The morning of Starry's first birthday was a slow start. The weather was miserable with pouring rain and winds so cold you felt as if your face would instantly freeze. When morning broke, it was as dark as night and impossible to tell the time of day; so you could forgive the family for being late in getting up. Twilight awoke first, and upon realizing it was morning, she scrambled to get out of bed while beside her, Flash wasn't budging at all, even at her sudden movement.

"Flash, get up!" Twilight exclaimed in a panic, as she hastily changed into her outfit. "It's late!"

Flash mumbled, but didn't make a move to get out of bed. Twilight wondered if he had even heard what she had said and with a sigh, picked up her pillow next to him, before hitting him hard in the face with it.

Startled, Flash's eyes quickly shot open. "Wh... what? What did you do that for Twi!?" he exclaimed, with a glance towards his wife.

"You have to get up. Everyone is going to be here for Starry's birthday soon," said Twilight quickly as she put the pillow back down, satisfied Flash was finally listening.

Flash groaned and buried his head in the pillows. "Why is everyone coming so early?" Flash whined wearily, make Twilight shake her head and laugh.

"Well, if somebody wasn't out past midnight playing with their dog, you wouldn't feel so tired now would you?" Twilight asked him with a grin.

"Don't rub it in Twilight," Flash mumbled as he began to drift off to sleep again, and Twilight sighed. This was going nowhere; she had to think of some other way to get him up.

Flash heard Twilight's footsteps leave the room, and thinking she had given up on trying to wake him up, began to drift back off again. Just as he was, though, he suddenly felt something placed on his stomach, and upon opening his eyes was met with the sight of his baby filly giving him a little grin upon his stomach. Beside him, Twilight wore an identical grin to their daughter's as she glanced down at him.

"Going to get up now?" she asked him mischievously. "Surely, you wouldn't say no to that face, would you?" She nodded at the little filly on his stomach, who was looking at her daddy with innocent eyes and a wide smile.

Chuckling at the sight of his daughters smiling face, Flash sighed, before sitting up and taking Starry in his hooves.

"Alright sweetie, you win. I'm up. The weather might be out to ruin the day," Flash said, glancing at the window, "but I'm not going to. No matter how tired I am." A large yawn escaped him, as if on cue at these words. He groaned. "Twilight, remind to never let Pepper persuade me to go flying that late again. Especially," he added with another yawn, "the day before someone's birthday."

Twilight snorted. "You should have known that in the first place," she said. "Now, hurry up and get ready before everyone gets here," she added as she threw Flash's comb at his head.

"I'm up, I'm up," he groaned. "And while you're at it though," he added with a glance in Pepper's direction, "why don't you wake Pepper up? She's not budging," he chuckled as he passed Starry to Twilight so he could fix his mane.

"Leave that to me," Twilight said with a wolfish grin on her face as she took Starry over to the dozing dog and placed her next to her. Starry wobbled a little as she used Pepper to stand up, before pulling on her ears.

"Peppy, up, up," the little filly said with a giggle, pulling on Pepper's ears more, startling her awake. Noticing the toddler, she gave Flash and Twilight an annoyed look, making them burst into fits of laughter.

"Nothing like a wakeup call from a one year old to start the day," Flash quipped as Pepper yawned and begrudgingly stood up from his wooly bed, all the while Starry remained clinging onto her leg, still standing wobbly on her hooves.

"Flash look," Twilight said suddenly, looking in Starry's direction, "she's trying again!" Bending down in front of the little filly, she and Flash held out their hooves as Starry gave a mighty flap of her little wings to get her in the air for a second, before falling on her bottom just as quickly.

Flash beamed at his little filly. "Well, she's determined; I'll give her that. Good job sweetie," Flash said proudly as he picked up his daughter and kissed her cheek.

"She's hovering better every day. I think she'll be able to move forward more than one flap before long," said Twilight excitedly, just as they heard an urgent knock at the door downstairs.

"Think we should let them in before they drown?" Twilight asked with a grin, as Flash rushed down the stairs to open the door with a laugh.

