Happy birthday, Octi!

Chapters

Day One - Planning
Day two - Relaxing
Day three - Party

Day One - Planning

It was early in the morning – too early for some – but not for Rainbow Dash, for today she had things to do; fun, important things. Stretching off on her cloud home above Ponyville, she looked over the town, still bathed in the last light of the moon and a faint dusting of snow.

“Look out town, because here comes Rainbow!” she said to no pony in particular, before taking off into the sky.

It wasn’t long, only about a minute, before Rainbow Dash landed outside a house, a house belonging to the Equestria-famous DJ-PON3, or as Rainbow Dash knew her, Vinyl Scratch. It wasn’t as impressive as you think for a celebrity, but Vinyl liked it. It was out of the way, but close enough to Ponyville so she could walk in if she needed anything. It was built from wood from the Everfree forest and seemed to have a strange aura about it, as though it glowed, something Dash only found more awesome about the DJ.

As Dash knocked on Vinyl’s door, the wood seemed to echo in a way different to normal doors, but Dash couldn’t place the difference. Though the wait was only a few seconds, Dash was growing impatient waiting for Vinyl to get to the door, but soon enough the door was opened and Dash was greeted by the electric-blue mane covering her friend’s sleepy face instead of her trademark purple shades, one magenta eye poking through a gap in the tangled mess.

“Did you have to come this early, mare?!” came the half yawn, half moan from Vinyl Scratch, pointing an accusing hoof at her wall clock, showing the early-morning hour.

“If we’re gonna go through with the plans, then yeah, it needs to be this early,” Rainbow said calmly as she stepped past Vinyl into her home, “and anyway, this was your idea.” She poked her host in the chest and she stuck her tongue out.

The two mares sat down on Vinyl’s sofa, after getting some fresh fruit juice and cereals from the kitchen, since neither mare was yet to have breakfast. After a few minutes of idle chit-chat, Rainbow remembered why she was here, “So how are we getting them to meet again?” A few stray balls of cereal left her muzzle as she spoke.

“Well,” Vinyl began, finishing her mouthful of juice, “since Pinkie is so good at organising parties, and seeing as she owes me for that freebie gig I did for her last week, I thought we could get her to throw Octi a birthday party, with ours and her close friends, and drinks, and food, and, of course, me on the decks”, the last item on the list being joined by a hoof bump to the air above her head.

“That sounds like a plan,” Dash wasn’t sounding too sure, “but how do we get Octavia to even go to the party? I mean it’s not like parties with strangers are her type of fun.” Dash did have a point; Octavia was nowhere near as outgoing as Pinkie Pie, but how well did Dash know the seemingly refined mare?

“Trust me, Dashie,” even Vinyl had to giggle as she used Dash’s nickname and put her hoof around her neck, “Octi could even give you a run for your bits.”

“Ha! Yeah right,” Dash squirmed away from Vinyl’s embrace, “no pony is more awesome than Rainbow Dash, especially at parties,” Dash announced proudly.

“Except me,” Vinyl reminded her.

“Well… yeah I guess.”

“And Pinkie, can’t forget her.”

“But she’s the queen of parties, she doesn’t count.”

Then Vinyl leaned in closer, “And what about Twilight?” almost a whisper, but enough for Rainbow Dash to hear and go wide-eyed at in an instant.

“Now stop right there, missy!” It would appear that Vinyl had hit a nerve, as Dash stood up from the sofa, knocking her remaining cereal to the bare wooden floor, “You leave her out of this, you know that was a one-off.” A blush rose to Dash’s face as she turned away, remembering Twilight’s birthday a couple of months ago: all the booze, all the mares, all the kissing. She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts.

“Fine, I’m sorry, happy now?” Vinyl offered her hoof for a bump, but it took Dash a few seconds to give in and turn around, giving Vinyl one of her hardest hoof bumps she could muster. The DJ, however, didn’t even flinch; she was used to the biggest bouncers in Equestria for Celestia’s sake!

After their little dispute, the two mares sat back on the sofa to finish discussing their plans for the coming days.

By the time they were finished, the sun was already rising, bringing a warm light to the stylish living room and bathing both mares, who remained sat down to enjoy the first light of day one of three.

Day one was in full swing all about Ponyville, everypony beginning their daily routines and milling between the winter stalls set up all over town. One pony, however, wasn’t part of the routine, an outsider observing from within. She walked with grace, that of a Canterlot native, clearly setting her apart from the rest of the community, swaying her charcoal mane with each step like a walking advertisement for some sort of hair product. Her coat was a lighter grey, broken up by her white collar, which held a pink bow tie bringing some much needed colour to her look. Her boots and furry saddle were white, an odd choice for a grey mare but she pulled off the look like a model, and Ponyville was her catwalk.

Octavia was enjoying her early morning walk, having arrived in Ponyville late last night and staying in an old friend’s house, a bit smaller than her Canterlot apartment but much more welcoming and thankfully warm, smelling of sweets from her friend’s hobby and job. Bon Bon had met Octavia as a filly, but moved to Ponyville to be with her marefriend a few years ago, much to the disappointment of Octavia’s secret sweet-tooth.

It was still two days before her birthday, but she planned to see all her Ponyville friends before the big day itself. Vinyl knew this, and she planned to catch her before she made other plans, so she sent Rainbow to organise with Pinkie while she got Octavia.

Vinyl was looking all over the market, assuming her oldest friend had gone for her usual early walk. Her intuition was rewarded, as she soon saw the unmistakable flank of the cellist, bearing her pink treble clef cutie mark. With her usual levels of grace – minimum – Vinyl sprinted towards Octavia shouting her name as loud as she could, with snow crunching under her bootless hooves. All heads were turned as the brash voice of the DJ filled the streets, while Octavia simply hung her head and awaited the inevitable tackle from behind. And soon enough, it came. Despite her bracing herself, the two mares tumbled, rolling like a living, flailing ying-yang symbol, until finally they came to a halt, with Vinyl holding Octavia down by her shoulders.

“Hey Octi,” Vinyl smiled, still looking down at the earth pony, “how you doing?”

“Oh, I’ve been better, bit cold at the moment but mustn’t grumble,” came Octavia’s sarcastic response, “may I ask why you are on top of me?”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that, filly,” the unicorn then remembered her position and moved to let her friend get back to her feet. After offering her magic to Octavia to help her back to her feet, Vinyl asked her the first, most important question, “Would you like to come to a friend’s house for your birthday, Octi? She’s the best in town for parties, y’know.”

“Vinyl, are you actually asking in advance for a change?!” a single quirked eyebrow was all Octavia needed to go with her response. It really wasn’t like Vinyl Scratch to give more than a few hours’ notice before asking someone to go anywhere, leaving Octavia a little oblivious to the actual question.

“Yes, Octi, so shall I take that as a yes?”

“It depends, who will be attending my party? All your friends I guess?”

“Some of ‘em, yeah, but the mare organising knows literally everypony in town, even you and all your friends,” Vinyl seemed to be hiding a mischievous glint in her eyes behind her shades.

“That is a little disturbing Vinyl, but… I am also intrigued,” Octavia cocked her head slightly as the last of the onlookers went back to their business, “how can one pony know absolutely everypony else in a town? This place isn’t exactly small.”

This was going better than Vinyl had thought; she was off guard and ready for the catch. Hook, line and soon-to-be-sinker. “Yep, it’s impressive babe, but she does want to get to know all new ponies in town, and saying yes to her party would make her sooo happy,” pouting on the last few words and fluttering her deceptive eyelashes over the top of her shades was all Vinyl had to do and Octavia was hers.

“I’d love to,” Octavia gave a slow nod, “she sounds like the pony I would like to know.”

“Then it’s settled, I’ll go check with her and get times, then I’ll come get you. I take it you’re at Bon Bon and Lyra’s house while you stay in Ponyville?”

“Good guess, Vinyl,” came her swift response as she narrowed her eyes at Vinyl, “am I that predictable?”

“Nah, I just saw Lyra on my way,” Vinyl confessed, “I never would’ve guessed myself, you know that.” Vinyl stuck her tongue out, almost licking Octavia’s face from their close proximity. Octavia had always seen Vinyl as a filly in a mare’s body, and that opinion wasn’t about to change.

While Vinyl was looking for Octavia, Rainbow Dash was speeding towards Sugar Cube Corner to get Pinkie Pie to do the party. Why would she say no? She was throwing a party, which she loved, and she was going to get to meet a new pony, which she also loved.

