwing parties. She even claimed to have invented the concept. She also claimed to have lived on a rock farm and that she secretly had hopes of flying, so some of her claims were questionable at best. But regardless of who invented the party, Pinkie had certainly become the Princess of Parties. Unofficially at least. It took a lot more than throwing a good party to become a Princess. That’s something that only happens if you do something spectacular like spread love through the world just by existing, or maybe even creating a super magical spell that undoes another super magical spell.
“Do you think they’ll throw me a surprise party? Have you heard anything? Where do you think it’ll be?” Twilight asked Spike.
“I don’t know, they haven’t told me anything, and if there is something I don’t know where it is. Why don’t you ask them?” Spike replied. He was busy cleaning up the library after Twilight’s last all night study session. For a pony who knew how to make a large mess, Twilight sure was quick to get somepony else to clean it up for her. Or somedragon else in this case. When Spike was busy, or tired...or anything really, he tended to get just a little touchy and sarcastic.
“I can’t ask them. If I did it wouldn’t be a surprise now would it?” remarked Twilight. Like Pinkie Pie she was an unofficial princess, although her title was far less flattering; Princess Obvious. “I suppose I could talk to them, and see if I could get them to hint at anything...” Twilight mused. With her mind already made up before she finished speaking, Twilight pulled her saddlebag over using her magic and filled it with quills, ink, and a notebook. “I’m going to monitor everything too!”
“Uhh, Twilight? That didn’t go so well last time, remember?” Spike said, mildly alarmed at Twilight’s last statement. He was referring to the time that Twilight had been visited by her future self warning of an impending disaster. Everything worked out fine in the end but in the process Twilight had decided to monitor absolutely everything that happened. She went just the least bit insane.
“I’m not going to monitor literally everything....again.” Twilight said with a sigh as she remembered herself what had happened. “Just what my friends are up to!” With that she marched out the door. She shut it with just a little too much enthusiasm, knocking down some books from the shelves and leaving poor Spike with even more mess to clean up.
“Well this won’t end well...why does Twilight do these things?” Spike grumbled to nopony in particular.
“Who?” came a reply from Owlicious, Twilight Sparkle’s pet owl, who also doubled as an assistant.
“Twilight. You know, Twilight Sparkle. Purple unicorn, horn on her head, takes you out to the park occasionally.” Spike replied, explaining what he felt was a very basic point. A pet should know who it’s owner was.
“Who?”
“You know this joke is old right?...Don’t you know any more?” Spike said. Owlicious gave a shake of his head and flew off in a huff, leaving Spike to clean up and wonder if it was possible for an owl to be a one trick pony.
He discovered it was as long as you use it as an expression, and not literally. Unfortunately he was now completely alone in the library and without anypony to share his revelation with. This did have the upside however of also meaning there was nopony he had to share his Victory Ice Cream with and he could eat it with gusto. The books on the floor were left forgotten as Spike continued to gorge himself on ice cream, waiting for the inevitable disaster that would come with Twilight monitoring everything. Even if it wasn’t literally everything, things had a tendency to go wrong when Twilight got obsessed.
Whilst all this was happening Twilight Sparkle herself headed into the town of Ponyville, her home since that fateful Summer Sun Celebration. She liked her home in the capital city Canterlot just fine but she had grown to love her new home just as much, if not more so thanks to the friends she had made. She also liked the small town atmosphere Ponyville had. Most of the people in Canterlot were lucky if they knew their neighbours but it seemed everypony in Ponyville knew everypony else.
She looked out across the street and saw ponies that, whilst not counted amongst her best friends, were still friends in their own way. She smiled and said hello to everypony she knew while she kept a lookout for her best friends. If they were planning a surprise party then they were likely to be together someplace, but she decided to check their individual hangouts first, just in case she saw them there.
First on her list of destinations was the Carousel Boutique. It was the shop owned and run by her friend Rarity. It also doubled as her home and the temporary home for Sweetie Belle when she stayed over. It was also sometimes a sort of temporary home for Spike. If he wasn't at the library, or with Twilight wherever she might be, he was usually found here at the Boutique staring admirably at Rarity and bowing to her every whim. Love does strange things like that to a pony. Or even dragons.
Twilight stayed back, so as to not alert Rarity to her presence and potentially ruin the surprise, and peered through the window with the aid of her trusty binoculars. She saw that Rarity was hard at work making a series of dresses. Because she ran the entire shop by herself this was commonplace for Rarity. Given that it was her birthday however Twilight imagined that she was making the dresses for her, or for her friends at her party. Her horn lit briefly as she used a magic spell to hear what was going on inside the Boutique. She was interested in hearing if Rarity might let something slip about what the dresses were for. They were stunningly beautiful and even though she preferred simple garments, she had to admit she would have looked amazing in any one of the dresses.
