Surprise Present

*Tweet! Tweet! Chirp tweet tweet tweet chirp!*

*Hnnrrrrrr...!*

The trio of birds on the windowsill froze mid-chirp at the low snarl of the room's occupant.

"Do that. Someplace. Else." Spike growled from his bed, giving them a half-awake death glare. They considered ignoring him until a brief snort of smoke from his nostrils convinced them to swiftly find another perch. One well enough away from the fire-breathing dragon.

"Stupid birds..." He groaned, trying to go back to sleep only to find he was now awake, "Why can't they wait till the afternoon to pull this?" After a yawn, stretch, and a quick side scratch, he pulled himself to his feet. When he looked at his alarm clock...well, he saw something wasn't quite right.

Namely the fact that the alarm had been turned off, and it was seven-thirty. "The hell!?" He muttered, checking to be sure he'd set it the night before. Sure enough, a seven popped up when he hit the button. This wasn't right; as long he'd known Twilight Sparkle, she always, ALWAYS was up by seven. And as a result, he was lucky to get ten minutes before she came to wake him to make breakfast.

He'd tried to teach her to cook so he could sleep in more, but gave up after her attempt to make an omelette detonated...literally. And Starlight Glimmer proved to be just as bad; souffles were NOT meant to need a hammer and chisel.

"Oh man...I better get down there." Deciding to get a shower after breakfast, he left his room still wearing the sweatpants he used as pajamas.

Even though the palace's appearance gave it an inviting, friendly look to those approaching, it could still be creepy as hell for those inside. Especially when they were alone in an area.

As Spike made his way through the large hall leading to the kitchen, the echoing 'click-click-click' of his claws along the crystalline floor accompanied by his breathing seemed to amplify itself in the quiet emptiness. Even though he'd done this more than once, the feeling still weirded him out.

It didn't help that even though the others would visit often, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike were really the only ones who lived there. The majority of rooms were left locked up unless really needed so they didn't have to worry about having to hire a crew to keep them all clean every day. This only served to give the place an abandoned, desolate air right now...

"GAH!!" He yelled, shaking his head violently to get rid those thoughts, exhaling sharply, "I need to stop with the mystery thrillers before bed." The rest of his journey was made in a relatively normal manner, though he did pick up the pace a little.

"I'm here." He called out once he finally reached his destination, absentmindedly grabbing his old apron off its hook, "Before either of you say anything, yes, I did set my alarm last night. But it got turned off...somehow..." Spike's voice trailed off after looking at the two chairs the unicorns normally sat at. Both were empty.

'Ok...they aren't here. Which begs the question: why?' He thought to himself before realization struck, "Library. Right. Knowing them, they probably had another one of their late night study fests and were still asleep themselves." Thankfully, the trip to the palace library didn't take long.

"All right. Rise and shine you two." He called out a soon as he entered. He'd been expecting to see at least one using one of the books for a pillow.

What he got was an empty room again. True, there were a couple of books open on the table, but no sign of Twilight Sparkle or Starlight Glimmer. He snorted, this was starting to get a little annoying. "All right you two. If this is supposed to be a joke or something, then ha-ha. Come on out." He called out, figuring they hop out from around a bookcase or drop an invisibility spell.

Only to have nothing happen. "Star? Twi?" He called out again, "Hello? Olly olly oxen free?" Nothing. He scratched his head, "Where the heck are those mares?" Checking their bedrooms turned up nothing except a pair of unmade beds. They'd been asleep at least, so that was something. He'd even gave a hesitant knock on the bathroom door to see if the occupant was all right, only to find it unlocked.

Confusion began to give way to concern and the walk shifted to a jog as each room he checked turned up nothing. "Twilight! Starlight!" Finally, he came upon the last place to search; the Cutie Map room. Unfortunately, this also proved to be empty.

Of ponies, at least. However, there was something; sitting on the map table was a small, brightly-wrapped package, complete with ribbon. On top of that rested an envelope with his name on it in Twilight's handwriting, and what he instantly recognized as one of Pinkie Pie's special s'more cupcakes with a candle stuck in it.

"What's this...?" Picking up the letter showed it was definitely her writing, complete with flourish and a small heart dotting the 'i'. 'That's new', he thought as he cut the envelope open with a claw, avoiding the small cloud of confetti that somehow blew out in the process, 'Hearts aren't Twi's usual style.' Inside was a folded letter, also in her handwriting:

'Before I say anything else:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPIKE!

"Birthday?" Spike looked up, and quickly scarfing down the cupcake, rushed over to the nearest calendar. Sure enough, the day was circled multiple times with 'Spike 20!' written on it. "That's right...I'm officially Twenty now! Can't believe I forgot." He chuckled for a second before going back to the letter.

He had to admit, it was a nice touch for them to all write a bit of it. From Twilight's flowing style to AJ's straightforward print to Fluttershy's light, almost delicate lettering. Even Starlight had added to it. There was another style that looked very familiar but he couldn't quite place and one he didn't recognize. Both had him wondering who wrote it with them.

'Twenty Years; hard to believe it's been that long, hasn't it? I still remember you using your tail as a pacifier the day you hatched.'