A few minutes of casual flying – Rainbow Dash casual that is – she touched down outside the best treat shop in Ponyville, even rivalling some of the big city attempts. Since it was early still, the shop wasn’t open to the public yet, but Rainbow was more awesome than the public and was coming to see one of her best friends, treats could wait for now.

Stepping inside, the scents of the store assaulted her senses: the sweet of the cupcakes, the rustic scent of apple fritters and the homely comforts of deep chocolate cakes. Her eyes were also struck by the insides, the vibrant walls of the shop in all their glory being struck by the low sun through the windows and now-open door. Behind the counter stood Mrs Cake, already in her attire for the day and setting up the displays on the walls, who when she saw Rainbow stopped what she was doing and gave her a friendly wave.

“Hi Rainbow,” came the sugary tone of the older mare, “Pinkie’s still upstairs with the twins, I take it you’re here to see her?”

“Got it in one, Mrs Cake,” Rainbow said as she waved back, “I was hoping to get her to do a party for a friend in a couple of days, shouldn’t be too much trouble, should it?”

“Not at all dear, just as long as you clean up like last time.”

“I Pinkie-promise we will clean up any messes,” Rainbow went through the usual procedure of Pinkie’s elaborate promise routine at Rainbow-speed.

With a gentle smile and a nod, Mrs Cake went back to stacking the displays while Rainbow flew up the stairs to Pinkie’s bedroom. It wasn’t hard to find, with the door covered in bright pictures of her cutie mark drawn by the Cake twins, possibly some by Pinkie too. Not stopping to land, Rainbow Dash just flew into Pinkie’s room, making the party pony “Eep!” in surprise and jump a few feet of off of her bed, which she seemed to have already been jumping on, the twins nowhere in sight.

“Hey there Pinkie,” the pegasus beamed as she came to a halt in front of where Pinkie had landed, “how you doing?”

Picking herself off of the ground and brushing of some imaginary dirt, possibly for effect, Pinkie replied with a bit of a friendly huff, “I’m good, but I was practicing my in-case-of-emergency-bed-jumping-to-surprise-or-save-a-pony, but now you’re here, I’m talking to you telling you about what I was just doing. How about you?” Pinkie’s extensive explanation left her breathless, causing her to deeply and loudly inhale before Rainbow could reply.

“That’s… cool. I kinda have a favour to ask, Pinkie.” Rainbow rubbed her hoof through her rainbow-hued mane nervously, suddenly realising she was at a crucial part of her plan. It all hinged on the earth-pony’s reply.

“Sure thing, Dashie,” Pinkie stretched a huge smile on her muzzle as she replied, “anything for one of my bestest friends in all of Equestria. Whatcha need?” Her face returned to her usual, sweet smile, her head slightly tilted.

“Can you throw a birthday party for a friend, she’s kinda new in town and doesn’t know many ponies?” that sounds reasonable, thought Rainbow, nothing for her to say no to there.

“Is she the grey earth-pony with black hair and a musical cutie mark who arrived last night then went straight to Bon Bon and Lyra’s house, by any chance?” she said matter-of-factly but with a hint of a questioning infliction.

“Yeah, but, how… how could you possibly know that?!” Rainbow was physically slack-jawed from Pinkie’s unnatural knowledge, “She could have been anypony!”

“You know me, Dashie, I know everypony in Ponyville,” smiling, but still cheerily matter-of-factly, “what’s her name?”

“It’s Octavia, and Vinyl wanted a party for her since they’ve known each other for, like, ever. Vinyl also said you owed her for a freebie gig she did for you a while ago.”

“That’s such a nice name; she looked like she had a nice name,” Pinkie had a small smile on her muzzle, not as big as usual but just as happy, “and yeah, DJ-PON3 played the twins a lullaby mix while me and the Cakes had to go to a baking contest. I said I’d pay her back.”

This should be easier than I thought, thought Rainbow, now to seal the deal. “So can ya do it? You seem to know who she knows already, after all.”

After a small pause for thought, Pinkie’s expression returned to her usual demeanour, “Okie dokie lokie, when’s the mare’s birthday?”

“Two days from now, plenty of time for you I take it?”

“Duh, of course it’s plenty of time, Dashie, this is me we’re talking about here,” proudly lifting a hoof to her chest and looking off into the distance.

“No one likes a boaster, Pinkie,” Dash gave her a friendly judging look with quirked eyebrows.

Pinkie lowered her hoof and settled her gaze back in Dash’s direction, “You know I don’t mean it, Rainbow, it’s just me being the party mare you all know and love,” finished with a shout and a big jump, spreading her limbs like a starfish in mid-air.

“Glad I could count on ya, Pinkie. You need to know anything else?”

“Hmm, I don’t think so,” she put a hoof to her chin, as though in deep thought, “oh, how many ponies should I invite? Is it a big party or just special friends?”

“I think her friends and our closest, y’know, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, those guys.”

“Oooh, you wanna try and get with Twilight again?” Pinkie peered in close to Rainbow, eying her with one big, questioning blue eye right against Rainbow’s face.

“Will everypony stop going on about that!? I was drunk!” her words said no, but her blush said yes, “Besides, Twilight’s way too much of a bookworm for me.” Rainbow looked away to attempt to look cool, but also hide her blush from Pinkie’s prying eye.

Pinkie leaned back, giggling to herself, “Its okay, Dashie, we all have feelings we can’t explain, even the cool ponies like you.”

“I’m gonna go now, Pinkie,” her tone was flat and she was clearly embarrassed, so she turned to leave, leaning over her shoulder to say, “Good luck with the planning.” She waved a wing as she trotted out of the door and turned down the corridor.

Pinkie was left to giggle to herself, seeing straight through her friend’s façade. “Sure thing, Dashie,” saying to herself while getting back on her bed to continue her jumping practice and her monologue, ”that mare looked like a friendly pony, I just hope this will make it up to her, if she even remembers me that is...” Pinkie’s words trailed off as she remembered her first Grand Galloping Gala three years ago.

Pinkie and all of her friends had been invited to the grandest event in the Equestrian social calendar, each hoping to have their perfect night. Pinkie’s plan was to make everypony see how much fun an event like this could be, rather than the usual boring time she had heard of. Making her way to where she could hear music, not her usual music but music nonetheless, she had hoped to find ponies willing to party hard and have an amazing time, but she only found old ponies and others who were so uptight their noses were higher than their ears. She did, however, spot four ponies on a stage who seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were a quartet of musicians, led by a charcoal-coated mare playing a cello. For a moment, Pinkie had forgotten about all the sad and boring things she had seen, watching the mare’s fluid movements on her instrument, the pure beauty of the actions complimenting the sounds of the music. She wanted nothing more than to join the ponies on stage, so she did.

Before she knew it, she had joined the quartet on stage, nopony seeming to notice other than Octavia, who Pinkie had gone straight to, if only to get closer to the soul-controlling music. Her music had faltered for just a brief moment, before regaining composure and continuing with her playing, trying to block out the crazy pink mare who was now dancing around her and her cello, seemingly lost in the music and oblivious to everything around her. Pinkie failed to notice all eyes were now on her, until the music stopped that is. Snapping back to reality, she noticed her dancing had ruined all the surrounding decorations, knocking over ornaments surrounding the stage and bringing balloons and streamers down from the walls and ceiling.

Returning from her memories, Pinkie was now sat on her bed hoping that she didn’t get Octavia into trouble those few years ago. She had watched her leave the stage with tears in her eyes, which caused Pinkie’s eyes to now well up with fresh tears. Pinkie had no idea what had happened to her, since Canterlot society moved so fast that by the next day, nopony remembered the events of the early evening, since the latter part of the Gala was such a spectacular comeback. She assumed that this should mean Octavia didn’t get into trouble, but what if everypony was too afraid to talk about because it was that bad. These thoughts soon began to spiral inside Pinkie’s head before she could pull herself together, her hair losing all its usual life and bounce, falling straight down the sides of her face and her neck.

“This has to be the best party ever,” Pinkie muttered quietly to herself between sobs, looking longingly out of the window before starting to gently cry to herself.

