Twilight squinted down at the colorful wrapping paper again, then slid the ruler slightly to the left. “Hmmm…”
“Oh, come on, Twilight!” Spike said, falling back into his seat and throwing his hands up. “You’ve been at this for three hours!”
“Well, I want Cheerilee’s present to look nice, and if the pattern doesn’t match up exactly where the paper overlaps then she’s probably going to be really disappointed. It’s worth taking the whole afternoon to get this right.” Twilight glanced up at the clock, then back down to her project. “And maybe a good portion of the night. This needs to be precise.”
Groaning, Spike dropped his head onto the table with a loud thunk. “Who cares? She’s just going to rip it all off when she gets it.”
“I care, Spike,” Twilight replied as she nudged the ruler back to the right, “and so should you. It’s her birthday tomorrow, and that’s a special day for everypony. We need to treat it seriously.”
“Would you say it behooves you to go the extra mile?” Spike grinned and pointed. “Get it? Hooves?”
Twilight gave him a flat stare.
“Aw, lighten up! That one was gold!”
“Spike, that wasn’t even pyrite. That was a rock that somepony painted orange and left in a dark closet, hoping to never see it again.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Sheesh. Everypony’s a critic. You just don’t know funny when you—huh?”
Both unicorn and dragon swiveled their heads to the Golden Oak Library's front door as the pounding began again. “You in there, Twi?” Pinkie pressed her face to the library’s front window. “Whatcha doing? I’m going over to—”
Pinkie’s eyes dilated and her breath quickened as she focused in on the table. “A present? Is that a present? I thought I smelled wrapping paper! Hold on!” The door rattled for a moment, then flew open. “Sorry! I tried to open the hingey side.” Bounding forward, Pinkie nearly knocked Spike over in her hurry to reach the table. “What’d you get? Who’s it from?”
“Actually, it’s—”
“Oooh! New boxes of chalk and blackboard erasers!” Pinkie’s hooves were a blur as she ran in place. “Whoever you got this from sure does know you! I’ve never seen a pony go through so much chalk! You’re a chalkoholic!”
Twilight gently pushed Pinkie a step back from the box and wiped away the nose print that her friend had left there. “No, Pinkie. It’s—”
“You in here, Twilight?” Applejack poked her head around the door jamb. “I was headin’ off to—Oh, hey, Pinkie. What’s goin’ on?”
Pinkie bounced in place rapidly. “Twilight got a present!”
Grinning, Applejack trotted in. “Well, ain’t that nice? What’s the occassion?”
Twilight waved away the question. “Oh, it’s not—”
Pinkie gasped, then plunged her foreleg elbow-deep into her mane and fished out a worn day planner. Licking the tip of her hoof, she skimmed through several pages. “Oh no! Ohnohnohno! It’s your birthday, isn’t it? I wrote it down as three months ago and you were too nice to tell me I had the wrong day!” Tears welled up in Pinkie’s eyes.
Twilight hopped of the sofa and wrapped her leg around her friend’s shoulders. “No, Pinkie! You had the right day. This isn’t—”
“Spike, what’s the story here?” Applejack scratched behind her ear. “Twilight’s birthday ain’t actually on her birthday?”
“Uh…” Spike tapped his chin with a claw and stared up at the ceiling. “If today happened to be Twilight’s birthday, and she was just being nice before, what do you think the chances are that Pinkie would throw together a spur-of-the-moment party where I could have some more of those incredible jewelcakes that she baked for the last one?”
Twilight’s eyes slid sideways. “Spike…”
“Why, I reckon it’d be a surefire bet.”
Spike thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yup. It’s her birthday.”
“Spike!”
“Twilight, darling, are you free? I was just going to—oh!” Rarity froze halfway across the library’s threshold. “Please excuse me, I didn’t realize that I was interrupting.”
Applejack beckoned with a hoof. “Come on in, Rarity! In fact, it’s good you’re here. We just found out that Pinkie didn’t have the right day for Twilight’s birthday, and—”
“I didn’t know!” Pinkie wailed, tears fountaining from her eyes.