Whispering wind (Flash's mom), Sharp Shot, and Twilight's parents, Night light and Twilight Velvet, quickly rushed inside as soon as the door was opened, soaked to the bone, shivering and windblown. The weather outside the door was as bad as they thought. It was dark, pouring with rain and the wind was so strong, that Flash had trouble closing the door again for a moment. It wasn't a very good day for a birthday party.

"Trust the weather to ruin the day," Flash said dryly, as he managed to close the door again.

"We'll manage dear, Starry won't remember it anyway. The weather won't ruin her birthday," Whispering Wind said reassuringly as she placed a hoof on Flash's shoulder.

"No, but it almost made us late for it," Twilight said as she came down the stairs with Starry in her arms; Pepper following close behind her, still looking half asleep.

"Late start dear?" Twilight Velvet asked her daughter with a chuckle, noting both the Germane Shepherd's sleepy look, as well as her son-in-law's.

"No thanks to the weather." She shot her husband an accusatory look. "At least I got up when I realised how late it was," she added with raised eyebrows towards him, making him grin sheepishly.

Seeing this exchange, Sharp Shot laughed. "So, it was Flash that I saw messing around last night?" he asked with a grin towards the young stallion. "Don't you think that was a bad idea the night before your daughter's birthday, lad?"

"Don't rub it in Sharp," Flash said with a groan, making everyone shake their heads, trying not to laugh. Flash would never learn.

"Flash," Twilight asked suddenly, "do you want to give Starry her present now, or have everyone else go first?"

Before Flash could answer, though, Night Light answered the question for him. "You two go right ahead," he said. "I think your mother wants to give hers last, anyway," he chuckled.

Twilight nodded to her father. "Alright then," she agreed. "Flash, do you have her present?" she asked him, as she turned towards Flash where he nodded, pulling something out of his pocket.

"Happy Birthday sweetie," Flash said proudly as he presented Starry with his and Twilight's gift: a small shining silver bracelet. Engraved on it in fine work, were Starry's name and date of birth, as well as an intricately designed image of Pepper, darkened by ash to more match the dog's fur color. Flash had spent many days on it, wanting it to be perfect for his little filly.

"Flash, that;s beautiful. How long did it take you to make that?" Velvet asked her son-in-law in awe, as she watched Flash place the bracelet onto Starry's foreleg, where Starry gave a joyful grin to her father.

"He spent many days on it, mum. Everything had to be perfect, so every time something was wrong he'd spend hours fixing it back up," Twilight told her mother as her face glowed with pride for her husband. Flash smiled at her affectionately as he adjusted the bracelet on Starry's wrist.

"Well Flash, you certainly outdid yourself on this one," Whispering said with a smile. Flash's face glowed with pride as he went up to hug his other. The others pulled out what they had gotten Starry and Twilight set Starry on the floor. She crawled over to her father who was kneeling down. She cooed, booping his nose. Flash chuckled before lightly booping his daughter's nose back. Starry laughed. Whispering Wind walked over and set a small quilt on the floor. It was a light sky blue with Pepper and Starry playing with each other.

"It's amazing mum," Flash said. "How long were you working on this?"

"PEPPY!" A small voice interrupted Whispering as she was about to speak.

"Funny as the first thing she notices is Pepper," Twilight chuckled.

"It took me a few weeks, I was justing hoping she would like it," Whispering replied. Flash picked up his daughter and set her on the quilt. Starry giggled some more and stood up, opening her wings and giving a small flap.

"Guys, look," Flash said as Starry put her hooves on the tip of his muzzle as she flapped her wings harder and more consistently. Everyone turned and watched as Flash gradually lifted his nose and Starry rose with it. She took her hooves off and hovered in the air for a minute, flapping around and flying in a circle before crashing into her father's chest. Everyone made an 'aww' sound as Flash stroked her mane.

"You did it sweetie, you flew!" He whispered to her excitedly. She booped his nose and giggled. He laughed to.

"Best birthday ever," Twilight said, moving to sit by Flash, cooing at her daughter.

Author's Note

YAY I'm back! (Finally...) Ahh, it feels good to be back. My novel's almost finished, but since it's the end of November (And it's Thanksgiving), I decided to leave a little surprise. So I hope you enjoyed Starry's first B-day, and I will see you next week with another cute little one shot!