It was late afternoon when Octavia got back to her lodgings, feeling refreshed after her walk, and happier to know that Vinyl was planning a party for her. After noticing her cello case had been moved out of the living room since last night, she hopped up onto Lyra’s sofa, plenty of room for three ponies but Octavia needed a stretch. It was a pastel green to match her coat but with cream cushions to match her marefriend’s. Octavia hadn’t noticed this last night, she was far too tired after her long train journey, but all the colours of the furnishings, walls and décor matched her hosts’ coat and mane colours, complimenting each other perfectly. It made her sigh, she hadn’t had a special somepony since her and Vinyl went their separate ways, though they remained friends throughout it all.

She didn’t hear the door open, or a pony walk in to the living room, or that same pony walk beside Octavia and clear her throat, which then got her attention. Bon Bon was stood next to the sofa, Lyra following closely behind and closing the door.

“Hey Octi, how was the walk?” Bon Bon’s chirpy voice breaking through the hum of the radiator, “See anypony you know?”

“As a matter of fact, I did dear,” Octavia was smiling at the memory, “Vinyl and I bumped into each other in the market, and she invited me to a birthday party.”

“That’s good,” came the slightly deeper voice of the unicorn, Lyra, “we saw Pinkie Pie and she invited us to a birthday party she was planning for you while we were out. I guess we can tell her we can go then, huh Bonnie?” Lyra had walked over to join the others by the sofa.

“Yes, we can, Ly Ly.”

“Would you two mind flirting in private?” Octavia re-joining the conversation before it got too cringe-worthy.

“Sorry Octi!” the two mares said in unison, and promptly giggled at their timing.

“So, who is this party pony everypony knows, Pinkie, was it?” her tone was of curiosity but with a hint of suspicion.

“Her full name is Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Bon Bon began, grinning at the crazy mare’s full, formal name, “and don’t worry, it’s just a fact of life in Ponyville that she knows everypony and how to make them smile.”

“And everypony knows Pinkie Pie,” Lyra finished, giggling a bit at a seemingly funny memory.

“Well I will be the one to decide my opinion of her when I meet her, I don’t want to judge a pony before I do, no matter how much you all seem to talk about her,” she was satisfied that the conversation would then be dropped, as she saw as polite in conversing etiquette.

“As you wish,” Lyra replied before her and Bon Bon went about putting their shopping away from their saddle bags.

After the usual duties were taken care of, the three mares sat on the various cream, green and pinky-purple furniture to have an afternoon chat with tea and some of Bon Bon’s freshly made goodies. Oh how Octavia had missed this.

While the others were having their girly-girl chat, Rainbow was back at Vinyl’s house on the edge of town, and they were going to celebrate day one’s success. Back in the living room, the last light of day now flowing in through the opposite side of the room, Vinyl was setting up her subwoofer to play her latest mix through. One of the main perks of being friends with the top DJ in Equestria – official title of course – was that Rainbow Dash could hear all her songs, completely free and with the artist herself. Life was awesome, Rainbow was happy and the bass was already pumping.

Vinyl’s remix of “Eat Sleep Hay Repeat” was playing – the latest song on her mixtape – and the two mares had been jumping, drinking and making fools of themselves for the best part of three hours by now. Not that she liked to admit it in such cool company, but Rainbow was getting tired and needed to get home, so she had time for double training tomorrow to make up for missing out today’s. As the song was trailing off and the bass slowed down, she downed the last bit of her cider, bid farewell to her host and attempted to fly off, only to bump into a large tree outside of Vinyl’s house, causing her to flop down to the floor and Vinyl to burst into a fit of slurred giggles.

The DJ saw that her friend was in no fit state to fly home, so she trotted over to the pegasus now laying upside down in the dirt and said, “You need a place to stay, Dashie? You can’t fly home like this, you’ll hurt somepony,” she poked her friend in the top off her chest, or was it the bottom, and giggled like a schoolfilly. Rainbow could only groan and nod her head, which was feeling like it had struck a thundercloud in the middle of a storm.

After controlling most of her giggles, Vinyl looped her hoof around Dash’s waist, picked her up then tried to stumble back into her house. It took a few attempts for the two to squeeze through the door, but once they were inside the two just fell onto the sofa and instantly passed out, the room already dark and quiet from a quick flare of Vinyl’s magic.

Day two - Relaxing

Stretching her hooves lazily, Octavia slowly woke up to her second morning in Ponyville. Her temporary room was silent, with just enough light seeping through the gap in the closed curtains for her to see that it was just ten to nine according to her bedside clock. She wasn’t used to this sort of freedom, normally she would have been up at seven o’clock sharp to start her cello practice before going to rehearsals for her quartet. But, she was on holiday, and tomorrow was her birthday, so she could afford a lie in.

After about 5 minutes of lying in her bed admiring her sweet-themed decorations in what was usually Bon Bon’s room, she heard noise coming from the living room, letting her know her friends were up too. She jumped out of bed, feeling awake and full of energy, ready to start a relaxing day. Putting on her silken dressing gown, she went through to the living room where Lyra was preparing teas and coffees while Bon Bon sat on the large green sofa, flicking through this morning’s edition of Ponyville Daily, her paper of choice. It was more of a gossip paper than anything else, but the sweet maker had to check if her advert was put in there properly.

Joining her friend on the sofa, Octavia called over to Lyra, “Do you have any green tea, dear?”

“Yep, got some while I was out yesterday, “came Lyra’s reply, “I thought you’d like it.”

“Oh,” Bon Bon perked up at hearing this, “you thought so, did you Lyra?”

“Fine, you helped,” Lyra poked her tongue out at her marefriend from the kitchen.

Bon Bon huffed then went back to checking the paper, giving an occasional muffled giggle at something in the presses.

Lyra brought the three drinks over a few minutes later, the tray covered in a mint green hue, her horn coated in the same faint glow. She set the tray down on the coffee table in the middle of the various items of furniture, then floated each pony their respective drink, allowing them to take them into their hooves. In between taking delicate sips of her still-hot green tea, Octavia asked the others, “So what shall we do today, girls?”

“You’re the guest, Octi,” Bon Bon replied without looking up from her paper, “what do you feel like doing?”

“I don’t know,” Octavia looked into her tea in thought, seeing her bedraggled mane in the reflection, “is there a spa in Ponyville? My mane is a mess!”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Lyra said quietly to herself, then giggled and continued a bit louder, “but yeah, there’s one about 20 minutes’ walk away, we can all go if you like, our treat for your birthday?”

“Oh yes,” Bon Bon finally looking up, “I haven’t been to a spa for so long. What do you say, Octavia, our treat to you?”

“Sounds like you are looking forward to it yourself, dear,” Octavia mused the thought, “but I wouldn’t turn down a free spa trip, let’s do it.” The three mares smiled and sighed to themselves, all looking forward to the day at hoof. Admittedly, Lyra had never been to a spa, or so she claimed, but she liked the idea of spending the day relaxing with her two favourite mares, even if she was paying for it.

After breakfast and their teas, the three mares went to their rooms to put their warm clothes on for their little walk to the spa, nice boots and scarves were the order for the day. Leaving her bow tie on her desk for today, Octavia donned her royal blue scarf and matching boots and met the others by the door to the house. Lyra and Bon Bon were wearing matching, complimentary accessories, Lyra in cream and Bon Bon with mint green. Do they match everything to each other? wondered Octavia jovially.

It was approaching ten o’clock now, and the trio of mares were almost at the spa. As it came into view, Lyra pointed to it with an outstretched hoof for Octavia. It was much bigger than Octavia had imagined, with the roof raised above all the other houses around it, as well as most of the trees. Through the layer of snow, Octavia could see that most of the building was a pale blue with the sign a pale pink, on which read “Blossoming Beauty Spa” in the same pale blue as the building. Getting closer to the spa, Octavia noticed the dot on the ‘i’ was a lotus blossom, a nice touch.

Entering through the sliding doors, the mares shook their hooves to remove the snow stuck to their boots. The interior of the spa was as you would expect, the walls and floors were made of a soft-coloured wood, there was a reception desk made of the same wood, currently unoccupied, lots of doors leading out of the lobby and a waiting bench for ponies to rest on before being served. Then came the smell, a strong but not overpowering aroma of jasmine incense, intended to relax customers as they entered in the hopes they would be more likely to buy something. These mares, however, didn’t need the incentive, they knew what they wanted. On the way, they had decided on back massages, a trip to the steam room and finishing off with a mud bath. It would be an expensive trip, but Lyra and Bon Bon had promised to pay for it all. However, that didn’t mean Octavia couldn’t give them a few bits without them noticing, so she had slipped some into Lyra’s saddle bag before they left.