“And we’re tryin’ to figure out what to do about it,” Applejack continued in a slightly louder voice.
Twilight shot a withering glare at her assistant. “Spike, you are so going to get it,” she said through clenched teeth before clearing her throat. “Listen, everypony! It’s—”
“How did I have the wrong day?” Pinkie flipped a few pages back and forth. “I-I’ve got a system. I put stickers on each week where something’s going to happen in the week after, and then that week gets cut out and glued to the front cover, but I take the actual day of the week—not the whole week, but just the day that something’s going on—and I get Gummy to eat them, and…”
Twilight kicked Spike lightly in the shin, then pushed him toward the distraught pony while she rambled on.
“Ow! Hey!” He wilted slightly under Twilight’s intense glare. “Uh… Well, the thing is, Pinkie, it’s… it’s not you! Actually, what it is… is… is that it’s Twilight’s Second Birthday!”
Twilight’s eyes bulged and her mane bristled. “Spike!”
“Second Birthday?” Pinkie’s jaw dropped, and her eyes travelled rapidly back and forth between Twilight and Spike. “Can you do that? Can you birthday twice?”
Sweating slightly, Spike nodded. “I-it’s a special unicorn thing.”
Rarity arched an eyebrow. “I’ve never heard of this ‘Second Birthday.’”
Spike tapped the tips of his index claws together. “Uh… a Canterlot unicorn thing. Kind of a secret, actually.”
“Okay, this has gone on long enough!” Twilight stepped in front of Spike. “Everypony, It’s not my—”
“I knew it!” Rarity sat and crossed her legs tightly across her chest. “I just knew my parents were hiding something! There had be some rational explanation as to why they would move from Canterlot just after I was born!”
Applejack sank to her haunches next to Rarity and patted her on the back. “Oof. That’s rough.”
“Oh!” Pinkie perked up. “Oh! Ohohoh! You’re way behind then! We’ll throw Twilight her party, and then we’ll spend the whole rest of the month catching you up!”
Rarity’s eyes misted up. “Pinkie, that would be exquisite, but don’t feel like you need to trouble yourself.” A tiny hitch worked its way into her voice. “I’ll m-manage.”
Pinkie leapt into the air. “Are you kidding? It’ll be a blast!”
“Hey, Twi! You want to go check out—whoa!” Applejack and Rarity leaned away as Rainbow Dash tumbled through the air between them. After landing in a heap on the couch, Rainbow dusted herself off and hopped down. “Hey, what’s the big idea having a party without me?”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Don’t get your tail in a twist, Rainbow. We ain’t havin’ a party.”
“We will be, though,” Pinkie said with a huge grin, “just as soon as I get Gummy to throw all those days back up. I gotta write new stuff on them.”
Rainbow’s face screwed up as she tried to process that. “How did we get from parties to throwing up?”
“Usually from too much of Granny’s special cider,” Applejack replied.
“Girls!” Twilight jumped up on the table, then winced as the ruler slid out of position. “It’s not—”
“Twilight, there’s no need to be modest about your extra birthdays.” Rarity waved a dismissive hoof at her friend. “Age isn’t—wait!” Trembling, she turned to Spike, who was doing his best to edge quietly out of the room. “These unicorns with additional birthdays, they… they’re not older, are they?”
Spike worked down a lump in his throat. “Uh, well… The thing with it is that, um, Second Birthday only counts as a real aging birthday if, uh…”
“There’s no such thing as Second Birthday!” Twilight’s eyes blazed, and her mane rippled as though caught in a strong breeze.
Pinkie rolled her eyes and blew out a sigh. “See? There you go again, Twilight. Just because Second Birthdays are mysterious doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. Sometimes you just gotta believe in more presents!”
Twilight slapped a hoof over the right side of her face. “Spike, you know you’re grounded, right?”
“Jeez, Twilight. We all know you’re kind of uptight sometimes, but cut the guy a little slack!” Rainbow flew over and scruffed the spines on Spike’s head. “Good on you for letting us know. Secrets are lame anyway.”