“I simply must get these dresses ready for Fancy Pants. I just know his friends are going to LOVE these dresses.” Twilight heard Rarity say excitedly. It seemed that she was''t preparing the dresses for Twilight after all. This brought another question to Twilight's ever so massive mind; If she wasn't making the dresses for Twilight's party, then why wasn't she doing anything for Twilight's party? Why hadn't she even come by to wish her a happy birthday? When she herself had been in charge of organising a surprise party for Pinkie Pie's birthday they had spent all day preparing it and keeping the preparations away from Pinkie. It didn't make sense. Twilight sighed, and moved on to her next friend.
This time she looked for her Pegasus friend Rainbow Dash. As the Element of Loyalty Rainbow Dash must surely be working on her party, or preparing to come wish her a happy birthday. There was no way the Element of Loyalty herself would let down a pony on their birthday of all days. Or so Twilight told herself.
Rainbow Dash was a little harder to find, depending on the circumstances .She was either very easy to find, or very difficult. It depended on if she was napping or not. As part of the Weather Patrol Rainbow Dash spent her day flying all over Ponyville and the surrounding area, spreading clouds and any other tasks she had to perform. She also spent a good majority of her day napping. If she was flying then it would be very tough to find her. When she was napping all you had to do was find a cloud that wasn't moving and look for a Rainbow coloured tail hanging from it. Twilight found just such a cloud after spending a short time searching.
Much like with Rarity, this left Twilight with more questions. Here was Rainbow Dash, napping, on her birthday! She wasn't helping prepare anything and wasn't even working. She too hadn't stopped by to say hello, or wish Twilight a happy birthday. Still, she mused, Rarity was always busy and Rainbow Dash could be a little fickle. There was always the chance that the two of them had forgotten her birthday. She was sad that her friends might have forgotten her birthday, but it was an answer to her questions. She sighed again, and set out once more. On the cloud Rainbow Dash opened an eye to peer over the edge. She saw Twilight running off into the distance and wondered what had gotten in to her. She hadn't even said hello.
Twilight headed to the farm Sweet Apple Acres. She was sure that Applejack, the Element of Honesty and most dependable of ponies, would surely have remembered her birthday. She arrived at the farm and quickly hid in the trees, once again eager to not ruin any potential surprises. The party for Pinkie had been held in the Sweet Apple Acres barn too, so there was a chance that hers might be held here too. When she found Applejack she saw that she was in luck as one of her other friends was here too. Fluttershy, yellow Pegasus and element of Kindness, was here too. She was helping Applejack with her sheep. Normally Applejack could have just asked the sheep for something but they were being particularly cranky about something today. Fluttershy was an excellent mediator and had helped Applejack settle disputes with the animals before. Twilight watched as, under Fluttershy's loving Stare, Applejack and the sheep resolved their argument.
When they were finished Fluttershy bid Applejack goodbye and flew away as softly as she spoke. Twilight watched as Applejack went back to work. She thought that Applejack might move on to something else, such as preparing a party, but after half an hour of waiting she was forced to concede defeat. While it was possible that Rarity and Rainbow Dash may have forgotten her birthday, she found it very hard to believe that Applejack and Fluttershy would have as well. She had one last stop to make before deciding that the day was a total and utter bust.
There was no way in Tartarus that Pinkie Pie would let her down. Pinkie Pie remembered everypony's birthday and was known to wish people a happy birthday months in advance. She had songs to prove how much she knew everypony and making them smile. The whole town had borne witness to that. There was only one place that Pinkie Pie would possibly be. She worked and lived at the Cake bakery Sugar Cube Corner. She also seemed to eat there too given her tendency for sugar fuelled randomosity.
This time Twilight would not make a mistake. She thought that maybe her friends would have at least wished a happy birthday if she had said hello to them. With that in mind she entered the shop and smiled as she walked up to the pink pony behind the counter.
“Howdy Twilight! What can I get you?” Pinkie Pie greeted her enthusiastically. Pinkie Pie did everything enthusiastically.
“Hiya Pinkie. Do you know what today is?” Twilight asked, matching Pinkie's enthusiasm.
“Sure do!” Pinkie replied, filling Twilight with some hope. At last, somepony who remembered! “It's Thursday, isn't it?” Pinkie added, quickly taking away the hope that she had built inside Twilight.
“But isn't there something special about today? Maybe it's somepony's birthday?”
“I don't think so...” Pinkie said, thinking. Her face lit up as she came to a realisation. “Oh! I can't believe I forgot! Happy birthday Mrs. Cake! Sorry I forgot!” Pinkie Pie shouted back into the kitchen. Twilight slammed a hoof in to her forehead at the sight. She was sure this time that Pinkie would have remembered.
“That's quite alright dear. Thank you.” Mrs Cake replied from the doorway to the kitchen. She had a large smile on her face. A smile that Twilight believed should have been on her own face too. She had learned something new at least, as she had learned that she shared a birthday with Mrs. Cake.
“Is there anything I can get you?” Pinkie Pie asked, turning back around to face Twilight. Twilight was looking a little dejected so Pinkie gave her the biggest smile she could to try and cheer her up. It didn't work.