They weren’t left waiting long, as a couple of earth ponies stepped out from one of the doors on the right of the lobby. They looked like colour-swapped copies of each other; one had a pale blue coat and pink mane, whereas the other had a pink coat and pale blue mane. Both mares wore white headbands, designed to keep their manes pinned back and away from their very youthful faces, both of which radiated natural beauty. They also shared the same neck bands, white with a small round jewel in the middle.

When the mares approached, the blue-coated one spoke first, “Hello,” her voice held a sweet tone and an adorable accent, one Octavia recognised as from Germaney, “my name is Lotus, and this is my twin sister, Aloe.”

The other sister took her turn to speak now, “Welcome to the Blossoming Beauty Spa,” her voice also carried the sweetened Germane accent, “what can we do for you?”

Looking up at the option board behind the desk, Lyra picked the one with the three sessions they wanted in it, “Uhh, three A-grade sessions, please.”

“Certainly,” both spa ponies said together. They walked over to the desk and put their order into the till, Aloe vocalising the displayed price, “That will be 45 bits for the three of you.”

Lyra walked over to the desk and opened her saddle bag, lifting out her bits with her magic, then counting off 45 of them, returning the rest to the pocket they came from.

“Perfect, follow us please,” Aloe said, leading the trio to one of the doors, which lead to the changing rooms. Octavia, Bon Bon and Lyra all took their boots and scarves off, and Lyra removed her saddle bag, putting all of them in the baskets provided. After this, Lotus lead them through to the first room, the massage room. There were four tables in there, making Octavia assume there must be more staff for when the spa gets busier. Hopping onto the table closest to the door, Octavia took in her surroundings. The walls and floor were in the same style as the lobby and changing rooms, except for the tables adorning this floor, there were numerous jars and vials filled with all manner of oils and creams coating the shelves along all four walls, some of which smelt divine through the casings. There was also a lack of windows, apart from those on the doors, but even those were frosted for extra privacy.

Before she knew it, a third spa pony had joined them, also looking like the other two, same headband, mane style and neck band. She did, however, show her difference through her voice, “Hello everypony,” her voice sounded like a cross of the local Ponyville accent and Manehatten mixed together, “my cousins said they needed a third pair of hooves.” Her coat was a creamy white and her hair was a light violet, making her look very exotic.

“This is cousin Lily,” explained Lotus, “and she shall be servicing Miss Bon Bon, while I service Miss Lyra and Aloe services Miss Octavia.” The honorifics reminded Octavia of being back in Canterlot, with lower classes forced to use them around the nobles. Introductions over, the session officially began, all expectations met and then some.

Day two started much later for Vinyl and Dash, sometime around Midday. Having both rolled off the sofa at some point in the night without noticing, Rainbow stirred to find herself wrapped in Vinyl’s hooves, which she certainly didn’t mind. Vinyl was still asleep, so Rainbow Dash looked slowly around at the large clock on the DJ’s wall, showing the time to be quarter past 12 in the afternoon. So much for double training this morning, thought Rainbow as Vinyl nuzzled deeper into her multi-coloured mane. This managed to wake the DJ up gently, and Dash didn’t even have to do anything.

“Morning, Dashie,” came Vinyl’s yawning greeting, whispering through her hangover headache.

“Afternoon sleepy head,” corrected Rainbow quietly, “we managed to sleep in pretty well, even if most of it was on the floor.” The two mares now untangled and stood up, stretching off their limbs slowly, Rainbow taking care with her wings while Vinyl checked her mane in the large mirror.

“D’you want breakfast, or maybe lunch?” Vinyl still wasn’t fully awake as she asked her question, but she was awake enough to magically grab a brush from the dresser and brush her mane straight, an odd look for the normally spiked mane.

“I think I’ll have some cereal, please,” Rainbow sat on the sofa, resting her heavy head on her hooves trying to remember what she did last night. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t remember doing anything with Vinyl, who was now making what sounded like loads of noise in the kitchen, but that was her hangover kicking in.

Vinyl came back in a few minutes later with a couple of bowls of cereal and some glasses of water for the two of them. She set the cereal down on the table and floated a glass of water into Rainbow’s hooves, and both ponies started trying to hydrate themselves.

Vinyl was the first to speak, a bit louder than earlier, “So, what do we need to do today?”

“Nothing,” Rainbow replied after taking another sip of water, “Pinkie should have everything covered for tomorrow by now, so we can relax.”

“Well I need to get my mix finished for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, that was sick last night,” Dash began to think back, still trying to find a memory of her with Vinyl, “hey, did we do anything last night?”

Vinyl had to think for a minute, until her mind reached a blank, “I don’t think so, why, you want a piece of this?” Vinyl flicked her mane seductively in Dash’s face.

Rainbow blushed at this, “No,” she blurted out, “it’s just that I don’t remember, that’s all,” she was looking away now, her cheeks bright red.

“Fair enough,” Vinyl shrugged, “I wouldn’t have minded either way.”

“Y-you what?” Rainbow looked back quickly, still blushing.

“Just saying, you’re not exactly bad lookin’, Dashie,” Vinyl sounding as nonchalant as ever, “just not my type really.”

Dash’s expression sank a bit at this, “Y-yeah, same here,” she tried not to sound disappointed, “anyway, I got training to catch up on, see ya tomorrow, Vinyl,” Rainbow then went to leave, having left her cereal on the table.

Vinyl jumped off of the sofa to see her guest out, “If you’re sure, Dashie,” Vinyl said comfortingly, “I didn’t mean to get you down there, y’know, I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

“It’s fine, really,” Rainbow forged a smile before turning back to the door, “thanks for letting me stay last night.”

“No problem, Dash, no hard feelings?” Vinyl offered her hoof for Rainbow to bump.

“No hard feelings,” Rainbow gave the DJ a gentle hoof bump.

“Cool, see you tomorrow, Dash,” Vinyl waved her friend off. And with that, Dash was gone, flying off back to her cloud house above Ponyville for her extra extended training session.

At least Rainbow Dash was right about one thing, Pinkie was already sorted for the party. Yesterday, she had hopped from house to house, inviting the other Elements of Harmony to the party after seeing Bon Bon and Lyra milling about the market stalls and inviting them too, as well as some of their friends. Unfortunately, Applejack was busy. With zap-apple season starting soon, she and the other Apples would need to be on the farm 24/7. But, since she couldn’t be there, Applejack had promised that Big Mac would drop off plenty of cider before he was “farm-locked”, as she put it.

This afternoon, however, Pinkie was setting up decorations for the special event. In the morning, she had got all the food ready and ordered from various places around Ponyville. She had got Donut Joe to do her an extra-large tray of his best doughnuts, Bon Bon had promised to bring a big bowl of sweets when she arrived with the others and, of course, there would be loads of cake already at Sugar Cube Corner itself. Big Mac had dropped the cider off early in the morning, so Pinkie had asked the Cakes to store it in the fridge out back.

The twins were very eager to help with setting up the streamers and the balloons, with Pumpkin Cake either lifting Pinkie or the streamers up into place and Pound Cake flying the balloons into the overhanging net, which Pinkie would release when Octavia arrived. Within a few hours and the net only falling down a couple of times, the room was ready. Streamers of all colours were hanging from all walls, and the twins were fast asleep on a pile of unused ones, giving Pinkie a moment to admire her work, “I have to say,” Pinkie said quietly to herself, not wanting to disturb the foals by her feet, “we did quite a good job in here, Octavia should love it.”

Despite the twins, she couldn’t help but giddily jump around the room and giggle to herself, “This just has to be enough for her, and we can be best friends and not get upset because I might have ruined her life for a bit after the Gala…” Pinkie’s bouncing slowed down, much like her trail of thought, as she came to a slow halt on the other side of the party-ready room from the Cake twins.

But this is no time to get upset, Pinkie thought to herself assertively, this is a time to be happy and to make a very special pony even happier, “no matter what I did to her,” the party pony vocalising the last part of her motivational speech with renewed strength in her voice. A small, happy smile spread across her muzzle as she ran up to her room to get one final touch ready for tomorrow, a spring in each step.

“Thank you for coming,” chimed the three spa ponies, “enjoy the rest of your day.”

Leaving the spa, Octavia felt like a new mare. Her back had never felt this relaxed, her movements more fluid than usual, and her coat felt so much softer than it did this morning, with the steam room cleansing her pores before the extra minerals were added by the mud bath. With a skip in her set, she began the walk back to Bon Bon’s with her and Lyra, who also looked very relaxed, leaning on each other for support and comfort, revelling in each other’s luxurious coats.