Spike pointedly ignored the death stare he was receiving from Twilight’s side of the room. “I know, right? She’s… she’s just so modest, but when you girls go home at night, sometimes, she has nightmares.”
Rarity’s hoof went to her heart. “Oh my! Twilight, why didn’t you tell us?”
Twilight opened her mouth, but Spike leapt in front of her. “It’s terrible! She thrashes around in the sheets, crying out for more delicious jewelcakes. Some nights I don’t sleep at all!”
Gasps sprang up around the room. As all of her friends shot to their hooves, Twilight waved them back down again. “Listen to me! There’s no such thing as—”
“Twilight, how could you?” Rarity scooped up Twilight’s hoof in both of hers and patted it gently. “I know all of this friendship business is a little new to you, but really! Nightmares, darling?”
Crossing over to Twilight’s other side, Applejack bumped her lightly with a hip. “Ain’t that just like you? Tryin’ to take it all on yourself. Don’t you worry none, Twi. We’re gonna put our heads together and fix this right up.”
“Slumber party!” A pink blur shot out the open door, then returned seconds later with a large pile of pillows, sleeping bags, coloring books, heartthrob magazines, a Ouija board, and several boxes of junk food. “Okay, let’s do this!”
Rainbow snorted out a small jet of steam. “No stupid dreams are gonna keep my friend from a good night’s sleep!”
Twilight gave Rarity a forced smile and gently removed her now amply patted hoof from the unicorn’s firm grasp. “I appreciate the—”
“Twilight, are you home? I was in the neighborhood, and I thought you might like to—oh!” Fluttershy pulled her head back until her eyes were just poking out from around the door jamb. “I-I can see that you’re busy. I’ll come back some other time.”
“No way, Flutters!” Pinkie bounced over to the door and collared her friend. Fluttershy’s hooves scraped against the library’s polished wooden floor as she backpedalled, but Pinkie dragged her into the room. “We’re just about to start Ponyville’s First Ever Twilight Sparkle Second Birthday Slash Nightmare Keeping Away Party!”
Fluttershy’s blinked for a moment. “Second Birthday?” She turned to Twilight, and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “Did they skip it when you were a foal? Oh, that’s just awful! What were your parents thinking going straight from one to three? They were pushing you too hard to achieve, weren’t they?”
Rainbow winced. “Why didn’t I think of that? I could have gone to Junior Speedster camp a year earlier!”
Twilight rubbed her throbbing temple. “They didn’t skip my birthday, Fluttershy. Spike—” she hit the dragon with another glare, and he shrank down behind Pinkie’s mountain of pillows “—told everypony that—”
“He told us about Second Birthday!” Pinkie said, bounding into the air and landing just inches from Fluttershy’s face. “It’s a secret Canterlot unicorny thing, so you can’t tell! Noogies if you tell!”
Fluttershy covered her sensitive scalp with her hooves. “I don’t like noogies.”
Advancing, Pinkie forced Fluttershy back into the pile of pillows. “Then you better not breathe a word of it to anypony!”
“Okay…” Fluttershy’s voice was just barely audible. Under Pinkie’s scrutinizing stare, sweat beaded on her brow, then trickled down the side of her face.
Pinkie gave Fluttershy a few more extra-strength squints, then offered her a hoof. “Okay, you’re in.” After hauling the pegasus back to her hooves, Pinkie ducked behind the couch and pulled out a large, iron-bound chest. “Girls, let’s party!”
Tipping her hat back to get a better look, Applejack ran a hoof over the heavy chest. “Where the hay did that come from?”
“Oh, I’ve got one in all of your houses,” Pinkie pressed her nose against the latch, and the lid sprang open. Confetti exploded from the chest, and a phalanx of multi-colored balloons floated out to gather in the library’s high ceiling. “You just never know when a celebration is about to happen.”
Rainbow held up a hoof for Pinkie to bump. “Pinkie, you always bring your A game to fun and games!”
“My! What does one wear to a Second Birthday?”
“I gotta slop the hogs, but I’ll be right back. Should I bring some cider with me?”
Pinkie leapt into the air. “Enough for all night!”