"Oh...come on, Twi..." He fought the urge to facepalm.

'Anyway, back to the main reason for this note. By now you've probably been looking for me and Starlight in the palace. Sorry if we made you worry, but we left early to meet the girls to ready a big surprise for you this evening. Until we come get you for it, you have the whole day to yourself💝. We turned off your alarm so you'd get to sleep in some as well. See you tonight.

Love, Twilight (and the others)

P.S. We also left one of your presents to help pass the time. Have fun!'

"A surprise tonight?" He looked at the letter again, curious about what it could be as he picked the box up. "And what are you?" It wasn't much bigger than his hand, and rather light. The bow came off easily enough, allowing him to pop open one of the folded ends. As the paper slid off, eyes widened at the sight of a dark orange box with 'S7' on the top.

"N-no way..." His voice came out in a whisper of disbelief, throwing the paper aside, "It's a Stampede 7!" Spike stared at the box, pinching himself to be sure he was awake. In his hand lay the newest smartphone currently on the market; one he'd been admiring since it was released, but didn't think he'd ever be able to afford it. "They actually got me one." He half whispered to himself, slowly removing the phone from its box.

The phone itself was thin as a chocolate bar with a metallic green case. "Oh, nice." He turned the power on and checked the instructions while it booted up. After a moment, the H7 appeared on the screen along with a cheery little 'Hello!'

"All right, let's see what we got here." He compared the screen to what the instructions said, "Camera, calendar, calculator, phone-" He paused, "Wha?"

Down at the bottom of the screen was an icon that wasn't supposed to be there; a play button with 'HBVideo'. "The hell?" A bit of annoyance welled up at the idea that somepony had already fiddled with it. 'Probably, some goofball at the store they got it from decided they wanted to be funny.' he thought, remembering the guy at Hay Burger who got fired for slipping hot sauce into the burgers as a joke.

He started to look up the instructions for deleting stuff when he glanced at it again. The urge to get rid of it warred with his curiosity at just what the video might be.

Curiosity won before long. With a sigh, he put the manual down and tapped it. "Can't be that bad." He told himself, "More than likely one of them singing a dumb song or something and was too lazy to delete it."

The video started with the camera pointed at what looked like the palace floor, followed by a VERY familiar voice, "Ok, everyone ready?"

He blinked, 'Is...is that Twilight?' When it pointed upwards, the sight that greeted him wasn't quite what he expected.

Twilight and the others were all in the map room, gathered around the table. Surprisingly, Moondancer was there as well, sitting on the table beside Rarity, legs crossed and biting her lip in a rather cute way. However it was the one laying on the table, almost lounging on it. "E-Ember??"

He quickly hit the pause button to doublecheck. Sure enough, Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Starlight, Moondancer and Ember were all there. Judging from the glow on Twilight's horn, she was levitating the phone in front of them. He also saw something else, something that had him go slackjawed:

All nine were wearing hoodies, sweaters, and in Rarity's case, a parka. Also, every single one was barelegged; their choice of clothing going down just enough to preserve their modesty. One word came to mind at the sight:

"Homina..."

He more or less oogled the sight for several moments before another bit of info hit him: "Wait a sec." He looked at the familiar purple hoodie Twilight had on, along with Applejack's red one, "Those are my jackets..." Another look showed that the sweaters the others had on were indeed his, too. As well as the parka Rarity was wearing, and the raincoat Ember had, the bottom half pulled away just enough to show off the Dragonlord's own impressive gams..

A slightly blank look crossed Spike's face as he processed the info; nine of the girls he knew the most in his life were wearing his things, and showing off several pairs of quite sexy legs. All in a video they had recorded apparently to him. He responded to that in the first way he could think of.

He smiled and nodded in appreciation, then started the video again.

The group began to sing.

'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Spikey, happy birthday to you'

When Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy started to dance a little in time with the song, he almost forgot about it, 'Fluttershy's belly-dancing lessons really DID pay off...!' Luckily, he managed to snap out of his hip-shake-induced daze when the song ended and Twilight spoke up-amidst Pinkie's excited giggles,

"Hope you're enjoying the phone Spike." The alicorn grinned, "'Cause technically, that's not the actual gift."

"Not the-say what!?" Spike blurted out.

"Now don't worry; it's an actual Stampede, and all yours. We just figured it'd be an interesting way to get you your REAL present."

'Wha...real one?' He looked at the phone in general, then back at the video.

"There's a file on the notepad, Sugarcube." Applejack spoke up, looking more than a little comfortable in his hoodie, "Just pop that open an' follow the clues."

"T-they'll lead you to the parts of the actual gift." Moondance added, in a rather shy tone, her cheeks a Fluttershy-worthy pink.

"When you find the first one, you'll see what we have in store, Spikey." Rarity winked.

"Have fuuun!" They all said in unison. Even though it was a video, he couldn't help blushing when a couple of them blew him a kiss before it ended.

When the screen went black, he just stared at it for a moment while things began to sink in. "Hold on..." He cocked an eye as the dots started connecting, "Did...did they just send me on a birthday scavenger hunt?"