It was late in the afternoon, the mud bath lasting much longer than any of them thought it would. But they didn’t mind, today was for relaxing and relaxing they did. None of them spoke for a while, each enjoying the glow of their coats in the setting sun, until Bon Bon broke the silence, “What do you fancy for tea, Octi?”

“Oh, you can’t treat me any more today, Bonnie,” Octavia protested, “you two have treated me enough already.”

“We’re serious, Octavia,” Lyra interjected, “it is your birthday, after all.”

“Ahh, fine, if you insist,” Octavia finally gave in, “any suggestions?”

“It’s all up to you, whatever you want, you can have,” Bon Bon insisted.

“Hmm, what about a pizza?” Octavia suggested.

The other mares were taken aback by that, “Are you sure, Octi?” Bon Bon asked.

“Oh yes,” Octavia nodded her head eagerly, “I am never allowed pizzas at home, mother would never allow it. She sees them as ‘far too common’,” Octavia putting on an impersonation of her old-fashioned mother, causing the three mares to burst into giggles.

“Fine by me,” Lyra added after pulling herself from the infectious giggles, “we can get some on the way home if you’d like?”

“Don’t be silly Lyra,” Bon Bon objected, “you can get some on the way home, Octavia and I will go home to relax,” Bon Bon took Octavia in her hoof and both of them started giggling.

“Uhh fine,” Lyra moaned, “you two go be little fillies at home. What do like on your pizzas, Octi?”

“I’m not sure, just get me a normal one, please.”

“Same for me, Lyra.”

“Okay, see you guys at home.”

“Bye Lyra,” Octavia and Bon Bon said together, waving back at Lyra as they walked back to the house.

“Bye you two,” Lyra called to them, and then she started walking right, heading towards Ponyville’s pizza house, checking her remaining bits in her saddle bag.

After another 15 minutes of gentle walking, Bon Bon and Octavia were back at the house and taking their boots and scarves off, sitting down by the already warm radiators. The chairs were comfier, but the floor was where the mares wanted to be, at least until they warmed up.

“Thank you for today, Bon Bon,” Octavia said nuzzling into her friend for a moment.

“It’s my pleasure, Octi,” Bon Bon replied, returning the gentle show of friendship, “I enjoyed it myself, and even though she won’t admit it, I can assure you Lyra enjoyed herself.”

“I know, I heard her sighs in the mud bath, she was so relaxed I think she went to sleep at one point.” Both the mares were giggling at the thought, neither before imagining Lyra to be just a filly at heart.

They were soon warm, moving over to the furniture in the middle of the room to spend more time relaxing, not wanting the feelings of comfort to end. However, being the good host she is, Bon Bon went into the kitchen, where she promptly set about making both the present ponies a hot chocolate. Walking back over to Octavia with a tray of drinks in her mouth, she noticed her friend had fallen asleep on the big green sofa, her favourite spot it seemed. Putting the tray softly down onto the coffee table, Bon Bon trotted off into her bedroom, returning a few moments later with a blanket for the cosy mare, which she proceeded to cover with the big cotton blanket bearing both her and Lyra’s cutie marks. She then took her place on her smaller cream chair opposite from Octavia and drank her comforting drink, topped with marshmallows and cream, of course.

About half an hour after Octavia fell asleep, Lyra burst through the door, waking Octavia with a sudden start, discovering a layer of warmth over her in the shape of a large blue blanket. Lyra had a bag floating in her mint-hued magic, containing the three pizzas and what looked like garlic bread. Walking over to the furniture, Lyra noticed Octavia sitting with her and Bon Bon’s snuggle blanket over her, suddenly realising she had been asleep.

“Evening, Lyra,” Bon Bon glared at the unicorn, “Octavia was enjoying her nap there, though her hot chocolate has gone cold.”

Lyra saw one empty mug and one fully loaded drink sat on the coffee table, then decided she should apologise, “Sorry about that, Octi,” Lyra rubbed a hoof through her mane nervously, “didn’t know you were that relaxed.”

“It’s perfectly fine, dear,” Octavia waved off the faux pas, “if you didn’t wake me up, I would be missing my latest treat,” a broad smile crossing her face as she looked up at Lyra.

“Cool, I’ll get the plates.” Lyra trotted off to the kitchen with the bag in her magic, bringing the mugs with her.

Walking back over to the others, now with four plates in her magic, each topped with a pizza or garlic bread, Lyra joined the others on the large sofa, all snuggling under the blanket. Lyra sat on the left, with Bon Bon in the middle and Octavia on the right.

Placing Octavia’s four cheese pizza in front of her, Lyra noticed Octavia’s puzzled expression, before came the question of “How do I eat it?”

“You’re kidding, you’ve never had one before?” Lyra asked, as she and Bon Bon both looked at the refined mare questioningly.

“No, never in my life,” came the level toned reply, “like I said, mother never allowed it.”

“Well, you just dig in,” Bon Bon said with a strange tinge to her voice.

“Yeah, like this,” Lyra said before brutally demonstrating on her spicy vegetable pizza, before realising what a bad idea that was as her mouth erupted with spice. Rushing over to the kitchen, Lyra grabbed a glass and filled it with cool milk from the fridge, downing it with feverish need. With a loud gasp for clean air, the foolish unicorn slowly made her way back to the sofa, bringing fresh drinks for the three of them.

“Okay, now a civilised pony will demonstrate,” Bon Bon mocked, before gently tucking in to her cheesy pizza, picking up one of the pre-sliced pieces in her mouth and steadying it with her hoof, before eating it slowly, savouring each gooey mouthful. Octavia nodded, getting the idea pretty quickly and joining Bon Bon in enjoying her first taste of her own ‘forbidden food’.

A full plate of heavenly food later, Octavia had finished, and she began to rub her slightly bloated belly in small circles, watching Lyra panting from her apparently too spicy pizza and Bon Bon finish her last slice like a true mare. She had never expected such a vulgar food to taste so great, though it had its side effects. Octavia was feeling bloated, so she rolled onto her back to let her belly show from under the blanket. Bon Bon giggled at this, giving the small orb a poke, hearing a small whimper and watching as the grey mare squirmed under the blue cover from the sensation.

“That tickles, y’know,” Octavia whined, her head hanging off the edge of the sofa, eyes lightly sealed from fatigue.

“I’m sorry, it was just too tempting,” apologised Bon Bon.

Lyra moaned behind her, catching her marefriend’s attention, causing her to turn her head to see what was wrong. “It would seem that was too much for you, huh Ly Ly,” teased Bon Bon.

“Shut it, Bonnie, nothing’s too much for me,” Lyra objected, her voice a cross between a moan and a triumphant claim. But mostly a moan. She had adopted a similar pose to Octavia, though her forehooves were also dangling over the edge of the sofa, either side of her head. Bon Bon sighed, climbing out from under the blanket to clear the plates and empty glasses from the table.

Both mares at the sofa called to the kitchen, “Thanks Bonnie!”

Back in her cloud house, Rainbow was finishing her nightly exercises, the sun having set almost an hour ago. Looking over the dark shapes of Ponyville, she released a long, hard sigh she didn’t even know she was holding. She could see her breath in front of her face, watching as the air slowly spread away from her, seeing all of her thoughts in that small space of time lay out before her. She saw Vinyl, the perfect mare in Dash’s eyes. Then she saw the party, everypony happy, especially Pinkie and Octavia. Rainbow knew how much Pinkie hated to make ponies feel bad, and how desperate she could get when trying to make it up to ponies. If she could do it, Pinkie would be happier, making everypony around her happier, which would then make Pinkie Pie even happier. Finally, before her breath fully disappeared, Rainbow saw Twilight. At this, the pegasus turned quickly and moved towards her house, trying desperately to force herself to forget how much she had enjoyed the time at Twilight’s birthday party. Maybe I can talk to Twi at the party, Rainbow though to herself, get all this stuff off my chest. Who knows, the newly crowned Princess might want to talk to her about the same thing. Rainbow could only hope.

Stepping into her room, her big fluffy bed spread before her, Rainbow Dash suddenly felt too tired to stand for another second, practically flopping onto the bed. She would need her sleep if this Pinkie-style party was anything like the last.

