"Surprise!"
"Ah!" the unicorn yelled.
"Happy birthday, Twilight!" five ponies exclaimed. Twilight's eyes widened.
"You made me a birthday party?" she asked, surprised indeed.
"Well, duh! We're your friends!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah! And we've got you the best present ever!" Pinkie Pie added. Twilight's eyes started to form happy tears.
"Oh, girls, you shouldn't have! But you made me curious. What'd the best present for me be? If you don't mind me asking. Or is it a surprise for later?" she said.
"It's a surprise for later! For now, let's par-tay!" Pinkie exclaimed.
The six ponies enjoyed themselves with cake, dancing, singing, and playing. After a few hours they finally decided to give Twilight her gift.
"Close your eyes," Pinkie ordered the birthday mare. They lead her to an open space. and put her there.
"And now, open!"
Twilight opened her eyes, and what she saw confused her. There was nothing in front of her. Just her five best friends sitting on cushions in a circle.
"Uh..." she started. She really didn't know what to say.
"We're gonna read a book with you!" Fluttershy announced.
"That's my birthday gift?" now Twilight really didn't know what to say. Her eyes started forming tears again.
"Yeah!," Pinkie affirmed, smiling widely. Twilight didn't say anything due to the shock. Her friends would never read any of her "boring books". The five ponies started to frown.
"You do not like it?" Rarity asked, in a small voice.
"Are you kidding me? This is the best gift ever!" Twilight finally let her tears out. She soon hugged all of her friends at once in a big group hug. After some minutes, Applejack said,
"Well? Do you know which book we're gonna read?"
"I have one in mind..." Twilight answered. She gently pushed away her friends and grabbed that book with her magic. "Here, this one! 'The amazing world of recycling'!"
"Recycling?" Rainbow repeated, deadpanned, and quickly got shoved by Applejack.
Twilight continued, oblivious to Rainbow's comment about her book, "I have never read this one, and I think this is the right opportunity to do so."
Twilight grabbed her own cushion and sat with her friends. She opened her book and started reading. After the first page, she passed it to Rarity, who was sitting at Twilight's right. And then, after the secod page Rarity passed it to Pinkie Pie. And then, she passed it to Applejack. And then she passed it to Rainbow Dash, who was completely bored. And then, she passed it to Fluttershy. And then, she passed it to Twilight and then she passed it...
After a while, they got to the recyclable material section. Fluttershy finished reading the page that ended the paper section and passed it to Twilight.
"Okay, so this section is about-" she suddenly stopped and threw the book across the room just above Rainbow's head, barely not hitting her.
"Whoa! What the-!" Rainbow shook her head and looked at a terrified and hyperventilating Twilight Sparkle. "Twilight? You... you okay?"
"What has gotten you so spooked?" Rarity asked Twilight, kind of worried by her friend's weird reaction to a book.
"Th-th-th-there... there's a...a-a-a..." Twilight tried to answer.
"Maybe you should calm down first?" Fluttershy suggested.
But Twilight wasn't listening. Or... couldn't listen. "There's a... wa-wa-water... bottle!" she finally blurted out.
Her five friends all opened their eyes in confusion. A water bottle?
"What?" Rainbow said after a long silence. Twilight was starting to calm down, but she was still hyperventilating.
"I-I'm scared o-of... water bottles!" Twilight repeated.
There was a brief moment of silence.
"How can you be scared of water bottles? They're just water bottles." Rainbow said. The other ponies seemed like they agreed even though they didn't say anything.
"You... you don't understand" Twilight was calm enough to talk properly.
"What do we not understand?" Rarity asked, even more confused.
Twilight took a deep breath, and started. "It all happened when I was a little filly. I was still in Canterlot, at magic school...
Twilight and Moondancer were at a cafeteria, with their books pasted on their faces. They got their food and sat on a bench, right next to each other, but not talking to each other at all. Still reading their books occasionally sipping on their teas and biting their sandwiches. They were so concentrated on their books that they weren't listening to their surrondings. But the noise that was heard later was way to alarming to be ignored.
A pony was coughing. Like crazy. He... he was choking!
Twilight and Moondancer approached him, very worried, to see what was going on.
He had fallen from his chair and started coughing even more. Many ponies were around him, without knowing what to do, until a pony came galloping and tried to get that piece of something out of his trachea by doing whatever ponies do to do so.
The choking pony looked absolutely miserable. Bloodshot eyes, very pale face... That piece of... whatever food it was wouldn't come out!
The little fillies and colts ran away crying towards their parents, absolutely terrified of what was happening, but Twilight and Moondancer didn't run away. They were scared too, but they were strangely curious.
Twilight glanced at his table and saw a half-eaten quesadilla, and an almost empty water bottle!
The pony's coughs became weaker, but the thing hadn't come out. A group of professional ponies came to help the poor pony, but... it was too late.
Then, Twilight started to cry. She grabbed Moondancer, who also was crying, and galloped towards her home, completely forgetting about their food. That pony wasn't even an acquaintance, but the event was very traumatizing for little fillies like them.
Even after their parents comfort, they felt very uneasy. They didn't go to that cafeteria again. They avoided quesadillas and water bottles. Moondancer grew out of it after some years, but Twilight wasn't so lucky.
"That was... not what I was expecting. I expected something very silly," Rainbow commented.
"No... and I just can't forget about it," Twilight said, crying again, but now because of the traumatizing memory, not because of happiness like before.
"So that's why you're scared of quesadillas too!" Pinkie added.
"Yes... and besides, they're very cheesy!" Twilight added to Pinkie's addition and continued to cry.
"Aw, don't cry Twilight. We'll protect you from any quesadillas and water bottles that may want to choke you," Pinkie Pie said to comfort Twilight. They all laughed a little at the slightly silly promise.
They all gathered to another group hug that lasted even more than the first one.
"What if we read about advanced flight spells now, hm? Won't that be better?" Rarity said.
Twilight calmed down completely, stopped sobbing, and smiled. She nodded, grabbed the book and opened it. They all sat in their couches again, and paid attention. Twilight's smile became wider.
"You really are the greatest friends ever."