“It's alright Pinkie. Suddenly I'm not hungry anymore.” Twilight said. She turned around and marched sadly towards the door. She gave one last look to Pinkie Pie, willing her to say something, before walking out the door disappointed as Pinkie Pie went about serving the other customers.
Twilight was forced to accept the one conclusion that could be drawn from her experiences. It wasn't one she wanted to admit, but it was the only one there was; she really had been forgotten by her friends. She didn't want to believe it but the evidence was staring her in the face. None of them were preparing anything, none of them had wished her a happy birthday, and Pinkie Pie had completely disregarded that it was her birthday. At least Spike had remembered, and the Princesses and her brother. They had sent birthday messages while Spike was delivering his own which had caused an amusing situation where Spike had belched out letters while trying to speak. Twilight sighed once more as she entered Golden Oaks library.
“Spike? Spike?” Twilight called out, looking around for her number one assistant. She couldn't find Spike anywhere she looked. She saw a note that had been left on her desk and went over to read it.
Twilight
I ate all the ice cream we had so I went off to the bakery to get some more from Pinkie Pie. Could you come and pick me up? By the time I've finished eating all that ice cream I won't be able to move.
Spike.
Twilight let out a snort as she finished reading. She must have missed Spike on the way back. She had told him time and time again to not gorge himself on ice cream. She decided she would pick him up, but he could look forward to a long winded lecture all the way home. Thanks to her friends letting her down she also had a lot of stress and anger to work out, and a disobedient little dragon was the perfect target.
“I'm here for Spike.” Twilight said as she entered the bakery once more. She wanted to just get this over with.
“He's in the back I think.” Pinkie Pie replied, pointing a hoof to one of the doors leading away from the shop floor. Twilight sighed and walked up to the door. She didn't notice Pinkie Pie sneaking up behind her.
“SURPRISE!” Pinkie Pie, along with five other ponies (and one dragon) shouted as Twilight opened the door. Inside were her all her friends gathered round a decorated table, atop which sat a cake with Twilight's face on it. The room was decorated as much as the table with banners and streamers and every other party supply Pinkie could possibly cram on to them. The banners all read “Happy Birthday Twilight Sparkle”, leaving no doubt as to their purpose. As if the large birthday cake and the shout from her friends had left any.
“But...but....” Twilight Sparkle began, looking around at all of her friends. “I've been watching you all day. There's no way you could have prepared all this. I thought you'd all forgotten.” If she wasn't so surprised and eager for answers Twilight may have reconsidered how quickly she admitted to having stalked her friends but she was hardly the most social pony in the world. She never really thought much of social etiquette. It also wasn't the first time she had stalked one of her friends.
Pinkie Pie wrapped her into a hug and the others quickly joined in, turning it into a large group hug. Even Spike joined in and his distaste for sappy moments was well known. Pinkie Pie began to explain to Twilight what had happened.
After the events of her own surprise party she thought that Twilight might suspect a surprise party. She wanted the party to be an actual surprise and so she had concocted what she felt was one of her most grand plans. A Surprise Surprise Party. The reason that Twilight had seen her friends going about their daily business was because they had actually set up the entire party the day before. They suspected that Twilight might try and find out something about her party and so they had planned ahead for that. There was no way that Pinkie would ever forget her birthday. That was part of the plan too. It might have made Twilight sad but she had to believe that there really was no party, and that her friends really HAD forgotten her, for the surprise party to be a surprise.
When Pinkie saw how sad Twilight was when she had left the bakery, she had sent a message to Spike using Rainbow Dash. Rainbow would have arrived at the library way before Twilight would. Spike had written the letter to Twilight, and then he and Rainbow Dash had collected her other friends too and told them it was time to go to the bakery. With everything explained, and Twilight suitably informed, the party began in earnest.
“I can't believe I thought that you had eaten all the ice cream again.” Twilight said to Spike while the two were dancing together.
“Actually, I really did eat all the ice cream.” Spike replied nervously.
“SPIIIIIIIIIIIIKEEEEEE!!” Twilight shouted, but she was laughing at the dragon, rather than angry with him. Spike joined in the laughter and the pair enjoyed the rest of the party. Pinkie Pie proved once again she really was the Princess of the Party and after various party games were played, and songs were sang, it was time to head home.
“Take a letter for me Spike.” Twilight said as they entered the library. Spike was tired but he pulled out a piece of parchment and pen nevertheless.
Dear Princess Celestia
Sometimes your friends can really surprise you. They might even take extra steps to make sure they do. You should always have faith that your friends love you and won't ever forget you.
The love and laughter of your best friends can be the greatest gift you'll ever receive. I learned that today with a little help from my friends.
Your slightly older, and slightly wiser, student;
Twilight Sparkle
Author's Note
This is the surprise I said I had coming up for Thursday. I'd like to take this chance to wish a very happy birthday to Twilightsparkle13. Have a good one.