Day three - Party

As the first light of Octavia’s birthday shone through the windows of Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie awoke, rather slowly, to find she wasn’t exactly in her bed. The front of her body was resting on the side of her bed, with her flank pressed to the floor next to her efforts of last night. She had been up into the early hours of the morning, using anything she could find to make Octavia the perfect birthday card to make up for their first encounter. It was a sky blue card, with a large pink version of Octavia’s cutie mark drawn on the front, Pinkie had always remembered ponies cutie marks from only brief meetings, with Pinkie’s full apology written on the inside of the card, as well as the usual happy birthday message with lots of hugs and kisses, and a small picture of Pinkie saying sorry.

After enjoying looking at her work, Pinkie decided she could now have a comfortable nap, since her rest had been very uncomfortable and leaving her hind legs feeling numb. She cleared the leftover materials off of the bed, careful not to damage the card on the floor. Snuggling into her downy duvet, Pinkie soon found a comfortable position and dropped straight back into her dreams.

Just as one pony was going to sleep, others were waking. Bon Bon’s house was quiet, until said mare and Lyra snuck into Octavia’s room, where the cellist was still fast asleep with a happy smile on her face. Lyra was carrying a tray with fresh green tea, toast, cereals and breakfast muffins on it in her magic, ready for Octavia’s birthday breakfast in bed. The mares looked at each other before nodding in countdown, three, two, one, “Happy birthday Octavia!” they cheered, waking the birthday mare up with a little squeal.

After her rude awakening, Octavia smiled at her two friends stood in her doorway, before beckoning them over with a hoof. The three of them sat on the bed together, with Lyra setting the tray down on the pale-pink bedside table.

“Thank you, you two,” Octavia said after taking a sip of her tea, ”this was a lovely, if a bit early, surprise.” She giggled a bit at how she had reacted to the wake-up.

“Not a problem, dear,” Bon Bon replied as she hugged Octavia, “it is your birthday after all.”

“And with a birthday,” Lyra added, before her horn began to glow, bringing in a carefully wrapped box from outside the room, “comes presents from your friends!”

Octavia took the box in her hooves, which had been wrapped in stylish grey paper with a small purple bow on top. She gave it a little shake, hearing a soft rattling from inside, soon stopping so as not to damage the present. “Thank you, you shouldn’t have!”

“You haven’t even opened it yet, Octi,” Lyra said snidely.

“Fine, I’ll open it then tell you that you shouldn’t have.” The grey mare began to tear the wrapping off carefully, before speeding up in anticipation. Inside the present, there was a black box with the words ‘Precious Gifts of Ponyville’ on the front. Eyes going wide at what she saw as a jewellery box, Octavia tentatively opened the black box, revealing a stunning silver necklace with Octavia’s cutie mark made of amethyst hanging from it. Holding it into the path of the light breaking through her curtains, she saw the purple gem reflecting her cutie mark across the dark wall, bringing a small tear of happiness to her eye.

Composing herself, Octavia looked between the two mares and said in a voice of pure happiness, “I love it, thank you so much. You shouldn’t have… bought me anything else!” a massive, silly grin crossing the usually refined mare’s muzzle. The others soon joined the silly grins before eating the rest of the breakfast. Until the party, they didn’t want to do anything, Lyra warning Octavia how wild Pinkie Pie’s parties can be. The words ‘You’ll need all your strength’ and the sly wink left Octavia a little nervous but also happily anticipating her special party. Hers. Nothing like this was ever done for her as a filly, so she was planning on making up for lost time tonight.

Having had time to think clearly since yesterday, Rainbow Dash decided to go back and see Vinyl Scratch before the party. She wanted to apologise for how she acted, something Rainbow wasn’t too fond of doing, but if it was a choice between doing this or having forever awkwardness between her and the coolest pony – other than herself – she knew, she could apologise like a pro. Not wanting to risk waking the DJ up too early, Dash had left it until around midday before going to see her. Landing gently a few feet from Vinyl’s small garden, she took a few deep breaths and thought how this would play out. “Hey Vinyl, I’m so so so so so so so so sorry for being a total dweeb the other day.” That didn’t sound right. “Hey, we still cool?” Nah, that’s too lame, I’m not lame. “Hi Vinyl, I just wanted to say sorry for being myself, not thinking about how you felt before getting stressed out with you.” That... actually sounded good, this apologising was easy.

Now knowing what she wanted to say, Rainbow confidently walked up to the front door and gave the strange wood a firm knock. She heard noise on the other side of the door, before it was opened tentatively by the strangely careful DJ. Once she saw it was Rainbow Dash, she let out a long breath before inviting her in, “Hey Dashie, what’s up?”

“Listen, Vinyl,” Dash began as she walked in and saw a half wrapped box on the floor, clearly Vinyl was leaving wrapping Octavia’s present until last minute and hoped she wouldn’t come to visit, “I’m just here to say sorry.”

After having gone back to her present, checking she had all the items ready to wrap the rest of the box, Vinyl replied, “Sorry for what, Rainbow?”

“For being… for…” she sighed, this was harder than she thought, “I guess for being myself yesterday,” her head hung as she finally got the words out.

“That’s cool, Dash, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Vinyl smiled and offered her hoof for Dash to bump, “if anypony should know not to change herself for anypony else, I would expect the Element of Loyalty to get that.”

The pegasus declined the hoof with a shake of her head, wanting to finish her apology, “But I did do something wrong, Vinyl,” Dash looked into the Dj’s eye, even though hers were starting to tear up, “I didn’t think about how you might feel, then I got upset because I didn’t think, choosing to blame it on you instead of thinking that I might be wrong.” Letting out a long sigh and looking away from Vinyl, Rainbow let the tears fall freely from her eyes, no longer caring about looking cool in front of her friend.

A tissue floated to her face in a light blue glow, wiping away the tears as Vinyl lifted her head with a hoof. Seeing a small smile begin to form on Rainbow Dash’s face, Vinyl decided it was her turn to speak, “I forgive you, Rainbow, but I’ve got something I need to say too.” The tears were stopping now, giving Rainbow her full vision back to see what the unshakable DJ had to say, “I need to say sorry too, I didn’t think how what I was saying might affect you,” the unicorn looked away, hoping to find the right words somewhere in her living room. She saw her purple shades on her shelf, between an award she received for her music and a picture of her and all her friends, reminding her of how so many ponies now looked up to her as an idol, but how sometimes she had to be Vinyl Scratch, not DJ-PON3. This, was one of those times, “What I’m trying to say is that you are an incredible friend and I couldn’t wish for anypony better to know what I am like as a pony rather than a DJ, even if I am mean sometimes. I might even consider letting you stay another night, and maybe we won’t fall asleep straight away,” Vinyl turned back to give Rainbow a sly wink.

Rainbow’s face lit up at this. But the excitement left just as quickly as it came, giving way to a small, grateful smile. She knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but her heart and head were agreed that it wasn’t what she wanted, “I would like that, Vinyl,” Dash began, “but I already have somepony who I need to see first, being loyal and all that hay.”

“Nah, I understand, Rainbow,” Vinyl sounded only a bit disappointed at this, “and that is why everypony respects you, you’re the true role model here.” Both mares felt happy after their emotional release, the air clear around them for the first time in ages. They were just glad no pony else was around to see all that.

“I gotta fly, Scratch, but I’ll see ya at the party, yeah?” Dash turned to walk out the door, looking back at the DJ as she did.

Vinyl opened the door for the eager pegasus with her magic and walked over to see her out, “Sure thing, I’ll be in my usual spot with the best tunes in Equestria.”

“And Sapphire Shores,” Rainbow joked.

“Yeah, yeah, but it is my remix,” Vinyl waved her hoof at Dash’s comment. Sapphire was an acquired taste, but Vinyl thought her music gave a good challenge when she needed a new mix; it let her bring different ponies’ tastes together in one song, or so she hoped.

“Fair enough, Miss superstar DJ,” Rainbow laughed as she took off, “see you later, Vinyl!”

“Bye, Rainbow!” Vinyl called back to the now-gone pegasus. She turned her attention back to the half-wrapped box on the floor, groaning at the thought of wrapping the rest of it. Sure, she had magic, but she was hopeless at wrapping. It was going to be a long wait until she needed to set up at Pinkie’s, so she might as well start now. Or after a snack. Or a nap.

The night had arrived, and everypony had gathered at Sugar Cube Corner. Everypony that is, except for Octavia and her two hostesses, Bon Bon and Lyra. Pinkie had told them to bring Octavia a little later than the other guests, but not let Octavia know that, of course. All the lights were out, allowing the rest of the guests to hide around the party room, all ready for the big surprise.