Another gasp rose when glowing arc of crackling purple energy lanced through the room. In an instant all of the confetti and balloons were stuffed back into the box and the lid slammed closed. “This has gone far enough!” Twilight yelled. Rearing, she slammed her front hooves down on the chest. “It’s not my Second Birthday! There is no such thing as Second Birthday! I don’t have nightmares, and we’re not having a party!”
Twilight was met with wide-eyed silence. Her chest was still heaving, but she felt a small twinge there as her friends all took a step away from her. Twilight held up a hoof. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. It’s—”
“Twilight,” Spike said in a small voice, “can I talk to you for a minute?”
The frown found its way back onto Twilight’s face when she turned to her assistant. “Yes, I’d love for you to start talking!”
Spike dropped his eyes to the floor, and his claws twisted around each other. “Uh… privately?”
“Ugh. Fine,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes, “but you’re coming right back out and doing it publicly.”
Spike took Twilight by the hoof and led her to the kitchen. “Back in just a minute!” he called out just before closing the door.
Twilight glowered down at him. “Okay, what do you have to say for yourself, mister?”
Spike took a deep breath. “Look, Twilight, I know you’re new to the whole friendship thing, but you’re messing this all up.”
Twilight’s eyes flew wide and her hoof shot up to her chest. “Me? I’m not the one making up crazy stories about holidays that don’t exist just so I can get a couple of cupcakes!”
Spike looked away for a second and rubbed his arm. “Yeah, okay, so I got carried away. I didn’t think they’d actually go for it, but Twilight,—” Spike cracked the door open again “—just look at them.”
Twilight pressed her eye to the opening, and her heart sank. In the library’s main room, her five friends sat with long, worried faces. Fluttershy had a wing around Pinkie, who was still sniffling. Twilight ducked back when Rainbow glanced at the kitchen door, her face both concerned and angry.
“Spike, they’re so… so upset.”
“Well, they were trying to do something nice for you, but you yelled at them for it.”
Twilight slowly sank to her haunches. “I did, didn’t I?” she said, hanging her head.
“Yeah.” Spike sat down on the floor opposite her and drew his knees to his chest. “Twilight, sometimes you just gotta go with things, even if they’re not what you’re expecting. Our friends were really excited to do something nice for you. You should just let them. I mean, what else do you have going on tonight?”
“But… but I need to wrap that present,” Twilight replied. Even she didn’t think her words sounded convincing.
“Ask Pinkie to do it.” Twilight opened her mouth, but Spike rose to his feet and cut across her. “You’ve been at that present for hours. Pinkie could wrap it perfectly in seconds, and she’d love doing it. There’s such a thing as ‘too serious’, Twilight. You gotta learn to let go and have fun. You don’t have to control everything.”
Twilight peeked back out the door. “So I ought to just let them throw me a fake party for no reason?”
Spike shrugged. “Who needs a reason? Isn’t any special occasion really just there so we can have fun?”
Twilight thought for a moment, then smiled. “You’re right, Spike. Second Birthday might not be a real Canterlot unicorn tradition, but maybe we could make it one in Ponyville!”
“That’s the spirit, Twilight!” Spike replied, punching his fist into the air. “Now let’s get out there and party!”
Twilight pressed the kitchen door closed with her hoof and stared down at Spike, her eyes cool. “I’ll get out there and party. You’re going upstairs because you’re grounded.”
Spike’s mouth fell open. “Aw, come on, Twilight!”
“No arguments.” Twilight leaned down to his eye level. “Lying to ponies is wrong, even if you don’t mean to cause any harm. You know better.”
Hanging his head, Spike trudged to the door. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess I’ll be up in our room if you need me.”
He stopped when Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder. “But, Spike?”
“Yeah?” he replied, half-turning.
“Make sure you come down at some point and get a couple of jewelcakes.”
“Okay!” Grinning, he scampered out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and into their bedroom.
Despite everything that had happened, Twilight found herself smiling, too. Her friends' eyes were hopeful as turned to look at her. Taking a deep breath, she trotted back out into the main room. “Okay, about this Second Birthday thing…”