With only their boots for protection from the cool night air, the three mares shivered as they approached the party, their breaths hanging heavy in the frozen air. Seeing the dark outline of the colourful shop caused Lyra and Bon Bon to speed up their approach, but Octavia still maintained her dignified trot in an attempt to keep her mane looking its best. Lyra had curled the front part of Octavia’s charcoal locks with her magic, leaving most of her mane wavy with the bottom parts in full curls, making her look more playful than usual but just as beautiful. As she had said before, she was hoping on making up for lost partying tonight, wearing her new necklace with pride.

The door was left unlocked, allowing the mares to walk in on their own, Lyra holding it open for the others in a green hue, bringing some much-needed light to the darkness. Leaving her horn glowing, Lyra led the way until she saw glowing arrows on the floor, showing them the way.

“Octavia, would you like to lead?” Lyra asked, giving the birthday-mare room to pass.

“Thank you, Lyra,” Octavia said as she passed, “but tell me, why is it so dark? Have they no lighting here?”

“Not quite,” Bon Bon replied, barely containing her giggles as they continued to follow the arrows.

They were only walking for a few more seconds before the arrows just stopped, this darkness seeming no different to the rest of it. “Are you mares sure thi-“ Octavia started to ask before…

“SURPRISE!” The dark room exploded with colour and light as everypony cheered for Octavia, balloons falling from the ceiling in a variety of shapes and colours. Octavia was at a loss for words at this unfamiliar sensation washing over her. Her instincts weren’t sure what to make of it, but her heart told her this was a very happy feeling. In the middle of the large, colourfully decorated room stood a familiar pink earth pony, Octavia’s eyes unable to leave the jumping form for even a second. She came back to her senses when the two ponies she arrived with hugged her from both sides and a party-hat was put in between her splayed back ears.

Pinkie Pie hopped excitedly over to Octavia and gave her a big Pinkie-Pie-hug, but Octavia didn’t hug her back. That’s okay, Pinkie thought, she must still be getting over the awesome surprise. Letting go of the grey earth pony, Pinkie decided to formerly welcome her to the party, “Hey Octavia, I’m Pinkie Pie and welcome to your very own Pinkie-style birthday party,” Pinkie cheered, even though she was only inches from Octavia’s face, “is everypony ready to PAR-TAY!?” All the other ponies gathered cheered and stomped their hooves at this, Vinyl seeing this as her cue to start the music.

Getting over the original shock, Octavia let a big smile cross her face as her, Bon Bon and Lyra made their way over to the rest of the guests, the music guiding their steps. However, before Octavia had the chance to start socialising, she felt a hoof grab the back of her shoulder, forcing her to turn around. Pinkie was stood behind her with a strangely approachable expression on her face.

“Hey, Miss Octavia, can I speak to you? In private?” Pinkie began to blush at the innocent question.

“Of course, dear, but please don’t call me that,” Octavia gently shook her head at the use of the honorific, looking over her shoulder to talk to the others, “I’ll be back in a minute, girls, Pinkie just wants to talk outside.”

“Okay, see you in a minute,” Bon Bon replied, “we’ll be over with Derpy and Carrot Top.” Bon Bon pointed over to the food table where most of the ponies were gathered.

And with that, Octavia found herself being dragged off the same way she had come in. Whatever she wanted to say, it seemed Pinkie couldn’t wait to say. It wasn’t as dark as it had been, but the hallway wasn’t exactly bathed in light. Pinkie shifted nervously in the low glow coming from the party room, the music just a quiet hum in the background by now.

“So, Octavia,” began the party pony, “first of all I wanted you to have this.” She dug a hoof into her pink, puffy mane and pulled out a hand-made birthday card which Octavia noticed had her cutie mark plastered across the front. Pinkie passed it into the birthday mare’s grip before she continued talking, “I-I’d like you to… to open it please,” she struggled with her words but held her happy composure.

Just as she had been asked, Octavia opened the rather beautiful card in front of her; Pinkie had clearly put lots of effort into it. Inside, on the left side of the card, she saw a little pink pony with out-stretched arms, reminding her of when Pinkie had given her a hug when she arrived. Looking to the right of the card, the card read,

To Octavia,

Hope you have the greatest birthday ever!

Now, I want to apologise. You might not remember me, but I was at the Grand Galloping Gala when you played and I messed up your evening. Your music was so beautiful and it felt like you were inside my soul, so I wanted to get as close to you as I could. Then, I couldn’t help myself. It was like nothing else mattered except your music and that I was having fun. I saw you leave the Gala looking all upset, and I wanted to find out what happened but I couldn’t find you. I’m just sorry that it took so long for me to apologise.

I hope you can forgive me, but even if you don’t I hope you have a super-duper fantastic birthday.

Lots of love from Pinkie xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The truth was, Octavia did remember. She had been meaning to see Pinkie, too, but for a different reason. “Pinkie, that was a wonderful card,” the grey mare said as she looked into Pinkie’s teary eyes, “I do remember you, but I had long forgotten the bad part of the evening.” Pinkie was stunned. That definitely wasn’t what she was expecting. If anything, she was expecting a hoof to the face. But, Octavia continued to calmly talk, “Once I left, I was mortified! I thought my career in classical performance would be over, and that I would be shunned by all higher society ponies. I wanted to scream, cry and at one point, hurt you,” she let her head hang at this, “but, somepony came up to me the following day, congratulating me on how my music had got even the younger ponies to enjoy themselves. She told me you had allowed the other ponies to have fun, even the Princesses joined in. If anything, I should be thanking you, you made my quartet more popular than ever!” Octavia had become increasingly animated through her short speech, finishing with an over-the-top jump for joy. Pinkie’s tears had mostly cleared, a small blush rose to her cheeks in their place. But Octavia wasn’t finished, “If you will let me, I would like to apologise for making you feel the way you did, and since you enjoyed my music so much, I would love to give you a private performance.” Pinkie’s eyes were tearing up again, but this time filled with tears of joy, and they were accompanied by a small but bright smile, which brought a smile to Octavia’s muzzle. The two earth ponies just stared at each other for what felt like a blissful eternity before Octavia plucked up some courage and returned Pinkie’s hug from earlier, both of them sharing the warm embrace.

It was at least a minute before the friendly hug was broken by Pinkie, causing a small annoyed groan to come from Octavia, “Your mane’s really soft, Pinkie.”

“Aww, thanks Octavia, I like yours too,” Pinkie returning the compliment, “it’s just sooo shiny.” The party pony was right, even in the low light the grey mane seemed sleek and glossy, enticing Pinkie to stroke it slowly. Octavia didn’t mind. It was a long time since anypony had taken notice of her grooming, so she let herself lean in to the affection.

As her head suddenly jolted downwards and her necklace swung against her coat after relaxing more than she had expected, she pulled away from Pinkie’s gentle stroking, much to the pink mare’s disappointment.

“Shall we re-join the others now?” Octavia asked, “They might start to wonder where we’ve gone.” Pinkie giggled at how her foalish mind reacted to that but she nodded her approval. They set off back towards the sound of blaring bass and happy cheering, but also back to the bountiful light of many colours.

After allowing their eyes to adjust, the now-friends trotted briskly over to the food table where most of the ponies were still gathered, happily chatting amongst themselves. Lyra noticed their approach and nudged Bon Bon in the side, who turned around with an annoyed look in her youthful eyes until she saw Octavia in the corner of her vision, her face getting happier instantly. She beckoned the two over to the table, Lyra readying a mug of cider for each of them in her magic. The mares accepted the mugs as they arrived, looping their hooves into the holes on the side of the mugs.

“So, what did you two get up to?” Bon Bon questioned the rather happy mares in front of her, “You were gone for quite a while.” Her and her marefriend exchanged sly smiles with each other and a few suppressed giggles.

“Just into the hallway, dear,” Octavia replied, “we merely had a friendly chat, getting a few things off our chests and clear up a little… confusion.”

“Yeah, and Octavia said she’d give me a private performance!” Pinkie shouted excitedly, “Isn’t that just the most amazingest thing in all Equestria!?”

Everypony was now listening to the conversation, all of them perking their ears at what Pinkie had just said, except Derpy who kept her eyes focused on the large plate of muffins on the table in front of her. Octavia was getting embarrassed at all the attention and decided to clear up the confusion, “My cello. I promised her a performance of my cello tomorrow.” A collective ‘ahh’ left the listeners’ mouths.

It had been a couple of hours since the party started and everypony was enjoying the night, but Rainbow Dash still hadn’t talked to Twilight. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to, she needed to, but she just couldn't do it. Thankfully, the cider was starting to have an effect and Dash felt her confidence boost after chugging yet another mug with Lyra, who she had found to be quite the drinking buddy. Staggering over to the not-so-tipsy Twilight who was enjoying a dance with Rarity, Bon Bon and Derpy over by Vinyl’s stage, Dash tapped her on the back after thinking about what she wanted to talk to her about. Safe to say, it didn’t go like she wanted it to.

“Hey Twilight!” the pegasus’ speech was slurred but she managed to shout over the music, “Can I talk wit- *hic* with you?”

“Sure thing, Rainbow!” Twilight shouted back, “Shall we go somewhere a bit quieter?”

“Sounds good.”

The two walked unsteadily over to the food table, seemingly a quieter place for a chat. Nopony else was around at the moment, each smaller group finding something to do in the large room, which the nervous Rainbow Dash was thankful for.

“So, what’s up Dashie?” Twilight giggled to herself, seems like she was more drunk than Dash thought.

“Um, y’see,” Dash’s words were lost in her mind, so not how she wanted this to go, “do you remember your birthday?” She couldn’t bring herself to look straight at Twilight’s face, instead focusing on her own hooves.

The alicorn thought on this for a second, humming to herself quietly. A moment of thinking later, Twilight remembered she was still talking to Rainbow, giving her a slurred answer, “Most of it, I was a bit dwunk that night,” Dash couldn’t help but giggle at her friend’s uncharacteristic childish voice, “why, did you do something to me?” Twilight took a questioning look at Dash, bringing a fresh blush to her already warm cheeks.

“N-not at all,” Dash lied, “well, sort of.” This received a quirked eyebrow from Twilight, urging the struggling pegasus to continue, “We kinda… kinda… kissed.” The last word was almost a whisper. “A lot.”

Twilight giggled into her hoof again, “Oh Rainbow Dash, of course I remember that bit,” Rainbow’s jaw dropped, “that was the best part!” Now she definitely didn’t expect that!

“Y-you… you liked it?” if she could blush anymore, she would have.

“Yep, why not?” Twilight tilted her head to the side, looking even cuter than usual in Dash’s drunken eyes, “Did you like it, Dashie?”

“Yes,” Rainbow blurted out a little too quickly, looking straight into Twilight’s eyes.

“Well then, what’s the problem?”

“P-problem?”

“Yeah, if I liked it, and you liked it, then what’s wrong?”

Rainbow hadn’t thought about that, she thought the kiss was the problem. But now, she wasn’t sure, and the alcohol in her system wasn’t helping her to think. It did, however, help her body make its decision. She leaned in and kissed Twilight on her muzzle, but only quickly, leaving behind a shocked expression on Twilight’s face and a very visible wing boner. “Nothing’s wrong, Twi,” Rainbow said softly, but before she could continue, the young alicorn had pressed her muzzle back into Dash’s face for round two, savouring the taste of alcohol and sweets on the pegasus’ tongue.

Pulling away shortly after, panting for air in the now much hotter room, the two mares simply looked at each other, Dash now the shocked one with Twilight looking pleased with her work. After a few more moments of gazing listlessly, Twilight broke the silence, seeing Dash’s tongue still exploring the inside of her mouth, “Shall we go back to the others?” Dash just nodded, a smile now breaking across her petite muzzle.

The two trotted back over to their friends on the dance floor, where everypony had now gathered for the finale of the music, but that was still more than an hour of songs. Before getting back to their dancing, Rainbow looked over to Vinyl, who shot her a knowing look, one which said ‘I saw that’ and ‘good job’, before putting on one of the slower, more romantic songs. Dash groaned but she wasn’t going to complain, especially since everypony seemed to be focused on the pony next to themselves. Bon Bon had Lyra, Rarity was teaching Spike some slow steps, Fluttershy had found a stallion who seemed even shyer than she was and now Pinkie was dancing with Octavia. Heck, Dash and Twilight might as well join them!

It was late into the night, or early in the morning, nopony was too sure at this point. Vinyl was still active, playing out the last of her encores and special requests, but even she needed rest eventually. A couple of ponies were still on the dance floor, but dancing had been replaced by swaying and leaning on each other a long time ago. Most of the guests had already left, leaving only Pinkie, Octavia, Bon Bon and Lyra left to finish the last of the snacks, with Rainbow and Twilight leaving with a very sleepy Spike a few minutes ago.

As the music faded to silence and Vinyl announced her departure, the remaining ponies gave a faint cheer as the DJ waved out through the door. She always left her equipment behind, Pinkie’s place being safer than carrying it home alone and it meant she didn’t have to use any extra energy. The swaying stallions followed behind her, trotting quickly to catch up and walk with her, leaving the last four ponies to decide on what to do now.

“Do you guys wanna leave yet?” Pinkie chirped, still managing to look full of energy next to her sleepy friends, “There’s still some cakes and cupcakes and punch and cider and…” she wanted to continue but was stopped by Octavia’s hoof in her mouth.

“If you don’t mind dear, we are all so full and awfully tired,” Octavia half yawned as she lazily looked at Pinkie through her ruffled mane, a hard night of first-time partying taking its toll.

Pinkie sighed, but she nodded, the other two seemingly sharing Octavia’s thoughts. Lyra and Bon Bon were leaning on each other, looking as though they could fall asleep there and then, but then a plan burst into Pinkie’s overactive head, breathing in deeply before she practically screamed in the almost empty house, “Why don’t we all sleep here tonight?!”

The others were, understandably, shocked by this. It seemed sensible, even though the idea came from the embodiment of crazy, since the three mares would have to walk for ages before they could sleep back at Bon Bon’s house. Looking at each other to check they all wanted to stay, they all nodded together, bringing a huge smile to Pinkie’s face as she gathered the others up into a hug, squashing their faces together lovingly – or was it painfully? Either way, they were staying, but none of them had beds. Ha! This was Pinkie’s house, her domain, and if she needed four beds appearing from seemingly nowhere, then four beds would definitely appear. Sleeping bags that is.

“SLUMBER PAR-TAY!!!” as if one party a night wasn’t enough for the pink bundle of giggles, she now had a second. The sleeping bags were set up next to each other, the girls snuggling in deeply; Octavia was next to Pinkie and Bon Bon, Lyra being on the other side of Bon Bon. The lights were still on but none of them wanted to sleep just yet, except Lyra who was drunk out of her skull and sleeping as soon as her head hit the floor.

“So, what do you think Octavia?” Pinkie inquired, “Did you like your party? I tried to make it super extra special for you.”

“I loved it, Pinkie,” Octavia replied through yet another yawn, trying not to fall asleep mid-conversation, “and please, you don’t need to call me Octavia all the time.” Pinkie tilted her head towards the grey mare.

“But that is your name, silly,” Pinkie rolled her eyes, Bon Bon sighing in the background.

“Yes dear, it is, but… you can call me Octi if you like,” she blushed as she spoke, feeling silly at saying her own nickname out loud.

“Octi, Octi…” Pinkie tested the name slowly, nodding as she did, smiling as she finished, “I like that.” She looked at Octi for a while, and Octi looked back, seemingly for an eternity. Then Lyra snored, loudly. All three mares looked over at the unicorn and giggled, before Pinkie slipped out of her sleeping bag to turn the lights off, still giggling as she bounded back over to the others in total darkness. She was like a giggle-phantom, her sound sneaking up on Octavia and Bon Bon from all angles until she booped both waking mares on their muzzles, causing a small squeal from each of them.

Sliding back into her sleeping bag, still giggling faintly to herself, Pinkie shuffled around trying to find a comfortable position while the mares next to her calmed their breathing back to near-normal. Once everypony was comfy and calm, Pinkie spoke up, quietly this time, “Happy birthday… Octi. Nighty night girls.”

“Night night Pinkie, and thank you,” Octavia replied, smiling in the darkness.

“Night you two,” came Bon Bon’s ever-sweet voice. Now, it was definitely time for sleep.

That was an incredible, amazing perfect night, thought Pinkie, the others having fallen asleep a while ago, and I still have a private performance with Octi to look forward too. We are going to be the best of friends. Oh! Celestia will love hearing about this.